Keselowski holds off points leader Kyle Busch to win Nationwide race at Memphis

Keselowski holds off Busch to win at Memphis

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Brad Keselowski held off points leader Kyle Busch on the final lap to win the Kroger On Track For the Cure 250 in a green-white-checker finish in Saturday’s Nationwide Series race at Memphis Motorsports Park.

Keselowski was leading when a caution came out with two laps to go because Stephen Wallace spun after tangling with Matt Kenseth. Wallace banged into Kenseth’s car after the race and the two had words on pit road.

Keselowski held onto the lead through the overtime segment. Busch finished second and leads Carl Edwards by 215 points in the standings.

Busch was on Keselowski’s rear bumper coming out of the final turn. Keselowski got loose but held on for his fourth Nationwide win of the year.

Jason Leffler finished third, while Mike Bliss and Brendan Gaughan completed the top five. Edwards, who won this race last year, was sixth.

There were 14 cautions on the day, with the last one setting up an exciting finish.

Keselowski led 34 of the eventual 254 laps in earning his first victory at Memphis Motorsports Park.

Edwards, Busch and two other Sprint Cup drivers were sent to the rear of the grid to start the race because substitute drivers had qualified for them. The Cup drivers had been at Martinsville earlier in the day preparing for Sunday’s race.

Edwards entered the race trailing Busch by 195 points, and his hopes of cutting into the lead appeared to take a hit on the 25th lap. Tony Raines got into the back of Edwards, sending him spinning between turns 3 and 4. Edwards took another shot to the back of his Ford before coming to a stop.

That was one of three early cautions brought on by crashes. The third included pole-sitter Justin Allgaier, who got together with Keselowski.

Allgaier, who entered the race fifth in the points, captured the pole in qualifying earlier Saturday with a lap of 118.1 mph. It was the rookie’s first pole in 36 Nationwide races.

He led for the first 34 laps, and eventually finished 19th.

Meanwhile, Edwards and Busch kept moving up through the field. Despite the early crash, Edwards was in fifth and Busch eighth by the 54th lap. Edwards took the lead on lap 62, but Keselowski passed him four laps later.

Busch took over after a restart on the 95th lap, going outside to get in front. Bliss grabbed the lead two laps later and built his lead to 5 seconds as the race reached the halfway point.

After a yellow brought everyone in for pit stops, Busch left pit road first and the other four Cup drivers — Edwards, Kenseth, Keselowski and David Reutimann — were in the top 10.

Between cautions and restarts, Edwards held onto the lead through much of the second half of the race. But with 18 laps to go, he ended up in a wreck on the backstretch possibly started when Keselowski got into his back bumper.

That ended any hope Edwards had of repeating his trip to victory lane or cutting into Busch’s series points lead.