Keselowski Nets Win, Extends Points Lead in Windy City; Almirola's Title Hopes Go Up in Smoke

Brad Keselowski poses next to his name at the top of Round Two in the Chase
Grid. He automatically advanced after his win Sunday (Photo: Google Images)

The first race in the Chase for the Championship took place Sunday afternoon in Chicago and, just like he did two years ago, Brad Keselowski threw down the gauntlet. The driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford scored his second win in the Windy City in three years. Why is this significant? When he scored that first Chicagoland win, he went on to win the 2012 championship nine races later.

This was also Keselowski's second win in a row, after netting the victory last weekend at Richmond. However, when the race started any chance of Keselowski winning seemed like a long shot. Because qualifying was rained out and the field was set by practice speeds, Kyle Busch was on the pole and Keselowski rolled off in 25th position. Even during the event, he was forced to come back down pit road after a stop to tighten a loose wheel, miring him back in 16th place on the lap 287 restart.

Keselowski gained the lost track position on the restarts that came following his team's botched pit stop. Then with 15 laps to go, he drive his Ford in between fellow Chase contender Kevin Harvick and rookie sensation Kyle Larson, who was vying for his first career Sprint Cup Series victory. The driver known as "Bad Brad" made it three wide off of turn two and passed both Harvick and Larson by the end of the backstretch. Had he clipped either driver on his way past, it would have been detrimental to not only his Chase hopes, but also Harvick's.

On a restart that resulted from Danica Patrick getting into boyfriend Ricky Stenhouse Jr's No. 17 Ford, Keselowski took the green with five laps to go and not only held the lead, but continued to stretch it out. He would win by almost two seconds over fellow Chaser Jeff Gordon.

Keselowski leads the field around Chicagoland Speedway
(Photo: Google Images)

But while both the No. 2 team had a great start to their post-season run, not every Chase driver was that fortunate. Ryan Newman and Carl Edwards  both had flat tires, but both rallied back to finish 15th and 20th respectively. Other big names also experienced trouble. Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth and Kurt Busch also had issues, with Busch and Kenseth spinning out as they entered pit road for routine service and Johnson's tire changer tripping as he ran from one side of the car to the other, turning what should have been a 12-second pit stop into a 17-second stop. Busch and Kenseth would rebound to grab top ten finishes and Johnson would finish a respectable 12th place.

However, AJ Allmendinger and Greg Biffle were slow all day long, finishing 22dn and 23rd respectively. Both these drivers are now in the bottom three in the standings and will have to find speed quickly or face elimination. The third Chase driver to have issues, and be the bottom of the bottom three drivers, was Aric Almirola. With 37 laps to go, the motor under the hood of Almirola's No. 43 Ford just let go, forcing him to go to the garage and ruining what was a surprisingly strong sixth place run for the underdog Chaser.

To quote Keselowski in victory lane, "It was a crazy day." There were a few wrecks, a lot of Chase contenders ran well, a few didn't, and there was a three wide battle for the lead that definitely gave fans their moneys worth. At the end of the day it was Keselowski in victory lane, advancing into the Contender Round of the Chase and making sure the Nascar world knows he will be a driver to watch for the championship. Just like he did when he won this race two years ago.

The next race on the schedule is the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, where Keselowski will go for three wins in a row and the rest of the field, Chasers or not, will try to knock him off the top of the hill.