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Last Lap Incident Leaves Keselowski 14th at Gateway |
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Madison, Ill. July 17, 2010
Brad Keselowski, driver of the Penske Racing No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge Charger
in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, finished 14th in the Missouri-Illinois Dodge
Dealers 250 at Gateway International Raceway on Saturday night. Keselowski
displayed a dominant car throughout the entire event as he led a race-high 139
laps, but an incident coming off the final turn of the last lap kept him from
securing his fourth victory of the season.
Keselowski continues to lead the Nationwide Series driver point standings by 168
points over second-place contender Carl Edwards. |
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In the final practice session of the day on Friday, Keselowski posted the
third-quickest lap overall with a fast-lap time of 33.572 seconds, or 134.040
miles per hour, placing him in great shape to contend for what would be his
fifth series pole award of the season. However, as the track temperature began
to rise on a day where the heat index was over 100 degrees, Keselowski was only
able to post the third-quickest lap in the time trials as he lapped the
1.25-mile circuit in 33.769 seconds, or 133.258 miles per hour.
As the race began, Keselowski quickly maneuvered his No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge
into the lead on lap 3. As he began to stretch the legs of his Penske Racing
engine, Keselowski was able to extend his lead to two seconds in just seven
laps. Despite pulling away from the cars behind him, Keselowski radioed to crew
chief Paul Wolfe the he needed some grip in his rear tires. The lead grew to
over five seconds before the caution came out on lap 44. Wolfe brought
Keselowski down pit road for air pressure and track bar adjustments and
Keselowski restarted the event in second-place on lap 51. |
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In a similar fashion to the way the race started, Keselowski regained the lead
on lap 52. He was able to keep his car at the point for the next 68 laps,
despite a loose-handling condition in Turns 3 and 4. It was during the long
green-flag run that Keselowski also developed brake problems. As he attempted to
make his way onto pit road at lap 120, Keselowski could not get his Dodge
Charger slowed down enough to make the sharp corners. As a result, he spun
through the infield grass before gathering the car and entering pit road. While
he lost time to the leaders, he was able to make it back up with a fast car on
the racing surface.
When the green-flag pit stops cycled through, Keselowski found himself running
in the third position. The balance of the car became more to his liking after
the round of adjustments on laps 120 and, as a result, Keselowski was able to
drive back into the lead on lap 142. Over the next 37 laps, Keselowski never
fell lower than second in the running order. |
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A lap 178 caution gave most of the lead lap cars their final opportunity to make
their way down pit road for adjustments. Wolfe called for a two-tire pit stop
that got Keselowski off pit road in the sixth position, but first of the cars
that pitted. Despite two subsequent cautions on laps 187 and 194 that
interrupted the flow of the race, Keselowski was able to slice his way to the
lead. Following a red flag period after the lap 194 caution, Keselowski
restarted the race from the top spot on lap 198. Intense side-by-side racing
ensued over the final laps between Keselowski and Carl Edwards. With the
checkered flag in his sights coming off of Turn 4, Keselowski was turned by
Edwards into the outside retaining wall. The rest of the field tried to dodge
Keselowski as he spun back down the track, but he was hit violently in the
right-side by a competitor that had nowhere to go. Keselowski walked to the
infield care center under his own power and was evaluated and released shortly.
Penske Racing teammate Justin Allgaier finished 25th. |
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"I'm OK," said Keselowski. "Just one of them deals I guess. It was really hard
short-track racing there the last two laps. This is kind of an intermediate
short track where you have straightaway speed and down force is important. We
were racing real hard, side by side. I just rubbed him a little bit, rubbed him
a little bit in one and two. I'm sure we rubbed a little bit in three and four,
but just good racing. It just didn't end in a good way.
The No.22 Discount Tire Dodge Charger team will move to O'Reilly Raceway Park at
Indianapolis next weekend for the Kroger 200 benefiting Riley Hospital for
Children. The race can be seen live on Saturday, July 24, on ESPN beginning at
7:30 p.m. EDT. The event can also be heard live on MRN Radio, as well as Sirius
Satellite Radio Channel 128. |
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Visit the Racing News Archive to read previously featured stories. |
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