Harvick wins the Virginia 529 College Savings 250

The Nationwide Series night life kicked into high gear at Richmond International Speedway with Kevin Harvick leading the field to the green friday night. The series point leader going into the race, Brad Keselowski, started third with the hunger to extend the already large lead over Carl Edwards.

The new Nationwide Series car at RIR made for a good show as the driver’s battled changes in track conditions and each other for the right to hold the trophy high in Victory lane.

While some drivers cursed the new machinery others applauded the good racing it provided under the Friday night lights.

As the night got colder the action got hotter seeing Harvick, Keselowski, Kyle Busch, and Virginia native Elliott Sadler have their moments in the top spot. But by race end it was the determination of the pole sitting team that kept the wolves at bay. The win for Harvick put yet another feather in his Nationwide cap tying him with Mark Martin for the most wins in the series at RIR among active drivers.

The point leader, Keselowski, pulled of a dramatic second place finish keeping his buffer for the points chase intact.

Trevor Bayne tied his best career finish with a third place run. “I was thinking about trying to hit the perfect corner and make the perfect lap and hoping for Harvick to make a mistake.” Keselowski told the media post race when asked about the closing laps. “It was closer than we wanted it to be, that’s for sure. But I bet it was fun to watch” Harvick said when asked about the dramatic finish.

“At that point all gloves were off,” Harvick said about hitting the wall coming to the finish. “I just gunned the throttle and was happy to hold on to it.” With one race of the weekend in the books Harvick looks on to the Cup Series event and the possible sweep of race weekend at Richmond International Raceway.

Unofficial Results

Pos.	St.	No.	Driver	Make	Pts.	Bon.	Laps
1	1	33	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	195	10	250
2	3	22	Brad Keselowski	Dodge	175	5	250
3	8	99	Trevor Bayne	Toyota	165	0	250
4	23	6	Ricky Stenhouse Jr. *	Ford	160	0	250
5	18	32	Reed Sorenson	Toyota	155	0	250
6	5	20	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	150	0	250
7	2	21	Clint Bowyer	Chevrolet	146	0	250
8	10	98	Paul Menard	Ford	142	0	250
9	6	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	143	5	250
10	4	60	Carl Edwards	Ford	134	0	250
11	21	7	Aric Almirola	Chevrolet	135	5	250
12	14	12	Justin Allgaier	Dodge	127	0	250
13	31	88	Elliott Sadler	Chevrolet	129	5	250
14	9	38	Jason Leffler	Toyota	121	0	250
15	7	26	Parker Kligerman	Dodge	118	0	250
16	25	66	Steve Wallace	Toyota	115	0	250
17	20	62	Brendan Gaughan	Toyota	112	0	250
18	26	34	Tony Raines	Chevrolet	109	0	250
19	16	87	Joe Nemechek	Chevrolet	106	0	250
20	19	15	Michael Annett	Toyota	103	0	250
21	12	1	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	105	5	250
22	17	16	Erik Darnell	Ford	97	0	250
23	36	35	Jason Keller	Chevrolet	94	0	250
24	29	70	Shelby Howard	Chevrolet	91	0	248
25	37	23	Coleman Pressley	Chevrolet	88	0	248
26	15	100	Ryan Truex	Toyota	85	0	248
27	30	25	Kelly Bires	Ford	82	0	248
28	32	9	Landon Cassill	Ford	79	0	247
29	38	1	Mike Wallace	Chevrolet	76	0	247
30	34	24	Eric McClure	Ford	73	0	247
31	35	28	Kenny Wallace	Chevrolet	70	0	247
32	42	5	Willie Allen	Chevrolet	67	0	247
33	27	10	Tayler Malsam	Toyota	64	0	247
34	13	104	Jeremy Clements	Chevrolet	61	0	246
35	11	49	Mark Green	Chevrolet	58	0	246
36	39	27	Hermie Sadler	Ford	55	0	245
37	24	81	Michael McDowell	Dodge	52	0	245
38	40	11	Brian Scott *	Toyota	49	0	216
39	41	168	Carl Long	Chevrolet	46	0	207
40	28	40	Mike Bliss	Chevrolet	43	0	120
41	33	89	Morgan Shepherd	Chevrolet	40	0	43
42	43	73	Derrike Cope	Dodge	37	0	14
43	22	156	Kevin Lepage	Toyota	34	0	6