Motorsports Monday: Keselowski Builds Sprint Cup Lead

Tom Pennington/Getty Images for Nascar Jeff Gordon, in number 24, and Clint Bowyer tangle during the AdvoCare 500 at Phoenix International Raceway on Sunday.

Sixth-place finisher Brad Keselowski escaped Sunday's wild Nascar race at Phoenix, which he described as “borderline ridiculous at times,” with a commanding although not insurmountable lead over Jimmie Johnson, with one race to go in the Chase for the Nascar Sprint Cup championship.

Kevin Harvick won the AdvoCare 500, in a controversial, crash-filled green-white-checkered finish; the race had been stopped with one lap to go after Jeff Gordon wrecked champ ionship contender Clint Bowyer. A melee ensued in the pits between the crews of Jeff Gordon and Clint Bowyer.

“Things just got escalated over the year, and I'd just had it,” Nascar.com quoted Gordon as saying. “Clint has run into me numerous times, wrecked me, and he got into me on the back straightaway and pretty much ruined our day. I've had it.”

Nascar said on Monday that it was reviewing the incident. Penalties and sanctions could be announced before the circuit arrives next weekend in Homestead, Fla., for the season finale, officials said.

Keselowski has a 20-point lead over Johnson, whose seven-point lead going into Phoenix was obliterated by a flat tire-induced crash into the wall while he was running seventh with 77 laps to go.

Keselowski, challenging for the lead at the time, knew his championship chances would soar if he could just drive conservatively for a top-10 finish. That proved difficult as Gordon crashed into Bowyer directly in the path of Keselowski. But Keselowski wasn't so lucky in the final-lap donnybrook caused in part by Danica Patrick's spin, and an oil slick on the track, for which Nascar failed to throw the caution flag; as cars bounced off his Dodge, he was just able to keep it going straight enough to get it across the finish line.

Though there are various permutations of how points might be earned in the Florida finale, Keselowski needs to finish only midpack to clinch the championship, regardless of where Johnson might finish. Bowyer, who had been third in the points until Gordon wrecked him, was unable to finish the Phoenix race. As a result, Bowyer was mathematically eliminated.

Denny Hamlin took second at Phoenix, followed by Kyle Busch, who led the most laps but couldn't close the deal as the race ran seven laps longer than its 312-lap scheduled distance.

Here are other motorsports results from the weekend:

- Antron Br own, despite being eliminated in the first round, became the first African-American to win a major United States drag-racing title, holding on to just enough points Sunday in Pomona, Calif., at the final National Hot Rod Association event of the year. Brown, nursing burned hands after an onboard fuel fire in his early round loss, had to watch anxiously from the sidelines as his closest rivals lost one by one in the later rounds; Brown's title was secured only when his last challenger, Tony Schumacher, lost to Brandon Bernstein in a razor-close final-round duel.

Joining Bernstein, who took his first Top Fuel final since 2009, as winners on the day were the 2012 points champion Allen Johnson in Pro Stock, Andrew Hines in Pro Stock Motorcycle and Cruz Pedregon in Funny Car. Jack Beckman claimed the Funny Car season championship title by outlasting teammate Ron Capps by a mere two points in the final tally. Eddie Krawiec had enough points in hand to be crowned the motorcyc le champ even though he lost the final to his teammate Hines. (NHRA.com)

- Dani Pedrosa, who had lost the 2012 MotoGP points title to Jorge Lorenzo a week earlier, took his seventh victory of the season Sunday in a sloppy, wet season finale at Valencia, Spain. Lorenzo, an early leader, crashed out after a run-in with a back marker. With his victory, Pedrosa, who came in as runner-up in points to Lorenzo, took solace from the fact that he scored enough points Sunday for Honda in the constructors championship to at least give his employer that 2012 title. The replacement for the injured Ben Spies, Yamaha test rider Katsuyuki Nakasuga, who came in second.

The Honda rider Casey Stoner, the 2011 season champ who is retiring, signed off his MotoGP career by placing third and taking the final position on the podium. More than a dozen riders crashed on the rain-soaked Valencia circuit. Lorenzo said he was unhurt in his crash and planned to be back on the bike Tuesday for the start of 2013 testing. (MotoGP.com)