With Jimmie Johnson sitting in a disabled car in the garage area for a second consecutive weekend, the championship already had been clinched.
Even so, Brad Keselowski and crew chief Paul Wolfe had a goal in mind, even with just five laps remaining and that Sprint Cup trophy already being shined up and readied to hand over to the driver of the No. 2 team.
“P17 here, bud,” Wolfe relayed over the radio, referring to Keselowski’s position on the race track. “Want one more spot.”
“You and I are thinking alike,” came the response from the cockpit.
They didn’t want to back into it, not after coming this far. About an hour earlier, the championship battle had become tighter than most imagined, with Johnson leading the race and Keselowski battling the specter of fuel-mileage issues. The five-time champion even briefly assumed the points lead on the race track, forging ahead by seven when the No. 2 car ran out of gas just before a pit stop. And suddenly, it all changed — there was a lug nut ...
Original Story:
|
11 hours ago
