{"id":24577,"date":"2019-03-24T20:16:06","date_gmt":"2019-03-25T01:16:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=24577"},"modified":"2019-03-24T20:27:33","modified_gmt":"2019-03-25T01:27:33","slug":"brad-keselowski-holds-off-chase-elliott-for-martinsville-victory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2019\/03\/24\/brad-keselowski-holds-off-chase-elliott-for-martinsville-victory\/","title":{"rendered":"Brad Keselowski holds off Chase Elliott for Martinsville victory"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Brad Keselowski, driver of the #2 Reese\/Draw Tite Ford, poses with the trophy in Victory Lane after winning the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway on March 24, 2019 in Martinsville, Virginia. (Photo by Brian Lawdermilk\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

MARTINSVILLE, Va. \u2013 Brad Keselowski<\/strong> led 446 of 500 laps in winning Sunday\u2019s STP 500 NASCAR<\/a> race at Martinsville Speedway.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Brad Keselowski, driver of the #2 Reese\/Draw Tite Ford, crosses the finish line to win the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway on March 24, 2019 in Martinsville, Virginia. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

An easy victory, right?<\/p>\n

Well, not exactly. After Keselowski\u2019s pit crew put him in the lead for a restart on Lap 380, the driver of the No. 2 Team Penske Ford spent the rest of the race fending off a determined charge from Chase Elliott.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Keselowski got to the finish line .594 seconds ahead of Elliott and 1.335 seconds in front of Kyle Busch, who was attempting to win his third straight Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race in his 1,000th national series start. But it wasn’t easy, as both Elliott and Busch were close enough to capitalize on even the smallest potential mistake.<\/p>\n

The victory was Keselowski\u2019s second of the season, second at Martinsville and the 29th of his Cup. It was also Team Penske\u2019s third triumph of the season in six races, equaling the total of Joe Gibbs Racing and the third Cup win for the Ford Mustang, which debuted in the series this year.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Brad Keselowski, driver of the #2 Reese\/Draw Tite Ford, celebrates with a burnout after winning the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway on March 24, 2019 in Martinsville, Virginia. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThe car was really good,\u201d Keselowski said. \u201cThis Ford Mustang\u2026 Ford worked really hard in the offseason to build these cars and make them real strong, and so far, so good. Just a great day for our team.<\/p>\n

\u201cAwesome execution on pit road, and big credit to (engine builder) Doug Yates and all the engine stuff. Those guys worked really hard. But just one of those days you dream of as a race car driver where you’ve got a great car.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before Keselowski could claim the grandfather clock trophy that goes to the winner, he had to go to school. Elliott\u2019s No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was a superior short-run car, enabling Elliott to pass Keselowski for the lead on Lap 325, five laps after a restart necessitated by a caution for William Byron\u2019s spin in Turn 4.<\/p>\n

Keselowski followed Elliott for 48 green-flag laps\u2014until Matt Tifft spun in Turn 2 on Lap 372\u2014and learned a valuable lesson.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Brad Keselowski, driver of the #2 Reese\/Draw Tite Ford, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway on March 24, 2019 in Martinsville, Virginia. (Photo by Brian Lawdermilk\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI don’t know if we were as good as the 9 car, Chase Elliott,\u201d Keselowski said. \u201cHe was really strong, but he passed me there with about 200 to go, and I watched him and studied him and kind of broke it down and knew what I had to do to hold him off with that fast of a car.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd we were able to pull it off that last run.\u201d<\/p>\n

Busch was hounding Elliott as fiercely as Elliott was dogging Keselowski, but when Busch was held up in traffic in the late going, Elliott began experimenting with a higher line in the corners.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt like we were about as even with him as we could be,\u201d Elliott said. \u201cThere was a little\u2026 I felt like when he did get the lead, there was a little advantage to being out front, being able to work traffic your way and kind of play off it and whatnot.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut, yeah, I tried to move up there at the end, and I don’t know if I could have got to him. Maybe if I moved up a little sooner. But I tried to get to him there in (Turn) 3 (on the final lap). I was pretty well content on moving him out of the way. But maybe next time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Brad Keselowski, driver of the #2 Reese\/Draw Tite Ford, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway on March 24, 2019 in Martinsville, Virginia. (Photo by Brian Lawdermilk\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Ryan Blaney finished fourth, followed by Denny Hamlin, who recovered from a penalty for an uncontrolled tire. Kevin Harvick was sixth, Clint Bowyer came home seventh, despite being sent to the rear twice for speeding on pit road. Martin Truex Jr., Aric Almirola and Daniel Suarez completed the top 10.<\/p>\n

