SPARTA, Ky. — Brad Keselowski became the first three-time winner at Kentucky Speedway on Saturday night, overtaking Kevin Harvick on lap 201 and holding on for the Sprint Cup Series victory.
Matt Kenseth grabbed the lead with six laps left but soon pitted for fuel to hand the top spot back to Keselowski, who had just enough gas in reserve to edge Carl Edwards by .175 seconds in a tense finish. Keselowski’s tank eventually ran dry and he needed a tow to victory lane.
Ryan Newman was third, followed by Kurt Busch and then Tony Stewart in fifth in his final Kentucky race. The three-time series champion is retiring after this season.
Keselowski led for 75 laps on his way to a second straight win.
INDYCAR: Every year, Team Penske arrives in Newton, Iowa, with a host of championship-contending drivers and leaves without a win.
The 10th edition of the IndyCar race at Iowa Speedway could be Penske’s best shot at breaking through.
The grueling demands of Iowa’s 0.875-mile bull ring typically reward the most skilled drivers. Penske has plenty of those, as Simon Pagenaud, Helio Castroneves and Will Power entered the weekend first, second and third in the point standings.
Pagenaud will start Sunday from the pole, followed by Josef Newgarden, Castroneves, Max Chilton and Charlie Kimball.
Still, Penske has lagged far behind Andretti Autosport, winner of seven of the last nine races on IndyCar’s shortest track.
“We’ve been close many times,” said Castroneves, winless in Iowa despite two poles and five starts on the front row. “The good news is Team Penske is one, two, three, and that’s our goal to keep going all the way to the end of the season. But we have a big test here.”
Andretti could use another strong showing in Iowa to push at least one of its drivers into championship contention.
Indianapolis 500 winner Alexander Rossi leads the way for the team in 10th, a point ahead of teammate Ryan Hunter-Reay.
FORMULA ONE: Lewis Hamilton claimed pole position for the British Grand Prix in a dramatic qualifying session at Silverstone, England.
Hamilton outpaced Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg by three-tenths of a second with a late lap in the closing seconds.
His decisive lap came after his first flying lap in Q3 was deleted by the race stewards, because he ran wide off the circuit, leaving him in 10th place with only three minutes remaining.
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