Sophomore driver Brad Keselowski took the checkers in the NASCAR Nationwide series Federated Auto Parts 300 at the Nashville Superspeedway.
Driving for JR /Hendrick Motorsports, Keselowski’s win came in his forty ninth start during his first full time season in the series.
Keselowski, who started on the outside pole, took the lead for the first time on lap seventy-nine after he opted to stay on track while the majority of the field pitted under caution.
He led for twenty six laps before Sprint Cup regulars Clint Bowyer and David Reutimann began battling for the top spot.
Bowyer and Reutimann dominated the second half of the race with the two combining to lead 115 of the final 120 laps.
Keselowski’s opportunity to catch the leaders occurred during a late in the race when the tenth and final caution flag flew setting up a restart that put Keselowski in sight of the leaders.
The field was bunched up and Keselowski took the lead back with five laps remaining by passing Clint Bowyer and then pulling away to a 1.98 second lead to take the first victory in the series in his career
“That’s what we needed to catch back up “, said Keselowski referring to the late race yellow flag.
An emotional Keselowski thanked team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr for the opportunity to race in the series before celebrating with his team.
The Michigan native made headlines in recent weeks due to an on track conflict with Denny Hamlin which drew out the young drivers thoughts of racing with Sprint Cup drivers each week in the series.
Prior to the race Keselowski discussed how he enjoys the weekends that the series is not running with the Cup series. “It is one of the three times that we get more seat time on a track than the Cup guys, it even out the playing field”.
Finishing behind Keselowski were David Stremme, David Reutimann, Clint Bowyer and David Ragan.
Joe Gibbs Racing protégé Joey Logano in only his second start in the series qualified on the pole. Out of the gate he led sixty-four laps before he was sidelined after he got caught up in a front stretch crash. Logano returned to the track to finish thirty -first.
Kyle Busch, who was on a marathon run to compete in all three of NASCAR’s major series in three different states made the event however after having a strong showing cut a tire late in the race to finish twentieth.
The race saw ten lead changes among eight drivers.
Clint Bowyer remains the championship points leader, 166 markers ahead of David Reutimann
Next week the series again runs a stand alone event as it heads to Kentucky Speedway for the Meijer 300.
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