Chris Buescher, Keselowski’s teammate at RFK Racing, was working feverishly to carry off Reddick within the last laps of Sunday’s race when Reddick obtained into him as he tried a slide job off Flip 4 and the 2 collided.
That collision – which despatched each drivers to pit highway with flat tires – opened the door for Keselowski to inherit the lead with eight of 293 laps remaining and he then held off Ty Gibbs by 1.214 seconds to clinch the victory.
The win is the primary for Keselowski since he turned co-owner of RFK Racing in 2022 and thirty sixth of his profession. Till Sunday, no Ford driver had gained in any of NASCAR’s three nationwide sequence this season – Cup, Xfinity and Vehicles.
“What a heck of a day. It’s Darlington, so whether or not it’s your first win, your final win, this can be a actually particular observe,” Keselowski stated. “The historical past of NASCAR, it’s as robust because it will get, and that battle on the finish with my teammate and Tyler Reddick, we simply laid all of it out on the road, it was freaking superior.
“I believed it couldn’t get a lot better than Kansas. It did as we speak. That was superior. I’m so glad you guys obtained to see that. That was unbelievable.”
Requested if he thought his probability on the win was over when he misplaced the result in Buescher late within the race, Keselowski stated, “I imply, it wasn’t good, however I knew that I’d have one other shot at it. My automobile was actually good on the lengthy runs. When Tyler obtained beneath Chris, I knew I had one other shot at it once they made contact.
“Then they will need to have obtained a flat tire, I don’t know what occurred, and we caught a break. We’ve caught sufficient dangerous breaks during the last 12 months or two, it’s good to catch one.”
After the race, an offended Buescher confronted Reddick at his automobile to complain about the way in which Reddick raced him. Reddick took accountability for the incident.
Buescher, who misplaced final week to Kyle Larson within the closest end in NASCAR historical past, ended up thirtieth within the working order and Reddick thirty second.
Josh Berry ended up third, Denny Hamlin was fourth and Chase Briscoe rounded out the highest 5.
Finishing the highest 10 have been William Byron, Bubba Wallace, Alex Bowman, Justin Hailey and Michael McDowell.
Stage 1
Larson handed Gibbs with 11 of 90 laps remaining and cruised to the Stage 1 win by 4.752 seconds. Keselowski was third, Reddick fourth and Martin Truex Jr. ended up fifth.
Stage 2
After dueling for the lead on a late restart, Reddick held off Keselowski by 0.677 seconds to win Stage 2. Gibbs was third, Joey Logano fourth and Larson rounded out the highest 5.
On a restart following a warning, reigning sequence champion Ryan Blaney slammed into the Flip 1 wall after contact from Truex on lap 129. Truex and Buescher additionally tagged the wall within the aftermath. Blaney was knocked out of the race.
Stage 3
Following the break between Phases 2 and three, all of the lead lap automobiles elected to pit with Reddick first off pit highway. He led Keselowski and Byron when the race resumed with 100 laps remaining.
Keselowski slowly started to reel in Reddick and with 67 laps to go, he obtained round Reddick for the lead.
With about 65 laps remaining, a number of drivers – seemingly splitting the ultimate stage into thirds – hit pit highway beneath inexperienced for gas and new tires.
Reddick and Keselowski hit pit highway for his or her respective stops with 58 laps to go, which turned the lead over to Byron. Keselowski cycled again to the lead on lap 243 with Reddick shut behind.
Whereas working sixth, Larson’s No. 5 Chevrolet obtained free in the course of Turns 3 and 4 from a tire taking place. He spun and slammed into the wall to convey out a warning, however the injury was intensive sufficient to knock him out of the race.
The lead lap automobiles all pit for brand new tires and gas to make it to the top of the race. Logano needed to restart from the rear of the sphere after dashing throughout his cease. Reddick was first off pit highway and led the way in which over Keselowski with 33 laps to go.
Reddick and Keselowski then spent the following few laps racing aspect by aspect till Buescher dove under them on the frontstretch in a three-wide transfer to take the lead with 29 laps remaining.
Buescher constructed a strong lead solely to see Reddick shut the margin to beneath a second with 10 laps to go.
