Brad Keselowski overcame a faulty clutch and his nemesis, Carl Edwards, for a dominating win in the NASCAR Nationwide Series Race at Michigan International Speedway.
Keselowski, who won the same event in 2009, said: “This one was even harder,” adding, “we lost our clutch and ruined the burnout.”
At one point in the race he’d built up an 11-second lead only to lose ground after his pit stops. On the final restart of the race, slowed by only two caution flags, his Dodge grabbed the lead from Edwards’ Ford, cruising to a 3.179- second margin of victory.
Edwards was focus on lane choice rather than rivalry on that restart. “I was more concerned with having the top because I felt like that was the only way I could hold Brad off,” Edwards explained.
After a number of run-ins, previously with Keselowski, resulting in NASCAR penalties Edwards said it was a fair fight.
“The good thing is that we are both on probation. Both of us are probably thinking the same thing, don’t be the guy that messes this thing up. He raced me very cleanly and I thought we raced well together. That is the kind of racing that I am sure we both want to be doing and I had a really good time,” added Edwards.
Even Keselowski said that he put aside thoughts of payback: “I’m going to race him just a hard as I did before Atlanta and Gateway.”
Starting from the pole, Keselowski led 89-laps of the 125-lap race around the two-mile MIS oval. It was his fourth series victory of the year and tenth in his career. This was also a second race only for the new Nationwide series cars.
Kyle Busch finished third in a Toyota. After dominating with the older-design Nationwide car, racing the new one hasn’t been the same as he explained: “We didn’t have a third-place car at all. We just fought all day and tried to do the best we could with this Camry, and gave it a run for the money there at the end. It is really unfortunate that we're so far behind on the COT program.”
Danica Patrick, the IndyCar driver, finished 27th in a car she called “recklessly loose,” after qualifying 33rd.
Keselowski now has a 347-point lead over Edwards.
Keselowski, who won the same event in 2009, said: “This one was even harder,” adding, “we lost our clutch and ruined the burnout.”
At one point in the race he’d built up an 11-second lead only to lose ground after his pit stops. On the final restart of the race, slowed by only two caution flags, his Dodge grabbed the lead from Edwards’ Ford, cruising to a 3.179- second margin of victory.
Edwards was focus on lane choice rather than rivalry on that restart. “I was more concerned with having the top because I felt like that was the only way I could hold Brad off,” Edwards explained.
After a number of run-ins, previously with Keselowski, resulting in NASCAR penalties Edwards said it was a fair fight.
“The good thing is that we are both on probation. Both of us are probably thinking the same thing, don’t be the guy that messes this thing up. He raced me very cleanly and I thought we raced well together. That is the kind of racing that I am sure we both want to be doing and I had a really good time,” added Edwards.
Even Keselowski said that he put aside thoughts of payback: “I’m going to race him just a hard as I did before Atlanta and Gateway.”
Starting from the pole, Keselowski led 89-laps of the 125-lap race around the two-mile MIS oval. It was his fourth series victory of the year and tenth in his career. This was also a second race only for the new Nationwide series cars.
Kyle Busch finished third in a Toyota. After dominating with the older-design Nationwide car, racing the new one hasn’t been the same as he explained: “We didn’t have a third-place car at all. We just fought all day and tried to do the best we could with this Camry, and gave it a run for the money there at the end. It is really unfortunate that we're so far behind on the COT program.”
Danica Patrick, the IndyCar driver, finished 27th in a car she called “recklessly loose,” after qualifying 33rd.
Keselowski now has a 347-point lead over Edwards.