General

The Fast and the Furious -- Carfax 250

Aug 16, 2009, 8:54 AM UTC

The fast and the furious tangled during the Carfax 250 at Michigan International Speedway on Saturday afternoon but neither came out of the race as the winner. That distinction belonged to Brad Keselowski who capitalized on a last lap tussle between Fast (Brian Vickers) and Furious (Kyle Busch) to win his third Nationwide Series race of 2009 and first at his home track in the rolling hills of Michigan.

Keselowski, who spent much of the race in the middle of the pack, chased the leaders down in the closing laps and waited until the final lap to make his move. All three crossed the line at the same time to take the white flag and Busch darted to the inside of Vickers. Vickers pinched Busch to the inside while Keselowski rode the high line to take the lead. Kaselowski never looked back and won the race with Vickers and Busch in tow.

Details on the other side.

“I saw ‘em bobble in [Turns] 3 and 4 there at the one-to-go, and I had ‘em,” said Keselowski, who grew up in Rochester Hills, Mich. “I knew it. I knew I could get to the outside and kill the 32 [Vickers]. I wasn’t sure about the 18 [Busch] -- I don’t know what happened to him.
“Oh, my God, I won at home! I’m speechless. I can’t believe it. I’m terrible here, and to win here is a major accomplishment. ... It’s so cool to win in front of your home fans, and I thank all of them that came out [Saturday].”

The third place finish snapped Busch’s record streak of ten-consecutive first or second place finishes and felt that Vickers cost both of them a chance to win.

“It’s so frustrating that you can’t have a guy race you clean,” Busch said. “He was on our right rear quarter panel all the way down the front straightaway and gave the win to the 88 car. He slowed us down so much -- he had no idea the 88 car was coming, and the 88 just drove right by both of us on the outside, because Brian Vickers was trying to slow both of us down. Just stupid.
“If he would have ran his own line up at the top of the track, and I had run my own line down at the bottom of the track, it could have been us two. But, unfortunately, you race with idiots, and I guess you’ll have that sometimes.”

A sarcastic Vickers felt the move was fair game on the final lap.

Oh, man, I am so sorry -- I forgot it was the Kyle Busch show,” Vickers said sarcastically after climbing from his car. “Hell, I thought we were racing for a win. ... I thought it was my job to hold him off. Apparently not. He came over to the car after we came in and knocked the fender in, which was unnecessary, and then started crying like a little baby.
“I asked him if he’d give me a minute to get out we could talk about it like men. If he wanted to fight, that was fine with me. When I got out, he ran off. It’s a shame that it went down like that. We were racing hard. I thought it was a good race. Congratulations to the 88 [Keselowski]. He snuck around both of us. I didn’t see him coming.”

And no one else did either. Congrats and welcome home Brad.

Top-10:

1. Brad Keselowski, Chevrolet

2. Brian Vickers, Toyota

3. Kyle Busch, Toyota

4. David Ragan, Ford

5. Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet

6. Ryan Newman, Chevrolet

7. Justin Allgaier, Dodge

8. Greg Biffle, Ford

9. Jeff Burton, Chevrolet

10. Paul Menard, Ford