Brad Keselowski joined Kyle Busch as 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series multi-race winners Sunday with his win of the STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway, the sixth race of the 36-race season. Keselowski’s second win of the year also was his second-career Cup Series victory at Martinsville.
Chase Elliott finished second, and Kyle Busch was third.
“It was really tough,” Elliott said. “Our NAPA Camaro was good. I felt like we were about as even with him [Keselowski] as we could be. When I did get the lead, I felt like there was a little advantage to being out front and being able to work traffic your way and play off it and whatnot. But, 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, maybe. But I tried to get to him there in [turn] three, but maybe next time.”
Keselowski achieved a personable best stat, running up front for all but 54 laps of the 500-lap race. His 446 laps led was the most he has ever led in a single Cup Series race. The tally also was the most laps led en route to a race win at Martinsville in NASCAR’s modern era.
“The car was really good – this Ford Mustang,” Keselowski said. “You know, Ford worked really hard in the offseason to build these cars and make them real strong and, so far, so good. It’s just a great day for our team, awesome execution on pit road and big credit to Doug Yates and all the engine guys. Those guys work really hard, and it’s just one of those days you dream of as a race car driver where you’ve got a great car. I don’t know if we were as good as the 9, Chase Elliott.”
The win also continued a trend of Team Penske and Joe Gibbs shutting all other Cup Series organizations out of victory lane. Each organization has three wins to account for the six wins contested, so far, in 2019.
Elliott and Keselowski’s Penske teammate Joey Logano were the only other two lap leaders. Logano led the first five laps of the race after starting on the pole and before losing the lead to his teammate on lap six.
Elliott was the only driver who managed to take the lead from Keselowski, either on the race track or on pit road. Elliott passed Keselowski for the top spot on lap 324 and led 49 laps before Keselowski beat him off pit road to take his second and final lead of the race during a lap-312 caution for a William Byron spin.
“He [Elliott] 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 and we were able to pull it off that last run with the Reese/Draw Tite Ford,” Keselowski said.
Elliott ran second to Keselowski through most of the race.
Denny Hamlin was second to the eventual winner by lap 14, but Elliott beat Hamlin out of the pits during the first caution of the race for Michael McDowell on lap 65. Hamlin retook second soon after a restart from a lap-146 caution that came as a result of the rear axle coming off of Ross Chastain’s car. On lap 173, Elliott moved back into second.
Hamlin later received a penalty on pit road for an uncontrolled tire during the caution at the end of stage two, which ended on lap 260. The end of the second stage marked the second stage win of the day for Keselowski, who also was up front when the first stage ended at lap 130.
Clint Bowyer also was on the receiving end of a pit road penalty after being a mainstay inside the top-five. He was nabbed speeding on pit road during the lap-312 caution, and then again, during a lap-371 yellow flag for Matt Tifft.
Elliott also briefly lost second to Keselowski’s other teammate, Ryan Blaney, on lap 242, but after the second stage, he retook the spot by getting off pit road ahead of Blaney.
After his moment up front before Keselowski took back over, Elliott lost second to Busch during the seventh and final caution of the race for Chastain on lap 445, but on lap 458, Elliott retook the runner-up spot and maintained it for the remaining laps.
Blaney and Hamlin rounded out the top-five. Kevin Harvick finished sixth, Bowyer seventh, Martin Truex Jr. eighth, Aric Almirola was ninth, and Daniel Suarez finished 10th.
