Checkered Countdown: Top-Five Kansas Finishes

No. 5 Brad Keselowski wins in fuel saving mode (2011).

This was the race in which everybody started to witness Keselowski’s ability of winning races on fuel mileage. He and his rookie crew chief Paul Wolfe had worked a strategy to get to the lead but needed to save a lot of fuel to win the race. Kurt Busch surrendered the lead to him when he pitted with ten laps to go.

From there on it was just saving for Keselowski, who also had to manage his lead over Dale Earnhardt Jr. He started pushing the clutch in on the straightaways and coasting through the corners to save way more gas. Earnhardt Jr was closing but not too much since he was saving too and this helped Keselowski win. It was his second career win and the first one for Wolfe. He ran out of gas during the post-race celebrations.