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 organisation is considered the gold standard of IndyCar racing with 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 realise 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.”
Three years later, Keselowski and Penske hoisted the Sprint Cup trophy together in Florida following Keselowski’s 15th-place finish on Sunday.
Keselowski needed 125 starts to win his first championship, the fewest since four-time champion Jeff Gordon took his first title in 93 starts in 1995.
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.
Australian Marcos Ambrose came 13th in his Ford Fusion after starting from second. He finishes the season point standings in 18th place, equalling his previous best result.
“We’ve got a foundation to work off for next year,” Ambrose said.
“We’ve got some work to do, but I feel optimistic about the future and looking forward to 2013.”
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.
Keselowski started the race up 20 points on Johnson, who blew a tyre 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 Australian Will Power crashed in the IndyCar finale to blow a 17-point lead and lose the championship.