Brad Keselowski steals the Cup show at Fontana

Brad Keselowski took the #2 Ford of Team Penske to a surprise win in the Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California on Sunday. The race took two green-white-checker attempts totaling nine extra laps to finish after a debris caution and a spin on the penultimate restart. Keselowski led only one lap during the whole race, which was mostly dominated by the Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolets of polesitter Kurt Busch and second-place starter and Las Vegas and Phoenix winner Kevin Harvick. Two-time defending race winner Kyle Busch remained sidelined indefinitely and was reduced to watching the race.

Busch and Harvick traded the lead early, and the first caution came when David Ragan spun after he and Jeff Gordon got into a battle over track space. Ragan's Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth had their Toyotas up front throughout the middle of the race. There were a number of debris cautions, some of which were naturally thought by fans to be unnecessary. The Hendrick Chevrolets of Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. slowly made their way up toward the front, as did the #42 Ganassi Chevrolet of Kyle Larson, last year's runner-up. Kenseth ran into issues late in the race and got the lucky dog to get back on the lead lap on the caution that set up the first green-white-checkered. Jeff Gordon and Greg Biffle stayed out while most of the other leaders pitted. while Hamlin, Johnson and Earnhardt lost a few positions. Biffle then spun on the restart, which set up the second of three possible GWC attempts. The race restarted on lap 208 with Busch back in the lead and Harvick following him. After the leaders took the white flag, there was a spin before the checkered, but NASCAR chose to let the leaders race back to the flag. This allowed Keselowski, who had not led all day, to get by Busch and Harvick and take the win.

Many people were angry that NASCAR threw the caution on lap 199 just before Busch and Harvick were about to get the white flag for what they saw as a non-hazard. Some even accused NASCAR of conspiring against Busch, who had the best car in all of practice and qualifying on Friday and Saturday, in the wake of the Patricia Driscoll situation. But others just wished NASCAR had displayed the white flag to the leaders and then thrown a caution before the checkered if they felt it was absolutely necessary. But as it turned out, Keselowski completed NASCAR's west coast swing with a come-from-behind victory that saw him as almost a non-factor until overtime. Keselowski's teammate Joey Logano finished seventh and both Penske drivers have now won in Cup competition this year. In addition, Martin Truex Jr. took the #78 Chevrolet to his fifth-straight top-ten finish, whie Justin Allgaier finished 12th in the #51 Chevrolet and Chris Buescher stayed out of trouble in his Cup debut and took the #34 Ford home in 20th.

The series now heads back east to race in Martinsville, Virginia next Sunday along with the Camping World Truck Series on Saturday. This will be the first truck race in a month following the Atlanta tripleheader three weeks ago. The Xfinity series is off next weekend and will return in two weeks for a Friday evening race in Fort Worth, Texas, the day before the first Cup night race of the year there.

Race Results:

1. (8) 2-Brad Keselowski - Ford - 209 laps, led 1 lap
2. (2) 4-Kevin Harvick - Chevrolet - 209 laps, led 34 laps
3. (1) 41-Kurt Busch - Chevrolet - 209 laps, led 65 laps
4. (11) 27-Paul Menard - Chevrolet - 209 laps
5. (9) 31-Ryan Newman - Chevrolet - 209 laps
6. (17) 88-Dale Earnhardt Jr. - Chevrolet - 209 laps
7. (13) 22-Joey Logano - Ford - 209 laps
8. (12) 78-Martin Truex Jr. - Chevrolet - 209 laps, led 5 laps
9. (14) 48-Jimmie Johnson - Chevrolet - 209 laps
10. (7) 24-Jeff Gordon - Chevrolet - 209 laps