Driving a No. 22 Dodge that felt as if it was on rails, Brad Keselowski dominated Saturday’s Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway to win his fourth Nationwide Series race of the year and the 16th of his career.
The reigning series champion passed runner-up Carl Edwards with just over 13 laps left and pulled away to win by 2.795 seconds. Elliott Sadler ran third, followed by Paul Menard and Nationwide points leader Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Keselowski had a 10-second lead over Paul Menard when the engine in Josh Wise’s Chevrolet exploded on Lap 142. The No. 22 Dodge hit pit road for tires and fuel and quickly stretched out his lead.
But when Angela Cope spun and hit the Turn 2 wall on Lap 173, Edwards was able to grab the lead to the inside after a restart on Lap 179. His advantage didn’t last. Keselowski moved past Edwards to the inside on Lap 187 and pulled away for the win.
Keselowski was the clear class of the field in the first half of the race. On successive green-flag runs, he opened leads of seven, five and four seconds before cautions bunched the field. Keselowski led Sadler by 3.785 seconds when NASCAR called the fourth caution of the race on Lap 86 for Timmy Hill’s blown engine.
Keselowski, who had stayed out under the previous yellow, came to pit road for fuel and four tires on Lap 88 but stalled his car in his pit box because of a miscommunication between driver and crew on when to leave the stall.
“My fault,” Keselowski radioed after the mistake. “I wasn’t ready when you dropped the jack.”
Keselowski restarted 14th on Lap 96. Six laps later he was back in the lead, blowing past Aric Almirola for the top spot on Lap 101.
