Brad Keselowski has long been lauded as one of the best superspeedway racers in NASCAR, but a penalty in crunch time Saturday night at Daytona took him out of contention for the win.
Keselowski’s No. 6 Ford Mustang Dark Horse was fast at Daytona, as the 2012 Cup Series champion led eight laps and earned 12 stage points throughout the evening.
With 16 laps to go, Keselowski was lined up on the front row for a crucial restart. With race leader Austin Cindric deemed the control car for the restart, the only thing Keselowski couldn’t afford to do was accelerate first when the field reached the restart zone.
Unfortunately, in the eyes of NASCAR, Keselowski did accelerate first. While Keselowski claimed that Cindric spun his tires on the restart, his vehement denial of wrongdoing was of no use, and Keselowski was forced to serve a pass through penalty on lap 147.
Keselowski battled back to an eighth-place finish, but a potential win — and the five playoff points that come with it — were right there for the taking.
In an ironic twist of fate, the turn of events that made up the final laps of Saturday’s race mirrored the end of the 2011 Daytona 500, in which David Ragan, driver of the No. 6 Ford at the time, changed lanes before the restart to incur a penalty.
Who won on that February day? None other than 20-year-old Trevor Bayne, who collected his first Cup Series win for the Wood Brothers in the iconic No. 21 car.
On Saturday, it was 23-year-old Harrison Burton who shocked the world, scoring not only his first Cup Series win, but also the 100th Cup Series victory for the Wood Brothers.
The good news for Keselowski? He has an excellent chance to reach victory lane next weekend at Darlington, where he broke a 110-race winless streak in May.
