NASCAR Nationwide Series
  • Peg It on GarageMonkey
NNS: Keselowski Kills At Charlotte
Brad Keselowski won his fifth NASCAR Nationwide Series race of the year...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted October 15, 2010   Concord, NC
Brad Keselowski, driver of the #22 Discount Tire Dodge, celebrates by waving the American flag on track after winning the NASCAR Nationwide Series Dollar General 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. (Photo: Getty Images)
Brad Keselowski captured Saturday night's Dollar General 300 NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

NATIONWIDE: Charlotte 1010

The NASCAR Nationwide Series points leader decided not to pit at the three-quarter mark of the race, which allowed him to take the race lead over Kyle Busch. From there, Keselowski held for the remainder of the race to win in his No. 22 Penske Racing Dodge.

The victory was the fifth of the year for Keselowski and the 11th of his NASCAR Nationwide Series career.

Keselowski’s triumph came as he led Martin Truex Jr.’s Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota to the checkered flag. Finishing third was Keselowski’s Penske teammate, Justin Allgaier, with Joey Logano’s Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota and the Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet of Clint Bowyer completing the top five.

The race was the fourth and final event in the 2010 season with the new-generational NNS car, which will be used exclusively next season. Keselowski won two of the four new-car races, while Busch went 0-4, despite winning 12 of 22 starts this season in the old-style car. Busch finished sixth at Charlotte.

At Charlotte Saturday night, Busch led the most laps for the fifth time in the last six NNS races but was unable to win.

Bowyer’s RCR entry was the only car that was capable of consistently running with Busch, but he suffered a pit-road speeding penalty just past the three-quarter mark, which doomed his chances. He restarted 15th, but didn’t have time to make it to the front.

A pair of late-race cautions bunched up the field. Shortly after a restart of Lap 187 of the 200-lap race, Steve Wallace crashed on the backstretch after making contact with Trevor Bayne. It was the seventh time this season that Wallace had a crash-related DNF.

NATIONWIDE: Charlotte 1010

That set up a duel to the finish with just eight laps left in the race. Once he took the green, Keselowski cleared Truex after one lap and held on to win.

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100 and e-mail him at Jensen is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of Speed,” and has appeared on numerous television and radio shows. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association and an NMPA Writer of the Year.

Play Fantasy Racing - Cup Edition!
tom_jensen's avatar

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tom Jensen

MORE BY THIS AUTHOR
Advertising | Jobs | Feedback | FAQ | Terms of Use | NEW Privacy Policy | Ad Choices | Site Map
Fox Sports | FUEL TV | FX Network | National Geographic | IGN | AskMen
The Motor Sports Authority, SPEED and associated logos are registered trademarks of Speed Channel Inc.
All Rights Reserved © Speed Channel, Inc. 2013

All external links will open in a new browser window. SPEED.com does not endorse external sites.