Brad Keselowski wins Dollar General 300 at Chicagoland – NASCAR Nationwide Series
Brad Keselowski warmed up to Sunday’s Chase in the Sprint Cup with a cruising victory at Chicagoland in the Nationwide Series on Saturday, September 17, 2011.
This was the defending champion’s first victory in the Nationwide Series since his return to the track after the accident at Road Atlanta that saw him break his ankle and sit out three races in the series.
Carl Edwards, the only other racer also taking part in the Chase, finished second with pole sitter Brian Scott finishing third. He was followed by Aric Almirola in fourth and Sam Hornish Jr. in fifth place. Elliot Sadler closed ground on overall leader Ricky
Stenhouse Jr. with a sixth place finish.
Keselowski was pleased to get the win under his belt before the next race and wants to build on the momentum now.
“It's a great booster to get a win before going into the Chase,” Keselowski said. “It was great execution. That's what it takes to win right now. Our Dodges are fast and we just executed really well and did what it takes.”
Keselowski took the lead as early as in the second lap and stayed in front until lap 90, when Edwards overtook him to move into pole position. Keselowski was furious as one of the backmarkers failed to let him pass which allowed Edwards to move into the
lead.
Edwards built on his lead as Keselowski made a pit stop for tyres and fuel at lap 115. Edwards waited until lap 124 to pit but all his hard work was undone as his car ran out of fuel on his way to the pit lane. The pit crew moved fast to compensate for the
error but the damage had already been done with Keselowski taking the lead and he sailed through the rest of the laps with relative ease.
Edwards was understandably disappointed with the race but praised the team for reacting the way they did to ensure that he did not lose too much time.
“They told me to pit, and I was coming down the back straightaway, and I ran out of fuel,” Edwards said. “So it took us a little longer in the pits. The guys did a really good job of keeping it running and got us back out there, and then we had a really
long green-flag run.”
Keselowski also toned downed his frustrations towards the backmarkers after the race. When asked about it during the post match conference, Keselowski insisted that he had respect for the backmarkers and all he wanted was ‘reciprocity’ in terms of respect
given by backmarkers to the frontrunners.
Keselowski and Edwards will be looking to lock horns again in the Chase race with both racers in the running for the Sprint Cup Championship.
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