Sunday’s Aaron’s 499 NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Talladega Superspeedway saw Rochester Hills native Brad Keselowski pushing to the lead from Kyle Busch and proceeding for a big win. The victory was Keselowski’s sixth of his Sprint Cup career, second at the 2.66-mile track and second of the season. It was the first win for Dodge at Talladega since Dave Marcis took the checkered flag 36 years ago.
Busch finished second, Matt Kenseth in third, followed by Kasey Kahne and series leader Greg Biffle. The top 10 comprised of Clint Bowyer, David Ragan, Trevor Bayne, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Burton. On the last lap of Saturday’s Nationwide Series race, Busch was the leader and he was passed by Joey Logano right at the finish line. on the last lap of a restrictor-plate race, he conceded there is little the leader can do to preserve the victory, and predicted how Sunday would unfold.
In the last five races at Talladega, Keselowski was the first driver to take the white flag and hold on for the win. He left both Busch and Kenseth flat-footed with his plan, and both praised Keselowski after the race. His triumph ended a wild final quarter of the race, which broadened six laps past a scheduled 188 because of an outbreak of late cautions.
In yet another race that featured fairly clean racing, it was the last of five cautions. defending series champion Tony Stewart, who was collected in the Allmendinger accident, drew a tongue-and-cheek response as NASCAR now had six consecutive uncharacteristically clean races. In recent Sprint Cup races, some fans complained about a lack of crashes. However, ten drivers were knocked out by Talladega wrecks.
In the first 144 of 194 laps, there was one caution and that was for oil for Regan Smith’s blown engine. In the final 50 laps there were four, which included a nine-car crash that pushed the finish six laps into overtime. The final restart was led by Kenseth with Fenway Racing teammate Greg Biffle pushing from behind. Kenseth pulled away from Biffle to break up their tandem as they approached the third turn. This gave Keselowski and Busch the unexpected opportunity to make their charge and end first and second respectively.
The Auto Club 400, a 
Beginning with the STP 400 that will take place June 5, the Kansas Speedway now hosts two 
The Dover Monster Mile will host the FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks and the usual suspects may not be standing in Victory Lane when the checkered flag falls. The demanding concrete mile track has a history of wearing down drivers which led to race length being reduced from 500 miles to 400 miles.
On the 
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