Apr 25, 2021 3 min read

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Brad Keselowski did it exactly right this time and finally got that last-lap victory, winning in overtime Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway.

Keselowski is the ninth driver to win through 10 NASCAR Cup races this season and avenged the embarrassing Team Penske gaffe in the season-opening Daytona 500 when he and teammate Joey Logano triggered a last-lap crash as Keselowski tried to pass Logano for the victory.

Keselowski led just one lap, the last one, in a race that featured 35 lead changes among 27 drivers.

“The whole race I had a couple opportunities to take the lead, but I just kept thinking, ‘Man, keep your car in one piece,'” Keselowski said.

Logano was involved in an airborne wreck and called on NASCAR to change to dangerous racing conditions at Daytona and Talladega.

“On one hand, I am mad about being in the crash and on the other, I am happy to be alive,” Logano said. “On another hand, I am wondering when we are going to stop because this is dangerous doing what we are doing. I got a roll bar in my head. That is not OK. I am one hit away from the same situation Ryan Newman just went through. I just don’t feel like that is acceptable.”

Newman escaped serious injury racing for the win on the final lap of the 2020 Daytona 500.

The victory, Keselowski’s sixth at Talladega, came after team owner Roger Penske pulled the three Team Penske drivers and affiliate Matt DiBenedetto onto a call this week to discuss his expectations on how they should race Sunday. Penske refused to accept another Daytona disaster when Logano or Keselowski should have won the race but instead of working together the two triggered a fiery crash that also collected a third Penske car.

William Byron was second, Daytona 500 winner Michael McDowell third and Kevin Harvick a season-high fourth.

DiBenedetto, who led 28 laps, finished fifth.

Kaz Grala finished a career-best sixth and was followed by Tyler Reddick and Austin Dillon in a trio of Chevrolets.

Keselowski tied Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon with six wins each at Talladega.

Huerta wins at St. Pete: Colton Herta followed the sound of his father’s voice around the downtown streets of St. Petersburg, into victory lane and next to him on IndyCar’s win list.

Herta on Sunday scored his fourth IndyCar victory to match the same total his father, Bryan, achieved over his own 12-year career. The son needed just 34 races for his four wins, and at the start of his third full IndyCar season, Colton Herta is already a title contender.

Herta started from the pole and led a race-record 97 of the 100 laps to win his first race with Bryan Herta as his race strategist. Andretti Autosport paired the Hertas for the first time this year, dismissing previous father-son combinations that simply didn’t work in IndyCar.

Two cautions created two late restarts for Colton Herta to hold off Josef Newgarden.