“I did what I had to do,” Keselowski said of not blocking Stenhouse at Talladega

Brad Keselowski didn’t throw a block as he crossed the finish line at Sunday’s Cup Series YellaWood 500 Talladega Superspeedway, and among those surprised was winner Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Keselowski opted to stay at the bottom, hoping his draft help – Kyle Larson – would be enough to potentially target Stenhouse. But Stenhouse had a better run on the wing with help from William Byron to make the pass and have enough to reach the finish line first.

The margin of victory was just 0.006 seconds.

“They wanted to divide me, which is what I would do if I were in their place,” Keselowski said of his decision. “I didn’t feel like I had a chance of getting close to number 47. We didn’t have enough smoke when number 24 pushed him; It would have simply driven around us and we would have been swallowed.

“I did what I had to do and got a good boost from the No. 5, but it wasn’t enough.”

The field was largely in the same two-by-two formation until the finish as at the start of overtime. Keselowski chose the bottom while Stenhouse was on the outside. Larson lined up behind Keselowski while Byron stood behind Stenhouse. Christopher Bell and Kyle Busch were in the third row, and Busch was substituted on the final lap when no one went into the third lane with him.

Stenhouse led Keselowski, Byron and Larson across the finish line. Erik Jones managed fifth place while Bell finished sixth.

“Very surprised,” Stenhouse said. “I would say Kyle and I are the best friends you could have and Kyle wins a lot of races and I know he’ll probably help me out as best he can, so I was really shocked.” I waited for the block and wanted to decide whether I was clear enough to get to him inside and get in front of the No. 5 or whether I should turn right and take our momentum with the No. 24.

“Yeah, I was super shocked that he didn’t do it with his right hand.”

Once again it was another second place finish for Keselowski at Alabama Superspeedway. In the spring race he got ahead of leader Michael McDowell on the final lap, but contact between the two allowed Tyler Reddick to pass when an accident occurred.

“This is a good finish for us,” said Keselowski. “We knocked on the door of these slab tracks. I think it’s a shame we didn’t get away with a win, but I’m happy to be at the front.”