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Chicagoland NASCAR: Brad Keselowski wins first round of 2012 Chase

Brad Keselowski jumped into the lead of NASCAR's Chase for the Sprint Cup Series for the first time in his career after beating Jimmie Johnson to victory on Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway

Keselowski's fourth victory of the season put a smile back on team boss Roger Penske's face after Will Power lost the IndyCar title on Saturday night at Fontana.

Johnson led most of the distance and alternated the lead with Keselowski in the first half of the race as both ran different tyre strategies. Keselowski jumped back to the front decisively after his last stop, which came a lap later than Johnson's.

The former Nationwide Series champion was quick to block the Hendrick driver after exiting the pits, driving back on the racing line from the apron before he was out of Turn 2.

Johnson's momentum forced him to try to pass on the outside into Turn 3, but Keselowski was able to hold him off before pulling away to claim the winhis first ever in a Chase event.

"It feels like round one of a heavyweight title bout, just it's a 10-round bout," said Keselowski. "Week one is done and we won the round but we didn't by any means knock them out, we've got a lot of racing left to go.

"We're feeling good about today but know that we have a lot of work to do."

Johnson was initially frustrated at Keselowski's quick pit-exit move but he admitted he was not a match for the Penske driver in the final stint.

"He did cut up early," said Johnson. "It did impede my progress, I had to check up and wasn't sure where things were going. But it didn't affect the outcome I don't believe.

"The way he made quick work in traffic and stretched it out on me, I'm not sure I would have held him off. At the time it messed me up, but I don't think it played an outcome in the race."

Kasey Kahne finished third after running strongly all afternoon. He jumped up from 11th to fifth in the Chase standings while showing his intermediate track performance could well make him a strong contender. Four more mile-and-a-half tracks feature in the play-off schedule.

Kyle Busch was best of the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas after former Chase leader Denny Hamlin ran out of fuel on the last lap, losing a top-five finish and dropping to 16th at the line.

He was not the only title contender to start the Chase on the back foot, as Jeff Gordon may well have seen his championship hopes fade after crashing on lap 189 due to a stuck throttle.

Roush Fenway's Matt Kenseth and his team minimised their loses after a broken damper caused the 2003 champion to run well off the pace. However he managed to remain on the lead lap, while a caution period allowed his crew to replace the missing right-front shock on his #17 Ford.

Reigning champion Tony Stewart finished a solid sixth behind Stewart-Haas team-mate Ryan Newman, while Dale Earnhardt Jr was eighth after starting from the rear of the field following an engine change.

Results - 267 laps:

Pos  Driver              Team/Car                         Time/Gap
 1.  Brad Keselowski     Penske Dodge                 2h47m37.000s
 2.  Jimmie Johnson      Hendrick Chevrolet               + 3.171s
 3.  Kasey Kahne         Hendrick Chevrolet              + 10.585s
 4.  Kyle Busch          Joe Gibbs Toyota                + 13.757s
 5.  Ryan Newman         Stewart-Haas Chevrolet          + 17.409s
 6.  Tony Stewart        Stewart-Haas Chevrolet          + 18.893s
 7.  Joey Logano         Joe Gibbs Toyota                + 20.105s
 8.  Dale Earnhardt Jr   Hendrick Chevrolet              + 21.105s
 9.  Martin Truex Jr     Waltrip Toyota                  + 21.406s
10.  Clint Bowyer        Waltrip Toyota                  + 22.419s
11.  Sam Hornish Jr      Penske Dodge                    + 23.923s
12.  Kevin Harvick       Childress Chevrolet             + 27.937s
13.  Greg Biffle         Roush Fenway Ford               + 27.968s
14.  Mark Martin         Waltrip Toyota                  + 28.835s
15.  Paul Menard         Childress Chevrolet             + 31.581s
16.  Denny Hamlin        Joe Gibbs Toyota                  + 1 lap
17.  Aric Almirola       Petty Ford                        + 1 lap
18.  Matt Kenseth        Roush Fenway Ford                 + 1 lap
19.  Carl Edwards        Roush Fenway Ford                 + 1 lap
20.  Trevor Bayne        Wood Brothers Ford                + 1 lap
21.  Jamie McMurray      Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet       + 1 lap
22.  David Ragan         Front Row Ford                    + 1 lap
23.  Juan Pablo Montoya  Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet      + 2 laps
24.  Jeff Burton         Childress Chevrolet              + 2 laps
25.  Danica Patrick      Stewart-Haas Chevrolet           + 2 laps
26.  Bobby Labonte       JTG Daugherty Toyota             + 3 laps
27.  Marcos Ambrose      Petty Ford                       + 4 laps
28.  David Gilliland     Front Row Ford                   + 4 laps
29.  Landon Cassill      BK Toyota                        + 5 laps
30.  TJ Bell             FAS Lane Ford                    + 6 laps
31.  Travis Kvapil       BK Toyota                        + 8 laps
32.  Kurt Busch          Phoenix Chevrolet               + 22 laps
                                                                  
Retirements:                                               
                                                                  
     Dave Blaney         Baldwin Chevrolet                199 laps
     Regan Smith         Furniture Row Chevrolet          197 laps
     Jeff Gordon         Hendrick Chevrolet               190 laps
     Casey Mears         Germain Ford                     146 laps
     Cole Whitt          Circle Sport Chevrolet            70 laps
     Josh Wise           Front Row Ford                    66 laps
     David Stremme       Inception Toyota                  60 laps
     Joe Nemechek        NEMCO Toyota                      52 laps
     Scott Speed         Leavine Ford                      49 laps
     Mike Bliss          Humphrey Smith Toyota             41 laps
     Michael McDowell    Parsons Ford                      38 laps

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