A weekend of firsts continued at Bristol Motor Speedway as Justin Allgaier held off his teammate, Brad Keselowski, for his first NASCAR Nationwide victory.
In a race slowed by 11 cautions, Algaier jumped off at the final restart, with 27 laps remaining, and held off Keselowski’s Dodge.
Algaier, Rookie of the Year in the Nationwide series last year, said: “The win was unbelievable. That battle with Brad was awesome. I couldn’t be happier to see two Penske cars up there running for the win.”
Keselowski, whose reputation for aggressive driving came to a head at the previous Cup race, at Atlanta, when he was sent airborne by Carl Edwards, said that he was doing everything he could, cautiously to take the victory.
“On the restart there he ran me up pretty high, but I really had no room to be angry at him because I wrecked him here before,” Keselowski said. “I lifted and let him in. I thought I had a shot at getting it back, but I didn’t catch the right breaks as far as lapped traffic.
“I erred on the side of caution. The last thing I need is to wreck either one of us. It’s still a relatively new program. That’s the last thing we need.”
Penske said: “I said to Brad on the radio before that last restart, ‘Just take care of yourself’ and obviously Justin was doing the same thing. It’s out of my hands.”
Kyle Busch finished third and Carl Edwards finish fourth. Edwards and Keselowski had a mandatory meeting, along with car owners, Jack Roush and Roger Penske, with NASCAR officials to clear the air after the Atlanta wreck before the race.
But the bumping wasn’t over as Kevin Harvick spun Joey Logano (polesitter for the Sprint Cup race) to take fifth in the closing laps.
Harvick said: "I just raced with him and raced with him, and he kept chopping me and chopping me," Harvick said. "I got in there and just got into the back of him a little bit and I hate that happened. You've just got to have a lane to race, you just got to do what you got to do."
Logano, who lead 21-laps said: “It was for fifth place, so I don't know what he was doing. It wasn’t for the win! We ran together clean for almost the whole race and then he dumps me on the last lap. I don't understand what he was thinking."
In a race slowed by 11 cautions, Algaier jumped off at the final restart, with 27 laps remaining, and held off Keselowski’s Dodge.
Algaier, Rookie of the Year in the Nationwide series last year, said: “The win was unbelievable. That battle with Brad was awesome. I couldn’t be happier to see two Penske cars up there running for the win.”
Keselowski, whose reputation for aggressive driving came to a head at the previous Cup race, at Atlanta, when he was sent airborne by Carl Edwards, said that he was doing everything he could, cautiously to take the victory.
“On the restart there he ran me up pretty high, but I really had no room to be angry at him because I wrecked him here before,” Keselowski said. “I lifted and let him in. I thought I had a shot at getting it back, but I didn’t catch the right breaks as far as lapped traffic.
“I erred on the side of caution. The last thing I need is to wreck either one of us. It’s still a relatively new program. That’s the last thing we need.”
Penske said: “I said to Brad on the radio before that last restart, ‘Just take care of yourself’ and obviously Justin was doing the same thing. It’s out of my hands.”
Kyle Busch finished third and Carl Edwards finish fourth. Edwards and Keselowski had a mandatory meeting, along with car owners, Jack Roush and Roger Penske, with NASCAR officials to clear the air after the Atlanta wreck before the race.
But the bumping wasn’t over as Kevin Harvick spun Joey Logano (polesitter for the Sprint Cup race) to take fifth in the closing laps.
Harvick said: "I just raced with him and raced with him, and he kept chopping me and chopping me," Harvick said. "I got in there and just got into the back of him a little bit and I hate that happened. You've just got to have a lane to race, you just got to do what you got to do."
Logano, who lead 21-laps said: “It was for fifth place, so I don't know what he was doing. It wasn’t for the win! We ran together clean for almost the whole race and then he dumps me on the last lap. I don't understand what he was thinking."