Brad Keselowski wins at Talladega on 2nd G-W-C attempt, advances in Chase - MotorSportsTalk

What a difference a week makes.

Last Saturday night, Brad Keselowski was at the center of controversy after being part of multiple incidents following the race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

The $50,000 fine for his actions just added more pressure to a situation that required him to win today’s elimination race at Talladega Superspeedway in order to advance to the Eliminator Round of the Chase.

But on this Sunday, on NASCAR’s most chaotic track, Keselowski came through by charging from 39th on the starting grid, overcoming damage to his car from an early incident, and then surviving two green-white-checkered attempts to win the GEICO 500.

Upon reaching Victory Lane, Keselowski appeared to show remorse for what occurred in Charlotte.

“I know there are some people out there that probably aren’t happy that I won. I can understand that,” he said to ESPN. “But I’m a man like everyone else that does things they aren’t always proud of. I’m not real proud of last week. But I’m real proud about today.

“…I think it was very easy to write ourselves off after the last two weeks. We had one job to do: Come to Talladega and win it. And we did. We treated this weekend like Homestead. If these guys can keep it up at this level, we’ve got a shot at it. And I’m really, really thankful for that.”

A debris caution with four laps remaining set the stage for G-W-C, with Keselowski taking the restart in second alongside Ryan Newman. But he was able to take the lead from Newman before a multi-car incident broke out on the backstretch that involved Dale Earnhardt Jr. and several others.

That set up the second G-W-C attempt, and Newman mounted a charge on the outside as the white flag waved. He pulled side-by-side with Keselowski all the way to Turn 3 on the final lap.

But Keselowski and the inside line were able to pull ahead in the final corner, and the 2012 Cup champion went on to take, arguably, his greatest win yet at NASCAR’s top level.

“My first win in my [Cup] career was here and that was really big,” Keselowski said in reference to his inaugural Cup win in 2009. “This is at least the equal. It’s special.”

Newman went on to finish fifth at the stripe, but it was more than enough to get him into the Eliminator Round as the top Chaser without a win in the Contender Round.

Following him in on points were Denny Hamlin (18th place), race runner-up Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards (21st place), and Jeff Gordon (26th place), who earned the final Chase advance position by three points over Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kasey Kahne.

On the other side of the cutoff with Kahne are Kyle Busch (-7 points), who finished 40th after being caught in a crash on Lap 102; Jimmie Johnson (24th place, -40 points); and Earnhardt, who was relegated to a 31st-place result due to the GWC1 accident. Their hopes of earning this year’s championship have come to a close earlier than they hoped for.

Clint Bowyer picked up a third-place finish behind Keselowski and Kenseth in the race. Landon Cassill surprised with a fourth place finish, then Newman in fifth, Travis Kvapil in sixth, Kurt Busch in seventh, Marcos Ambrose in eighth, Kevin Harvick in ninth and Casey Mears in 10th.

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES AT TALLADEGA – GEICO 500
Unofficial Results
1. 2-Brad Keselowski, led 12 laps
2. 20-Matt Kenseth, led 1 lap
3. 15-Clint Bowyer
4. 40-Landon Cassill, led 1 lap
5. 31-Ryan Newman, led 10 laps
6. 33-Travis Kvapil
7. 41-Kurt Busch
8. 9-Marcos Ambrose
9. 4-Kevin Harvick, led 2 laps
10. 13-Casey Mears
11. 22-Joey Logano
12. 5-Kasey Kahne, led 12 laps
13. 3-Austin Dillon
14. 36-Reed Sorenson
15. 26-Cole Whitt, led 1 lap
16. 66-Michael Waltrip
17. 42-Kyle Larson
18. 11-Denny Hamlin, led 1 lap
19. 10-Danica Patrick, led 7 laps
20. 55-Brian Vickers
21. 99-Carl Edwards
22. 12-Ryan Blaney, led 15 laps
23. 47-A.J. Allmendinger
24. 48-Jimmie Johnson, led 84 laps
25. 16-Greg Biffle, led 1 lap
26. 24-Jeff Gordon, led 3 laps
27. 78-Martin Truex Jr., led 1 lap
28. 98-Josh Wise
29. 38-David Gilliland, led 2 laps
30. 34-David Ragan, led 2 laps
31. 88-Dale Earnhardt Jr., led 31 laps
32. 21-Trevor Bayne
33. 32-Terry Labonte
34. 14-Tony Stewart, led 5 laps
35. 1-Jamie McMurray, led 3 laps
36. 27-Paul Menard
37. 7-Michael Annett
38. 49-Mike Wallace
39. 43-Aric Almirola
40. 18-Kyle Busch
41. 95-Michael McDowell
42. 83-J.J. Yeley
43. 23-Alex Bowman

Follow @estradawriting

Vicki Golden has earned a career worthy of a thousand stories and 805 Beer tells at least one of them, as “Inverted Perspective” premiered March 30 on the company’s website and YouTube channel.

