The No. 2 driver led 115 of the scheduled 160 laps and kept brothers Kyle and Kurt Busch at bay on the final overtime lap to claim his first win at Daytona International Speedway. Keselowski, regarded as one of NASCAR’s best restrictor-plate racers, had never finished in the top five at the track in seven previous starts.
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Kyle Busch finished second and Trevor Bayne, Joey Logano and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. rounded out the top five.
Kurt Busch, who crashed out of second place on the fateful final lap attempting to chase down Keselowski, has the longest drought at Daytona among active drivers with 31 starts without a win.
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“This is Daytona, this is huge,” Keselowski said of his second win of the season. “I love this place … but it’s been a pain in the you know what.”
Tony Stewart, fresh off an inspiring victory last week, crashed with 12 laps remaining, ending his bid to go back-to-back. He still managed to crack the top 30 in the Chase for the Sprint Cup standings for the first time after missing the first eight races of the season. He now sits 30th in the standings and seems ripe for a postseason berth.
There were a number of wrecks throughout the race, including a 22-car mess with 70 laps to go that claimed Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth, Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne and Chase Elliott, among others.
