Brad Keselowski Stunned Everyone by Winning his First Cup Series Race in 2009

Brad Keselowski entered the NASCAR Cup Series in 2010 as a fresh-faced youngster. Until that time, he rapidly built up his reputation in the Xfinity arena, then called the Nationwide Series. In the 2008 and 2009 seasons, he finished 3rd for two consecutive years, racking up 6 wins during that period.

His performances drew many eyeballs, and it earned him part-time gigs at Hendrick Motorsports and Phoenix Racing. One fine day at Talladega in 2009, he well and truly burst onto the Cup scene. At that time, Keselowski was lining up for his fifth career start for Phoenix Racing, powered by Hendrick Motorsports engines.

When qualifying wrapped up, he found himself in a fine 9th place on the grid. Alongside him on row 5 was his Nationwide Series boss, Dale Earnhardt Jr. However, trouble struck the team prior to the race start, because they were forced to change the engine.

How did this move work for Brad Keselowski?

At first glance, one would have written him off, because the Hendrick-powered cars were in excellent form. Dale Jr proved this when he snatched the lead by lap 5. Though he later surrendered it because the pack got ultra competitive. In fact, a large majority of the field were running three-wide, which would later come back to bite many drivers.

As it turned out, there was a massive wreck that involved at least 10 cars. Naturally, Keselowski must have been thanking his lucky stars, because he avoided most of the carnage. In the early stages of the race, Brad Keselowski often opted to run in the middle or the bottom lane. Before long, he found himself in the Top 5, until another caution flag waved.

How did he wrap up the race?

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On the next restart, he was pleasantly surprised to run in 2nd, but it didn’t last long. Once again, he used his tactic of choosing the bottom lane, but he was the only one and it cost him. Later on in the pit stop sequence, he got stuck behind Bobby Labonte and tumbled to the back once again.

However, that did not deter him, as he muscled his way back to the Top 5 in 20 laps. At one stage, he nearly incurred the wrath of Junior Nation, but escaped major incident. Again, he dropped to the back and made his way back up after avoiding another couple of incidents.

In the closing laps, he and Carl Edwards clawed their way up from 10th and 11th to fighting for the win. Soon, Keselowski pushed Edwards to the lead on the final lap. Then, right before the line, the #09 driver spun Edwards and took a shock win ahead of Dale Jr.

READ MORE: Brad Keselowski Makes an Honest Confession Regarding His Student-Master Dynamic With Former Boss Roger Penske