Brad Keselowski passed Kyle Busch with nine laps to go and then held off the hard-charging driver in the closing laps to win Saturday’s U.S. Cellular 250, the inaugural NASCAR Nationwide race at Iowa Speedway.
Keselowski, who led a race-best 121 laps, stayed on the track with Busch during the race’s final caution and then passed Busch for the win four laps after the final restart. AHN
Keselowski recorded his second victory of the season and the fourth of his Nationwide career.
“Kyle was a little bit better on short runs, and then he put those two tires on and had a little for me,” Keselowski said. “We were in trouble but kept digging hard and forced a mistake on Kyle’s part when we drove by him.”
In addition to his race winnings, Keselowski collected a $75,000 bonus from series title sponsor Nationwide Insurance for winning the third “Dash 4 Cash” event on the schedule this season. Full-time series regulars and part- time/limited series-only regulars were eligible for the insurance company’s bonus program. No driver took the prize money at Nashville and Kentucky earlier this year.
“This is the coolest race I could win, and $75,000 from Nationwide, I appreciate that,” Keselowski added. MiamiHerald.com
Busch, who started at the back after spending the morning in Pennsylvania practicing for the Sprint Cup race Sunday at Pocono, lead for 84 laps. He has nine consecutive top-two finishes, tying the series record set by Jack Ingram in 1983.
NASCAR Nationwide Series: US Cellular 250 at Iowa Speedway - Race Results
Busch wasn’t all that thrilled about such a distinction. It was the fourth time in five Nationwide races that Busch finished second, though he still has a 207-point edge over Carl Edwards in the season points race.
“Apparently, I don’t know what I need in my race cars in order to win these races at the end of them,” Busch said. “It’s a frustrating day.”
Jason Leffler was third, followed by Edwards and Kelly Bires.
“I wouldn’t say we say caught a good break, but we played the odds and I would say that 75 percent of the time, that what we did would win the race,” Keselowski said of his critical decision not to pit and instead stick with his tires. “It would take things to line up just perfectly against us for us not to win the race, which at one point it appeared that’s how it was going to happen. But it’s the right call.” The Associated Press
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