Brad Keselowski leaned on pure power provided by a brand new No. 22 Penske Racing Dodge to lead the final 131 of 133 laps en route to taking his first career Kentucky Speedway victory by 1.180 seconds over Kevin Harvick in the NASCAR Nationwide Series “Feed The Children 300” in front of 52,000 fans tonight.
The Rochester, Mich., driver jousted with Kevin Harvick and his No. 33 Kevin Harvick, Inc., Chevrolet through the first quarter of the race before gaining the upper hand for good on Lap 68 by taking the lead from Joe Nemechek, who kept his No. 87 NEMCO Racing car on the track following the second of five caution periods of the night on Lap 66.
Keselowski muscled up from that point, survived three caution periods in the closing 99 laps and a fuel scare during a series track record 64-lap green flag run to the finish line that brought him his first NNS victory of the season along with his seventh top five and 11th top-10 finish.
He ended the night having lead a race-high 132 laps and now owns four top-five NNS Kentucky finishes in as many starts.
“This car was awesome. The boys at Penske Racing spent some extra hours on it and it feels good. I think we got more in the hopper. To see this team start coming along feels great.
“The guys at Discount Tire have been behind me, supporting me. They made this program possible so we could win the championship last year. (We) got banned from it this year, so now we’re just out here having fun.
“If you keep doing the right things long enough, you will be rewarded and today was a day of reward. I can’t wait to see a bunch of the Discount Tire guys this week bring them home a trophy,” Keselowski said.
FIN CAR DRIVER MAKE 1 22 Brad Keselowski Dodge 2 33 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 3 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 4 7 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 5 2 Elliott Sadler Chevrolet 6 9 Kenny Wallace Toyota 7 62 Michael Annett Toyota 8 60 Carl Edwards Ford 9 6 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 10 20 Joey Logano Toyota 11 16 Trevor Bayne Ford 12 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 13 38 Jason Leffler Chevrolet 14 32 Mark Martin Chevrolet 15 11 Brian Scott Toyota 16 1 Mike Wallace Chevrolet 17 30 Reed Sorenson Chevrolet 18 164 David Reutimann Toyota 19 31 Justin Allgaier Chevrolet 20 88 Aric Almirola Chevrolet 21 66 Steve Wallace Toyota 22 81 Blake Koch * Dodge 23 70 David Stremme Chevrolet 24 19 Mike Bliss Chevrolet 25 28 Derrike Cope Chevrolet 26 15 Timmy Hill * Ford 27 14 Eric McClure Chevrolet 28 40 Charles Lewandoski * Chevrolet 29 52 Kevin Lepage Chevrolet 30 102 Jamie Dick Chevrolet 31 51 Jeremy Clements Chevrolet 32 113 Jennifer Jo Cobb * Dodge 33 23 Robert Richardson Jr. Chevrolet 34 89 Morgan Shepherd Chevrolet 35 39 Will Kimmel III Ford 36 103 Scott Riggs Dodge 37 44 Jeff Green Chevrolet 38 142 Tim Andrews Chevrolet 39 175 Johnny Chapman Chevrolet 40 174 Mike Harmon Chevrolet 41 146 Chase Miller Chevrolet 42 172 John Jackson Toyota 43 49 Dennis Setzer Chevrolet
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