BRISTOL, Tenn. — Brad Keselowski earned his first NASCAR Truck Series win on Thursday.
Keselowski, the 2012 Sprint Cup champion, passed defending champion Kyle Busch with 75 laps to go and held off Busch's teammate Darrell Wallace Jr. in the UNOH 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
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Wallace closed to Keselowski's back bumper with two laps left, but drifted high in turn one and Keselowski pulled away.
Four-time Truck Series champion Ron Hornaday Jr. finished third, followed by Matt Crafton and series points leader Johnny Sauter. Busch crashed with 22 laps left and finished 24th.
Keselowski first Truck Series win came after 62 starts. The driver of the No. 19 Ford is the 25th driver to win in all three of NASCAR's national series (Cup, Nationwide and Trucks).
Rain washed out the race on Wednesday night.
Keselowski led 119 of 200 laps but may face a penalty after his truck failed postrace inspection. Keselowski's truck was one of three that had a rear spoiler that was too high. The trucks of Hornaday and Cole Cluster also were too high.
Any penalties for the infractions would be announced next week.
Wallace thought he had a shot at Keselowski in the closing laps, but could not get close enough.
"Not enough. (I) came over the radio and said, 'I hate finishing second,'" Wallace said. "I don't care if it's Brad (Keselowski), Kyle (Busch), (Matt) Crafton — I want to beat all of them. Congrats to Brad. Thought I could give him a run for his money. I was sitting there in the truck after the race just trying to replay everything and if I could have done anything different. I would have had to really piss him off and wreck him to get by him."
And that's something Wallace said he was not willing to do.
"I thought I got on his bumper pretty good getting into turn one, but not enough," he said. "I'd have to wreck him to get by him. I respect Brad and what he does."
Keselowski and his father became the first father-son duo to win in the truck series. He became the 25th driver to win in all three national series.
“It’s, for me, a big day personally and professionally,” Keselowski said. “Personally, it dug into a lot of things with my family and the commitment they’ve had to this sport and specifically to this series for a long time to race and make a living for quite a while and then beyond that to give me an opportunity to do the same in the later stages of their involvement.
“It was a tough road, quite honestly. We didn’t make it. My family race teams and whatnot went (out of business). It’s always been a personal tragedy of sorts to have to go through that and that’s one of the many reasons why I am still involved in this series because of that. Professionally, it’s about the opportunity to work with more people in the sport and be even more hands-on than I am with the Cup car or the Nationwide car.”
— The Associated Press contributed to this report.