With a pass for the lead that seemed certain to spark controversy in the Hendrick Motorsports camp, Keselowski won Sunday’s Geico 400 at Chicagoland Speedway, the first race in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

Keselowski took the lead over Johnson, the polesitter, after an exchange of green-flag pit stops, with Keselowski re-entering the track one lap later than Johnson, on Lap 231, and pulling up in front of Johnson’s No. 48 Chevrolet off Turn 2 on Lap 232.

Keselowski inherited the top spot on Lap 242 after the pit stops cycled through and led the final 26 laps of the race.

“It feels like Round 1 of a heavyweight title bout,” said Keselowski, who took the series points lead for the first time in his career. “It’s a 10-round bout. Week one’s done. We might have won the round, but we didn’t by any means knock ‘em out.

“We’ve got a lot of racing left to go. We’re feeling good about today, but (we) know that we have a lot of work to do.”

Keselowski pulled away to win by 3.171 seconds over Johnson, who led a race-high 172 laps but couldn’t catch Keselowski during the last green-flag run.

The victory was Keselowski’s fourth of the season, his first at Chicagoland and the eighth of his career. Kasey Kahne ran third, followed by Kyle Busch and Ryan Newman, as Keselowski took a three-point lead in the Chase standings over second-place Johnson with nine races left in NASCAR’s playoff.

During the race, NASCAR looked at videotape of Keselowski’s return to the track in front of Johnson and decided no action was warranted.

At first perturbed by what he considered Keselowski’s early entry into the racing groove, Johnson said after the race that the outcome didn’t hinge on that particular situation.

“He did cut up early,” Johnson said. “It did impede my progress. I had to check up and wasn’t sure where things were going. But it didn’t affect the outcome, I don’t believe.

“The way he made quick work of traffic and stretched it out on me, I’m not sure I would have held him off. At the time, it messed me up, but I don’t think it played (a part in the) outcome in the race.”

Keselowski thought he was well within the spirit and letter of the law in re-entering off Turn 2.

“There is no enforced line like you see in other sports, and that’s not a bad thing,” Keselowski said. “That’s just one more thing to monitor during the race. But it’s certainly a, I don’t want to say a gentlemen’s agreement, it’s a policy of merging down the backstretch, off of Turn 2, I think it said specifically in the driver’s meeting, and I feel like that’s what we did.

“You can make rules that count it down to the inches and just make it a pain in the [neck] for everybody that participates in the sport, or you can just have a rule like we do, and I felt like I was inside those guidelines.”

A caution for Casey Mears’ crash into the Turn 2 wall brought out the third caution of the race on Lap 149 and interrupted a cycle of green-flag pit stops. Johnson, Keselowski and Kahne had not pitted before the caution, and that trio remained out front for a restart on Lap 158.

Johnson quickly opened a gap of one second on Keselowski, with Kahne trailing the leader by more than four seconds as the green-flag run progressed. When Jeff Gordon passed Ryan Newman for fourth on Lap 174, Hendrick Motorsports had three of the top four cars in the running order.

Matt Kenseth dropped back drastically during the run, and his team prepared to change a right front shock absorber, but Gordon became the first major casualty of the Chase on Lap 188, when the throttle of the No. 24 Chevrolet stuck as he entered Turn 1 and the car slammed the outside wall.

“I just let off the throttle, and it just didn’t come all the way back,” Gordon said as his crew tried to repair the car. “It was probably about half-throttle, which is still enough to do a lot of damage. We’re looking at what the issue is right now, what could have caused it.

“We’ll get back out, but in this deal you can’t afford to have issues like that.”

Gordon, the last driver in the Chase as the second wild card, finished 35th and, in all likelihood, fell out of the championship conversation.

Kenseth salvaged an 18th-place finish but fell to 11th in the standings, 26 points behind Keselowski and 21 ahead of Gordon in 12th. Defending champion Tony Stewart ran sixth and sits third in points, seven ahead of Denny Hamlin (16th Sunday after running out of fuel in the closing laps), Kahne and Clint Bowyer (10th Sunday).

“We believe the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule will once again provide fans with what they’ve come to expect every season – the world’s most exciting and competitive form of motorsports,” said Brian France, NASCAR chairman and CEO. “Next year’s schedule has a few adjustments that we think will be good for the fans and good for the overall flow of the season. One thing will remain constant, however, and that’s the intense competition we see week in and week out from our drivers and race teams.”

