Brad Keselowski for Sixth Time Wins at Talladega

A six pack and a tie. Brad Keselowski wins a thriller in the Geico 500 at Talladega on Sunday.

It took a last lap pass for the Michigan native to get his first win of the season. After a late race caution forcing overtime, Keselowski restarted in third behind Matt DiBenedetto. DiBenedetto had the lead down the back straightaway but a block shuffled him out of line and Keselowski took control.

Then it was a late charge by the Daytona 500 winner Michael McDowell and William Byron. Keselowski was able to put the block on and hold off their charge. Byron finishes second, McDowell was third with Kevin Harvick having one of his best runs of the season in fourth place. DiBenedetto was fifth and Kaz Grala ended up sixth in the Kaulig Racing entry.

Keselowski ties Dale Earnhardt, Jr and Jeff Gordon with six wins at the superspeedway. The very first victory in Keselowski’s career was at Talladega and that day in April also came with him making a last lap pass to win. It’s the 33rd victory of Keselowski’s career. He’s the ninth different winner in ten races this season.

First Time Stage Winners

The day started out pretty calm for the most part. Kyle Larson had an engine expire only three laps into the event and ended his day. At the end of the first stage, Joey Logano went for a wild ride.

Logano was turned and was sent flying through the air in the middle of the pack. His car flipped a couple of times including one that landed on top of Bubba Wallace’s Toyota Camry. Wallace had limited damage but had a front row seat to a flying Logano.

"I'm telling you, my underwear is worse than the car right now."

– @BubbaWallace pic.twitter.com/KGAlGMDJcK

— 23XI Racing (@23XIRacing) April 25, 2021

DiBenedetto would go on to win the first stage. This was his first career stage win and help get the No. 21 Wood Brothers team points. Starting the second stage Chase Elliott and Denny Hamlin each had a chance at the lead. Both would take it early on in the stage, as did DiBenedetto.

During the round of green flag pit stops, Hamlin was speeding on pit road. A bad situation went to worse when Hamlin came down pit road to serve his penalty and was caught speeding again. This put him over a lap down and struggled to get back.

His errors on the pit lane cost him at the end of the stage. Hamlin wrecked in the middle of the pack and collected a handful of others, including Elliott and Alex Bowman. This would end Bowman’s day and tear up Hamlin’s car. All of this happening as the field is coming to the stage finish.

Another first time stage winner, Bubba Wallace. He picked up his first career stage win at the end of stage two. A solid recovery for a car one stage prior had another car on top of them.

Overtime Thriller

Stage three was pretty calm for the most part. Ross Chastain led a good portion of the final stage before things got mixed up in green flag pit stops. A caution with 15 laps to go really shook up the field and made it a short dash.

DiBenedetto took the lead and never looked back. The fan favorite was well on his way to his first Nascar Cup Series win. Then with only three laps to go, Martin Truex, Jr had a tire let go and the tire carcass ended up in the racing groove on the tri-oval. With the caution, it set up the stage for overtime.

Cars mixing it up deeper in the pack and Brad Keselowski making the smart late moves to lead his only lap of the day and the one that counted. Once again he put himself in an opportunity to win at Talladega and does it again.