Defending race champ turns a session-best 174.295 mph (30.982 seconds) lap
SPARTA, Ky. – Defending Feed The Children 300 champion Brad Keselowski led the final NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) practice session at Kentucky Speedway today with a quick 174.295 mph (30.982 seconds) lap.
He will attempt to qualify for his fifth Kentucky Speedway NNS race this afternoon at 3:30 p.m. He started fifth last season and scored his fourth consecutive top-four series finish at the track. He averaged a third-place finish in his four career NNS appearances on the 1.5-mile Bluegrass State tri-oval.
The Rochester Hills, Mich., driver was third on the speed chart in yesterday’s opening NNS practice with a 169.051 mph (31.943 seconds) lap and will have the chance to become the second driver to earn back-to-back Kentucky Speedway NNS wins.
Joe Gibbs Racing driver Joey Logano accomplished the repeat feat in 2008 and 2009 before tacking on a third straight NNS track victory in 2010.
Richard Childress Racing (RCR) driver Austin Dillon was second on the final Feed The Children practice chart with a 174.154 mph (31.007 seconds) lap in his No. 3 car and Kevin Harvick, Inc., owner Kevin Harvick was third with a 172.585 mph (31.289 seconds) lap.
Dillon will make NNS Kentucky debut tonight, but did take his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) track-best second-place finish on Oct. 1, 2011. He scored his second career NCWTS Kentucky pole award for that race with a standing track qualifying record 179.868 mph (30.022 seconds) effort.
Harvick will make his second straight and fourth career NNS Kentucky Speedway start tonight. He earned a victory in the series inaugural event at the track on June 16, 2001, placed second to Keselowski in last season’s Feed The Children 300 and owns a total of three top-10 NNS finishes at the facility through three career starts.
Tickets for tonight’s race remain on sale through the tickets page of this Web site, by phone at (859) 578-2300, and at the Kentucky Speedway gates and corporate offices at the track.