One of those adjustments takes place during NASCAR’s playoffs – the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup – and could affect the strategy during the championship run. Talladega Superspeedway’s Chase event moves up two weeks to Oct. 7, becoming the fourth race in the Chase. Often labeled as the wild-card track in the Chase, Talladega’s grueling test is now staged during the first half of the Chase.

Talladega swaps its Chase date with Kansas Speedway (Oct. 21) to accommodate Kansas’ repave, scheduled for after the track’s spring event. As such, Kansas’ spring date has also been moved. Kansas now will be the eighth race of the season on April 22. Talladega’s spring event moves to May 6, and Dover International Speedway’s spring event returns to its traditional spot on June 3.

As previously announced, the season-opening Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway will start one week later with the running of the preseason “non-points” Shootout at Daytona on Feb. 18. The 54th annual Daytona 500 will run on Feb. 26.

The race dates for Phoenix International Raceway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway have likewise been moved a week later, to March 4 and March 11, respectively.

Two other featured adjustments to the 2012 schedule:

Texas Motor Speedway’s spring date will be moved to April 14, to accommodate the traditional open week for the Easter holiday.

Daytona’s summer event and Kentucky Speedway’s race will swap weekends in 2012, as the July 4th holiday falls mid-week next year. Kentucky’s race will be June 30; Daytona will run on July 7.

As in past years, FOX will broadcast the first 13 races of next year’s schedule. TNT will follow, broadcasting the next six. ESPN/ABC will broadcast the final 17 events. Race start times will be announced at a later date.

NASCAR will also release the 2012 schedules for the NASCAR Nationwide Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series at a later date.

2012 NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES SCHEDULE

Kerry is the son of the seven-time Sprint Cup champion, and half-brother of Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jeffrey is the grandson of Dale Sr.

RWR fields that No. 31 and No. 41 Chevys in the series. The No. 31 will be the focus of the team, with the No. 41 running on a part time basis.

Jeffrey was, and still is, a developmental driver for Dale Earnhardt Inc. DEI and RWR formed an alliance, and DEI will provide some Chevys to RWR.

Jeffrey is slated to drive  at Dover International Speedway, Chicagoland Speedway, Watkins Glen International, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Michigan International Speedway, Atlanta Motor Speedway and Lowe’s Motor Speedway.  Jeffrey may also race at Iowa Speedway and Auto Club Speedway, but those would have to be switched for other races to keep Jeffrey eligible for Rookie of the Year in 2010.

Kerry Earnhardt will run “several” races for the team, making his debut with the team at Texas Motor Speedway. He is also expected to run at Talladega Superspeedway and Atlanta.

In addition to the Earnhardts, Stanton Barrett, Derrike Cope, Travis Kittleson, Tim Brown and Tim Andrews drive for RWR.

The No. 5 Chevy will be split among team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr, all-time series wins leader Mark Martin, Ryan Newman, Tony Stewart, and Scott Wimmer.

Jr will drive at Texas Motor Speedway in April, Talladega Superspeedway in April, Lowe’s Motor Speedway in May, Daytona International Speedway in July and Atlanta Motor Speedway in Sept. in Chevys that will be sponsored by Fastenal, Godaddy.com, and Unilever.

Martin will drive the Chevy at Richmond International Raceway in May with Lipton as a sponsor. Tony Stewart will drive at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Oct. with Delphi as a sponsor. Stewart already has one victory in the series this season, winning the Camping World 300 at Daytona in a Hendrick Motorsports Chevy.

Newman will drive the No. 5 Fastenal Chevy in four races: Dover International Speedway in May, Chicagoland Speedway in July, Michigan International Speedway in Aug., and Kansas Speedway in Oct.

Wimmer will also pilot the No. 5 Fastenal Chevy for six races: Darlington Raceway in May, The Milwaukee Mile in June, O’Reilly Raceway Park in July, Iowa Speedway in Aug., Bristol Motor Speedway in Aug., and Richmond International Raceway in Sept.

Wimmer said in a JR Motorsports press release:

I am really excited to be associated with JR Motorsports and a great sponsor like Fastenal. I will be running at tracks that have been good for me in the past and look forward to my first event with JR Motorsports at Darlington in May. Hopefully, we can get the Fastenal car in the Winners Circle.

The announcement leaves two races without a named driver — the road-course events at Watkins Glen and Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, both in Aug. Drivers for those races will be announced at a later date. Last season, Ron Fellows drove the No. 5 GoDaddy.com Chevy to victory in the NAPA Auto Parts 200 presented by Dodge at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, so he may be considered for that race.

