Keselowski Outruns Kyle Busch to Win Memphis

[RIS-Ron Fleshman]

MEMPHIS, TN - RIS - Brad Keselowski banged his way to his fourth Nationwide Series victory in Saturday's Kroger On Track for the Cure 250 at Memphis Motorsports Park.  Keselowski was involved in at least three incidents in the race, the last when he bumped Carl Edwards with a handful of laps remaining.

Keselowski then got the lead when he whipped past the front row of Michael Annett and Tony Raines on a restart with 12 laps to go when Steve Wallace spun after tangling with Matt Kenseth. Keselowski then held off Nationwide points leader Kyle Busch on a green-white-checkered restart to secure the win. Wallace banged into Kenseth's car after the race and the two had words on pit road.

Keselowski picked up an extra $75,000 from Nationwide as part of its Dash 4 Cash program. He won a $25,000 bonus for winning the race and $50,000 for scoring the most points in the four Dash 4 Cash races.

But the most prized possession was the last-in-its-series Elvis trophy that track officials award race winners. Keselowski carried it to the post-race news conference and planned on taking it with him on the plane ride home.

"I've got this Elvis -- man, I really wanted that trophy bad, just as bad as I wanted the Dash 4 Cash," Keselowski said. "To be able to finally get it is a special thing."

Busch ended up second, with Jason Leffler overcoming a sinus infection to finish third. Mike Bliss, who led the most laps but also was involved in an incident with Keselowski, finished fourth.

Brendan Gaughan finished fifth, though he was leading comfortably when the yellow waved for debris with 23 laps remaining. Gaughan lost track position during pit stops.

Keselowski refused to admit his contact with other drivers led to his win.

"I was very aggressive and put myself in a lot of those situations that led to contact," Keselowski said. "Two of them led to spins. I didn't do myself any favors by that. It's not like I came out on top with that. I tore my car up and slowed it down. It wasn't like that was what won me the race.

"What won me the race was being aggressive throughout. The specific contact didn't win me the race. They actually hurt."