Brad Keselowski Holds Off Kyle Busch Late and Battles Power Problems to Take the Victory at Las Vegas

         After holding off Kyle Busch and battling alternator problems in the final run of the race, Brad Keselowski was able to cross the line to grab his first career victory in the NASCAR Nationwide Series at Las Vegas. Keselowski and Busch were the class of the field for the entire day, but a final dash to the finish would decide the winner. Keselowski took the lead on the restart, but he was facing trouble. His car was losing power quickly and Busch was hot on his heels while lap traffic was steadily holding up the leader. Somehow, Keselowski was able to hold on and make it to the finish for the win. It was Keselowski's first win in the Nationwide Series at Vegas and it was well deserved. Kyle Busch fell just short of his first win at Las Vegas in the Nationwide Series, but he fought hard for second place after starting in the back of the field due to changes after impound. It was definitely a hard fought battle for the field. The drivers had a little bit of strategy to fight during the race and they also had to fight a very tricky mile and a half in Las Vegas. The rookies especially had to battle hard. A few had trouble and wrecked while some had amazing races. It was also the same for the veterans. Some struggled throughout the entire race while others were on top of their game. The race ended up with great battles and close moments, which made it a very good race.

        Ty Dillon started on the pole. It was his first pole in the NASCAR Nationwide Series as he makes a run at the rookie of the year award this season. The race went green and Dillon was able to come around to lead the first lap. It didn't take long for drivers to start having trouble on the slick track. On lap 4, Kyle Larson broke loose in turn 4. He rode up the track and made contact with the outside wall. He kept his car stable and he was able to continue on with slight damage. On lap 7, Ryan Reed also broke loose in turn 4. He rode up the track and slowed down enough to miss the wall. He powered out of turn 4 and continued on without any damage. Just a few laps later on lap 9, Brad Keselowski was able to take the lead away from Ty Dillon. Keselowski drove away from the field and he began to lap cars left and right as the laps clicked by. The race stayed clean as the first round of green flag pit stops of the race began on lap 53. The field began to cycle through and Brad Keselowski came down from the lead. His team performed a perfect stop and he returned to the race track as the leader just as the first caution of the race waved on lap 56.

       Debris was spotted on the race track in turn 3. Chase Elliott received the lucky dog. NASCAR took a few laps to finally organize the field after the green flag stops shuffled the field. They finally lined up the field correctly and a few drivers like Regan Smith, Kyle Larson, and others decided to come down pit road. The field lined up and the race went back green. Matt Kenseth was able to take the lead from Brad Keselowski on the restart. Shortly after the restart, the second caution of the race waved on lap 71. Dylan Kwasniewski went up on Chris Buescher entering turn 3. Kwasniewski slammed the wall and tried to correct his car, but he began to slide through the corner. He backed into the outside wall softly and pulled down pit road. He had a good bit of damage and he would return to the race, but he would not be able to grab a great finish. Regan Smith received the lucky dog. The field decided to stay on track and the race went back green quickly. On the restart, Brad Keselowski was able to take the lead from Matt Kenseth thanks to a three wide move on the backstretch past Kenseth and Kenseth's teammate, Kyle Busch, who started in the back of the pack and made it to the front early on. Keselowski began to run away from the field once again as the laps clicked by. Pretty soon, the second round of green flag pit stops of the race began on lap 115. These stops would prove to be crucial as a good many drivers made mistakes.

        Ty Dillon was the first driver to make a mistake and he made a huge one. Dillon came down for his regular stop and he was caught speeding by NASCAR. He came back down to make a pass through penalty, but it wasn't over yet. On his pass through, Dillon was caught speeding for the second straight time. This time the penalty would be a stop and go penalty. Dillon came back down, but he was furious. The mistakes cost him a good bit of time. Dillon didn't receive the only speeding penalty. Brendan Gaughan, Dakoda Armstrong, and others were caught speeding and forced to come back down pit road and lost time. The leaders didn't have as much trouble. Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch, and others had smooth stops under green. Busch was able to move ahead of Keselowski on the stops, but he wasn't in the lead yet. Kyle Larson and Regan Smith were off cycle from the other leaders and they were able to stay out a bit longer. Larson and Smith finally made it down pit road and Kyle Busch was able to inherit the lead.

        Busch began to drive away from Keselowski and the rest of the field as the laps clicked by. Busch held the lead until the third caution waved on lap 148. Mike Bliss's car puffed out some smoke in turn 2 and left some debris on track. Bliss's problem was not a blown engine and he would be able to continue on. Trevor Bayne received the lucky dog. The caution brought the final pit stops of the race for the seven lead lap drivers. All seven took four tires and fuel as Kyle Busch came out as the leader. Brad Keselowski made a mistake on his stop. He drove through his box and his team was forced to back him up before performing the stop. This slowed the stop down and Keselowski came out of pit road in fifth spot. It would be interesting to see if he jumped back into the battle for the lead.