Earnhardt Jr. drove at Watkins Glen last year, presumably to get more experience at road courses, so he may take one of those races.

Also, anytime you mention road courses, you have to mention Boris Said’s name. He could also be considered.

Earnhardt Jr said:

This No. 5 team carries a strong tradition and a lot of expectations, and we are fortunate to attract such quality talent to help carry on that tradition. We had a similar set-up with this team last year, and we were able to go to Victory Lane twice. Obviously with this driver line-up, there’s no reason we can’t exceed last year’s win total.

What is it, you ask? I’ll tell you… It’s the goatee.

A quick internet search reveals that the type of goatee Busch is sporting these days is the Stripe. And, it’s the cause of his recent slide, if you want to call it that.

How can facial hair possible affect his ability to drive? During the race, the inside of the race car can reach upwards of 100 degrees. And, even though there are blowers that keep the drivers cool, and cool air is pumped into their helmets, they still sweat.

A cleanly shaven chin allows the sweat to roll down onto the neck. The goatee, however, does not. It catches all of that sweat, causing iching and irritation. This distracts the driver, making him lose concentration. Kyle Busch fell victim to this phenomenom at Pocono.

And there you have it. If Busch shaves, he’ll make it back to victory lane.

Before Indianapolis, Biffle was seventh in points. But, before finishing fourth at the Lifelock.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway, he was 11th in points, just two spots from being out.

This season, Biffle has eight top 10 finishes. But, he also has three finishes of 39th or worse, mainly the result of mistakes on pit road, mechanical issues, and accidents. He’s finished 15th or worse nine times this season, which really isn’t going to get it done going down the stretch.

In order to be guaranteed a spot in the Chase, you need to put together a string of top 10s, something Biffle is capable of if his team performs.

But, I don’t think his team has worked out its issues. Biffle’s car can run near the front one week and then not crack the top 20 the next week. That inconsistency puts him in the most danger of falling out.

In the seven races leading up to the Chase last year, Biffle averaged a 19th place finish. That statistic coupled with his inconsistent perfomance this season puts him in the most danger of falling out because he’s most likely to have these sorts of problems heading towards Richmond International Raceway.

The technical inspection revealed that David Reutimann’s No. 99 Toyota had three percent more horsepower than the competition. Kyle Busch’s No. 18 Toyota, which he drove to victory, was second. The No. 16 and 17 Fords from Roush Fenway Racing were next, followed by the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

Following the race at the Milwaukee Mile, which Carl Edwards won, a source said that dyno testing showed that Edwards’ peak horsepower was measured at 611, compared with 632 for the No. 20 Toyota, 628 for the No. 40 Dodge and 612 for the No. 88 Chevrolet.

The technical bulletin amended section 20A — 5.10.4 as follows:

At all Events, unless otherwise specified, all engines with a cylinder bore spacing less than 4.470 inches must compete using a tapered spacer with four (4) 1.125-inch diameter holes. At all Events, unless otherwise specified, all engines with a cylinder bore spacing of 4.470 inches or more must compete using a tapered spacer with four (4) 1.100-inch diameter holes. Unless otherwise authorized, the carburetor restrictor will be issued by NASCAR.

This ruling isn’t necessarily aimed at Toyota, as it applies to all engines that that reach the level of Toyota’s engines, regardless of the manufacturer.

On the final restart, Johnson brought the field to the green slowly. Busch timed it perfectly, and got right on Johnson’s back bumper, as Johnson accelerated. Busch then dove to the outside and pinned Johnson down in the corner, and drove right by Johnson for the win.

Top 5: Busch, Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Gref Biffle, and Tony Stewart.

Brian Vickers, Matt Kenseth, David Ragan, Martin Truex Jr., and Ryan Newman finished sixth through 10th, respectively.

Notables: Jeff Gordon (11th), Kasey Kahne (15th), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (16th), Mark Martin (17th), Jeff Burton (18th), Kurt Busch (28th), Carl Edwards (32nd), and Denny Hamlin (40th).

NASCAR will dyno the engines to evaluate how the engines compare.

Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Brian Vickers, and David Reutimann rounded out the top 5.

Greg Biffle, Clint Bowyer, Jeff Burton, Tony Stewart, and Landon Cassill finished sixth through 10th, respectively.

Notables: Jason Keller (14th), Carl Edwards (16th), Matt Kenseth (17th), Kevin Harvick (18th), Elliott Sadler (21st), David Stremme (23rd), Steve Wallace (24th), Dario Franchitti (26th), and Kenny Wallace (27th).