CONCORD, N.C. — Brad Keselowski survived early tire scares and back-of-the-pack wrecks Friday night to earn his fourth Nationwide Series victory of 2014.
Those in the sparse crowd at Charlotte Motor Speedway saw the Team Penske driver take the lead from teammate Ryan Blaney with 14 laps to go and drive away from any challenges.
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“I told (crew chief) Jeremy (Bullins) over the radio it felt like we were playing prevent defense early in the race, everybody was waiting for who was going to blow the next tire,” Keselowski told ESPN. “You didn’t want to run slow and get further back in traffic to where you couldn’t make passes. You could see everyone that ran hard kept having tire problems and we had some on the first run.”
Tire issues had a hand in multiple wrecks. One involved six cars, including Ty Dillon's, on a Lap 69 restart following a debris caution.
Dillon, third in points and trying to bounce back from a flat tire that put him in the wall, made contact with Eric McClure, who was in the process of losing a tire on the front stretch. James Buescher was one of the six involved and put blame on poor planning by NASCAR as it waved 13 cars around immediately prior to the green flag.
“I was lined up right behind Elliott Sadler in the outside lane and I was positioned right behind him in scoring. So when we took the wave around I followed him and I should have been lined up on the inside,” Buescher said. “There was too many cars down there to get to that spot. I think they should have taken a lap to line us up right. Then maybe that wouldn't have happened.”
Most of the 13 cars didn't catch up to the field until the leaders were exiting Turn 4.
A blown tire also caused Cale Conley to hit the wall in Turn 3 on Lap 18. The wreck brought out the second caution of the night.
NASCAR announced that tires from Chase Elliott and Brian Scott’s cars would be sent to its Research & Development Center.
After being passed by Keselowski, Blaney, in a part-time ride, finished fourth after starting 19th.
“We weren’t really going anywhere early and struggled a little bit,” Blaney told ESPN. “If that was a five-lap shootout at the end I think we could have won the thing.”
Keselowski led 22 laps after starting in 10th, just out of range of a first-lap crash involving 11 cars in the first corner of the race.
The wreck started when the field stacked up behind Chris Buescher, leading to a wreck that sent six drivers home early.
A full lap of green wasn’t seen until Lap 9. Matt Kenseth and Chase Elliott competed for the lead for two laps, before Kenseth pulled away and led until Lap 60.
An offsetting pit strategy gave Elliott, the series point leader, the lead three times for 39 laps before the halfway mark and 66 laps overall. The rookie's No. 9 team went for two tires late in the race, which left Elliott to be prey for the Cup veterans on fresher tires. The strategy led to an eighth-place finish.
“I thought we had the one up on them because we had some scuff tires from the beginning of the race still left in the pit,” Elliott said. “So had those guys pitted that would have been a really good thing for us.”
Elliott called his performance on restarts and his inability to keep a lead back to the line “pitiful.”