For the second straight Sunday, Brad Keselowski has stolen a win. In last week’s Coca-Cola 600, Keselowski didn’t necessarily have a race winning car. He even admitted as much after the race. But, when William Byron brought out a late race caution and forced his teammate Chase Elliott to pit from the lead in overtime, Keselowski inherited the lead. All he had to do was hold everyone off for two laps.

He’d do just that.

This Sunday at the Bristol (Tenn) Motor Speedway, Keselowski benefitted from Elliott again. Both Elliott and Keselowski’s Team Penske teammate Joey Logano restarted 1-2 with five laps-to-go. Logano, got by Elliott with three laps remaining but they both crashed going through the fourth turn with just over a lap to go. That came a few laps after race leader at the time Denny Hamlin got loose in Turn 2 and crashed a half of a lap later. The top three battling for the win over the final 50 or so laps, all done towards the end.

“Just going for the win,” Elliott said of his incident with Logano. “Trying to get underneath and got really loose in. I don’t know if I had a flat tire going down or I just got loose on entry. As soon as I turned off the wall, I had zero chance of making it. I’ll certainly take the blame. I felt like that was my shot. He was really good on the short run and I felt like I had to keep him behind me right there in order to win the race. I hate we both wrecked. You can’t go back in time now.”

For Logano, he was mad about it, but more mad for what transpired on pit road in their conversation about the crash.

“It frustrating,” Logano said of his take. “He wrecked me. He got loose underneath me. A simple apology as a man would for him to come up to me and say ‘hey my bad.’ But, I had to force an apology. To me, that’s childish. We had a good recovery and had a shot to win and that’s all you can hope for. I passed him clean. It’s hard racing at the end I get that, but golly man, take the hit and be done with it.”

Keselowski, well he skated by both wrecking cars to earn his 32nd career Cup Series victory, in what he said was another lucky day in the process.

“Things have been going our way from the luck of the draw in qualifying to the last few laps there,” Keselowski said after earning his third career Bristol win. “We couldn’t get anything to go our way in the beginning of the race from cars staying out and we couldn’t get the bottom lane on restarts. Nothing was working out. We put on two tires on the last stop and drove up to fourth or sixth and put ourselves in position. I could see Joey (Logano) and Chase (Elliott) they were getting really racy there. I didn’t know what was going to happen but I just kept my eyes open and hoping something good might happen and sure enough it did.

“It was an incredible effort by the team. This was a never give up effort and that’s what we’re becoming as a team.”

Keselowski, finished second in the first stage and ninth in the second one but was hit with a pit road speeding penalty on Lap 330. So was Logano. Both worked their ways back towards the front, but when everyone else either stayed out or took four tires on a late race stop, Keselowski took two fresh Goodyear’s and it proved to be the winning move. This was just his second top 10 finish over his last nine starts on the .526-mile Tennessee oval. He was 16th or worse in seven of his previous eight starts at Bristol.

Clint Bowyer crossed the finish line second in his No. 14 Ford. Bowyer, was .471-seconds arrears to Keselowski. For Bowyer, it was like he stole that finish. He had some crash damage on his No. 14 Ford towards the end, but there he was earning his sixth top eight finish in nine Bristol tires since joining Stewart-Haas Racing in 2017. Also, he has eight top 10 finishes in his last 10 starts there including 11 in the last 14. Also, Bowyer now has three top 10 finishes on the season too.

Jimmie Johnson nearly ended his 103 race winless streak as he was running in the top five for a majority of the closing laps. He faded to outside of the top five on the final round of stops but came back up to bring his No. 48 Chevrolet home third for his 13th career Bristol top five and seventh top 11 there in his last eight tries.

Kyle Busch finally led laps in his No. 18 Toyota as he had only led 14 all season, none since Daytona though. He paced the field for 100 laps on Sunday to earn his third top four finish in his last five starts on the year and five in the last seven.

Erik Jones rounded out the top five in his No. 20 Toyota.

Toyota’s Come Alive

It’s been a weird season for Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota in general. Last year, they had won 19 of the 36 points paying races, including the Daytona 500, Southern 500, Coca-Cola 600 and the Bristol Night Race. They put three of their four drivers in the Championship 4 last November at Homestead.

Without much change to the cars between last year and this, how come they’re struggling for speed this season?

JGR has won twice, both by Denny Hamlin. Kyle Busch came into Bristol leading 14 laps all season, but none of those since Daytona. At this point last year, he had led 498 laps. Erik Jones and Martin Truex Jr. were just okay but not top five drivers.

Sunday though, they woke up.

No, they didn’t win, but the speed came back. Hamlin, led a race-high 131 laps and did so without his crew chief, car chief and engineer at his disposal as they were serving their second race of a four race suspension amid the piece of tungsten falling off before last Sunday’s race. He was leading at the end before running into trouble on Lap 488.

Busch, finally got back out front as he paced the field for 100 laps. He’d finish fourth for his third top four in his last five starts this season.

Jones didn’t lead a lap but did finish fifth in his No. 20 Toyota. Truex Jr. is never strong at Bristol and finished 20th.

