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NASCAR: Brad Keselowski Wins 2021 Talladega GEICO 500

Brad Keselowski won the Geico 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday. The NASCAR driver of the No. 2 Ford car came back in dramatic fashion to steal the lead from Matt DiBenedetto in overtime. The win marks Keselowski’s 6th win at the iconic track, tying him with Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. for victories at Talladega.

It was DiBenedetto’s race to win as the final stage came to a close. But Martin Truex Junior’s blown tire led to two-lap overtime. Keselowski took full advantage of the opportunity. He emerged from the fray on the 191st lap to finish in front. It was the only lap the driver led the whole race, and it was the only one that ended up mattering.

It was Keselowski’s first win of the season, and one that he expected would come.

“I feel like we came out of the gate really strong at Daytona. We were in position to win. We had a good run at Vegas, not quite as strong as we wanted to be at Phoenix, but still solid, so we’re knocking around the door,” he said just a few weeks ago.

Shortly after the race, the official NASCAR Twitter page took to social media to drop an awesome clip of Keselowski getting his celebration on.

Possibly the most shocking part of the day was that Keselowski only led for one lap of the entire race. Check out his final lap below:

A Hard-Fought NASCAR Race at Talladega

The race saw its fair share of mishaps as Joey Logano flipped his car and Kurt Busch’s tires caught fire. But Keselowski was able to dodge the chaos.

The three-wide, door-to-door racing at Talladega is a recipe for disaster. And we got a glimpse of how difficult it can be to hang on for a finish, let alone a victory. The favorite going into the race was a recent Talladega winner, Denny Hamlin. But late in Stage 2, the 1st place driver in the NASCAR Cup Series got caught up with other contenders Martin Truex Jr. and William Byron, bumping and spinning each other out.

The heartbreaking loss for Matt DiBenedetto, who won Stage 1 of the race, was met with optimism by the winless driver.

“Our day will come,” he said, following the loss.

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