Golden did more to break the glass ceiling in SuperMotocross than she ever thought possible. She knows this because riders have never felt the need to explain any of her accomplishments with the disclaimer, “for a girl”.

At this point in Golden’s career, she’s been the first woman to finish top 10 in AMA Arenacross Lites, the first woman to qualify in the Fast 40 in Monster Energy AMA Supercross and the first woman to compete in freestyle Moto X competition, earning a bronze medal by doing so.

Her love for moto came from childhood while she watched her dad and brother ride. By seven she was on her bike and making waves throughout Southern California.

Golden, 30, is still madly in love with the sport and has no plans on moving away but her career is already one to talk about. 805 Beer’s film series wanted to do exactly that.

“I’m taken aback by it all,” Golden told NBC Sports about the documentary. “It’s just crazy to see your story, it’s one thing to live your life and battle everything that comes about but it’s another to just sit there and talk about it.”

805 approached Golden about the feature by asking, “Do you even realize that what you do, and your story is special?”

Golden took the question as a blank canvas to map out the highs and lows of her career and life.

Women in SuperMotocross: Jordan Jarvis knows how tough it is

The title “Inverted Perspective” came from a brainstorming session with Dominick Russo and it highlights Golden’s outlook on the sport of SuperMotocross and her life in general.

“My whole life, my whole career was thinking differently and looking at things that shouldn’t be done and aren’t there, while being able to make a place for myself, where no one thought there should be a place,” Golden said. “It’s inspiring someone to think in different ways. It sums up my life.”

*Vicki Golden is not “fast for a girl”; she’s just fast. – 805 Beer*

While Golden is no stranger to the spotlight, this was the first time she’s been fully involved with the storytelling and creation of a feature about herself.

“It’s not like a full new experience,” Golden said. “Obviously, you get your standard questions about your upbringing and accomplishments, but I’ve never really put into perspective things that happened in my past with my dad and putting that to light. Also, certain other things that maybe got overlooked in previous interviews or films. I wanted to touch on these and Dom wanted to create a story. It’s just cool to see it come to light, it’s a nearly impossible thing to tell somebody’s life story in 40 minutes.”

Golden’s father was left paralyzed after an ATV accident, robbing him the opportunity to ride again. This happened a few months before the father-daughter duo was set to compete in the Loretta Lynn’s Amateur Nationals when Vicki was 12. While she might have been unable to grasp the severity at the time, it’s something she carries with her. Golden continues to ride in his honor.

Years later, an accident in 2018 nearly sidelined the then 25-year-old Vicki when a freestyle accident almost resulted in the amputation of her lower leg.

Women in SuperMotocross Ashley Fiolek is building community

Golden 805 Beer — *Vicki Golden has ridden a variety of disciplines in SuperMotocross, which gives her a unique perspective. – 805 Beer*

“Inverted Perspective” highlights her father’s diligence in helping Vicki continue with her career and the kindness and strength he carried while fighting his own battle.

“My dad was the entire reason that I started riding in the first place,” Golden said. “So, to honor his memory and to honor what we went through and how hard he pushed to keep our dream alive and keep everything going – in that sense then, it was really special to be able to honor him and talk about him.”

The 40-minute feature was filmed entirely in black and white, a stark contrast from the oversaturated world of motocross where the brighter the suit the easier it is for fans to find their rider and follow him in the race. By filming in monochrome Russo and Golden had the chance to focus on the race and track from a different perspective.

“It was cool to be able to film it differently,” Golden said. “It created a challenge in the sense of what was going to be more visually impactful for the film.

“I couldn’t be here without the companies that back me but at the same time, it’s not like the logos or colors disappeared, it’s just different lights shed on different spots. It’s just a cool way to do it and to take color away and still be impactful. When you think of black and white, you think of old school, the OG way of doing things.”

Read more about SuperMotocross