NNS: Keselowski Wins At Charlotte

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NNS: Keselowski Wins At Charlotte

Long fuel run carries Brad Keselowski to victory at Charlotte Motor Speedway…

Mike Hembree | Posted May 26, 2012 Concord, NC

Brad Keselowski stretched his fuel over the closing laps and outran Denny Hamlin to win Saturday’s History 300 Nationwide Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Keselowski made his final fuel load last to the final drop, running 73 laps and leading the final 67. He held a relatively comfortable lead of about 1.5 seconds over Kyle Busch and Hamlin over the final miles but was running in danger of losing fuel pressure.

Keselowski finished .838 of a second in front of Hamlin and had enough fuel left to spin a victory burnout. The victory was the first in the series for crew chief Jeremy Bullins.

“It was a gamble, but it was a good gamble, obviously,” Keselowski said.

“Denny was coming hard. It was going to be tough to beat him if it was three or four laps longer. I’m thankful I was able to hold him off.”

The win kicked off what could be a big weekend for Penske Racing. Team owner Roger Penske will have strong cars in the Coca-Cola 600 and Indianapolis 500 Sunday on one of motorsports’ biggest days. Keselowski was fastest in the final Sprint Cup practice.

“I’m not satisfied,” Keselowski said. “I want to get tomorrow’s, too. And I’m happy for Roger.”

Hamlin passed Busch for second place with 10 laps to go. He rallied for a strong finish after pitting to change a carburetor early in the race.

“It was a great battle back for us,” Hamlin said. “We were just struggling to get the motor running at the end of the straightaway. I thought we had a carburetor problem. We fought the handling. We just didn’t have that good of a car, but we were able to make something of it.

“I had used my stuff up so much trying to get back through the field. I wore out the right front right off it.”

Following Keselowski (who scored his first Nationwide win of the year), Hamlin and Busch at the finish were Kevin Harvick and Elliott Sadler.

Pole winner Joey Logano dominated the first part of the race, leading the first 21 laps before Harvick stormed to the front to lead the next 33.

Teams used a variety of pit strategy in the second half of the race as Keselowski took over the dominant role.

Caution flags slowed the field several times during the last half of the race.

One of the biggest crashes occurred with 54 laps remaining as Cole Whitt and Brian Scott, both running in the top 12, slid off the third turn – possibly in oil on the track – and slammed hard into the inside wall, crumpling their cars.

On the ensuing green flag, with 46 laps to go, Keselowski held the lead in front of Kasey Kahne, Justin Allgaier, Kyle Busch and Hamlin.

The day was a struggle for defending series champion and point leader Ricky Stenhouse Jr., whose Ford dropped a driveshaft near the end of the race’s first half.

Stenhouse drove into the garage and spent 22 laps there for repairs before returning to the track in 33rd place.

Stenhouse opened the race with a 28-point lead over second-place Sadler but finished the race only 13 in front. Stenhouse was 26th.

Danica Patrick finished 13th, and Travis Pastrana was 24th. Joey Coulter finished 10th in his Nationwide Series debut.

Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 30 years. He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.

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Mike Hembree

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