        The race went back green and Kyle Busch held onto the lead. Busch began to receive a hard challenge from teammate, Matt Kenseth, a couple of laps later. Kenseth was fighting hard, but Busch still seemed to maintain the lead. Keselowski joined the fray on lap 159 and Matt Kenseth had a problem that resulted in the fourth caution on lap 159. Kenseth drove hard into turn 3 underneath Kyle Busch and just in front of Brad Keselowski. Kenseth broke loose in turn 4 after taking an odd angle into the corner. His car slid around and Keselowski and Chase Elliott were forced to take evasive. The two avoided as Kenseth rode the apron. Somehow, he was able to keep his car off the wall and continue on without damage. Kenseth was forced to come back down pit road and get his tires replaced. Regan Smith received the lucky dog. The field was lined up once again and the race went back green. Brad Keselowski, who had earlier pit stop issues, took the lead away from Kyle Busch. Just as the field got back going, the fifth and final caution of the race waved on lap 164. Ryan Sieg broke loose in turn 2. His car went up the track and slid back down in front of the field. Somehow, the field avoided and Sieg rolled to a stop on the bottom of the track. He was able to continue on in the event after changing tires. Chris Buescher received the lucky dog. None of the leaders came down pit road and the field was lined up for the final time at Las Vegas.

        The race went back green and Brad Keselowski jumped out to the lead with about thirty laps to go. Keselowski began to drive away from Kyle Busch and the rest of the field, but he had a slight problem. His car had begun to lose power due to an alternator issue. He was forced to turn off most of the power soaking devices in his car and he was hoping to make it to the finish. The problems were not helping as Kyle Busch began to close in on Keselowski. To add to that, the two were having to battle lap traffic. The laps began to click by and Keselowski was battling hard to hold onto the lead. Pretty soon, only ten laps remained and Kyle Busch was thrashing to pass Keselowski. It looked like the race would go green the rest of the way and Keselowski would make it, but there was trouble. Regan Smith slammed the outside wall coming out of turn 4 on lap 196. Smith had a ton of damage, but he looked like he would be able to coast around until the end of the race. Luckily for Keselowski, the caution didn't wave as Smith was able to get back going. Keselowski crossed the line with two laps to go and Kyle Busch was flying behind him. Keselowski battled to the white flag, but the lap traffic was heavy in front of him. He negotiated turns one and two well, but Kyle Busch was looking for an opening. He made it through turns 3 and 4 with the car still having power and the track clear. This allowed Keselowski to power down the frontstretch and take the checkered flag. It was a very tough battle for Keselowski to win the race, but he fought the battle and won.

         Words can't describe the challenges Brad Keselowski has faced at Las Vegas recently. In 2011, he was leading on the white flag lap when he blew a tire and handed the win to Mark Martin. In 2013, Keselowski had problems and finished a good many laps down. Because of all his Las Vegas problems, Keselowski had never won a Nationwide race at the track. Now, he has one and he definitely deserved to win it. Kyle Busch fell just short of taking his first win at the track in Nationwide competition, but he will definitely take more wins this year. It wasn't really a bad day for Busch. He started in the back and was near the front of the field just as the first green flag stops of the race began.  The race was also good for some rookies in the series. Chase Elliott was able to take home a fifth place finish while Chris Buescher took a ninth place finish and Ty Dillon battled back to finish eleventh. Ryan Reed, Dylan Kwasniewski, Dakoda Armstrong, and others weren't as lucky and they need Bristol to be great fro their rookie of the year hopes. The other Nationwide regulars fared okay. Brian Scott came home seventh with Trevor Bayne, Regan Smith, and the rest of the Nationwide regulars finishing behind him. Smith continued to hold the points lead over Bayne, but the battle is close only three races in. The series moves to the very small half mile known as Bristol next week. Will Kyle Busch go back to back at the track, will Kyle Larson redeem himself after falling just short one season ago, or will a Nationwide regular or rookie take a historic checkered flag? We will have to wait one week to find this out and a whole lot more.
(More Stats Down Below!)




Cautions:
1st Caution: Lap 56- Debris was spotted in turn 3 of the track.

2nd Caution: Lap 71- Dylan Kwasniewski backed into the outside wall in turn 4 after cutting off Chris Buescher entering turn 3.

3rd Caution: Lap 148- Mike Bliss's car puffed out some smoke in turn 2 and left some debris on track.

4th Caution: Lap 159- Matt Kenseth broke loose in turn 4 and spun around.

5th Caution: Lap 164- Ryan Sieg broke loose in turn 2 and was able to spin around without hitting anything.

Lucky Dogs:
1st Caution: Chase Elliott
2nd Caution: Regan Smith
3rd Caution: Trevor Bayne
4th Caution: Regan Smith
5th Caution: Chris Buescher

Top 5 Finishers:
1st: Brad Keselowski
2nd: Kyle Busch
3rd: Kyle Larson
4th: Dale Earnhardt Jr. 
5th: Chase Elliott

Notables Not in Top 5:
6th: Matt Kenseth
8th: Trevor Bayne
10th: Regan Smith
11th: Ty Dillon
13th: Elliott Sadler
16th: Brendan Gaughan
18th: James Buescher
24th: Dylan Kwasniewski




Credits:
-My Own Notes
-Statistics:
http://www.nascar.com/en_us/nationwide-series/leaderboard/leaderboard-live.html
http://www.nascar.com/en_us/nationwide-series/lapbylap/view-all-laps.html?intid=lapbylap_lapbylapleaderboard_08292013
http://racing-reference.info/race/2014_Boyd_Gaming_300/B
-Image:
https://twitter.com/NASCAR/status/442464783804018688/photo/1