Brad Keselowski comes up just short at Texas

Leading a track-record number of laps and routinely building sizable gaps between himself and the nearest challenger, it seemed a foregone conclusion Brad Keselowski would win Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway.

That victory would not only clinch Keselowski a spot in the championship finale of the Chase for the Sprint Cup and thus, an excellent shot at a second series title in four years, but also go a long way to putting behind a tumultuous week for himself, teammate Joey Logano and Team Penske as a whole.

But before the engraver could stencil Keselowski’s name on the trophy, he needed to navigate one final restart with 18 laps remaining. And it was at that point, for the first time all afternoon, that the No. 2 car that had looked invincible, suddenly appeared quite mortal.

When the green flag dropped, Jimmie Johnson kept pace with Keselowski and what ensued was a terrific fight for the lead. Johnson eventually got the better of Keselowski with four laps to go, and just like that, an apparent victory vanished into the Fort Worth sky.

Also gone was Keselowski’s place as one of four drivers eligible for the championship in two weeks at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Mathematically, Keselowski could still race his way in via points next week at Phoenix International, the third and final event of Round 3, but a lot would need to work in his favor to consider it anything but a long shot. And with Kevin Harvick having registered four straight Phoenix victories and five of the past six, Keselowski’s odds of winning are equally remote.

His best and likeliest chance to make it to Homestead with his championship hopes intact was on Sunday. And on that front, Keselowski came up four circuits short.

While he remained positive and rightfully proud of the No. 2 team’s performance, there is no other way to view how Texas concluded as anything but a disappointment.

Victory was within Keselowski’s grasp, and instead of making it to Victory Lane where he would don the celebratory cowboy hat and fire a pair of pistols, that honor went to Johnson, who’s not even in the Chase having been cut in Round 1.

“Came up one spot short, which is unfortunate,” Keselowski said. “Still, we had a great day. Just one step short of having the awesome day we needed to have.

“We need to win the next two, I understand that. But I think we have a great opportunity to do it, as well.”

Gracious in defeat, Keselowski credited Johnson for executing and took responsibility for not closing the presumed win out. That Keselowski handled himself with aplomb post-race was an extension of how he raced the six-time champion over the final laps.

Despite considerable stakes, neither took liberties with the other. In a welcome departure from the WWE-esque theatrics that’s signified NASCAR’s playoffs in recent weeks, Keselowski and Johnson went head-to-head, but did so with no cheap shots or deliberate take-outs.

Johnson’s winning pass wasn’t a nudge like the controversial one Logano put on Matt Kenseth last month at Kansas Speedway, which precipitated Kenseth’s intentional wrecking of Logano a week ago at Martinsville Speedway. Sunday, Johnson kept prodding Keselowski, forcing him to react defensively before finding the opportune moment to power around the No. 2 car.

“I race people how they race me,” Johnson said. “Brad’s always raced me clean and hard -- he did that again today. We both showed each other that same respect.

“What’s gone on between other drivers the last few weeks has no bearing on myself. You really handle your own situation, how people treat you, how respectfully they race you. We just had a good, hard race today.”

What unfolded between Keselowski and Johnson was just as much “quintessential NASCAR” as Logano’s bump-and-win tactic -- two exceptional drivers at the top of their game playing the stock car equivalent of cat-and-mouse.

Alas for Keselowski, unlike his teammate three weeks earlier, he came up on the losing side Sunday. Now, similarly to Logano, he finds himself on the cusp of playoff elimination.

“We really needed to win this one,” Keselowski said. “I know I gave it my all.”