Edwards wins; Keselowski's blood boils

Carl Edwards nudged Brad Keselowski on the final lap to win Saturday nights Nationwide Dodge Dealers 250 at Gateway International Raceway.

A late accident involving Justin Allgaier, Tayler Malsam and Joe Nemechek, set things up for a green-white-checkers finish.

On the final lap, Keselowski nudged Edwards entering turn one. Edwards fought back on the backstretch and pulled to the outside Keselowski entering turn three. Exiting turn four Keselowski was on the inside and almost clear with the lead heading to the finish line. Edwards got into the back of Keselowski and turned him first into the outside wall and then he drifted back into the inside wall, bringing out a huge crash on the front stretch.

“I was really proud how we were racing each other. He was holding me tight and getting me a little loose which was cool. I was rubbing on him a little bit. It was just great racing. I figured out a way to beat him. He wasn’t happy with me, so he wrecked me. Wrecking down the straightaway is never cool whether it’s at 200 mph or 120. I’m sorry that’s the way it had to end.” Keselowski said. “I think he’s trying to figure out how he can win the points when he hasn’t run very well all year. I don’t think that was cool at all. We had a great Discount Tire Dodge all day long and I think we were the car to beat. It just didn’t happen.” Keselowski later added.

Edwards did not agree. “The deal is he’ll eventually learn he can’t run into my car over and over and put me in bad situations. In every situation, there’s an aggressor and there’s someone who reacts. I was not the aggressor in this situation.” Edwards said. Keselowski said the contact in turn 1 on the final lap was incidental.

“The way it went, he bumped me and he finished wherever he finished and I still won the race. That’s the only way I could see the race turning out fair.” Edwards said. Edwards won, Keselowski finished 14th.

Unofficial Results Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250, Gateway International Raceway July 17, 2010 – Race 19 of 35

Pos.	St.	No.	Driver	Make	Pts.	Bon.	Laps
1	8	60	Carl Edwards	Ford	190	5	200
2	13	32	Reed Sorenson	Toyota	170	0	200
3	1	99	Trevor Bayne	Toyota	170	5	200
4	5	98	Paul Menard	Ford	160	0	200
5	9	66	Steve Wallace	Toyota	155	0	200
6	6	11	Brian Scott *	Toyota	150	0	200
7	2	16	Colin Braun *	Ford	146	0	200
8	34	7	Josh Wise	Chevrolet	142	0	200
9	15	6	Ricky Stenhouse Jr. *	Ford	138	0	200
10	22	34	Tony Raines	Chevrolet	134	0	200
11	33	15	Michael Annett	Toyota	130	0	200
12	12	70	Shelby Howard	Chevrolet	127	0	200
13	26	88	Steve Arpin	Chevrolet	124	0	200
14	3	22	Brad Keselowski	Dodge	131	10	200
15	21	5	Willie Allen	Chevrolet	118	0	200
16	10	33	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	120	5	200
17	4	62	Brendan Gaughan	Toyota	112	5	198
18	20	10	Tayler Malsam	Toyota	109	0	198
19	39	40	Mike Bliss	Chevrolet	106	0	198
20	32	28	Kenny Wallace	Chevrolet	103	0	198
21	41	21	Morgan Shepherd	Chevrolet	100	0	197
22	37	1	Mike Wallace	Chevrolet	97	0	197
23	24	38	Jason Leffler	Toyota	94	0	196
24	42	23	Alex Kennedy	Chevrolet	91	0	196
25	16	12	Justin Allgaier	Dodge	88	0	194
26	43	24	Eric McClure	Ford	85	0	193
27	17	87	Joe Nemechek	Chevrolet	82	0	189
28	19	100	Ryan Truex	Toyota	79	0	178
29	18	20	Matt DiBenedetto	Toyota	76	0	163
30	7	18	Brad Coleman	Toyota	73	0	150
31	38	9	Landon Cassill	Ford	70	0	102
32	29	27	Kelly Bires	Toyota	67	0	62
33	40	43	Brad Baker	Ford	64	0	61
34	23	35	Jason Keller	Chevrolet	61	0	44
35	31	156	Kevin Lepage	Chevrolet	58	0	26
36	11	91	Chase Miller	Chevrolet	55	0	24
37	28	90	Danny O’Quinn Jr.	Chevrolet	52	0	20
38	27	26	Brian Keselowski	Dodge	49	0	13
39	14	37	Kevin Swindell	Ford	46	0	8
40	35	89	Johnny Chapman	Chevrolet	43	0	6
41	25	136	Johnny Sauter	Chevrolet	40	0	4
42	36	92	Dennis Setzer	Dodge	37	0	3
43	30	49	Mark Green	Chevrolet	34	0	2