MEMPHIS, Tenn. — As he hit the final turn at Memphis Motorsports Park, Brad Keselowski was loose, almost sideways, and trying to hold on as he reached the finish line.
Having Nationwide Series points leader Kyle Busch right on his rear bumper only added to the pressure.
“I was doing all I could do to stay in front of him,” Keselowski said. “I thought I was going to wreck to be honest.”
Keselowski was able to grab enough of the Delphi Chevrolet steering wheel to hold on and beat Busch to the finish line Saturday, winning the Kroger on Track For The Cure 250.
The race on the ¾-mile oval came down to a green-white-checker finish after the 14th caution of the day on the final lap.
“I caught it at the last minute, and knew I was going to have to run hard to the line,” Keselowski said. “I couldn’t have beat him by more than 2 or 3 feet.”
Keselowski was leading when a caution came out on the final lap because Stephen Wallace spun after tangling with Matt Kenseth. Wallace banged into Kenseth’s car after the race and the two had words on pit road.
Keselowski, who had taken the lead with a bold move passing four cars on a lap 239 restart, held onto the advantage for his fourth Nationwide win of the year.
Busch finished second and leads Carl Edwards by 215 points in the standings.
“I guess I should be ecstatic with a second-place finish, seeing as though we didn’t have a car that should have finished in the Top 10,” Busch said. “I gave it all I had on the last few laps. I could have spun him out and wrecked him, but I couldn’t put myself to do it.”
Jason Leffler finished third, while Mike Bliss and Brendan Gaughan completed the top five. Edwards was sixth.
“It’s always a matter of survival here,” Leffler said of the Memphis track, which holds the record for most cautions in a Nationwide Series race with 25 two years ago. “It’s that type of race track.”
There were 14 cautions on the day, with the last one setting up the exciting finish.
Keselowski led 34 of the eventual 254 laps in earning his first victory at Memphis Motorsports Park.
Edwards, Busch and two other Sprint Cup drivers were sent to the rear of the grid to start the race because substitute drivers had qualified for them. The Cup drivers had been at Martinsville earlier in the day preparing for Sunday’s race.
Edwards entered the race trailing Busch by 195 points, and his hopes of cutting into the lead appeared to take a hit on the 25th lap. Tony Raines got into the back of Edwards, sending him spinning between turns 3 and 4. Edwards took another shot to the back of his Ford before coming to a stop.
That was one of three early cautions brought on by crashes. The third included pole-sitter Justin Allgaier, who got together with Keselowski.
“Our car wasn’t as good as it needed to be at the start,” Keselowski’s crew chief, Tony Eury Sr. said. “Then we got the fender and the hood smashed in on it, and it got worse after that.”
Allgaier, who entered the race fifth in the points, captured the pole in qualifying earlier Saturday with a lap of 118.1 mph. It was the rookie’s first pole in 36 Nationwide races.
He led for the first 34 laps, and eventually finished 19th, holding onto fifth in the points.
Despite the early crash, Edwards was in fifth and Busch eighth by the 54th lap. Edwards took the lead on lap 62, but Keselowski passed him five laps later.
Busch took over after a restart on the 95th lap, going outside to get in front. Bliss grabbed the lead two laps later and built his lead to 5 seconds as the race reached the halfway point.
After a yellow brought everyone in for pit stops, Busch left pit road first and the other four Cup drivers — Edwards, Kenseth, Keselowski and David Reutimann — were in the top 10.
Between cautions and restarts, Edwards held onto the lead through much of the second half of the race. But with 15 laps to go, he ended up in a wreck on the backstretch possibly started when Keselowski got into his back bumper.
That ended any hope Edwards had of repeating his trip to victory lane or cutting into Busch’s series points lead.
On the restart, Keselowski was in fifth behind Bliss, and the front three — Michael Annett, who was leading at the time, Raines and Wallace — who chose not to pit and were on old tires. Keselowski was able to beat Bliss and then had an easy time passing the others.
“It felt pretty cool in the seat,” Keselowski said of the move. “I’d like to see what it looked like on TV. I thought we could get a run on them. It was just a question of what move (Bliss) would make when I got a run on him.”
From there, it was a matter of outbattling Busch through a couple more cautions, and a nervous final turn.
“It was just good hard racing,” the winner said. “He wasn’t going to give an inch, and neither was I.”
Saturday at Memphis Motorsports Park
Millington, Tenn.
Lap length: .75 miles
(Start position in parentheses)
1. (7) Brad Keselowski, Chevrolet, 254 laps, 123.5 rating, 190 points, $80,338.
2. (11) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 254, 119.7, 175, $42,025.
3. (29) Jason Leffler, Toyota, 254, 107.5, 165, $44,993.
4. (6) Mike Bliss, Toyota, 254, 139.1, 170, $37,793.
5. (13) Brendan Gaughan, Chevrolet, 254, 107.3, 160, $32,693.
6. (35) Carl Edwards, Ford, 254, 124.4, 155, $25,050.
7. (2) Scott Wimmer, Chevrolet, 254, 96.7, 146, $29,493.
