HAMPTON, Ga. — Leading 33 of the 40 laps in stage one of Saturday’s Rinnai 250, Brad Keselowski took home maximum points in Team Penske’s hunt for the NASCAR XFINITY Series owner’s championship by collecting his first stage win under the new race format.
“We’re running pretty good so far,” Keselowski said at the end of the stage. “It’s hard to tell where everyone’s at during this first run because we have to start on our qualifying tires that have all those laps on it, but we’re comfortable and the car’s working well … so we’ll try to keep it moving forward.
Trouble came early on in the 40-lap run as Ty Dillon lost control of his car in Turn 2 on lap two, after the left rear tire went flat. Blake Koch came along the inside line and attempted to drive past Dillon, but made contact with his right-front fender and sustained heavy damage. Koch did not return to the race.
“Man, I saw the 3 car spinning and I thought he was going to stay up there (on the high side), but when I saw him coming down I dove to the apron and there was just nowhere I could go,” Koch lamented. “It’s so unfortunate for our whole team … the rest of the day will be a good race; there’s a lot of time left and I wish we were out there.”
Busch led the field to green on the first restart, but was passed by Keselowski’s No. 22 Discount Tire Ford Mustang on lap eight for the stage’s only lead change.
Meanwhile, Kevin Harvick made large strides towards the front in his No. 41 Textron Off Road Ford Mustang. Harvick, who started from the 12th position, drove his way up to fifth by lap 26.
A number of drivers suffered from tire wear issues towards the close of Stage 1. Justin Allgaier had a left front nearly go down completely due to excessive wear, and Brennan Poole made an unscheduled pit stop for tires with three laps remaining in the stage.
Keselowski ran the rest of the laps clean to lead Stage 1 and collect the maximum 10 bonus points.
He was followed by Busch, Harvick and Denny Hamlin, with Daniel Hemric ending the stage as the highest-placed XFINITY regular in fifth.
Cole Custer, William Byron, Kyle Larson, Ty Dillon and Elliott Sadler completed the top 10 and all scored bonus points towards their respective drivers or owners championships.
About the Writer
James Pike is a multi-faceted reporter for Race Chaser Online and an analyst on the Motorsports Madness radio show, airing at 7 p.m. Eastern every Monday on the Performance Motorsports Network.
He is the lead correspondent for Race Chaser Online’s coverage of Australian Supercars and also covers regional touring series events in the Carolinas. He is a graduate of the Motorsports Management program at Belmont Abbey College and currently resides in Winston-Salem, N.C.
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