Brad Keselowski is in a good place; the first to hold the points lead in this year’s Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup™ and headed for Charlotte Motor Speedway, where he collected his first top-five finish at the track in May’s Coca-Cola 600. Keselowski’s seventh-place finish on Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway was his 13th top 10 in his most recent 14 starts and 19th overall.

This Saturday night’s Bank of America 500 marks halfway in the 2012 Chase as Keselowski leads Jimmie Johnson by 14 points and Denny Hamlin by 23. The standings leader after four races has gone on to win the championship five times in the Chase era – Kurt Busch (2004), Tony Stewart (2005) and Johnson (2008-10). Reigning champion Stewart stood seventh a year ago after Race No. 4, 19 points behind Carl Edwards.