Brad Keselowski holds off Matt Kenseth in Bristol

BRISTOL, Tenn. -- Brad Keselowski used Bristol Motor Speedway last fall to cement his spot in NASCAR's championship race.

Back at the track yesterday, Keselowski again made his way to Victory Lane.

And he again began to think about a Sprint Cup title.

Keselowski led a career-best and race-high 231 laps, then held off Daytona 500 winner Matt Kenseth on a late restart to cruise to his first victory of the season. "What can I say? I love Bristol and Bristol loves me," said Keselowski, who immediately began taking pictures in Victory Lane to send to Twitter.

"The goal at Penske Racing is to win a Sprint Cup championship, and one win certainly doesn't achieve that, but it's a great step."

The Chase for the Sprint Cup championship has a wild-card provisional for the winningest driver not otherwise eligible. Keselowski's win at Bristol last August was his third of the season and gave him the provisional that allowed him to race for the title.

Now, just a month into this season, he's focused on collecting victories.

"One win is good; two wins is really good," Keselowski said. "We need to keep winning races to lock ourselves in the Chase, but heck, I'd rather just go into the Chase in the top spot. If we run like we have the last few weeks, we've got as good a shot as anybody else."

Keselowski narrowly escaped an early seven-car accident, worked his way toward the front, then settled in for a tight battle with Kenseth over the final third of the race. Kenseth beat Keselowski on one of their restarts -- fans complained instantly on Twitter that Kenseth had jumped the start -- and Keselowski had to run him back down to reclaim the lead. Kenseth finished second.

Jimmie Johnson finished ninth in what is likely his last race for some time with crew chief Chad Knaus. Hendrick Motorsports goes before NASCAR's chief appellate officer Tuesday, trying to get Knaus' six-race suspension overturned. NASCAR punished Knaus and the team because their Chevrolet failed the opening day inspection at last month's Daytona 500.