Keslowski shakes stomach bug to win in Atlanta

Associated Press

HAMPTON, Ga.

Brad Keselowski was so sick at Atlanta Motor Speedway his team had a standby driver on call.

The help wasn’t needed.

The winningest driver in Team Penske history raced to an unlikely victory Sunday by recovering from a stomach virus to win at Atlanta Motor Speedway. It was the first victory for Ford’s new Mustang and a rebound for the manufacturer after Toyota swept the season-opening Daytona 500.

NASCAR debuted its new competition package Sunday that is designed to improve the on-track product and help the smaller teams contend. But the first look at the new rules was tempered because the abrasive asphalt is unlike any other surface NASCAR will race on this season.

But NASCAR successfully designed a package that slowed the cars and bunched them closer together, which made for intense racing when the field was packed on restarts. The nature of Atlanta’s challenging 1.5-mile speedway led drivers to eventually fan out into single file, which NASCAR is trying to avoid, but the racing is expected to improve moving forward.

Keselowski raced to his 60th win for Roger Penske to pass Indy great Mark Donohue’s mark as the team leader. He has won 27 of his 28 Cup victories for Penske.

“Oh, yeah, I forgot about that!” Keselowski said. “I think any win means a lot, but that’s a big number. Now I get to wear that yellow Mark Donohue helmet. This day is, wow, I don’t even know how to put it in words.”

Roughly six hours earlier, crew chief Paul Wolfe wasn’t even sure Keselowski could go the full 500 miles.

“He said he’s good to go, so we’ll see,” Wolfe said.