CONCORD, N.C. (AP) — Brad Keselowski has won the Southern 500, the Bristol night race, the Brickyard 400 and has now crossed the Coca-Cola 600 off his checklist of crown jewel victories.
Chase Elliott lost two races in four days, both in heartbreaking fashion.
Jimmie Johnson had a shot at snapping his three-year losing streak but instead it was extended to 102 consecutive races when Keselowski beat him in overtime early Monday at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Then his car failed inspection and his runner-up finish was thrown out by NASCAR.
All that action was over the final seven laps of the longest race in NASCAR history.
Elliott was cruising toward victory with two laps remaining in the 600 when a caution sent the race to overtime. The five additional laps — another 7.5 miles — pushed the longest event on the NASCAR calendar into a true Memorial Day finale.
A rewind of what happened at Charlotte Motor Speedway:
ELLIOTT’S BAD BREAKS
Elliott was trying to win at Darlington Raceway last Wednesday night when he was wrecked by Kyle Busch in what turned out to be the final lap of racing in a rain-shortened event. He showed his displeasure by flipping Busch the bird.
His Hendrick Motorsports team bounced back with a competitive Chevrolet in the 600 that Elliott drove to the front late in the race. Half a lap before he took the white flag that would have cemented his victory, teammate William Byron caused a caution that torpedoed the finish.
Elliott was the first car to head to pit road, where he got four tires. Keselowski was the first of eight cars to stay on track. Elliott couldn’t get through traffic fast enough in the two-lap overtime finish and was the third car across the finish line. He was bumped to second after teammate Johnson was disqualified, but Elliott was just as bitter after the 600 as he was at Darlington.
“We were a lap and a half away from winning the Coca-Cola 600,” a brusque Elliott said after the race. “Just try again. That’s all you can do. I mean, there is really no other option. I can’t rewind time. There’s no other choice.”
KESELOWSKI SHOWS HIS WORTH
A Daytona 500 victory is the only crown jewel race Keselowski is missing on his resume. He won the first Cup title for Roger Penske, the first NASCAR races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for Penske, and, as the team owner noted Monday, “kept my streak going” of Memorial Day weekend victories.
Will Power and Simon Pagenaud won back-to-back Indianapolis 500s the last two years and Keselowski’s win at the 600 — the only event run on motorsports’ most celebrated single day of racing — indeed gave Penske the coveted victory. The Pagenaud win in a contract year earned the driver an extension, but it remains to be seen what happens to Keselowski.
“We are in discussions,” Penske told The Associated Press on Monday. “COVID-19 has not allowed us to get together.”
