By: Dustin Long – @dustinlong on October 13, 2013 | 2:47 P.M. EST
Brad Keselowski was on pace to join Dale Earnhardt and Benny Parsons in an exclusive list.
This was not a good thing.
In the last 45 years, Earnhardt and Parsons are the only defending champions who ran a full schedule the following season and did not win a race.
Keselowski, who had already missed the Chase, faced such ignominy heading into Saturday night’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Keselowski’s race seemed to follow a season-long script where troubles followed him. He left pit road on Lap 88 with the jack under his car and had to return to the pits. He restarted 22nd, the last car on the lead lap. It took more than 125 laps before he became ensconced in the top 10.
While he struggled, Hendrick Motorsports dominated, its four cars combing to lead 313 of the 334 laps. It appeared as if Jimmie Johnson would win his second Chase race of the season, keeping Keselowski out of Victory Lane yet again. It was only last month that Keselowski saw the one-year anniversary of his last Cup win pass.
A debris caution with less than 30 laps left changed Keselowski’s season and helped change his place in history.
Jimmie Johnson lost his lead on pit road. Then lost his chance to win with a bad restart. Kasey Kahne led with the help of a two-tire pit stop. Keselowski, who got four new tires on his pit stop, shot through the field on the restart. He went from sixth to second with six laps. He chased Kahne and the two dueled before Keselowski took the lead for good with nine laps left.
After Keselowski crossed the finish line, he didn’t shout but thanked his team.
“It’s been a pretty tough year,’’ crew chief Paul Wolfe responded on the radio. “Appreciate you hanging in there.’’
By doing so, Keselowski won’t repeat Parsons’ winless season in 1974 after winning the ’73 crown or Earnhardt’s winless 1981 season after winning the first of his seven crowns a year earlier.
“It’s a relief,’’ Keselowski said of winning, “because … going into the offseason and having to answer those questions, not just from the media but those questions come up from yourself. They’re not fun.’’
Keselowski said he stopped looking back with about 50 laps to go at Richmond when it became apparent that he would not make the Chase.
“I don’t look back unless someone asks me to look back,’’ he said after his 10th career Cup victory. “It’s not productive.
“I do think this is a really key moment for us. This is not as big a clutch win as it would be if we would have won Richmond, but still a clutch moment.’’
It was important because it was a win, something Keselowski hadn’t done in such a long time.
While his car has been fast enough to win, a variety of issues plagued him unlike last year when his he and Wolfe seemed to make the right call nearly every time on the way to the championship. Keselowski has said the execution has been off this season.
“When I look at executions, that’s more than just a pit crew,’’ he said. “That’s me, too. I can always be better. I look back at a couple of races, the Daytonas and Talladegas and I don’t think I executed like I needed to.
“The races are playing out different and the strategies for the Generation-6 car is different. It’s not fair to really pick one area, but obviously if we would have executed better, I do feel like we’d be in the Chase.’’
Although disappointed with not getting Keselowski in the Chase, car owner Roger Penske was realistic.
“Kyle Busch didn’t get in last year,’’ Penske said. “(Jeff) Gordon didn’t get in one year, too. You’ve got some great drivers that sometimes don’t make it. That doesn’t mean they’ve lost anything, it’s just the way it works out.’’
Saturday night, a season’s worth of frustrations ended for Keselowski with how everything worked out for him.
