July 10, 2015
By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service
SPARTA,
Ky. – Brad Keselowski held of Erik Jones and a charging Kyle Busch
after a restart with 31 laps left and collected his first NASCAR XFINITY
Series victory of the season in Friday night’s Kentucky 300 at Kentucky
Speedway.
A
late two-tire call put Keselowski in front for a restart on Lap 170,
and though the No. 22 Team Penske Ford ceded the lead to Jones for 22
circuits, Keselowski regained the top spot with a daring move to the
inside through traffic entering the tri-oval on Lap 92 and held on to
win by less than a quarter-second.
The
victory was Keselowski’s third at Kentucky and the 33rd of his career.
Behind Keselowski, Jones and Busch, Daniel Suarez ran fourth, followed
by Elliott Sadler and Paul Menard.
Over
the final run, Jones injected himself into what had been a two-way
battle between Keselowski and Busch for the majority of the race.
Keselowski made the winning move after Jones’ progress was impeded by a lapped car in Turns 3 and 4 on Lap 92.
“I
just caught a little break, to be honest,” Keselowski said. “One of the
lapped cars locked in Erik. He had done a heck of job and still was
doing a heck of a job, and sometimes things don’t go your way.
“I
kind of thought it might happen and went into the corner high, just
ready for something to happen, and it did, and I was able to make the
most of it coming off Turn 4 and make the pass for the lead.
“This team, the 22 team since it started in 2010, has been really a dream ride and an honor for me to be a part of it.”
Jones got the lead on the final restart when Busch shoved Keselowski and caused the No. 22 Ford to spin its tires.
“I
wish I would have known the lapped car was going to the bottom and he
would have went to the top,” Jones said. “Getting the lead on the
restart, we had a shot at it at that point. It was good enough to
maintain, and it’s a bummer it didn’t work out.
“But
it’s nice to be running with those guys, with Kyle and Brad, and to be
mixing it up with ‘em. We’ll keep building and see what we can do next
time.”
At
the outset, it didn’t take Busch long to move up from his sixth
starting position to the lead. On Lap 16, the No. 54 Toyota shot past Ty
Dillon through Turns 1 and 2 and took over the top spot for the first
time in the race.
With
the exception of the restart lap after a competition caution on Lap
25—with Paul Menard surging ahead by a nose at the stripe to lead Lap
31—Busch stayed firmly in control of the proceedings until a caution for
Ryan Sieg’s spin in Turn 4 on Lap 71 slowed the field for the third
time.
After
pit stops under yellow, Keselowski wrestled the lead from Busch on Lap
79, moments before the No. 13 of Derek White clobbered the outside wall
between Turns 3 and 4 to cause the fourth caution.
Undeterred
by the yellow, Keselowski sped away after the subsequent restart on Lap
85 as Busch fell back to third behind Suarez. Busch, however, regained
the second position on Lap 97 and narrowed his gap to the leader to a
half-second before Keselowski pulled away to a 1.8-second advantage when
Busch ran afoul of lapped traffic.
But
Busch grabbed the top spot from Keselowski during an exchange of
green-flag pit stops on Laps 136 and 137, leaving Keselowski at a
half-second disadvantage. With both drivers saving fuel in the event of a
green-flag run to the finish, Busch opened a one-second edge and
maintained it until John Wes Townley’s brush with the wall on Lap 163
brought out the fifth caution.
Busch
and Keselowski led the top cars to pit road on Lap 165, with Busch
opting for four tires and Keselowski, Jones and Suarez for right sides
only.
That
left Keselowski in the lead and Busch in fourth for a restart on Lap
170. And on this night, two tires won the day, as Keselowski led Jones
to the stripe by .241 seconds.
Note:
Eleventh-place finisher Chris Buescher extended his series lead to 36
points over Chase Elliott, who ran 13th, the first driver one lap down.
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