Brad Keselowksi’s crew chief’s gamble on old tires paid off with a win in the Nationwide race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Keselowski, in a Dodge, ran the final 56 laps on old tires holding off the Toyota of Martin Truex, Jr., by over one second, for his fifth win of the year which padded his series points lead over Carl Edwards to 450 points. Paul Wolfe, Keselowski’s crew chief, said “We got ourselves on a little different strategy there part way through the race. We’ve been known to do that a time or two this year. I’m not afraid to go different of what the leader’s strategy might be and felt at that point in the race, we could make it on one more stop. We’re not shy to take a gamble like that and it worked out on that green flag cycle.” "I'm so mentally exhausted after this race," explained Brad Keselowski, who won at a 1.5-mile oval for the first time in his Nationwide career. "I might be a little biased, but I thought that was the best race I've ever seen in my life. I can only imagine what the fans saw. That was awesome." "We made the decision to stay out because our car was really good," Keselowski added. "We pitted five laps before the yellow flag came out and felt really good about it." Martin Truex who made a couple of dashes for the lead said "It's kind of bittersweet finishing second with a car that good," Truex said. "We had to pit one time and put and rounds on the front tires, because I hit the splitter so hard. To come back from that was cool, but we were in good shape there until those last couple of cautions." Third place went to Justin Allgaier, Keselowski’s teammate. Kyle Busch who led the most laps finished sixth which was on Roger Penske’s mind when he said “you know, Kyle Busch has been so strong and to come here tonight, our own backyard, and have a chance to run side-by-side and beat him was a real feather in Brad’s cap. I know he wants to do that and we do too. Give credit to Paul and the strategy and reliability.” Danica Patrick had the best finish of her NASCAR career finishing 21rst, but, was disappointed as she had run in the top 15 last weekend at Auto Club Speedway. Despite some car setup help from Mark Martin it wasn’t the result she was looking for.
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