<P> The next day, Keselowski led 37 laps in the Finger Lakes 355 at Watkins Glen . With two laps to go, he was second behind Kyle Busch, and had Marcos Ambrose behind him . Busch slipped on oil after taking the white flag, and Keselowski slid into him, spinning him out in the esses . Keselowski then led most of the final lap before Ambrose was able to get by Keselowski in the final turns; Keselowski finished second to Ambrose in an almost carbon - copy repeat of the previous year's finish . </P> <P> Keselowski notched another 2nd - place finish the following week at Michigan, leading with 10 laps to go but being passed by Jimmie Johnson and Greg Biffle . Johnson's engine blew up leading with six laps to go, giving the race to Biffle . Keselowski's strong showing during the 2012 Sprint Cup season qualified him automatically for the Chase for the Sprint Cup, which he entered in 4th place on account of his 3 regular season wins . </P> <P> In September, he won the first race in the Chase, the GEICO 400 at Chicagoland Speedway . Two weeks after that, he won at Dover after several of the dominant leaders had to pit late for fuel, allowing him to assume the point lead . Keselowski continued on a hot streak of top - eleven finishes: 7th at Talladega, 11th at Charlotte, and 7th at Kansas, although his point lead over Jimmie Johnson narrowed during this stretch . He lost the point lead to Johnson the following week at Martinsville, finishing sixth while Johnson won . The next week Keselowski finished second at Texas, racing Johnson hard before relinquishing the lead . His aggressive driving at the end of the race prompted defending champion Tony Stewart to say that Keselowski drove with a' death wish .' </P> <P> While Johnson wrecked the following week in Phoenix, Keselowski's sixth - place finish allowed him to reassume the points lead by 20 points . During a red flag period due to Jeff Gordon intentionally crashing Clint Bowyer, Keselowski again tweeted a photo from his car . NASCAR fined Keselowski $25,000 for this, stating that it was prohibited under NASCAR rules (despite NASCAR not having penalized Keselowski for tweeting a photo from his car during the lengthy red flag at the Daytona 500). He qualified third for the finale at Homestead - Miami, but was then moved up to second after pole - sitter Joey Logano was involved in a Saturday practice wreck involving Greg Biffle and Denny Hamlin . Keselowski finished in 15th place, but still clinched his first Sprint Cup championship when Johnson dropped out of the race with gear failure, joining Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt as the only drivers to win the Cup championship within their first three full - time seasons . In an interview on ESPN's SportsCenter during the post-race celebration, Keselowski admitted to being "a little buzzed" after consuming plenty of his sponsor, Miller Lite . The video of his interview went viral; interviewer Kevin Connors called it the best interview in SportsCenter's history . </P>

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