The lead in NASCAR’s “Chase for the Sprint Cup” championship changed hands in Sunday’s AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway.
Brad Keselowski used a risky but effective fuel saving strategy to capture the checkered flag for his first ever win at Dover.
The victory, Keselowski's fifth this season and second in the first three Chase races, allowed him to jump from one point behind five-time champ Jimmie Johnson in the championship points standings to 5 points ahead of Johnson with seven races to go.
Johnson finished fourth Sunday.
While other lead cars had to pit for fuel or slow down to conserve it, Keslowski had enough to get to the front late and stay there at the finish. But Keselowski would not take sole credit for making the late race fuel strategy work.
"A lot of it is on the team. It sounds great to give the credit to the driver, but the engine and the strategy makes it work as well. I think you have to keep in context of the team," said Keselowski. "When everybody contributes [a little bit] and you stack some pennies, before you know it you have a dollar. And then before you know it, you've got tens and hundreds. That's what it takes at the Cup level to win right now."
Denny Hamlin finished eighth in the race to remain third in the title chase, but he fell from seven to 16 points out of the lead.
Jeff Gordon finished second in Sunday's AAA 400 and stands 10th in the Chase standings, 48 points behind Keselowski.
Keselowski takes his Chase lead to Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama next week where he picked up a win back in May, but Keselowski is hardly feeling confident in his chances to take the title just yet.
"I can’t state loudly enough how much longer this battle is. It’s very tempting, whether its the media or the teams themselves, to get into a comfort zone and say such-and-such has control of this chase. But there’s a reason it’s 10 rounds. We're not even halfway. We’re only three rounds in," said Keselowski. "By no means do I feel like we are we the favorite. Certainly were not the underdog at this point, but there’s so much racing to go and so many opportunities for things to go wrong or right for anyone."
NASCAR returns to Dover next year with Sprint Cup races on the Monster Mile June 2nd and September 29th.