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Bad Brad Won’t Be Beat In Dollar General 300

JOLIET, IL: NASCAR’s hottest driver, Bad Brad Keselowski, basicly stomped the guts out of the Dollar General Nationwide series field Saturday at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Il. When all was said and done, it wasn’t even close.

    Brad Keselowski celebrates in victory lane at Chicagoland Speedway after winning the Dollar General 300. [Mark Walczak Photo]


Keselowski won his third Nationwide race of the season and the 15th of his career, cruising to a decisive victory over Carl Edwards, whose chances at a victory evaporated when his No. 60 Ford ran out of fuel moments before a scheduled pit stop on Lap 124 of 200.

Pole-sitter Brian Scott came home third, followed by Aric Almirola and Sam Hornish Jr. in a race that saw 10 cars finish on the lead lap. Series points leader Ricky Stenhouse Jr. held the top spot in the standings with an eighth-place finish.

Keselowski, who qualified sixth for the Cup race before taking the green later in the afternoon, held a 10-second lead on Edwards after a round of green-flag pit stops late in the race and cruised through the final 30 laps.

During the early and middle portions of the race, Keselowski and Edwards — the only Chase drivers in the field — took turns dominating.
Keselowski wrested the lead from Scott on Lap 2 and stayed out front — with the exception of one lap under caution — until Edwards passed him in traffic on Lap 90.

“I’m going to take every one of those freakin’ lapped cars and wreck ’em,” Keselowski vented, after one of the back markers failed to give him a lane to pass and assisted Edwards’ move to the lead.

By the time Keselowski made a green-flag pit stop for tires and fuel on Lap 115, Edwards had extended his advantage to three seconds. Edwards waited until Lap 124 to pit — one lap too long, as it turned out.

He ran out of fuel on the way to his pit stall, and by the time the crew completed his service and his engine re-fired, Edwards was nine seconds behind Keselowski and in fifth place when the cycle of stops was complete.

Edwards immediately began to chip away at Keselowski’s advantage, narrowing the margin to 6.188 seconds by Lap 141. Later in the run, however, Edwards’ charge stalled, and on Lap 155, he was running third behind Keselowski and Scott, 5.635 seconds behind the leader.

The winner’s Penske Dodge teammate, 2006 Indy 500 victor Sam Hornish Jr., scored perhaps his finest-ever NASCAR result, turning competative lap time through the race to score an excellent fifth place finish.

11th Annual Dollar General 300 top ten:

1. Brad Keselowski
2. Carl Edwards
3. Brian Scott
4. Aric Almirola
5. Sam Hornish Jr.
6. Elliot Sadler
7. Jamie McMurray
8. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
9. Paul Menard
10. Reed Sorenson

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