SPARTA, Ky. _ They can repave the surface. They can reconfigure the track. What can't be altered when it comes to Kentucky Speedway is the fact that whenever Brad Keselowski arrives in Sparta, he acts like he owns the place.
The 1.5-mile tri oval may be a different animal than in past seasons, but the sixth edition of the Quaker State 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup series yielded a result straight out of the same old, same old playbook. For the third time in the race's history, it was Keselowski heading to victory lane, having milked his No. 2 Miller Lite Ford and its empty gas tank across the finish line 0.175 seconds ahead of Carl Edwards.
In addition to winning the Quaker State 400 in 2012 and 2014, Keselowski has now won a major race in Sparta for six straight years. In addition to his three Sprint Cup wins, he's been victorious three times (2011, '13 and '15) in the Xfinity Series race.
It took a monster gamble and some tremendous back class for the former Cup Series champion to prove his mastery over the newly repaved Kentucky track. When the field restarted with 67 laps to go after Landon Cassill brought out the 11th caution of the night, Keselowski worked the high side to pass Harvick _ who led 128 laps on the evening _ before using the clean air to open up more than a three-second advantage.
He would need every inch of that lead as his tank dried up late. With several drivers running short on fuel, including Matt Kenseth who pitted with just five laps to go, Keselowski held a nine second advantage in the final stages but had his team begging him to save whatever gas he could.
Keselowski radioed in that he was on fumes with two laps to go, but with Edwards seemingly ready to reel him on the white flag lap, Keselowski found that much extra to earn his season-high fourth win of 2016.
"We almost didn't (make it), but you have to give credit to my guys," Keselowski said. "It became obvious we had to save fuel at the end, but it's a testament to my guys to have the fuel mileage we did."
Edwards held for second with Ryan Newman, Kurt Busch and Tony Stewart rounding out the top 5.
The fresh Kentucky surface was a key topic of conversation in the run up to Saturday's race, and the new asphalt and reconfigured banking took its toll on numerous drivers throughout the 267-lap race.
The caution flag flew a record-tying 11 times during the night, claiming six-time NASCAR Cup champion Jimmie Johnson early on when he got loose coming out of Turn 4 and wrecked on Lap 33, and sending Joey Logano to the garage when he smacked the wall on Lap 54.
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