Keselowski claims win in LOR finale

It was the final Nationwide race at Lucas Oil Raceway and it was all that it lived up to be. Despite Ricky Stenhouse dominating the race he was unable to win thanks to a pair of late restarts.

Keselowki spent much of the night hanging inside the top-10 but the front of the field was made up of the Roush Ford’s of Stenhouse, Carl Edwards and Trevor Bayne. The race took a turn when on lap 176 Tim Andrews and Michael Annett got together in turns three and four and were then slammed into by Steven Wallace. A red flag ensued and pit stops followed.

During those critical pit stops Edwards was busted for speeding and Austin Dillon moved to the top of the scoring pylon as he stayed out on old tires. That move failed early with Dillon getting shuffled back quickly and Stenhouse going back out front.

On lap 188 the motor of Bayne’s #16 let go ending his night. Before the race could go back to green a brake fire started on the #31 of Justin Allgaier. What seemed like a minor issue turned into more the front of the car being engulfed in flames and Allgaier having to retire from the race.

With Allgaier who was second at the time of his inncident removed from the race, NASCAR officials moved up the outside line moving Keseklowki from fourth to second. That didn’t sit well with Elliott Sadler who remained in third.

Keselowki went for the lead quickly and the two made contact in turn three. Stenhouse’s car  went wide and brushed the turn four wall as the field began wrecking behind them mainly the car of Sadler spinning and collecting teammate Austin Dillon.

On the final restart Keselowki held off the field and drove to victory as James Buescher was able to pass Stenhouse for second. Foillowing the race Stenhouse chased Keselowki around the track on the cool-down lap before pulling into pit road.

“It’s frustrating, “Stenhouse stated, taking the high road during his post-race interview after leading a race high 189 of the 204 total laps, “I’ve been working on restarts all year and it just got us tonight.” “Brad Keselowski is a great driver and he was a little bit better than us tonight on restarts I guess.”

John Boarman
John Boarmanhttp://www.tireball.com
Founder and Owner of Tireball Sports.

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