2024 Goodyear 400: Two Winless Streaks Put to Rest as Brad Keselowski Capitalizes on Toyota’s Darlington Muck-Up

After 12 races into the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season, a lot was at stake at Darlington. Given Toyota and Chevrolet’s dominance, Ford felt the pressure to register a victory like never before. Luckily for them, Brad Keselowski stepped up and registered his first-ever victory with RFK Racing.

Safe to say, Ford came extremely close to winning at Kansas Speedway had it not been for the photo finish. While Chris Buescher was at it again on Sunday, it all changed when the battle between him and Tyler Reddick got too intense in the dying laps.

Brad Keselowski ends his three-year winless drought with late drama in Darlington thriller

With four top-five and five top-ten finishes prior to the race in Darlington, Brad Keselowski looked in good touch. However, the problem arose in converting the good starts into a win. While that remained a common theme for him in the last three years, Sunday witnessed a terrific fight from the NASCAR veteran.

Tyler Reddick led the field to green from outside with Brad Keselowski second inside. Interestingly, the 23XI Racing driver maintained good speed in the starting laps, While no major change in the driving order was observed, teams started pitting from the 35th lap onwards.

Eventually, with Ryan Blaney pitting in the 45th lap, the pit cycle was completed. As a result of the pit stops, Ty Gibbs took the leader’s position after starting P4 in the race. Unfortunately for Gibbs, lapped traffic around the 56th lap allowed others behind him to close the gap.

While the #54 driver did a wonderful job in maintaining his lead, Kyle Larson took over with 11 laps to go in Stage 1. Unsurprisingly, the Hendrick Motorsports driver held his lead to win Stage 1. While many cars struggled at the end of the stage because of old tires, Larson did fantastically well to distance himself from others.

One of the highlights of Stage 1 was Todd Gilliland as he started P15 but finished P6. With Larson registering his seventh stage win of the 2024 campaign, it couldn’t have got any better for the #5 team. Only Denny Hamlin remained the other driver with at least three stage wins this season.

On came the second stage and the leaders decided to pit taking four tires. As teams resumed on the track, Tyler Reddick took the lead courtesy of some quick pit activities. Stage 1 winner Kyle Larson resumed in fifth place with Martin Truex Jr, Brad Keselowski, Ty Gibbs, and Reddick ahead of him.

In the 104th lap, Kyle Busch brushed the wall but was lucky to continue. The incident took place in Turn 2 while Busch ran P24. While this event didn’t raise any eyeballs, the one on the 120th lap certainly did. John Hunter Nemechek spun on the frontstretch resulting in the race’s first natural caution.

Unfortunately for Nemechek, he spun in Turn 4 running P17. As a result of the incident, the Legacy Motor Club driver was towed to the pit road, opening pits for others. Luckily for Reddick, he could maintain the lead despite the pit stops as leaders took four tires while pitting.

Interestingly, just after the restart, another caution came out as Ryan Blaney made significant contact with the wall. Martin Truex Jr and William Byron made contact on the restart, with the #19 car clipping Blaney. Unfortunately, Chris Buescher had nowhere to go and was also involved in the incident.

Surprisingly, the crash left Blaney furious. On his radio, he was found saying, “It’s killed and I’m gonna go kill both those mother fu**ers, that’s what I’m gonna do!”. While Martin Truex Jr and Blaney pitted for repairs, the race resumed with Reddick still the leader in the 135th lap.

As a result of the incident, Blaney’s day ended citing damage to his car’s right rear toe link. Clearly, the #12 driver looked unhappy with William Byron as he tried to chase down the HMS driver while exiting the pit road. Naturally, the incident left the #12 driver unsettled.

As the race resumed from the caution, Reddick kept the lead. However, another caution disrupted the flow of the race when Zane Smith spun in front of the leaders in the 163rd lap. Incidentally, Ty Gibbs came close to taking over Reddick just moments before the caution came out.

Eventually, Reddick ended up winning Stage 2. It was a well-raced win for the 23XI Racing driver with Brad Keselowski breathing down his neck time and again. Interestingly, it was his second stage win of the season, winning seven playoff points in the campaign until the end of the second stage. Reddick led 129 of the 186 laps.

As the last stage commenced, the leaders pitted taking all four tires. Reddick continued with his lead as Brad Keselowski battled for the first spot behind him. Eventually, the RFK Racing driver found success in passing the #45 driver in the 226th lap of the race.

While teams opted to pit starting from the 229th lap, Keselowski returned to the track and regained his lead. Prior to that, Kyle Larson hit the wall in Turn 2 as he ran P3 then. Luckily, the incident didn’t hamper Larson significantly despite his car’s toe link breaking as he hit the wall.

On the other hand, the race continued to be a nightmare for Kyle Busch. In the 248th lap, he once again crashed into the wall into Turn 2 while he raced P11. Just moments later, even Larson ended up spinning in Turn 4 with a flat left rear tire backing the car into the wall.

While Larson’s crash brought out another caution, it helped Reddick regain the lead courtesy of some amazing work in the pits. Sadly for the #5 team, the crash ended their race. However, things only got more wild with Reddick and Keselowski battling intensely after the restart.

In fact, it got amazingly interesting when Chris Buescher passed both Reddick and Keselowski with 28 laps remaining. After the photo finish at Kansas Speedway, it looked like the perfect platform for redemption for Buescher. However, after making contact with Reddick in Turn 4, both Buescher and Reddick slowed down.

This not only prompted both drivers to pit but also allowed Keselowski to take the lead. Despite Ty Gibbs chasing the #6 driver, it wasn’t enough to stop the RFK Racing co-owner. Undoubtedly, it was a stunning win for Keselowski and his team.

The win meant Keselowski returned to victory lane for the first time since April 2021 at Talladega. Not only that, his victory at Darlington Raceway resulted in Ford’s first win of the 2024 Cup Series campaign. Clearly, the 40-year-old looked a lot relieved after ending his 110-race winless streak.

Incidentally, it also ends Ford’s 33-race winless streak, their longest winless streak in over a decade. Having said that, it all could have ended up differently had Reddick not made contact with Buescher. In fact, it left the #17 driver terribly furious after the race.

Tyler Reddick takes responsibility for his role in the incident with Chris Buescher at Darlington

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In the 265th lap, Chris Buescher made a stunning move to pass both Tyler Reddick and Brad Keselowski. While both the drivers were battling for the lead, the #17 driver capitalized on an opportunity in Turn 1. As he took the lead, Reddick followed him intensely to regain the leading spot.

However, in the process, the 23XI Racing dove on Buescher in Turn 3 and eventually ended up making contact in Turn 4. Eventually, both cars slowed down as it provided Brad Keselowski the perfect opportunity to take the lead. While this happened with just seven laps to go, it certainly ended any chance Buescher had to win the race.

Naturally, he looked unhappy after the race and confronted Reddick about it. In his defense, the #45 driver said, “The last thing I want to do is wreck your car. I could care less about mine. I’m sorry. I f**ked up.” Understandably, Buescher was in no mood to accept that apology.

He said, “That doesn’t work for me. We don’t have a sticker on our door right now. You need to be better. I don’t have that sticker on my door. This means more. I need you to do better. We’ve raced each other just fine for so long.”

Buescher was right to point out how Reddick has already secured a place in the playoff spot with a win. With the disappointment of Kansas and now the incident in Darlington, it was understandable for the RFK Racing driver to lose his cool there.

Nevertheless, he will be eventually happy to see his teammate and co-owner Brad Keselowski register a win after so long. After all, it was a massive victory for Ford, especially with the Toyota cars failing to capitalize on their opportunities and Reddick not winning despite a dominant performance.