Everything had to go right for Brad Keselowski to chase down Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Keselowski stayed close to the leaders all night and then got the luck he needed when a late accident tightened the field and he ran strong on the two green-white-checkered laps at the end to win the NASCAR Nationwide Series Kroger 200 on Saturday night.
After the field endured a series of problems in the late laps, Elliott Sadler crashed out in lap 198 while battling Keselowski and Stenhouse for the lead, bringing out another caution and setting up the shootout to the finish.
That played to Keselowski’s strength.
“It certainly was a key factor in winning the race,” he said. “I knew if I could get to the front row with the short-run speed that my car had, and knowing that Ricky was kind of struggling with long-run speed, I knew that was going to be a huge deciding factor in my favor.” CBSSports.com
“It’s a very special win being from Michigan,” Keselowski said. “I’ve been coming to this race track for years. I’ve been to Victory Lane as a team guy and a mechanic but never a driver. It’s so special to win here and win here in a Dodge.”
James Buescher finished second after finishing second in the Trucks Series race on Friday night.
“It was a really solid weekend,” he said.
Stenhouse led more than 180 laps and threatened to run away from the field before finishing third. He led by nearly four seconds in lap 175 before an accident brought out a yellow flag.
“Coming to a short track as a driver, you really think you can make a lot of things happen, and we didn’t make that last thing happen like we needed to,” Stenhouse said.
Stenhouse still moved ahead of Reed Sorenson into the points lead. Sorenson finished ninth. The Republic
Aric Almirola took the fourth spot, while Carl Edwards rebounded from a late- race pit-road speeding penalty to finish fifth. Edwards won last weekend’s race at Nashville.
Keselowski and Carl Edwards were the only Sprint Cup Series regulars who competed in this race. Earlier in the day, Keselowski qualified fifth for Sunday’s Brickyard 400 at nearby Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Edwards will start 10th in that race.
Jason Leffler, Joe Nemechek, Drew Herring, Reed Sorenson and Michael McDowell finished sixth through 10th, respectively. MiamiHerald.com
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NASCAR Nationwide Series: Kroger 200 at Lucas Oil Raceway - Race Results
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