Brad Keselowski got out in front of Kyle Larson ahead of a late restart, then held on for the remaining 22 laps to win the Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.
The victory was Keselowski’s first of the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series season, the 25th of his career, and the first for Team Penske at Darlington in 43 years.
Pit Crew Gets Keselowski Out Front for Restart
Most of Sunday’s action was dominated by Larson, who won the first two stages of the race and led 284 of the 367 laps. But the key moment came as Keselowski, Larson, and Joey Logano battled for position as they came off pit road on Lap 345 heading into a restart. It was Keselowski who gained the advantage by getting back on the track in first place.
“Got to give a lot of credit to my pit crew,” Keselowski said after the race. “Running second that last stop, and they nailed it.”
Logano would finish as the runner-up, while Larson dropped to third place. Being beat out of the pit by less than a foot was a tough way for Larson to lose, though he still found plenty of positives to take out of his performance.
“I want to win every race, but I want to win the Southern 500 really bad,” Larson said after the finish. “It would have been cool to do that, but at the same time, to bring a [dominant] car to the race track like we did this weekend is something to be proud of and a big confidence booster.”
Kevin Harvick finished fourth, while Chase Elliott rounded out the top five. Harvick now has 21 top 10 finishes in 25 races this season.
NASCAR Playoff Picture Nears Completion
As the penultimate race of NASCAR’s regular season, Darlington also had a huge role to play in the playoff race. Keselowski didn’t need to win to get into the postseason picture, as he ranked high enough in the driver standings to clinch a spot no matter what happened over the past two weeks.
But for other drivers, their finishes booked their tickets into the playoffs. Danny Hamlin and Aric Almirola now know that they are definitely in the postseason field, meaning that 14 of the 16 spots have been claimed.
At the moment, the final two positions belong to Jimmy Johnson and Alex Bowman. But while nobody can pass those two on points, anyone who wins a race will automatically earn a playoff berth. That means anyone in the field could take one of the remaining spots, while the points race between Johnson and Bowman is close enough that the final playoff invite could still go to either of them if a lower-ranked driver wins next weekend in Indianapolis.
Johnson is nearly assured a playoff position, as he is 19 points ahead of Bowman at the moment. But being on the bubble doesn’t sit well with the seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion.
“I don’t want to be in this position,” Johnson told reporters. “Honestly, I think our cars are capable of running in the top five. If we can just start minimizing mistakes, my own included, we’ll be much better off and have a shot.”
Regardless of who grabs the final playoff spots, bookmakers still see the championship race coming down to this season’s Big Three. Ladbrokes lists Harvick and Truex as 11/4 co-favorites to win the championship, with Kyle Busch (3/1) right behind them.