TALLADEGA, Ala. — With a win in Sunday’s Geico 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, Brad Keselowski joined Team Penske teammate Joey Logano and Kevin Harvick as drivers who advance to the third round, or Eliminator round, of the 2014 Chase for the Sprint Cup.
Other drivers advancing to round three include Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Newman, Jeff Gordon and Carl Edwards. All eight remaining drivers will have their points adjusted to start the next round on even ground.
Newman’s car failed post-race inspection, as NASCAR officials discovered that the rear end of his car was too low. NASCAR traditionally makes penalty announcements on Tuesdays, and a points deduction is possible. As he stands, Newman is third in points, four points behind leader Logano and 27 points ahead of Kasey Kahne, the first driver out.
The four drivers eliminated after Talladega include Hendrick Motorsports trio Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson and Kasey Kahne. Also eliminated was Kyle Busch.
“The race is over; it’s time to go home,” Earnhardt said. “There have probably been worse things. I’m not retiring or anything, so we’ll try next year. We’ve had a good season and have a lot to be looking forward to. We’re definitely not going to get too tore up about it; we didn’t run well.”
Kahne finished the race in 12th position and wound up high enough in points to advance had Keselowski not won. Without a Keselowski win, Kahne, not Keselowski would have advanced.
Heading into the Chase, Earnhardt and Johnson were among the favorites as three-time winners in the 26-race regular season. Busch was second in points heading into Talladega, so he was considered to be fairly safe, but his Chase hopes blew out the window when he was caught up in a wreck on lap 102.
“It feels relieving to go down swinging,” Johnson said. “The last two weeks were really poor. At least we went down swinging. I’ll take some pride in that.”
With the elimination of Johnson and Earnhardt, NASCAR now has a postseason that is now void of its most recent champion and a driver who has been the most popular in the sport for more than a decade. The elimination did, however, prevent the possibility of one team, Hendrick Motorsports, from claiming all of the final four spots that will be remaining for the season-finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. With the elimination of Earnhardt, Johnson and Kahne, Gordon remains as Hendrick Motorsports’ sole representative in the Chase.
“We knew that Jimmie and Junior were in tough positions,” Gordon said. “But if anybody could win this race, either one of those guys could. I knew Kasey was going to race hard all day, and he was in and out, in and out. I really thought he was going to make it, but I guess Kenseth getting that late charge may have been the game changer there. It is very difficult. These are three guys that could be major factors in this championship. They are great teams, great drivers and friends of mine. I hate to see them not in there. But we are going to try to make Hendrick proud and go out there and get ourselves to Homestead.”