Hendrick Gives Another Win Away To Penske

Three times Hendrick Motorsports had a chance to win a race in the closing laps but gave the way away to Team Penske. It happened back in the second race of the season in Vegas when Alex Bowman pit from the lead following a late race caution flag for Ross Chastain. Joey Logano would win on the final restart.

Last Sunday in Charlotte, Chase Elliott was put in a similar situation but he too hit pit road in overtime and gave the win away to Brad Keselowski. This Sunday, Elliott pushed too hard with three laps-to-go and wrecked himself and Logano while racing each other for the lead. Keselowski, skated by for the win again.

When does this end? HMS should have won at least six times now this season. Bowman, should have won in Vegas, Elliott should have won the second race at Darlington and the Coke 600. Elliott also should have won on Sunday in Bristol. That’s four races that they left on the table. Count that with the two races that they did win and you get why HMS is going to be championship factors when they stop giving away trophies.

At Bristol, all three cars running at the end were in the top eight. Then came Elliott’s mistake. Elliott, won both stages on Sunday, just as he did back in February at Vegas. Heck, the Georgia native has won five stages this season. Throw in William Byron’s single stage win and Alex Bowman’s four and you get a combined 10 stage wins in 19 tries. Despite 10 stage wins, they’ve won just two races.

By comparison, they won eight stages all of last season. The speed is there, they just can’t close out races. Penske, is benefitting from that.

Harvick’s Top 10 Streak Ends

Kevin Harvick wasn’t going to necessarily be a favorite to win Sunday’s Food City 500, but he was a solid fantasy play. Harvick, had a top 10 finish in literally all eight races of the season thus far and had seven top 10 finishes in his last nine Bristol starts. Mix that with his No. 4 Ford starting in eighth and you get a top 10 caliber car/driver combination.

That streak ended though.

Harvick, would bring his No. 4 Ford home 11th, one spot shy of continuing that top 10 streak on to Atlanta. He was sixth and third respectively in the two stages and in the top 10 when he got into Erik Jones on Lap 432. He’d have to pit for some minor damages under caution but could never get that track position back.

For 2nd Straight Bristol Race, Leavine Family Racing Is A Contender

Leavine Family Racing is really benefitting from having that Joe Gibbs Racing alliance. Last year, it wasn’t as big as it is now, but Matt DiBenedetto used it to finish runner-up in his No. 95 Toyota. He led 93 laps in a heartbreaking ending that saw Denny Hamlin pass him in the closing laps en route to Hamlin stealing the win away. While DiBenedetto admitted on Friday that he still hasn’t watched a replay of the race, as it’s too painful to relive, he did say that the Bristol night race is what paved his way to the Wood Brothers for 2020.

Now, Christopher Bell had himself a day.

Bell, started back in 35th in the 40 car field and steadily moved his way up through the pack as the day went on. The Oklahoma native was 25th in Stage 1, 17th in Stage 2 and got himself into the top 10, top five even, over the final stage before an uncontrolled tire penalty on his final stop. He’d rebound though to come home ninth though.

It was Bell’s third top 11 in his last four starts on the season as he’s finally finding his groove in the Cup Series.

Day Started Off Great For Penske, Bad In The Middle, Ends With A Win

Team Penske had all three cars starting in the top four of Sunday’s Food City 500. Count in Matt DiBenedetto in their alliance car and all four were coming from the top 10. On the drop of the green flag, Penske jumped out of the gates running 1-2-3. Through the first 203 laps, they’d combine to lead 176 of them. In fact, in Stage 1, they’d finish 2-3-5-7.

In Stage 2, Ryan Blaney got into the wall while running second. He finished last in 40th. DiBenedetto had a speeding penalty on pit road, got caught up in that Lap 228 big crash and had a parts failure and have to go behind the wall for 43 laps to fix. On Lap 330, both Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski were speeding on pit road.

This all cost them a potentially race winning day. Then, a wild ending happened.

Logano and Keselowski used pit strategy to get clean air back and Logano had a shot to even win in the end. With five to go, they both were back in the top three. Then, Logano and Elliott crashed and gave the victory to Keselowski for Penske’s fourth victory of the season. Combined, Penske led 175 laps on Sunday.

Bad Luck Days For Blaney/Bowman/DiBenedetto

Three valuable sleepers for this Sunday’s race at Bristol were Ryan Blaney, Alex Bowman and Matt DiBenedetto. Heck, before the COVID-19 break, Blaney and Bowman had the two fastest race cars out there. They should have finished 1-2 for two straight weeks at Vegas and Fontana. A late race caution in Vegas ruined that and a tire problem for Blaney in Fontana took his second place run away.

Unfortunately for both, they’ve struggled more times than not in the five races post COVID-19. Yes, Bowman finished runner-up in the first race back at Darlington. Yes, Blaney finished third in both Charlotte races. But, Blaney was also 16th or worse in his other three starts while Bowman has been 18th or worse in his last four starts on the season.

