Brad Keselowski sailed to victory lane on Saturday after leading a remarkable 144 laps of the 200 laps run in the Boyd Gaming 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He was able to do ‘donuts’ while holding the American Flag for the 28th time in his NASCAR Nationwide Series career and the first time at the tricky Las Vegas track.
“We found every way we could to make it hard (on ourselves).” Keselowski explained in victory lane. “This Ford was flying today. These races aren’t getting any easier to win.”
Keselowski fended off late race charges by Kyle Busch to eventually score the victory by 0.349 thousandths of a second. While holding off Busch, the No. 22 team was overwhelmed by possible electrical issues worsening. Luckily, the problem didn’t progress, which provided fans with a magnificent two-car battle right to the checkered flag.
“I don’t know what caused us to lose the lead (on the restart), that was unfortunate.” Busch explained following a runner-up finish. “Best motor won, probably the best car.”
The climax of the event occurred with 30 laps remaining when Ryan Sieg spun bringing out the fifth and final caution. The restart following the yellow flag featured Keselowski quickly stretch his lead to 1.5 seconds. However, ‘Rowdy’ Busch wasn’t going down without a duel in his home state of Nevada.
The tension started rising around 15 laps to go when Busch was beginning to reel in former NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion, Keselowski. But, over the duration of the final five laps the leaders were mired in lap traffic which gave Keselowski all he needed to seal an impressive victory.
“Kyle is one of the best in the business and he deserves a win here. It was just our day, it was meant to be.” Keselowski explained. “We had to never give up”
Kyle Larson, who’s making his first NSCS start at Vegas this weekend, had to overcome early race damage to finish an impressive third place. Dale Earnhardt Jr., who’s still celebrating a Daytona 500 triumph, finished fourth and wasn’t disappointed at all.
Chase Elliott, who rode inside the top five all day, finished fourth and rounding out the top five was Matt Kenseth right in Elliot’s tire tracks. Kenseth, who spun out with under 50 laps remaining, was a contender for the victory but had to settle for sixth.
“It was just a lot of fun. It gives us a mindset that we can run up front.” Elliott explained after hopping out of his machine. “The cars (that JR Motorsports provides) can (run up front), just up to me to get the job done.”
Regan Smith maintains his points lead, but Trevor Bayne is just a mere three markers behind the NNS Daytona winner. NASCAR’s second premier series takes to the short track of Bristol Motor Speedway next week in what’s already anticipated to be a door banging and tempers flaring kind of race.
