Pole-sitter Kevin Harvick held off Nationwide Series points-leader Brad Keselowski during a 40-lap run to the finish to win Friday night’s Virginia 529 College Savings 250 at Richmond International Raceway.
In the first race at Richmond and third overall with NASCAR’s new Nationwide car, Harvick crossed the finish line .256 seconds ahead of Keselowski, who extended his championship lead to 373 points over Carl Edwards, who ran 10th. Trevor Bayne finished third, tying his career-best. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. came home fourth, followed by Reed Sorenson.
The victory was Harvick’s third of the season and 37th of his career, third all time in the series. The owner/driver of Kevin Harvick Inc. led 170 of the 250 laps and was elated with the progress his No. 33 team had made with the new car. NASCAR.com
The series points leader went two laps down after a pit road problem before the midpoint of the 250-lap event at Richmond International Raceway. But he was back up to third when a caution flag came out with 46 laps to go. He was still third after the leaders all pitted, but spent the last 10 laps within a few car lengths of the leader.
“We just weren’t good enough to beat Kevin legit tonight,” he said.
Harvick slapped the wall at one point with Keselowski right behind him, but held on.
“The way the lapped traffic fell just wasn’t real good for us, and then I got a little aggressive with the throttle and got the thing sideways,” he said of his contact with the safer barrier. “You can’t hardly tell the thing hit the wall, and hit it pretty hard.”
Keselowski said he saved his tires for one final late push, but was still pleased.
“To come back and get to the front and have a chance for the win, that’s the sign of a really strong team,” he said after padding his lead over Carl Edwards to 373 points with eight races remaining in the season. Kyle Busch is third, now 583 points behind. The Associated Press
Virginia-native Denny Hamlin took the sixth spot, followed by Bowyer, Paul Menard, Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards, who won this race one year ago.
Busch, who was attempting to win his record 11th Nationwide race of the season, received a late-race penalty after leaving his pit stall with a piece of equipment attached to his car. Busch had been running among the leaders until his penalty put him out of contention. MiamiHerald.com
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NASCAR Nationwide Series: Virginia 529 College Savings 250 at Richmond - Race Results
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