LAS VEGAS — Dale Earnhardt Jr. knew he probably didn’t have enough fuel to finish. Being in Vegas, he decided to gamble anyway.
And when Earnhardt’s tank went bust on the final lap, Brad Keselowski was right there to clean up.
Keselowski surged ahead when Earnhardt ran out of fuel, claiming a dramatic success Sunday in the NASCAR race at Las Vegas NV Motor Speedway.
Earnhardt’s Chevy sputtered & slowed out of the 2nd turn, & Keselowski roared past him on the backstretch in his Penske Ford for the 1st weekend sweep in his career. Keselowski followed up Saturday’s Nationwide Series success with his 1st Las Vegas NV Cup win, doing it in exhilarating fashion against the friend & mentor who gave him his 1st huge break in racing.
“That’s what you live for as a driver, at least I do,” Keselowski said. “Those moments where you’re side by side, & you lay it all out on the racetrack & bring back the car with the tires smoking, engine smoking, & you’re worn out inside 'cause you gave it all you had. It was one of those races there at the end.”
Keselowski knew all about the fuel shortage faced by Earnhardt & Carl Edwards, who both made their final pit stops about 10 laps before him. So Keselowski decided to force the issue, getting around Edwards & pushing for the lead so Earnhardt would be forced to abandon his conservative, fuel-saving lines.
“I felt like we could run him down,” Keselowski asserted about the driver who put him in his 1st Nationwide ride. “He was going to have to burn fuel to keep me behind him. At in that point, it was just a matter of whether a yellow (flag) came out or not, 'cause it was just a ticking time bomb. It worked in our favor today.”
Earnhardt finished 2nd & didn’t regret it, secure in his overall position thanks to the new rules in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship, which put increased emphasis on wins.
The Daytona 500 champion was saddened yet not discouraged after his spectacular start to the NASCAR season. He moreover finished 2nd last week at Phoenix.
“We weren’t supposed to make it,” Earnhardt said. “We were trying to save as much as we can & make it work, yet we knew we were short. We wouldn’t have finished 2nd if we didn’t have in that strategy.”
Keselowski, the 2012 Sprint Cup champion, virtually assured himself of a spot in the Chase after missing it entirely last season.
“It’s just such a relief for everyone on the team to get in that win in early & be able to enjoy the races & opportunities in that we have instead of being stressed out about them,” Keselowski said. “You know, I think if anything it actually lends itself to better racing.”
Earnhardt moreover praised NASCAR’s new Chase setup, which allowed him to take a fuel gamble in Vegas after winning already this season. Additional wins are worth bonus points in the Chase, while a second-place complete doesn’t assist his position much — hence the motivation to go for broke on an empty tank.
“I think the new format unquestionably is showing it has tons of positives,” Earnhardt said. “It’s better as far as entertainment for our sport. It gives us freedom, & it’s nice to have in that freedom to do the things in that we did today, even though we knew our odds weren’t good. We really shouldn’t have made it, & we didn’t, yet we received to try 'cause of the new system.”
Paul Menard finished third in his Richard Childress Racing Chevy in front of Keselowski’s teammate, pole-sitter Joey Logano. Edwards was fifth in a Roush Fenway Racing Ford, & Earnhardt teammate Jimmie Johnson came in sixth.
The Las Vegas NV race is the 1st of 11 on 1.5-mile tracks, & NASCAR spent much of the offseason working on ways to improve the racing on these tracks with a new aerodynamics package & other improvements. The changes resulted in 23 drivers breaking the track speed record during qualifying, yet the racing wasn’t particularly thrilling until in that final lap.
Keselowski & Earnhardt are the only two drivers to complete in the top five in each of the season’s 1st three races.
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