Keselowski wins Sprint Cup title

HOMESTEAD, Florida (AP) — Brad Keselowski beat five-time champion Jimmie Johnson at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday to deliver the first NASCAR Sprint Cup championship to Penske Racing.

It's a trophy that had eluded Roger Penske since he first entered NASCAR in 1972. Although his motorsports organization is considered the gold standard of IndyCar racing — 15 Indianapolis 500 wins — and his empire has made Penske one of the most successful businessmen in America, his NASCAR team operation was always just average.

Then came Keselowski, the blue collar, Twitter-loving, Michigan native who convinced "The Captain" his NASCAR team could be a winner, too.

"Always, throughout my whole life I've been told I'm not big enough, not fast enough, not strong enough and I don't have what it takes," Keselowski said from the championship stage. "I've used that as a chip on my shoulder to carry me through my whole career. It took until this year for me to realize that that was right, man, they were right.

"I'm not big enough, fast enough, strong enough. No person is. Only a team can do that."

Although Penske is considered the gold standard of open-wheel racing — 15 Indianapolis 500 wins — and his empire has made Penske one of the most successful businessmen in America, his NASCAR team has always been just average.

Then came Keselowski, the blue collar, Twitter-loving, Michigan native who visited Penske in 2008 convinced the NASCAR team could win, too.

Three years later, they hoisted the Sprint Cup trophy together at Homestead-Miami Speedway following Keselowski's 15th-place finish Sunday.

"It's all about the people in our organization and obviously Brad coming on our board three years ago, and we set a plan and we stuck to it," the 75-year-old Penske said. "To win this championship is amazing."

Keselowski needed 125 starts to win his first championship, the fewest starts since four-time champion Jeff Gordon won his first title in 93 starts in 1995. Keselowski also won a second-tier Nationwide title in 2010, his first season with Penske and the owner's first official NASCAR championship.

Gordon, who avoided suspension this week but was fined $100,000 by NASCAR for intentionally wrecking Clint Bowyer last week at Phoenix, overcame the controversy to win the race in a 20th anniversary celebration for sponsor Dupont and Hendrick Motorsports.

Gordon beat Bowyer for his first victory at Homestead, which leaves Kentucky as the only active NASCAR track where he's yet to win.

And Bowyer's second-place finish moved him to a career-best second in the final standings. Third-place went to Ryan Newman, who got his break in NASCAR with Penske and spent seven seasons driving for the owner.

"He deserves this probably as much as anybody else, if not more because of what he's done for motor racing in general, NASCAR, his dedication to all forms of race cars is probably more than anybody else in the history of auto racing," Newman said. "I know this is probably one of the sweetest moments in his racing career."

Keselowski started the race up 20 points on Johnson, who blew a tire and crashed last week at Phoenix to give Keselowski a nice cushion and needing only to finish 15th or higher in the finale to wrap up his first championship. But the Penske team took nothing for granted — not after Will Power crashed in the IndyCar finale to blow a 17-point lead and lose the championship.

And this one got tight, too, especially when Keselowski ran out of gas on pit road during green flag pit stops. It put him a lap down with Johnson leading, and Keselowski and crew chief Paul Wolfe frantically tried to figure out how dire the situation had become.

Wolfe crunched the numbers, figuring the No. 2 Dodge would cycle out in the mid-20s, a lap down from the leaders.

"I know the scenario, and it's not good," Keselowski said.

But minutes later, Johnson went to pit road for his own stop and pulled away with a missing lug nut. NASCAR flagged the Hendrick Motorsports team and Johnson was forced back to pit road for another stop.

The Penske team was unsure if Keselowski wanted to know what was going on with Johnson.

"I've got a big picture story if you want to hear it," a team member radioed, then informed Keselowski that Johnson had to pit again.

"Ten-four. Thank you for telling me. We're back in the game. I got it," he said.

It got worse for Johnson from there. He broke a rear end gear in his Chevrolet and went to the garage with 40 laps to go, essentially clinching the championship for Keselowski.

"It all unraveled pretty quick," Johnson conceded.

No longer needing to save fuel, and no longer needing to play it conservatively, he waived off Wolfe's playbook.

"If he's in the garage, let's race," Keselowski said.

That's been Keselowski's attitude since he burst onto the NASCAR scene. He first caught attention as a brash driver for Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s Nationwide Series team, and he was unapologetic for his aggressive driving and his refusal to back down in long-running feuds with established stars Denny Hamlin and Carl Edwards.