Dale Jr. Runs Out on Final Lap, Keselowski Triumphs at Las Vegas

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service

LAS VEGAS — Unfortunately for Dale Earnhardt Jr., crew chief Steve Letarte's words proved prophetic.

“If it runs out, stay on the track and coast to the finish,” Letarte told his driver as he took the white flag in Sunday’s Kobalt 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

And that’s exactly what happened.

After pulling away slightly from race winner Brad Keselowski during a dramatic battle over the last 15 of 267 laps, Earnhardt ran out of fuel on the backstretch, a half-lap from the finish, and coasted home in second place, 1.531 seconds behind the driver of the No. 2 Team Penske Ford.

Following a scrape with the outside wall and an off-sequence pit strategy, Keselowski took the checkered flag for the first time this season, the first time at LVMS and the 11th time in his Sprint Cup career.

The winner of Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race, Keselowski completed the first weekend sweep by a Ford driver since Carl Edwards won both races at Phoenix in 2010.

Earnhardt, the Daytona 500 winner, was runner-up for the second-straight race. Paul Menard ran third, followed by pole winner Joey Logano and Carl Edwards, as Fords grabbed three of the top five positions.

Six-time series champion Jimmie Johnson, Ryan Newman, Kasey Kahne, Jeff Gordon and Matt Kenseth completed the top 10.

With a victory, all but guaranteeing a spot in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Keselowski wasn’t surprised that Earnhardt and Letarte were willing to gamble.

“It’s such a [relief] for myself and everyone on the team to get that win in early and being able to enjoy the racing opportunities that we have, rather than being stressed out about it,” Keselowski said. “The chance that Dale and Stevie took with the 88 car was way out there.

“It was a good, risky move on their part, because they had nothing to lose because of this [new Chase] format. I think that shows some of the opportunities that come (from having) stress-free days, and I’m looking forward to being able to take those same opportunities, because I’m not scared to take ‘em, and I know (crew chief) Paul (Wolfe) is not, so look out.”

Committed to a fuel-mileage gamble, a luxury he earned with the Daytona 500 win, Earnhardt stayed on track during Lap 222 pit stops under the fourth caution of the afternoon for debris on the front stretch.

It was that same caution that gave Keselowski a welcome opportunity to refuel, a move that put him back on sequence with the rest of the lead-lap drivers other than Earnhardt, Edwards and 12th-place finisher Denny Hamlin.

Keselowski restarted seventh but quickly rocketed past all but Earnhardt and Carl Edwards, who also stayed out under the yellow. More than two seconds behind Earnhardt, Keselowski slipped past Edwards on Lap 245 and drew a bead on the leader.

With three laps left, Keselowski had narrowed the interval to .296 seconds, the closest he would get before Earnhardt’s car slowed on the backstretch halfway through the final lap.

“I ran two real hard laps right after that restart (on Lap 226), and we got about a 20-car-length lead, and I started lifting real early into both corners and seeing whether they were going to catch me,” Earnhardt said. “So I was being pretty cautious and lifting pretty early, and when I saw Brad pass the 99 (Edwards), I knew Brad in clean air would be quicker than us, potentially -- he had been all day -- and I just continued to save fuel and hope that once he got behind me and got into dirty air I could keep him there. 

“I continued to save until he got within about eight car lengths, and then I started running hard, and we were fast enough to keep him behind us. As soon as I got to the top of Turns 1 and 2 the last several laps, I was real comfortable that he wasn't going to get to me, felt fine about, if we had enough gas, we weren't going to have a problem, but we didn't have enough gas.”

Using a contrarian fuel-mileage strategy, Keselowski stayed on track when the rest of the lead-lap cars came to pit road on Lap 156, under the third caution of the race for debris on the backstretch. 

Keselowski’s No. 2 Team Penske Ford took off on old tires and built a lead of more than 2.5 seconds over Kevin Harvick, whose strong run was spoiled by a brake failure as he chased Keselowski.

Harvick, last week’s winner at Phoenix, brought his car to pit road on Lap 194 and ultimately lost 30 laps as his team went about repairs in the garage. 

Keselowski gave up the lead when he came to pit road on Lap 196 and regained it briefly during the subsequent green-flag pit stop cycle. But Earnhardt took the point by staying out for a Lap 226 restart and held the top spot until Keselowski passed him on the final lap.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Race Number 3

Kobalt 400

Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Pts Bns Driver Rating Winnings Status Leader Tms Laps

1 2 2 Brad Keselowski Miller Lite Ford 267 48 5 134.6 $449,048 Running 5 53

2 14 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Mountain Dew Kickstart Chevrolet 267 43 1 121.7 $263,005 Running 3 51

3 21 27 Paul Menard Quaker State/Menards Chevrolet 267 42 1 108.1 $237,719 Running 1 6

4 1 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 267 41 1 109.8 $209,596 Running 2 44

5 11 99 Carl Edwards Aflac Ford 267 40 1 88.2 $170,730 Running 1 1

6 5 48 Jimmie Johnson Kobalt Tools Chevrolet 267 39 1 124.8 $186,831 Running 3 34

