Brad Keselowski Wins Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 At Atlanta

Harvick had led 292 of the 325 laps – the most ever for a driver at Atlanta who did not win the race – and he finished ninth. After a forgettable Daytona 500, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver couldn’t shake the doldrums in Atlanta with a hub issue forcing him out of contention and to a 38th-place finish.

That allowed Brad Keselowski to happily step in and win. Harvick’s luck at the end of these races.

“I think I know why, but I really don’t want to share why”, he said after finishing fifth. But then once we got it, we did the same thing. After Keselowski pitted, other drivers inside their fuel windows for the second stage opted to go ahead and make scheduled stops.

Rewarding the top-10 with points at the end of the first and second stages, plus a playoff point to the victor, seemed like a great concept, and through two races it has shown that it will work.

Kyle Busch (Starting 3rd)-Right now, Kurt probably has Busch brother bragging rights, having earned a last lap victory in the Daytona 500 last week. So, when Harvick had to serve a penalty for going too fast on pit road, it was Keselowski who took advantage of it for his first win of the young season. CEO Marcus Smith said Sunday his company, which owns the Atlanta track, now will re-evaluate its decision.

“I think he might’ve been on a little bit of an edge”, Penske said. It gets to bouncing around. “I can’t get caught up”. Bob Flock originally was declared the victor, but he eventually failed post-race inspection, which elevated Jim Roper to Victory Lane.

When Harvick faltered, Keselowski was ready to pounce. Is the focus on just that stage, then refocus on the next, or simply focus on winning every aspect, including the ultimate victory?

Keselowski had his own pit issues. Kevin Harvick won the pole and the first two stages.

“I’m so sorry guys”, Harvick told his team over the radio.

It’s kind of hard to slide a side eye at someone you share a neighborhood with 38 weekends a year. “So I think that makes you tougher and stronger”.

But Keselowski persevered, and by the time the final caution flag waved on Lap 309, he had worked his way up to third in the running order.

“You take it all in, you absorb it”, Busch said. With 35 cars remaining on the track, Harvick’s chance at victory went out the window. Ryan Newman, who started second, was forced to drive to the garage on Lap 288 when his power cut off. Dillon finished 32nd and Newman 35th. “That’s just part of how this sport works”. And I wasn’t thinking about Kevin’s misfortune. We were there. We had a competitive vehicle. But on Sunday, two speeding penalties – first on Lap 130 and the second on Lap 206 – mired the No. 48 Chevy deeper in the field than the initial 19th-place qualifying run had done.

Keselowski wasn’t one of them.

The drivers have to rely on their tachometers that measure RPM and a series of lights on their dashboards to stay below the pit road speed limit. They put a great vehicle under me and did everything we thought we needed to do.

“It just doesn’t mean anything though when you can’t get the finish”, Austin stated through a Team Chevy press release. “Sometimes, you’re going to go over”. I thought a couple times I might have gone over. He was fast. I knew he would go to the front once he got it. But that’s what we do.