He passes Harvick late and pulls away for first NHMS Nationwide win
LOUDON, N.H. (July 14, 2012) – Brad Keselowski saw an opening and he took it. While Kevin Harvick was struggling with lap traffic, Keselowski raced past him to the outside of Turn 2 with 21 laps to go and never looked back en route to winning the F.W. Webb 200 Nationwide Series race on Saturday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
It was a clean sweep for Keselowski, who took the pole earlier in the day – his third straight Nationwide Series pole at “The Magic Mile.” It was Keselowski’s 19th victory in 182 Nationwide races, which ranks 15th on the all-time series wins list.
“We’ve had great runs in the past, but we couldn’t close the deal,” said Keselowski, who now has two victories and nine top-10s this season. “It feels great to finally close the deal. It’s a good two days on the Nationwide side – hopefully we can carry it over into Sunday and get another win.”
Harvick, Austin Dillon, Sam Hornish Jr. and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. round out the top five.
Harvick was frustrated with lap traffic, specifically Amber Cope in the No. 24, which made contact with the No. 33.
“The 24 was going up the track, I committed to the bottom then she committed to the bottom, too,” said Harvick. “My guys did a good job, just came up short.”
It was the 25th win in the series for Penske Racing.
Dillon picked up an extra $100,000 for his 3rd-place finish. Dillon was one of four drivers – along with Elliott Sadler, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Michael Annett – to qualify last weekend in Daytona for the “Dash4Cash,” a four-race mid-season bonus event. New Hampshire was the first race in the D4C.
“I said I was going to buy a pool, I wish I had one today,” said Dillon, when asked how he would spend the $100,000. “I really just dug deep and pushed myself as hard as I could. The two-tire pit stops for us really made the difference.”
Dillon automatically qualifies for the next race in Chicagoland, with Hornish, Stenhouse and Sadler.
Dillon now trails Sadler by three points in the point standings.
Hornish, along with Crew Chief Chad Walter, visited Concord High School in Concord, N.H., Southern New Hampshire Medical Facility in Nashua, N.H., and Bailey International Elementary School in Lowell, Mass., before capping off the trip with a tweetup at Axel’s Food & Ice Cream in Merrimack, N.H., back on May 31.
“Not a bad day, but it was a good race for us,” said Hornish. “It would have been nice to give those guys up front a shot, but overall it was a good day.”
Danica Patrick spun out exiting Turn 4 with just under 50 laps to go. She was running 10th at the time. She finished 14th.
Travis Pastrana, who earned the third seed for Saturday night’s SYLVANIA SilverStar zXe Global RallyCross event, finished 31st. Pastrana lost his front-right tire on Lap 80 and hit the Turn 4 wall hard, ending his day.
“Honestly, this is where I want to be,” said Pastrana, “so I’m really disappointed for the team.”
The green flag flies for the SYLVANIA SilverStar zXe Global RallyCross is set for 7 p.m.
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