On Sunday in Bristol, Blaney led 60 laps and was running second when he got loose in Turn 2 and crashed at the exit of the corner. He was hit by Ty Dillon while sitting there. The day ended with a 40th place finish. While he has three top three finishes in 2020, he also has finished outside of the top 10 in the other six races, including four of the six being 16th or worse.

At Bristol, he’s led 100 or more laps in three of his previous four Bristol starts heading into today but he’s now finished 30th or worse in four of his last eight starts there too.

In 2018, Bowman finished in the top 10 in both races at Bristol. DiBenedetto, led 93 laps and finished second in last year’s night race. They’d have shots to contend on Sunday too.

Unfortunately, both drivers had bad luck days as well.

Bowman, finished 11th in Stage 1 but had to pit for a second time during that stage break to get his lugnuts tightened. See, with Bristol being a concrete race track, it’s known to cause loose wheels. If the lugs aren’t tight, then a loose wheel would be certain. They played it cautious and came down pit road to ensure they were ready to go. Then, he lost his clutch. Then, he was caught up in that Lap 228 crash in Turn 3, ending his day in 37th place. Since his second place run 14 days ago in Darlington, Bowman has finished 18th (Darlington 2), 19th and 31st in both Charlotte races and now 37th in Bristol.

DiBenedetto had a crazy day too. He finished seventh in the first stage after staying out of the pit following the second competition caution to take the lead with clean air. It worked. Unfortunately, he was speeding on pit lane under the stage break caution, putting him with Bowman at the tail end of the lead lap. Then, he spun in that Lap 228 crash and later had a mechanical failure putting him behind the wall on Lap 289.

Momentum Ends For Stenhouse Jr.

For Ricky Stenhouse Jr. this was one of his better tracks. He had high hopes entering Sunday’s race after bringing his No. 47 Chevrolet home fourth on Thursday night in Charlotte. His JTG Daugherty Racing car was strong again in Bristol, but when Matt Kenseth got loose exiting Turn 2 on Lap 228, Stenhouse had to get out of the throttle so he didn’t run over him. Unfortunately, Jimmie Johnson didn’t see Kenseth get squirly which didn’t make him think Stenhouse would check up either. He got into the back of Stenhouse sparking a nine car melee in Turn 3. All that momentum gained last Thursday by Stenhouse is now gone.

Rough Day For Reddick/Custer

The rookie drivers of Christopher Bell, Tyler Reddick and Cole Custer were sleepers to watch on Sunday. They finished 1-2-3 in last year’s Xfinity Series spring race and saw both NXS races run at Bristol won by them. Unfortunately, their Cup Series debuts didn’t go to plan for 66-percent of that trio.

Two of the three crashed out on Lap 228 when Jimmie Johnson got into the back of Ricky Stenhouse Jr on the backstretch. Custer and Reddick had no where to go and were collected.

Surprise Of The Day

Austin Dillon is my surprise again. He had a tire go down and brought out a caution on Lap 328 while running in the top five. But, Dillon would remain strong and rebound for a sixth place effort. He’s been vastly improved in 2020 as he was 11th in the first Darlington race, had a top 10 car in last Sunday’s Coke 600 before fading to 14th after restarting fifth on the final overtime restart, was eighth on Thursday night and sixth on Sunday.

Top Quote

“It frustrating,” Joey Logano said of his of a late race crash with Chase Elliott take. “He wrecked me. He got loose underneath me. A simple apology as a man would for him to come up to me and say ‘hey my bad.’ But, I had to force an apology. To me, that’s childish. We had a good recovery and had a shot to win and that’s all you can hope for. I passed him clean. It’s hard racing at the end I get that, but golly man, take the hit and be done with it.”

Top Stats

The pole sitter has now won three of the last five races at Bristol.

Next Up:

Sunday, June 7 at the Atlanta Motor Speedway – Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 (3 p.m. ET/FOX/PRN)

Food City 500 Results

1.  2 Keselowski
2. 14 Bowyer
3. 48 Johnson
4. 18 KyBusch
5. 20 Jones
6.  3 ADillon
7.  1 KuBusch
8. 24 Byron
9. 95 Bell R
10. 43 Wallace Jr.
11.  4 Harvick
12. 37 Preece
13. 38 Nemechek R
14. 34 McDowell
15.  6 Newman
16. 42 Kenseth
17. 11 Hamlin
18. 96 Suarez
19. 66 Hil
20. 19 Truex Jr.
21. 22 Logano
22.  9 Elliott
23. 17 Buescher -4
24. 15 Poole R -6
25.  7 Yeley -8
26. 77 Smithley -11
27. 00 Houff R -17
28. 78 McLeod -23
29. 10 Almirola OUT
30. 27 Gaulding OUT
31. 21 DiBenedetto -44
32. 32 LaJoie OUT
33. 51 Gase OUT
34. 47 Stenhouse Jr. OUT
35. 41 Custer R OUT
36.  8 Reddick R OUT
37. 88 Bowman OUT
38. 53 Currey OUT
39. 13 TDillon OUT
40. 12 Blaney OUT