2014 NASCAR standings: Brad Keselowski eliminated from Chase for the Sprint Cup

No driver won more races this season than Brad Keselowski, including a pair of stirring victories in the Chase for the Sprint Cup. But in the end he needed one more win to avoid playoff elimination and that didn’t happen.

Keselowski finished fourth Sunday at Phoenix International Raceway, coming up eight points short of advancing. He never was able to overcome the mechanical failure that sidelined him in the opening race of Round 3 at Martinsville Speedway.

“I’m obviously a little disappointed,” Keselowski said. “I’m not disappointed with the effort, just disappointed it didn’t work out. We just couldn’t overcome the Martinsville hurdle. We had a decent day, but we needed a win to overcome the week we had at Martinsville where we broke the gear. We just weren’t quite fast enough to pull that off the last two weeks and that’s what it was going to take.”

Because of how the Quicken Loans 500 played out, Keselowski was going to need an outright victory to transfer to next week’s championship race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. But Kevin Harvick, who like Keselowski was in a must-win position, was dominating Sunday leading 264 of 312 laps en route to a clinching victory.

“We weren’t the best car today,” Keselowski said. “We were a third- to fifth-place car and we finished fourth. I’m not happy with that, but it could be worse. We put in solid efforts, solid runs and it just wasn’t enough today.”

Also eliminated were Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth. Gordon, who won four races and was one of the most consistent drivers throughout the year, missed advancing by a single point.

Among those eligible for the championship is Ryan Newman, of Richard Childress Racing. Newman is winless on the season and in fact, has less top-five finishes (four) than Keselowski has wins (six). Nevertheless, Newman because of better consistency in Round 3 can still win the title whereas Keselowski cannot.

“It doesn’t feel good to have won the most races and not being in it at Homestead, but it still feels like it has been a great season, winning six races,” Keselowski said. “Nobody is going to win anymore than that, and that’s something we’re proud of.”

Sprint Cup Series Standings