7 10 31 Ryan Newman Caterpillar Chevrolet 267 37 94.0 $134,920 Running

8 13 5 Kasey Kahne Farmers Insurance Chevrolet 267 36 91.2 $137,470 Running

9 15 24 Jeff Gordon Axalta Chevrolet 267 35 102.7 $162,006 Running

10 29 20 Matt Kenseth Dollar General Toyota 267 35 1 92.6 $163,281 Running 1 2

11 20 18 Kyle Busch M&M's Toyota 267 34 1 108.1 $164,076 Running 3 52

12 27 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Ground Toyota 267 33 1 83.1 $121,410 Running 1 1

13 9 55 Brian Vickers Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota 267 31 83.1 $144,385 Running

14 12 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Chevrolet 267 30 96.6 $139,068 Running

15 7 1 Jamie McMurray Cessna/Bad Boy Buggies Chevrolet 267 29 76.4 $144,474 Running

16 4 3 Austin Dillon # Cheerios Chevrolet 267 28 82.4 $155,096 Running

17 19 66 Jeff Burton Let's Go Places Toyota 267 27 71.1 $115,960 Running

18 18 47 AJ Allmendinger Kingsford Charcoal Chevrolet 267 26 67.7 $125,018 Running

19 17 42 Kyle Larson # Target Chevrolet 266 25 76.6 $132,005 Running

20 34 21 Trevor Bayne(i) Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford 266 0 65.9 $102,060 Running

21 22 10 Danica Patrick Aspen Dental Chevrolet 266 23 58.0 $112,060 Running

22 25 16 Greg Biffle Red Cross Ford 266 22 52.5 $143,435 Running

23 3 15 Clint Bowyer 5-hour Energy Toyota 266 21 84.4 $141,851 Running

24 43 9 Marcos Ambrose DeWalt Ford 266 20 56.0 $126,680 Running

25 8 43 Aric Almirola Farmland Ford 264 19 60.3 $136,771 Running

26 23 41 Kurt Busch Haas Automation Chevrolet 264 18 62.9 $94,835 Running

27 6 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Zest Ford 264 17 68.8 $132,960 Running

28 30 13 Casey Mears GEICO Chevrolet 264 16 54.6 $120,193 Running

29 38 7 Michael Annett # Pilot/Flying J Chevrolet 264 15 50.8 $109,868 Running

30 33 38 David Gilliland Love's Travel Stops Ford 264 14 54.1 $116,493 Running

31 37 51 Justin Allgaier # Brandt Professional Agriculture Chevrolet 264 13 42.1 $112,682 Running

32 26 34 David Ragan Taco Bell Ford 263 12 45.2 $102,435 Running

33 24 14 Tony Stewart Mobil 1/Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet 263 11 40.3 $125,893 Running

34 40 36 Reed Sorenson Chevrolet 262 10 41.7 $91,535 Running

35 39 83 Ryan Truex # Borla Exhaust Toyota 261 9 33.5 $91,310 Running

36 28 26 Cole Whitt # Speed Stick GEAR Toyota 261 8 41.5 $91,110 Running

37 36 23 Alex Bowman # Dr.Pepper Toyota 259 7 33.1 $90,883 Running

38 41 33 Timmy Hill LittleJoesAutos.com Chevrolet 258 6 27.3 $85,590 Running

39 42 32 Travis Kvapil Ask More-Get More Ford 253 5 27.9 $81,590 Running

40 32 30 Parker Kligerman # Aria Hotels/Black Clover Toyota 240 4 28.9 $77,590 Running

41 16 4 Kevin Harvick Jimmy John's Chevrolet 237 4 1 92.4 $114,623 Running 2 23

42 31 98 Josh Wise Ambient Edge HVAC Chevrolet 212 2 27.9 $69,590 Running

43 35 95 Michael McDowell WRL General Contractors Ford 141 1 33.4 $66,090 Engine

 Time of Race:2 Hrs, 35 Mins, 24 Secs.Average Speed:154.633 MPHMargin of Victory:1.530 Seconds

Caution Flags: 4 for 18 laps: Laps: 18-22 (Fluid On The Track [30]); 46-49 (Debris Turn 3 [83]); 156-160 (Debris Backstretch [1]); 222-225 (Debris Frontstretch [47]).

Lead Changes: 21 among 10 drivers: J. Logano 1-19; B. Keselowski 20-21; J. Logano 22-46; J. Johnson 47-76; Kyle Busch 77-95; D. Earnhardt Jr. 96-97; Kyle Busch 98-129; K. Harvick 130-139; Kyle Busch 140; B. Keselowski 141; M. Kenseth 142-143; K. Harvick 144-156; B. Keselowski 157-195; J. Johnson 196-198; P. Menard 199-204; J. Johnson 205; D. Earnhardt Jr. 206-210; C. Edwards 211; D. Hamlin 212; B. Keselowski 213-222; D. Earnhardt Jr. 223-266; B. Keselowski 267; 

Top 16 Driver Points: (1) D. Earnhardt Jr. 133;(2) B. Keselowski 132;(3) J. Johnson 117;(4) J. Logano 116;(5) J. Gordon 115;(6) C. Edwards 105;(7) M. Kenseth 105;(8) D. Hamlin 101;(9) R. Newman 97;(10) Kyle Busch 95;(11) J. Mcmurray 93;(12) G. Biffle 86;(13) A. Dillon # 84;(14) K. Harvick 83;(15) K. Kahne 83;(16) R. Stenhouse Jr. 80.