By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service
FORT WORTH, Tex. -- Brad
Keselowski dominated early and retook the lead
late to win Saturday's O'Reilly Auto Parts
Challenge at Texas Motor Speedway.
Keselowski led 106 of 200 laps in
the 31st NASCAR Nationwide Series race of the
season, propelling his No. 22 Penske Racing Ford
to a decisive advantage in the owners'
standings.
Passing runner-up Denny Hamlin
with 14 laps left, Keselowski pulled away to win
by .980 seconds. The victory was Keselowski's
sixth of the season, his first at Texas and the
26th of his career. Four different drivers have
combined to win 12 times in the No. 22 Ford.
Penske teammate Sam Hornish Jr.
recovered from a commitment violation (hitting
the commitment cone on Lap 53) to finish third.
Hornish trimmed two points off series leader and
fifth-place finisher Austin Dillon's advantage
and trails by six points with two races left in
the season.
Matt Kenseth came home fourth, but
Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch blew a
right rear tire and crashed off Turn 4 on Lap
110. Busch finished 26th and saw the four-point
advantage of his No. 54 Toyota entering the race
turned to a 26-point deficit to the No. 22 in
the battle for the owners' championship.
Keselowski will drive the car next
week, and Joey Logano in the NASCAR Nationwide
season finale at Homestead. To Keselowski, the
2010 NASCAR Nationwide driver champion, securing
the owners' title for team owner Roger Penske is
a piece of unfinished business.
The victory also was redemption of
sorts for Keselowski's last NASCAR Nationwide
start, at Kansas, where he wrecked off Busch's
front bumper during intense racing between the
two drivers.
"I dug us a hole there at Kansas,
obviously, with getting tangled up there, and we
lost some points," Keselowski said. "So it's
great to recover from that hole and grow a
little bit of a lead, but two races is a long
ways left, and (26) points is better than
nothing, but it's certainly not a guarantee of
anything as well…
"But it's about Roger. It's about
getting him something he hasn't done, and I take
a lot of pride in that."
Hamlin grabbed the lead during a
cycle of green-flag pit stops before the third
caution of the afternoon, caused by Joe
Nemechek's spin off Turn 2 after a tap from
Trevor Bayne, slowed the race on Lap 171.
In tight racing after the
subsequent Lap 177 restart, Hamlin held off
Keselowski for the top spot, but one lap later,
Travis Pastrana spun at the exit of Turn 2 and
nosed into the inside backstretch wall,
necessitating the fourth yellow flag.
Keselowski and Hamlin battled side
by side for three laps before Keselowski ducked
to the inside of the No. 20 Toyota and completed
the decisive pass.
Hornish lost a lap serving a
drive-through penalty for the commitment
violation, but astute strategy put him in
position to take a wave-around under caution for
a restart on Lap 76. The caution for Busch's
accident on Lap 110 allowed Hornish to pit
without losing a lap, and subsequently he
charged to his third-place finishing spot.
"It's one of those things,"
Hornish said of the early mishap. "You wear the
tires here, and the track doesn't have a whole
lot of grip. Pit road comes up pretty quick, and
I got a little locked up as soon as I got on the
brakes and did everything I could do to try to
get it whoaed up and had a choice of hitting the
cone or the back of the 54 car. I figured the
cone would hurt the front of my car a lot less.
"It was a great recovery by
everyone that works on the Wurth Ford Mustang,
and we did what we needed to do today. We got
ourselves back up there in position to run for
the win and over-tightened the car by the time
we got to that point. Hats off to everyone at
Penske Racing, and it is good to see our
teammate go to Victory Lane."
NASCAR Nationwide Series Race -
O'Reilly Auto Parts Challenge
Texas Motor Speedway
Fort Worth, Texas
Saturday, November 02, 2013
1. (2) Brad
Keselowski(i), Ford, 200, $69615.
2. (18) Denny
Hamlin(i), Toyota, 200, $54350.
3. (3) Sam Hornish
Jr., Ford, 200, $44450.
4. (13) Matt
Kenseth(i), Toyota, 200, $31550.
5. (5) Austin
Dillon, Chevrolet, 200, $37525.
