Random Recap: The 2011 STP 400
Welcome to Random Recaps, our new weekly feature at From The Marbles. In this space, we’ll recap a race from the past at the track the where Sprint Cup Series is racing next.
This week’s race is the 2011 STP 400. Need to know how Random Recap works? Click here.
Brad Keselowski won the second race of his career and the first of his Penske Racing tenure at Kansas Speedway.
Keselowski and crew chief Paul Wolfe played a different fuel strategy than teammate Kurt Busch and took over the lead for the final nine laps, the only laps he led all day. Busch lost the lead because he was forced to pit for fuel with 10 laps to go after a long green flag run to end the race.
The fuel-mileage finish was set up when the final caution flag came on lap 163. The last 102 laps were run under green and Keselowski last pitted 57 laps from the finish, making it further to the end than anyone else.
However, when he pitted for the final time, he wasn’t the favorite to win the race if the race stayed green to the finish. Tony Stewart was, as he pitted a lap later than Keselowski. However, Stewart’s team didn’t get the car’s tank completely full of fuel and he was forced to pit again while Keselowski was able to safely stretch his tank to the finish.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished second, though he couldn’t mount much of a charge because he too had to save fuel.
Busch led 152 laps but since he had to pit twice during the final green flag stretch, he ended up finishing ninth. Denny Hamlin was third, Jeff Gordon was fourth and Carl Edwards was fifth. Stewart finished eighth.
The win puts Keselowski in 21st place in the Sprint Cup Series standings and on the periphery of Chase contention. Two wild-card spots are given to drivers with wins occupying the 11th-20th spots in the standings.
Epilogue: Keselowski went on to win two more races in 2011 (Pocono and Bristol) and finished fifth in the standings. As you know, he won the title the next year. Did anyone have any idea that a fuel-mileage win would help jump-start his Penske career like it did?
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
