Keselowski wins again at Bristol

By Reid Spencer

NASCAR Wire Service

BRISTOL, Tenn.

NASCAR racing has a new Ice Man.

As he completed the final lap of his victory in Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway, Brad Keseloswki needled Paul Wolfe, his crew chief.

“Paul, are you nervous?” Keselowski radioed to Wolfe, his voice exuding of confidence. As he crossed the finish line six car-lengths in front of runner-up Matt Kenseth, Keselowski allowed himself an excited whoop.

The driver of the No. 2 Penske Racing Dodge scored his second straight win at the .533-mile short track and the fifth of his Sprint Cup career.

Martin Truex Jr. came home third, followed by Clint Bowyer and Brian Vickers, as Michael Waltrip Racing drivers claimed positions three through five. Vickers scored the top-five in his first Cup action since his contract with Red Bull Racing ended last year.

Jeff Burton, Jamie McMurray, Juan Pablo Montoya, Jimmie Johnson and Paul Menard completed the top 10.

Keselowski and Kenseth had run away from the rest of the field and were battling for the lead when Tony Stewart’s Chevrolet smacked the Turn 3 wall on Lap 478 to bring out the fifth caution of the race.

Unlike a restart earlier in the race, Keselowksi chose the outside lane for a restart on Lap 484 — after considerable discussion with Wolfe — and cleared Kenseth off the second corner. From there on, it was smooth sailing.

“Yeah, he screwed that up,” Kenseth joked about the lane choice. “He should have started on the bottom for me. Unfortunately, he didn’t. I don’t know. I couldn’t run on the bottom, and Brad was really strong on the bottom of [Turns] 1 and 2.

“I was thinking I could run outside of him [after the restart], but he would roll through there so fast you could never get a run on him.”