Brad Keselowski Survives To Win At Talladega

Brad Keselowski celebrates in Victory Lane

Matt Sullivan/NASCAR via Getty Images

Brad Keselowski survived the battle of attrition to collect his second win the season in Sunday's wreck-filled GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

Keselowski led the final 17 laps including a final three-lap shootout and held off Kyle Busch as many of the front-runners crashed coming through the frontstretch to the checkered flag.

Austin Dillon finished third, followed by Chase Elliott and Jamie McMurray.

Only 21 of the 40-car field were on the lead lap at the finish, many of them looking more like late models at a Saturday night dirt track after 10 cautions flags that collection more than half the field over the course of the afternoon.

The third-place car of Austin Dillon had a front end that was more tape than sheet metal after getting caught on in two earlier accidents, while in Victory Lane, Keselowski's car didn't have a scratch.

It was the 19th-career Sprint Cup victory for Keselowski and his fourth at Talladega, where he scored his first Cup victory in another last-lap crash back in 2009.

"What can you say? Talladega has been good to me. It's great to be back on this podium as a race winner," said Keselowski. "Never know what you're going to get here. Talladega has always been that way. As a racer or driver, you have to be prepared either way to take advantage of the situation. We were able to do that today.

"Crazy day. Somehow we managed to stay ahead of or out of all the chaos. A couple asked me about it. I didn't see it thankfully because I was in front of it. But that's how Talladega goes."

More than ever on Sunday – it was all about being out front and avoiding the trouble behind you.

Sunday's race was particularly brutal even by Talladega standards, with Chris Buescher and Matt Kenseth both experiencing rollover crashes in separate incidents.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. crashed on lap 51

Jerry Markland/Getty Images

The mayhem got started early on lap 51 when perennial Talladega favorite Dale Earnhardt, Jr. got loose coming off turn two and collected his teammate, Kasey Kahne, to bring out the caution flag. It would be the first of two crashes for both of them – a theme that would play out for several drivers.

The "Big One" reared its ugly head on lap 162, when Kurt Busch got into the back of Jimmie Johnson, touching off melee that involved 21 cars, including Buescher – who ended up barrel-rolling down the backstretch – Martin Truex, Jr., Austin Dillon, Paul Menard and Greg Biffle.

With the race back under green, the battle up front was between the veterans and the up-and-comers as polesitter Chase Elliott, Trevor Bayne and Kyle Larson duked it out alongside Keselowski, Kenseth and Kevin Harvick.

[adinserter name="GOOGLE AD"]Kenseth would eventually get shuffled back and was a victim in the second big crash of the day after Danica Patrick got turned coming through the short chute and made contact with Kenseth, sending his no. 20 Toyota Camry on its roof along the inside wall near the entrance to pit road. The crash collected 12 more cars, including Aric Almirola and Ryan Blaney who were also involved in the first crash on lap 162.

After clean-up from the second multi-car crash, the field went back at it for a three-lap dash to the finish with Keselowski pulling out even with Kurt Busch while Bayne and McMurray trailed behind. After staying even for half a lap, Keselowski finally managed to get the outside line going, pulling Kyle Busch, David Gilliland and Austin Dillon with him.

Coming to the white flag, Kyle Busch tucked in behind Keselowski in second while Elliott made a move to come up the middle, splitting McMurray and Gilliland. That opened the door for Austin Dillon as he dived to the inside ad took over third as they field came into the frontstetch.

Just a few hundred feet from the finish, Landon Cassill got into the left-rear of Cole Whitt, spinning him into Harvick who came back up the track and pounded the SAFER barrier roof-first before his no. 4 Chevrolet landed back on its wheels.

Brad Keselowski takes the checkered flag as the final wreck breaks out behind him

Sarah Crabill/NASCAR via Getty Images

NASCAR immediately threw the caution with Keselowski out on front by over a car length over Kyle Busch to take the win.

"Yeah, it's just Talladega," said Busch. "Not real sure what all was going on. You're just trying to make the best moves you can when you get pushed or when you have the momentum and you try to carry through with those moves and do the best you can to get a good spot and get a good finish, but I thought we had a chance.

"You know, second's not bad. I think the quota of three cars on their lids today is a little high, but its racing."

Dillon posted a career-best finish and his first top-five since finishing fourth last August at Michigan, but it didn't come easy as he got caught up in a least three incidents during the course of the Sunday's race.

"We started 17th with three laps to go and finished third. So from 17th to third, that was pretty cool," said Dillon. "Truthfully I don't know everything that happened yet, so I am really excited about my third-place finish because I know what our team went through today. If you guys can see the car, if you go look at it, you would never expect it to get to third."

Tony Stewart – who yielded driving duties to Ty Dillon during the first caution flag on lap 51 – was credited with sixth place, followed by Clint Bowyer, Kurt Busch, Blaney and Bayne.

Despite getting caught up in the final crash, Harvick managed to slide across the finish line in 15^th place and regained the points lead by nine points over Kyle Busch. Carl Edwards, who was in involved two separate incidents on Sunday, slipped from the top spot to third, followed by Jimmie Johnson and Joey Logano.

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