Rookie Brad Keselowski gets hit first victory
Published: Sun, Jun. 08, 2008 12:30AM
Modified Sun, Jun. 08, 2008 04:27AM
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closeBrad Keselowski raced to his first Nationwide Series victory Saturday night, passing Clint Bowyer with six laps to go and easily holding off his closest rivals at Nashville, Tenn.
Kyle Busch, racing in the second of three NASCAR races in a historic weekend triple, finished 20th, three laps down. A green flag pit stop with 52 laps to go bounced him from the top five to two laps down.
Keselowski, driving for Dale Earnhardt Jr., became the seventh first-time winner in 15 Nationwide races at Nashville Superspeedway. David Stremme rallied to finish second, followed by David Reutimann and Bowyer.
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"I heard Dale's satellite went out with 10 laps to go, so he must be crying," Keselowski said.
Busch ran into problems when he got into a scrape with pole-sitter Joey Logano on lap 88.
Busch's setback came 24 hours after his second-place finish in the Craftsman Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway.
'ZIPPY' KNOWS TONY: While Tony Stewart continues to play coy about his future, at least one person believes the two-time Cup champion already has decided what he plans to do.
"I honestly think the decision's made, I just don't think we all know yet," crew chief Greg Zipadelli said.
Stewart and Zipadelli are in their 10th season together at Joe Gibbs Racing in the longest active driver-crew chief combination in the garage. The two are searching for their first win this season, and Zipadelli hopes it comes today at Pocono Raceway.
The team had several victories slip away this year, and Stewart is 11th in the standings.
"It just shows me that it's really not our time yet, I guess," Zipadelli said.
NEW VENTURE: Petty Enterprises' yearlong search to find an investment partner seems to be in the final stages, with an announcement tentatively planned for next week to announce a deal with a private equity firm.
Boston Ventures is expected to take over a controlling interest in the company, which has fallen behind NASCAR's top organizations and needs a boost to become competitive.
Richard Petty declined to discuss the deal Saturday. "We're not even going there," he said.
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