6. (8) Regan Smith,
Chevrolet, 200, $27925.
7. (19) Elliott
Sadler, Toyota, 200, $26210.
8. (9) Brian Scott,
Chevrolet, 200, $25150.
9. (16) Kyle Larson
#, Chevrolet, 200, $25025.
10. (11) Brad
Sweet, Chevrolet, 200, $24075.
11. (4) Trevor
Bayne, Ford, 200, $22300.
12. (10) Ty
Dillon(i), Chevrolet, 200, $21750.
13. (14) Parker
Kligerman, Toyota, 200, $21225.
14. (21) Michael
Annett, Ford, 200, $20800.
15. (17) Nelson
Piquet Jr. #, Chevrolet, 200, $21550.
16. (23) Kevin
Swindell #, Ford, 200, $20450.
17. (7) Ricky
Stenhouse Jr.(i), Ford, 199, $15525.
18. (1) Alex Bowman
#, Toyota, 199, $23600.
19. (15) Justin
Allgaier, Chevrolet, 199, $20075.
20. (12) Cole
Whitt, Toyota, 198, $20625.
21. (25) David
Starr(i), Chevrolet, 198, $19825.
22. (26) Jeremy
Clements, Chevrolet, 198, $19700.
23. (20) Mike
Bliss, Toyota, 198, $19550.
24. (27) Landon
Cassill, Chevrolet, 197, $19425.
25. (30) Mike
Wallace, Chevrolet, 197, $19750.
26. (6) Kyle
Busch(i), Toyota, 196, $13150.
27. (34) Jeff
Green, Toyota, 196, $19025.
28. (38) Robert
Richardson Jr., Chevrolet, 195, $18900.
29. (35) Bryan
Silas(i), Ford, 194, $18825.
30. (37) Joey Gase,
Toyota, 190, $13075.
31. (39) Travis
Pastrana, Ford, Accident, 175, $18725.
32. (36) TJ Bell,
Chevrolet, 170, $18680.
33. (28) Joe
Nemechek, Toyota, Accident, 166, $18635.
34. (31) Carl Long,
Dodge, Electrical, 105, $18590.
35. (29) Ryan
Ellis, Toyota, Vibration, 87, $18522.
36. (33) Blake
Koch, Toyota, Handling, 79, $11650.
37. (22) Johanna
Long, Chevrolet, Clutch, 49, $17615.
38. (32) Josh Wise,
Chevrolet, Electrical, 6, $11561.
39. (40) Dexter
Stacey, Ford, Suspension, 5, $11445.
40. (24) Michael
McDowell(i), Toyota, Vibration, 4, $11405.
Average Speed of Race Winner:
144.52 mph.
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 04 Mins, 33
Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.980 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 4 for 19 laps.
Lead Changes: 15 among 6 drivers.
Lap Leaders: A. Bowman # 1-3; S.
Hornish Jr. 4-5; B. Keselowski(i) 6-52; A.
Dillon 53-54; B. Keselowski(i) 55-80; D.
Hamlin(i) 81-94; M. Kenseth(i) 95-111; D.
Hamlin(i) 112-130; M. Kenseth(i) 131-155; B.
Keselowski(i) 156-170; D. Hamlin(i) 171-176; B.
Keselowski(i) 177-178; D. Hamlin(i) 179-182; B.
Keselowski(i) 183; D. Hamlin(i) 184-185; B.
Keselowski(i) 186-200.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times
Lead, Laps Led): B. Keselowski(i) 6 times for
106 laps; D. Hamlin(i) 5 times for 45 laps; M.
Kenseth(i) 2 times for 42 laps; A. Bowman # 1
time for 3 laps; S. Hornish Jr. 1 time for 2
laps; A. Dillon 1 time for 2 laps.
Top 10 in Points: A. Dillon -
1,107; S. Hornish Jr. - 1,101; R. Smith - 1,053;
E. Sadler - 1,026; J. Allgaier - 1,022; B. Scott
- 1,010; T. Bayne - 1,009; B. Vickers - 970; K.
Larson # - 945; P. Kligerman - 924.
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