Brad Keselowski took his second consecutive checkered flag at Kansas Speedway on Saturday with a dominating win in the Nationwide Series Kansas Lottery 300.
Keselowski, who won the Sprint Cup Series STP 400 four months earlier, led 173 of 200 laps and fended off hometown favorite Carl Edwards after retaking the lead with 14 laps remaining. The victory in front of an announced crowd of 68,000 was Keselowski’s 16th career Nationwide win and his fourth this season.
“The car was just phenomenal, an absolutely phenomenal race car,” Keselowski said. “It was one of those races that you’re trying to figure out what to do not to lose it.” Kansas City Star
Carl Edwards held the top spot after a late-race round of pit stops, but Keselowski passed his fellow Sprint Cup Series competitor for the lead with 14 laps remaining. He crossed the finish line 2.8 seconds ahead of Edwards.
“This Dodge Challenger just hauled all day,” Keselowski said. “I knew it was pretty good in practice, but I didn’t know it was going to be this good.”
Keselowski and Edwards are both in the 12-driver field for this year’s Chase for the Sprint Cup championship. Edwards will start second in Sunday’s 400- mile race at Kansas. Keselowski, the winner of the June Sprint Cup event at Kansas, will roll off in 12th.
“I wish I could use this car for tomorrow,” Keselowski quipped. MiamiHerald.com
Elliott Sadler finished third Saturday and closed to within 20 points of Ricky Stenhouse Jr. with four races remaining.
“All in all it was a great day for us,’’ said Sadler, who matched his season-best finish. “If we can be this consistent for the rest of the year who knows when we get to Homestead (Fla., for the final race) what can happen.’’
Stenhouse was set back by pit road problems but rebounded to finish fifth, behind Paul Menard.
“To battle back from three pit road issues we had — I stalled it once, got a penalty for speeding and had a slow stop — to still come back and run top-five is not too bad,’’ Stenhouse said. “We have the race team to do this (win the title).’’
Kevin Harvick finished sixth, followed by Joey Logano, Brian Vickers, Trevor Bayne and rookie Ryan Truex to round out the top 10. Topeka Capital Journal
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