Did fate intervene on Brad Keselowski’s behalf?

The final standings read like a rout. Brad Keselowski won his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship by 39 points over Clint Bowyer, with five-time champion Jimmie Johnson third, 40 points back of Keselowski. What the final standings don’t show, however, was just how perilously close Keselowski was to losing a championship he controlled until divergent pit strategies late in Sunday’s Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway put his title in jeopardy. On Lap 158, the No. 2 Penske Dodge team made a fundamental mistake in not covering Johnson’s move when the No. 48 Chevrolet came to pit road to top off the fuel tank under the third and final caution of the race. That put Keselowski in the position of needing two more pit stops to Johnson’s one when the race restarted on Lap 162. Why didn’t Keselowski insist on pitting behind Johnson? "It was a very complex situation," Keselowski told the NASCAR Wire Service after a late-night photo shoot on the backstretch. "I ...