Keselowski fastest in first practice - Speedway Digest

Brad Keselowski picked up where he left off in the NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) at Watkins Glen in first practice. The 2012 Sprint Cup champ posted the fastest lap of 72.123 seconds (122.291 mph).

Keselowski is the defending race winner of the Zippo 200 and has finished runner-up in the last three Cup races at Watkins Glen. The No. 22 NNS team had the car to beat in the series’ first road course race at Road America in June, until Alex Tagliani ran out of fuel while leading under a late caution. Tagliani charged from 24th to second in the final two laps and just fell short of getting to race winner Brendan Gaughan.

Paul Menard had the second quickest time in the No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. The top five drivers in NNS practice are all running double-duty in both NNS and Cup this weekend.

Marcos Ambrose makes his first start in NNS since Mid-Ohio last August and put up the third fastest speed. Ambrose will sport the No. 09 this weekend as the Australian-born driver usually has the No. 9 in the Cup Series. The No. 9 in NNS belongs to the JR Motorsports team of Chase Elliott, since the team runs full-time in the series.

Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) teammates Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth rounded out the top five. Both drivers are looking for a bright spot at Watkins Glen as Busch had an engine failure in last Sunday’s GoBowling.com 400 at Pocono Raceway, with Kenseth being caught up in a 13-car wreck.

Final NNS practice will take place at 2:10 p.m. ET Friday afternoon and will be shown live on FOX Sports 1.

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Kyle Magda

Currently, I’m a journalism student in college who enjoys the sport of racing. I've been following NASCAR in-depth since 2001.Along with my love of racing, I’m also into baseball, football (college & pro), and college basketball.I also have my own website, The Life of Kyle, where I write about various topics.And to get my feet wet into radio, I have my own show called Overdrive. I started it with my friend. Since we can’t record together most of the time, we have our own versions. I cover NASCAR and ARCA, and he takes Formula One and IndyCar.Not forgetting to mention, I have my own YouTube channel as well.As for race tracks, I’ve gone to races at Pocono, Watkins Glen, Daytona, Dover, Loudon and a few local short tracks as well. I hope to cross the Indianapolis 500 off my list in the future. I hope to become a man of many hats.