Keselowski edges Newman to win Alabama 500

TALLADEGA, Ala. — Brad Keselowski passed Ryan Newman on the final lap of the Alabama 500 to claim his third win of the season and his fifth-career win at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday as cars crashed behind him.

Keselowski was the leader for a restart with three laps remaining, with Newman alongside on the front row. Newman, though, took the lead when the race returned to green.

Newman finished second, Trevor Bayne was third, Joey Logano fourth, and Aric Almirola rounded out the top-five.

Several playoff drivers fell victim to a multi-car crash that involved at least 12 cars with 16 laps remaining and led to a red flag for track cleanup. Drivers collected included Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch, Martin Truex Jr., Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth.

Johnson was sent to the garage when the red flag was lifted, because his team began working on the car during the red flag.

Another playoff driver, Ryan Blaney, was collected in a five car crash that also involved Trevor Bayne, Brendan Gaughan and Joey Logano a few laps later. Blaney and Logano ran first and second for several laps after a restart just before lap 160. The wreck resulted in a second red flag.

The red flag was displayed a total of three times in the final 20 laps, the third time coming for a wreck with five laps to go that added two more playoff drivers to the carnage list — Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson.

The last wreck occurred with Suarez, Elliott and Larson racing for the lead. All three drivers were involved in the incident.

Blaney and Keselowski won the two 55-lap stages that made up the first 110 laps of the 188-lap race. Keselowski won the first stage after leading only the first lap of the stage and was second to Blaney in stage two.

Matt DiBenedetto, not normally a frontrunner, led 12 laps in the second stage by staying out longer when the rest of the race field pitted just before lap 70. After staying out, DiBenedetto was able to pit during a debris caution that came out on lap 81.

After Kurt Busch took the lead soon after the restart, Blaney was up front by lap 92.

Keselowski took his stage win by passing Team Penske teammate Joey Logano after Logano dominated the opening stage. Logano led 37 of the first 55 laps after taking the lead from pole sitter Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the first lap.

Logano led until the Ford teams pitted when the fuel window opened on lap 14, turning the lead back over to Earnhardt.

The yellow flag waved for the first time on lap 26 for a multi-car crash that included playoff driver Jamie McMurray. Chevrolet drivers wear heading for pit road at the time of the crash, and some of them, including Earnhardt, were assessed penalties for making their pit stops with pit road closed instead of driving back onto the track.

Earnhardt received another penalty for speeding on pit road during another caution on lap 51. He later got back inside the top-five but made significant contact with Daniel Suarez on lap 152 and dropped back outside the top-10.

Logano was back up front, with Keselowski alongside on the front row for the first restart on lap 36.

Keselowski and Logano gave up the top-two spots to pit between stages, while others stayed out after pitting just before the end of the opening stage. They, then, lost their top-two spots when they pitted between the stages while 19 drivers stayed out.

Keselowski struggled through a communications issue in the second half of the race after debris knocked an antenna from the top of his car, prohibiting his team from hearing him. The issue was remedied with a new antenna during a caution with 32 laps remaining.

The differing strategies put Earnhardt in 13th, despite the speeding penalty.

NOTES: The Alabama 500 was Brad Keselowski’s 300th-career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race. His first-career win came at Talladega Superspeedway in 2009. In all, he has four Cup Series wins at Talladega, including the spring race in 2016. … Team Penske drivers Keselowski and Joey Logano have combined to win four of the last six races at Talladega, including Logano’s win in last year’s Alabama 500. Logano won the last two fall races at Talladega. … Ford drivers have won the last seven restrictor-plate races. … Ricky Stenhouse is the most recent Talladega winner, winning there earlier this year. Stenhouse won the last two restrictor-plate races, also winning at Daytona International Speedway in July. … Dale Earnhardt Jr. is a six-time Talladega winner, including four-straight wins between 2001 and 2003, making him the winningest active driver at the track.