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NASCAR: Another win on a broken ankle for Brad Keselowski

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Khatir Soltani
With his second win in four weeks Brad Keselowski is the hottest thing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

Shrugging off the pain of a broken ankle he suffered four weeks ago, Keselowski took the lead from second-place finisher Martin Truex Jr. with 79 laps to go and won the race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

After the final pit stop, he came out behind Martin Truex Jr. but quickly took the lead and led the rest of the way.

The key to the victory as Keselowski tells it was a great pit stop which put him alongside Truex for that restart. Truex finished almost two seconds behind the winner while battling with Jeff Gordon who finished third.

"The first few pit stops of the day, we struggled a little bit, but that last stop my guys came through and got me out in front of the 24. We were able to pass Martin Truex and the next thing I know, we're in victory lane. This is really cool," Keselowski said.

Truex, who had been running in the top-10, got out in front after the final pit stop when his team took two tires instead of four. As he explained: “We would drive up to eighth or seventh, but, two tires got us up there,” meaning the front of the field.

Gordon seemed to have the dominant car of the day, leading 206 of the 500-lap race, at the .533 mile concrete paved track. He just didn’t lead when it counted the most.

"We just didn't get the position we needed to on that last pit stop," Gordon said. "We just didn't quite have it there at the end."

Then complimenting Keselowski he added: "Those guys are really on a roll. We all have to keep our eye on him because he's strong."

Keselowski accomplishments are all the more spectacular coming after he fractured an ankle while testing at Road Atlanta, and bounced back with a win a few days later.

In the last two races he’s scored a second and a third and stands 11th in the points with two races remaining before the Chase starts. With his three wins this year, and position in the points, he could make the Chase as one of the two Wild Cars. Denny Hamlin, who recovered from the late race wreck, is the second wild card in 13th place with two wins.

Bristol Motor Speedway has earned the sobriquet The Concrete Coliseum for its’ steeply rising grandstands and also for the gladiatorial nature of NASCAR racing on short tracks.

About halfway through the race, David Stremme took some revenge all but destroying David Reutimann’s Toyota. That was the start of a chain collision.
Then Paul Menard couldn’t slow in time and ran into the luckless Denny Hamlin who is struggling to get back into Chase contention. But Hamlin survived to finish seventh.

On lap 413 Kyle Busch, who won Friday night’s Nationwide Race collided with Terry Labonte, brushed the wall and brought out the final caution.

Jimmy Johnson finished fourth. Jamie McMurray who has been a non-factor this year was fifth.

Tony Stewart, who stands 10th in the points with no victory, finished 28th and avoided a Chase scenario disaster when Clint Bowyer finished 26th and is now 12th with no victory either.


Khatir Soltani
Khatir Soltani
Automotive expert
As a car enthusiast, he tests and compares vehicles from different categories through the eyes of the consumer, ensuring relevant and objective reviews.
  • Over 6 years experience as a car reviewer
  • Over 50 test drives in the last year
  • Involved in discussions with virtually every auto manufacturer in Canada