Keselowski wins at Pocono
<p>Brad Keselowski holds the trophy in victory lane after winning Sunday's Sprint Cup race at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pa.</p>
LONG POND, Pa. (AP) - Brad Keselowski was inspired Sunday by a relative in the Navy Seals, and that was all he needed to push through his painful ankle injury.
Keselowski's cousin lost a friend who was one of 30 American service members who died when their helicopter was shot down during fighting in eastern Afghanistan. The NASCAR driver took the sacrifice to heart, and vowed he would not leave his car no matter how bad he hurt.
So Keselowski went out and raced all 500 miles of the Sprint Cup stop at Pocono Raceway with a broken left ankle.
Keselowski sped off on the final restart late in the race to pick up his second victory of the season. He gingerly climbed out of his car to celebrate with his crew in Victory Lane.
He dedicated the victory - one that thrust him into Chase contention - to the troops in Afghanistan.
"I might not be feeling great, but those are the guys that are really making sacrifices," Keselowski said. "Whenever I got in the car and felt like, man, this really hurts, it was good inspiration as to what it takes to 'man up' and make it happen."
Keselowski was an unlikely winner after he crashed head-on into a wall on Wednesday during a test session at Road Atlanta. He slammed a section of wall at 100 mph and was forced out of the Nationwide Series race.
Sunday
At Pocono Raceway
Long Pond, Pa.
Lap length: 2.5 miles
(Start position in parentheses)
1. (13) Brad Keselowski, Dodge, 200 laps, 115.5 rating, 47 points, $201,408.
2. (11) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 200, 127.1, 43, $213,091.
3. (5) Kurt Busch, Dodge, 200, 127.7, 42, $162,000.
4. (18) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 200, 114.6, 40, $162,386.
5. (12) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 200, 102.2, 40, $145,750.
6. (31) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 200, 94.4, 38, $136,861.
7. (4) Carl Edwards, Ford, 200, 106.8, 38, $134,366.
8. (9) Greg Biffle, Ford, 200, 86.2, 37, $96,675.
9. (19) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 200, 98.8, 35, $89,175.
10. (7) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 200, 93.7, 34, $88,075.
11. (28) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 200, 83.1, 33, $125,033.
12. (3) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 200, 81.2, 32, $84,850.
13. (25) Mark Martin, Chevrolet, 200, 85.1, 31, $84,275.
14. (10) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 200, 84.4, 30, $122,636.
15. (6) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 200, 118.6, 31, $118,100.
16. (20) Matt Kenseth, Ford, 200, 71, 28, $109,886.
17. (8) Jeff Burton, Chevrolet, 200, 85, 27, $81,300.
18. (14) Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet, 200, 83.9, 26, $112,258.
19. (29) A J Allmendinger, Ford, 200, 67, 25, $108,586.
20. (27) Marcos Ambrose, Ford, 200, 70.4, 24, $102,491.
21. (17) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 200, 67.2, 23, $97,320.
22. (16) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 200, 68.1, 22, $105,739.
23. (24) David Gilliland, Ford, 200, 55.5, 21, $87,833.
24. (33) David Reutimann, Toyota, 200, 61.8, 20, $98,058.
25. (22) Bobby Labonte, Toyota, 200, 56.4, 19, $96,695.
26. (1) Joey Logano, Toyota, 200, 104.2, 19, $91,900.
27. (36) Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, 199, 50.1, 0, $83,458.
28. (2) Kasey Kahne, Toyota, 199, 67.8, 16, $88,708.
29. (42) Andy Lally, Ford, 199, 42.2, 15, $79,400.
30. (21) Dave Blaney, Chevrolet, 198, 50.6, 14, $79,297.
31. (39) Travis Kvapil, Ford, 198, 44.3, 0, $65,600.
32. (23) Juan Pablo Montoya, Chevrolet, 198, 54.1, 12, $106,458.
33. (41) Jason White, Ford, 197, 37.4, 0, $66,175.
34. (15) David Ragan, Ford, 149, 44, 10, $73,025.
35. (38) Robby Gordon, Dodge, electrical, 79, 39.2, 9, $64,875.
36. (32) Casey Mears, Toyota, ignition, 30, 39.8, 9, $64,650.
37. (30) Todd Bodine, Toyota, brakes, 25, 35.3, 0, $64,475.
38. (37) David Stremme, Chevrolet, brakes, 18, 32.6, 6, $64,350.
39. (26) Brian Vickers, Toyota, engine, 18, 37.9, 5, $91,439.
40. (40) Scott Speed, Ford, electrical, 16, 31.4, 0, $64,075.
41. (43) Joe Nemechek, Toyota, transmission, 14, 29.5, 0, $63,925.
42. (35) Erik Darnell, Ford, brakes, 8, 29.5, 0, $63,765.
43. (34) J.J. Yeley, Ford, overheating, 7, 30.1, 1, $64,148.
Top 12 in Points: 1. C.Edwards, 720; 2. J.Johnson, 711; 3. Ky.Busch, 709; 4. Ku.Busch, 706; 5. K.Harvick, 700; 6. M.Kenseth, 694; 7. J.Gordon, 668; 8. R.Newman, 658; 9. T.Stewart, 642; 10. D.Earnhardt Jr., 641; 11. D.Hamlin, 618; 12. C.Bowyer, 600.