BRISTOL, Tenn. — Brad Keselowski passed Clint Bowyer with 24 laps to go Friday night and pulled away for his second victory of the season in NASCAR’s Nationwide Series, capping a remarkable run from the 37th starting position to Victory Lane at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Bowyer had dominated the race after slipping by Dario Franchitti for the lead on lap 107, but appeared to wiggle exiting the second turn on the 227th lap as Keselowski went past him.
“We were dead equal, Clint and I,” Keselowski said after climbing from his car in the cloud of smoke from a just-completed burnout. “I needed to catch a break and he gave it to me.”
Car owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. greeted Keselowski after the finish.
“Victory Lane, Bristol,” the boss told his driver. “It gets no better than that, man.”
Bowyer, who has won just once, was dejected after leading 121 laps.
“It was good right up until whatever lap that was where I made a mistake,” he said, adding that he tried too quickly to get back on the gas coming out of the second turn. “It came out from underneath me there and I had to check up or I would have spun out.”
Bowyer quickly gathered his car and gave chase, but Keselowski held on for the victory, moving him closer to Bowyer atop the points standings after 29 of 35 races this season. Keselowski is just 122 points behind Bowyer, and Carl Edwards dropped to third.
Bowyer held on to finish second, followed by Greg Biffle, pole-sitter Cale Gale and David Stremme in a race that was slowed just five times by cautions, and for only 26 laps.
Edwards, who earlier won the pole for Saturday night’s Sprint Cup Series race here, was knocked out of the race after 87 laps when he and Elliott Sadler crashed. Edwards returned after 90 laps and wound up 37th, falling from 113 points to 241 behind Bowyer.
“That’s as bad of a points night as we could have,” Edwards said. “We just have to keep our heads up. We know we’re good enough to go win this championship still.”
Bowyer has finished in the top 10 in 21 of 26 races, but has won just once.
“It’s been a frustrating two months for me,” Bowyer said. “It’s good when you can be frustrated with second, but we did give one away today. When you look at it, it was obvious.”
For Earnhardt’s team, which is seeking sponsorship, the victory could be big.
“Things like this definitely help our chances,” Earnhardt said. “This season we’ve really risen toward the top and we compete week in and week out with the best in the series.”
Keselowski expects the battle to be close all the way to the finish.
“This is going to come down to the end,” he said.
The finish almost included Kyle Busch, but his team was penalized for missing a lug nut after a pit stop with about 60 laps to go and he was called back in. He had been second behind Bowyer when he headed for the pits, but was 17th when the race went back to green.
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