Brad Keselowski (2) looks at the trophy as he celebrates with his crew in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup series auto race at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill., Sunday.

JOLIET, Ill. — Brad Keselowski saw one shot in front of him to steal the win in the opening race of the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.

He had twice picked his way through the field Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway, and found himself watching a spirited, side-by-side battle for the lead between Kevin Harvick and rookie Kyle Larson. As everyone else held their breath watching the Harvick and Larson duel, Keselowski saw his opening and pounced.

He used a daring three-wide drive through the middle to grab the lead for good.

“I just saw a hole and I went for it,” he said. “I didn’t know if my car would stick or not, but I knew I’d regret it if I didn’t try it.”

The win in the first race of the 10-race Chase automatically advances Keselowski, the top seed in the 16-driver field, into the second round. NASCAR this year has debuted an elimination format and four drivers will be knocked out after every third race.

As Team Penske celebrated in Victory Lane, Keselowski moved his name on a bracket-type Chase grid into the next round.

“I guess you couldn’t ask for a better way to start the Chase,” he said. “Today was about as much of a statement as you can make.”

Keselowski opened the 2012 Chase with a win at Chicago and went on to his first Sprint Cup title. He failed to make the Chase last year and was ineligible to defend his title, but has raced this entire year as if he’s on a mission to win a second championship.

Now he can race for fun the next two weeks as he awaits the Chase reset following the Sept. 28 race at Dover — all because he went for broke on Sunday.

“The first thing we wanted to do was get a win for one of our cars so we’re automatically in the next round,” team owner Roger Penske said.

The gamble with 15 laps remaining put Keselowski solidly out front, and he easily pulled away from the field while Harvick and Larson had their hands full trying to hold off Jeff Gordon.

Then contact between Danica Patrick and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. set up one final restart with six laps to go, but Keselowski again surged to the front for his second consecutive victory and Sprint Cup Series-leading fifth of the year.

It was a huge turnaround from Friday’s opening practice, when he and Penske teammate Joey Logano struggled to find speed. Keselowski started 25th, but worked his way up to second, only to give it all up following a questionable pit stop under yellow. The rear tire changer fretted he didn’t get the wheel on tight enough, and crew chief Paul Wolfe had to make a split-second decision.