Brad Keselowski captured the win Friday evening at the Charlotte Motor Speedway after leading 22 of the 200 laps of the 33rd annual Drive for the Cure 300. Keselowski scored his 31st win in the NASCAR Nationwide Series after staying out of trouble and being patient all night long. It also streatches out their lead by 31 points over the Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 54 Toyota in the owner’s points standings.
Kyle Busch, who started the race from fifth, fell just shy of the victory by 0.377 seconds. Busch was able to lead 34 of the 200 laps in his black and pink No. 54 Toyota. The finish marks his 22nd top-five finish of the year in the Nationwide Series.
Matt Kenseth came home with a third-place finishing position after making his 17th start of the year on Friday. Kenseth led the most laps of the night but just wasn’t able to keep it upfront through the final laps. It might be surprising, but Kenseth has yet to score a win in the Nationwide Series through 2014.
Chase Elliott came home with an eigth-place finishing position after starting the race from the pole. Elliott will head into the two-week break leading the points standings by 42 over Regan Smith. Smith, who had an up and down night all evening long, will leave the Charlotte Motor Speedway with an 11th-place run.
Chris Buescher, who started the evning from 13th, will come home as the highest finishing rookie with a sixth-place run. Buescher had some luck on his side as Luke, who was the kid that was selected to sit atop the pit box during his win at Mid-Ohio, was in attendance on Friday evening. The decent run marked his fourth top-10 finish of 2014.
Tire problems struck most of the teams during Friday night’s race. Goodyear reported seeing tire issues during the first run because the teams are required to start the race on the same set they qualify on. Goodyear represenative also added that the fresh tires gave no issues during the 200-lap event. As we have saw in previous events, the Charlotte Motor Speedway can be a difficult place on the tires.
The next race for the NASCAR Nationwide Series will be in two weeks at the Texas Motor Speedway. Coverage will begin at 3:30 p.m. Et. live on ESPN2 and the Performance Racing Network. Keselowski heads into the O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge 300 as the defending race winner.
About Me: Brett has been following the sport of NASCAR since the beginning of the 2006 NASCAR Sprint Cup season. Since Brett was 13, he has had a passion of chasing a job in sports that not many get the opportunity of doing. He has been in the NASCAR media since the middle of the 2010 season. Since then, he has been a part of many racing podcast shows to improve his talents. He has written for racingonfuel.com and theracingwheel.com. Currently, Brett writes for motorsportsnat.com and TracksideChatter.com. You can find him on twitter @NASCAR_Brett.
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