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Atlanta NASCAR: Keselowski holds on to give new Mustang first Cup win

Brad Keselowski overcame illness to win the NASCAR Cup race at Atlanta, claiming a first regular season victory for Ford's new Mustang

The Penske driver, who sat out much of practice, held off a charging Martin Truex Jr in the final laps of the race to claim his 28th Cup series win and become the most successful driver in Penske's history, eclipsing Mark Donohue's previous record of 59 wins for the squad.

Keselowski took the lead on lap 293 of the 325 when he passed team-mate Joey Logano, whose hopes of victory - and Penske's of a one-two finish - were dashed 10 laps later when he was forced to pit under green-flag conditions after earlier reporting a loose wheel.

With Logano's late, unplanned stop, Truex moved into second and began to take several tenths out of Keselowski's lead each lap, setting himself up to challenge for the win until lapped traffic halted his charge.

Kurt Busch led one lap and finished third in what was his 650th start.

The Ganassi driver took the lead during the only proper caution period towards the end of the race when he and Logano were the only two drivers not to pit prior to a yellow flag, which was brought out after a bizarre pitlane collision between Ryan Preece and BJ McLeod.

Kevin Harvick finished in fourth place despite winning the second stage and leading 45 laps. The Stewart-Haas driver had to contend with handling issues after his Mustang's splitter wore away throughout the race.

The 2014 series champion was one spot ahead of team-mate Clint Bowyer and Joe Gibbs Racing's Kyle Busch, who started the race from the rear of the field in his back-up car after a crash in final practice.

Erik Jones, polesitter Aric Almirola, Chris Buescher and Daniel Suarez completed the top 10.

Kyle Larson, who won the opening stage and led a race high 142 laps, could only finish 12th after suffering a pitlane issue in stage two.

It was a similar story for third Penske driver Ryan Blaney, who led 41 laps but finished 22nd after overshooting his pitbox while stopping during the final caution period.

Blaney finished one spot ahead of Logano, whose late stop dropped him well out of the top 10.

Seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson spent much of the race outside of the top 20 in his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet and finished 24th.

Result - 325 laps

Pos Driver Team Car Gap
1 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 3h30m33.s
2 Martin Truex Jr. Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 0.218s
3 Kurt Busch Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 2.333s
4 Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 4.831s
5 Clint Bowyer Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 8.570s
6 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 11.050s
7 Erik Jones Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 11.580s
8 Aric Almirola Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 13.041s
9 Chris Buescher JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 13.385s
10 Daniel Suarez Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 13.514s
11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 15.816s
12 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 17.256s
13 Ryan Newman Roush Fenway Racing Ford 17.917s
14 Paul Menard Wood Brothers Racing Ford 19.504s
15 Alex Bowman Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 24.182s
16 David Ragan Front Row Motorsports Ford 27.366s
17 William Byron Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 29.135s
18 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 1 Lap
19 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 1 Lap
20 Daniel Hemric Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 1 Lap
21 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 1 Lap
22 Ryan Blaney Team Penske Ford 1 Lap
23 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 1 Lap
24 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 2 Laps
25 Ty Dillon Germain Racing Chevrolet 2 Laps
26 Matt DiBenedetto Leavine Family Racing Toyota 3 Laps
27 Darrell Wallace Jr. Richard Petty Motorsports Chevrolet 3 Laps
28 Matt Tifft Front Row Motorsports Ford 6 Laps
29 Corey LaJoie Go FAS Racing Ford 6 Laps
30 Parker Kligerman Gaunt Brothers Racing Toyota 7 Laps
31 Ross Chastain Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 12 Laps
32 B.J. McLeod Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet 12 Laps
33 Cody Ware Petty Ware Racing Chevrolet 22 Laps
34 Landon Cassill StarCom Racing Chevrolet 41 Laps
35 Ryan Preece JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet Accident
36 Garrett Smithley Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 71 Laps
37 Michael McDowell Front Row Motorsports Ford 103 Laps

Drivers' standings

Pos Driver Points
1 Denny Hamlin 87
2 Kevin Harvick 79
3 Kyle Busch 78
4 Kyle Larson 77
5 Joey Logano 75
6 Brad Keselowski 72
7 Erik Jones 68
8 Kurt Busch 63
9 Clint Bowyer 60
10 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 60
11 Aric Almirola 58
12 Martin Truex Jr. 57
13 Alex Bowman 57
14 Ryan Blaney 54
15 Ryan Newman 49
16 Jimmie Johnson 46
17 Chase Elliott 45
18 William Byron 45
19 Ty Dillon 44
20 Daniel Suarez 41
21 Paul Menard 39
22 Austin Dillon 39
23 Michael McDowell 33
24 Chris Buescher 33
25 Ryan Preece 32
26 Matt DiBenedetto 32
27 David Ragan 28
28 Corey LaJoie 27
29 Daniel Hemric 20
30 Jamie McMurray 19
31 Darrell Wallace Jr. 16
32 Matt Tifft 10
33 Casey Mears 1



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