Brad Keselowski Wins Nationwide Race; Austin Dillon Wins Dash4Cash

[media-credit name=”Kirk Schroll” align=”alignright” width=”231″][/media-credit]Brad Keselowski, in the No. 22 Snap -On Penske Dodge, sat on the pole, led the most laps and took the checkered flag, as well as the American flag, right to Victory Lane.

The win was Keselowski’s second victory in 2012 and his first win at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Keselowski also now ranks 15^th on the all-time win list in the Nationwide Series.

“It was a great day,” Keselowski said. “It was one of those days when things came together,”

“We unloaded yesterday with a lot of speed and tried to work on making sure it stayed there,” Keselowski continued. “It feels good to finally come here and close the deal.”

“It’s great to have Roger (Penske) here today to witness it and be part of it,” Keselowski said. “I’m very proud of the effort and proud of the result.”

Kevin Harvick, driving the No. 33 Barber Foods Chevrolet, finished second and was totally unhappy after the race finish. While it was a positive finish overall, he was most displeased with the lapped car No. 24 car of Amber Cope, who broke his momentum and cost him the win.

“It was a good day,” Harvick said. “The 22 and I were pretty evenly matched and I knew the restart was the best place to capitalize.”

“It just came down to an unfortunate deal there and we got beat,” Harvick continued. “Obviously we wish we would have been able to win the race but got cut up in a cluster of lapped cars.”

“That 24 car is somebody who shouldn’t be on the race track,” Harvick said. “She wants to be Danica Patrick but she can’t hold her helmet.”

This was Harvick’s 11^th top-10 finish in 12 races at the Magic Mile and his sixth top-10 finish in 2012.

Rookie driver Austin Dillon, sans crew chief due to his penalty of last week, finished in the third position in his No. 3 Advocare Chevrolet. Dillon was also the highest finishing rookie, the highest finishing Nationwide regular, and the winner of the $100,000 in the Nationwide Dash4Cash.

The young, up and coming driver beat out Elliott Sadler, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and Michael Annett, the other three eligible drivers for the Nationwide Series Dash4Cash prize.

“It’s great,” Dillon said. “Winning our first Nationwide race at Kentucky was our number one moment of the year but this comes close.”

“We started 12^th and got up there quick,” Dillon continued. “Dash4Cash racing right there was awesome. I gave it my all.”

And what was Dillon planning to do with all that cash won from the Dash4Cash promotion?

“I said I was going to get a pool,” Dillon said. “I wish I had a pool right now.”

“Maybe I’ll be smart like my Grandpa and invest it.”

“I want to thank Nationwide for letting us do this, Dillon continued. “To run for a hundred grand is amazing.”

Sam Hornish, Jr., in the No. 12 Alliance Truck Parts Dodge, came in fourth, giving Roger Penske top-five finishes for both Nationwide cars and some welcome good news after the suspension of his Cup driver A.J. Allmendinger this past weekend.

“At the end of the day, a top-five finish is good,” Hornish said. “All in all, I’m pretty happy with how we ran.”

“Just wish we would have had a little bit more for those guys at the end of the race.”

There was also drama on pit road after the race with Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., who was overcome with heat and stretched out on pit road until a stretch took him to the infield care center. Stenhouse had been ill all week, which in addition to the heat, no doubt caused such a physical reaction at race end.

In spite of it all, Stenhouse, Jr., in the No. 6 Cargill Ford, was able to gut it out to finish in the fifth position.

“Ricky has been sick most of the week just fighting the flu bug,” crew chief Mike Kelley said. “At the end of the race I think the heat and the exhaustion caught up with him.”

“They’ve got him in the infield care center,” Kelley continued. “He’s awake and alert and getting some fluids in him.”

“He’ll be fine.”

Both Danica Patrick and Travis Pastrana wrecked in the F.W. Webb 200. Patrick was able to soldier on, bringing her No. 7 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet to the checkered flag in the 14^th position.

Pastrana, however, was not as fortunate, finishing 31^st in his No. 99 Boost Mobile Toyota Camry for RAB Racing. Pastrana suffered a hard hit into the wall, with some flames in the car erupting after the crash.

“Just the tire went flat coming into the corner,” Pastrana said. “I was locking up the brakes a lot trying to get the car in and eventually just wore out that right-front tire.”

“They gave me such a great car to start out there,” Pastrana continued. “I hate that I just went too soon on that first green when everyone started going.”

Kasey Kahne, in the No. 38 Great Clips Chevrolet, Elliott Sadler, in the OneMain Financial Chevrolet, Justin Allgaier, in the No. 31 Brandt Chevrolet, Jamie McMurray, in the No. 30 LiftMaster Chevrolet, and Ryan Truex, in the Grime Boss Chevrolet, rounded out the top ten finishers.

After this race, Elliott Sadler leads the point standings in the NASCAR Nationwide Series by three points over Austin Dillon.