8. (17) David Reutimann, Toyota, 254, 95.6, 142, $20,500.
9. (31) Stephen Leicht, Chevrolet, 254, 75.8, 138, $26,693.
10. (14) Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, 254, 91.6, 134, $27,068.
11. (18) Matt Kenseth, Ford, 254, 94.2, 130, $19,725.
12. (15) Shelby Howard, Chevrolet, 254, 73.6, 127, $19,600.
13. (5) Kenny Wallace, Chevrolet, 254, 78, 129, $26,818.
14. (4) Matt DiBenedetto, Toyota, 254, 84.9, 121, $26,543.
15. (10) Mike Wallace, Chevrolet, 254, 78, 118, $26,668.
16. (34) Michael Annett, Toyota, 254, 80.8, 120, $27,993.
17. (25) Blake Koch, Dodge, 254, 51.6, 112, $25,368.
18. (38) Tony Raines, Chevrolet, 254, 69.6, 109, $25,218.
19. (1) Justin Allgaier, Dodge, 254, 82.6, 111, $29,693.
20. (12) Steve Wallace, Chevrolet, 253, 98.2, 103, $25,818.
21. (43) Michael McDowell, Dodge, 252, 50.4, 100, $18,375.
22. (27) Eddie MacDonald, Ford, 250, 57.7, 97, $18,250.
23. (3) Richard Boswell, Chevrolet, 249, 65.7, 94, $19,500.
24. (30) Justin Marks, Toyota, 249, 46.7, 91, $24,468.
25. (32) Kelly Bires, Chevrolet, 235, 62.5, 88, $24,543.
26. (33) Brian Ickler, Toyota, accident, 234, 68.1, 85, $24,348.
27. (37) Kevin Conway, Dodge, 215, 51.2, 82, $17,825.
28. (21) Jason Keller, Ford, engine, 207, 85.6, 79, $24,248.
29. (24) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, oil pump, 206, 58.8, 76, $17,745.
30. (42) Eric McClure, Ford, accident, 163, 43.7, 73, $24,478.
31. (22) Erik Darnell, Ford, accident, 152, 75.6, 70, $24,143.
32. (36) Robert Richardson Jr., Chevrolet, accident, 89, 33.4, 67, $24,108.
33. (9) Mark Day, Chevrolet, overheating, 86, 56.9, 64, $17,605.
34. (23) Morgan Shepherd, Chevrolet, brakes, 58, 50.6, 61, $17,570.
35. (41) Jeff Fuller, Chevrolet, overheating, 52, 39.5, 58, $24,003.
36. (16) Andy Ponstein, Chevrolet, vibration, 38, 41.6, 55, $17,500.
37. (40) Kenny Hendrick, Ford, brakes, 25, 34, 52, $23,928.
38. (39) Coleman Pressley, Toyota, overheating, 15, 36.7, 49, $23,873.
39. (28) Chase Miller, Dodge, accident, 8, 37.6, 46, $17,370.
40. (20) John Wes Townley, Ford, accident, 7, 40.4, 43, $17,310.
41. (26) Justin Hobgood, Chevrolet, brakes, 4, 31.4, 40, $17,270.
42. (19) Danny O’Quinn Jr., Chevrolet, ignition, 4, 28.9, 37, $17,235.
43. (8) Willie Allen, Dodge, vibration, 3, 27.8, 34, $17,130.
Race Statistics
Average Speed of Race Winner: 74.374 mph.
Time of Race: 2 hours, 33 minutes, 41 seconds.
Margin of Victory: 0.90 seconds.
Caution Flags: 14 for 72 laps.
Lead Changes: 13 among 8 drivers.
Lap Leaders: J.Allgaier 1-34; M.Bliss 35-62; C.Edwards 63-68; B.Keselowski 69-86; M.Bliss 87-93; K.Busch 94-95; M.Bliss 96-126; K.Wallace 127-128; K.Busch 129-143; M.Bliss 144-162; C.Edwards 163-221; B.Gaughan 222-229; M.Annett 230-238; B.Keselowski 239-254.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Led, Laps Led): M.Bliss, 4 times for 85 laps; C.Edwards, 2 times for 65 laps; B.Keselowski, 2 times for 34 laps; J.Allgaier, 1 time for 34 laps; K.Busch, 2 times for 17 laps; M.Annett, 1 time for 9 laps; B.Gaughan, 1 time for 8 laps; K.Wallace, 1 time for 2 laps.
Top 10 in Points
1. K.Busch, 5,179; 2. C.Edwards, 4,964; 3. Bra.Keselowski, 4,922; 4. J.Leffler, 4,184; 5. J.Allgaier, 3,743; 6. M.Bliss, 3,684; 7. S.Wallace, 3,626; 8. J.Keller, 3,574; 9. B.Gaughan, 3,563; 10. M.Annett, 3,298.
NASCAR Driver Rating Formula
A maximum of 150 points can be attained in a race.
The formula combines the following categories: Wins, Finishes, Top-15 Finishes, Average Running Position While on Lead Lap, Average Speed Under Green, Fastest Lap, Led Most Laps, Lead-Lap Finish.
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