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Brad Keselowski leads 192 laps on the way to Richmond win
Brad Keselowski is officially advancing to the second round of the Cup Series playoffs.
Keselowski led 192 of 400 laps Saturday night at Richmond to score his fourth win of the season and secure advancement into the second round. Keselowski led the final 48 laps of the race after passing Austin Dillon and easily drove to the checkered flag ahead of Martin Truex Jr., Joey Logano and Dillon.
The car Keselowski drove to the win is the same car in which he dominated and won at New Hampshire earlier in the season.
“I want this car for Phoenix,” Keselowski said.
Phoenix is the site of the 2020 winner-take-all championship race. Keselowski has raced for the title in two of the last four seasons at Homestead. But he’s finished fourth out of the four title-eligible drivers in each of those appearances.
Could that change at Phoenix? Maybe. But Keselowski has to be a part of the final four to begin with. While he now is locked into the second round he has to get through that round and the third to race for the title.
Keselowski sure looks capable of being in that final four, however. His four wins are only behind Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin for most in the Cup Series and he entered the playoffs third behind both of them. And through two races of the playoffs, there’s no reason to doubt that Keselowski is in the upper echelon this season.
Richmond’s declining cautions
The race featured three cautions. And they were all pre-planned. NASCAR had a competition caution on lap 30 because there was no practice or qualifying before the race. And the other two cautions were for the stage breaks after the first and second stages of the race.
It was the second fall race in three seasons at Richmond that featured just three cautions and continued a trend of declining cautions at the track.
From 2001-10 there were 14 races at the track with 10 or more cautions. From 2011-20, just three races have had 10 or more cautions. And just one race since 2013 has had more than 10 cautions.
Why? That’s a question that likely has multiple answers. But it’s pretty clear that Richmond is not nearly the caution-filled track that it once was.
Playoff standings
The struggles for Ryan Blaney continue. After a bad night at Darlington, Blaney finished 19th at Richmond. He’s now last among the 16 playoff drivers with one more race in the first round.
Twelve drivers will advance to the second round. Clint Bowyer currently occupies that final spot and is three points ahead of William Byron in 13th. The final race of the first round is Sept. 19 at Bristol. It’s the first time that Bristol has been a playoff race since NASCAR instituted its postseason format in 2004.
1. Kevin Harvick, 2,143 points (win at Darlington
2. Brad Keselowski, 2,112 (win at Richmond)
3. Denny Hamlin, 2,122
4. Joey Logano, 2,109
5. Martin Truex Jr., 2,096
6. Austin Dillon, 2,094
7. Chase Elliott, 2,086
8. Alex Bowman, 2,085
9. Kyle Busch, 2,076
10. Kurt Busch, 2,065
11. Aric Almirola, 2,065
12. Clint Bowyer, 2,061
13. William Byron, 2,058
14. Cole Custer, 2,053
15. Matt DiBenedetto, 2,036
16. Ryan Blaney, 2,034
Race results
1. Brad Keselowski
2. Martin Truex Jr.
3. Joey Logano
4. Austin Dillon
5. Chase Elliott
6. Kyle Busch
7. Kevin Harvick
8. Aric Almirola
9. Alex Bowman
10. Clint Bowyer
11. Tyler Reddick
12. Denny Hamlin
13. Kurt Busch
14. Cole Custer
15. Christopher Bell
16. Matt Kenseth
17. Matt DiBenedetto
18. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
19. Ryan Blaney
20. Ryan Preece
21. William Byron
22. Erik Jones
23. Ryan Newman
24. Chris Buescher
25. Michael McDowell
26. Bubba Wallace
27. Corey LaJoie
28. Ty Dillon
29. Daniel Suarez
30. John Hunter Nemechek
31. Jimmie Johnson
32. Quin Houff
33. Brennan Poole
34. JJ Yeley
35. Joey Gase
36. Reed Sorenson
37. James Davison
38. Timmy Hill
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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.
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