Notes: Elliott\u2019s No. 9 Camaro was the only Chevrolet in the top 10 at the end of Sunday\u2019s race\u2026 All four Stewart-Haas Racing drivers\u2014Harvick, Bowyer, Almirola and Suarez\u2014finished in the top 10\u2026 With Keselowski leading 446 laps, there were four lead changes among three drivers. Pole winner Joey Logano led the first five laps but faded to 19th at the finish.<\/p>\n

 <\/h3>\n

 <\/h3>\n

Media Center Intterviews:<\/h3>\n

Brad Keselowski – <\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/MENCS_MVS1_Keselowski_032419.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

 <\/p>\n

Crew chief Paul Wolfe and Team Penske’s Walt Czarnecki – <\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/MENCS_MVS1_Wolfe_032419.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

 <\/p>\n

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Race – 70th Annual STP 500<\/b><\/p>\n

Martinsville Speedway<\/b><\/p>\n

Martinsville, Virginia<\/b><\/p>\n

Sunday, March 24, 2019<\/b><\/p>\n

               1. (3)  Brad Keselowski, Ford, 500.<\/p>\n

               2. (7)  Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 500.<\/p>\n

               3. (13)  Kyle Busch, Toyota, 500.<\/p>\n

               4. (17)  Ryan Blaney, Ford, 500.<\/p>\n

               5. (5)  Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 500.<\/p>\n

               6. (4)  Kevin Harvick, Ford, 500.<\/p>\n

               7. (10)  Clint Bowyer, Ford, 500.<\/p>\n

               8. (8)  Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 500.<\/p>\n

               9. (2)  Aric Almirola, Ford, 500.<\/p>\n

               10. (9)  Daniel Suarez, Ford, 500.<\/p>\n

               11. (29)  Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 500.<\/p>\n

               12. (19)  Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 500.<\/p>\n

               13. (22)  Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 500.<\/p>\n

               14. (16)  Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 500.<\/p>\n

               15. (14)  Paul Menard, Ford, 500.<\/p>\n

               16. (15)  Ryan Preece #, Chevrolet, 500.<\/p>\n

               17. (26)  Bubba Wallace, Chevrolet, 500.<\/p>\n

               18. (6)  Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 500.<\/p>\n

               19. (1)  Joey Logano, Ford, 500.<\/p>\n

               20. (21)  Matt DiBenedetto, Toyota, 500.<\/p>\n

               21. (12)  Chris Buescher, Chevrolet, 499.<\/p>\n

               22. (34)  William Byron, Chevrolet, 499.<\/p>\n

               23. (20)  Ryan Newman, Ford, 499.<\/p>\n

               24. (11)  Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 498.<\/p>\n

               25. (24)  Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, 498.<\/p>\n

               26. (25)  David Ragan, Ford, 496.<\/p>\n

               27. (28)  Daniel Hemric #, Chevrolet, 496.<\/p>\n

               28. (27)  Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, 494.<\/p>\n

               29. (31)  Matt Tifft #, Ford, 494.<\/p>\n

               30. (18)  Erik Jones, Toyota, 491.<\/p>\n

               31. (23)  Michael McDowell, Ford, 491.<\/p>\n

               32. (35)  DJ Kennington(i), Chevrolet, 489.<\/p>\n

               33. (32)  Corey LaJoie, Ford, 489.<\/p>\n

               34. (30)  Ross Chastain(i), Chevrolet, Engine, 365.<\/p>\n

               35. (36)  Jeb Burton(i), Chevrolet, Brakes, 163.<\/p>\n

               36. (33)  Cody Ware #, Chevrolet, Brakes, 55.<\/p>\n

Average Speed of Race Winner:  78.158 mph.<\/p>\n

Time of Race:  3 Hrs, 21 Mins, 54 Secs. Margin of Victory:  .594 Seconds.<\/p>\n

Caution Flags:  7 for 56 laps.<\/p>\n

Lead Changes:  4 among 3 drivers.<\/p>\n

Lap Leaders:   J. Logano 1-5;B. Keselowski 6-324;C. Elliott 325-373;B. Keselowski 374-500.<\/p>\n

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  Brad Keselowski 2 times for 446 laps; Chase Elliott 1 time for 49 laps; Joey Logano 1 time for 5 laps.<\/p>\n

Stage #1 Top Ten: 2,9,10,11,12,14,22,19,18,3<\/p>\n

Stage #2 Top Ten: 2,12,11,9,19,10,4,14,41,22<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service MARTINSVILLE, Va. \u2013 Brad Keselowski led 446 of 500 laps in winning Sunday\u2019s STP 500 NASCAR race at Martinsville Speedway. An easy victory, right? Well, not exactly. After Keselowski\u2019s pit crew put him in the lead for a restart on Lap 380, the driver of the No. 2 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":24583,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[79,407,16],"class_list":["post-24577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-brad-keselowski","tag-martinsville-speedway","tag-nascar"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/361102-e1553474875860.jpg?fit=640%2C427&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-6op","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24577"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24577\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24589,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24577\/revisions\/24589"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}