Brad Keselowski makes his run for a Championship: The Federated Auto Parts 300 Review

I got my hopes up a little bit. I had high hopes for a new winner this weekend. Now, before I get down on the Nationwide series, let me say that this race was great. It was action packed, had a great deal of crashes, and was hotly contested until the last 20 laps. Keselowski, Edwards, Menard and Sorenson battled it out lap after lap. In the end it was Keselowski who picked up his 3rd win of the young season. Keso is much better than he was last year with JR Motorsports. Which does beg the question, Is Penske that much better? Or is JR Motorsports that much worse? Is so, it really wasn’t Kelly Bires’ fault that the 88 wasn’t up front every week. You also have to ask, if Brad is so good in the Nationwide Series, why is he struggling so much in Cup? Is it simply the 12 car? Is it simply that Brad doesn’t have a full year under his belt? Joey Logano has picked up so much from year one to year two. Yet Keso is better than Logano in the Nationwide Series. I’m not ready to call Keso the next Jason Leffler (a great driver who is mediocre in the Cup series, yet great in the Nationwide Series). Next year Keso moves to the 2 car, so we should see Keso running better next year, without any excuse. I guess time will tell.

Results, points, and a bit of news after THE JUMP!

Eight teams called it quits before lap 25. Eight. I would even add Morgan Shepherd to the Start and Parkers having just run 71 laps. Either way, 8 or 9, these guys qualified while a spin during qualifing sent Ricky Stenhouse Jr home. Stenhouse has been running better, he’s be qualifing for every race, but I was worried this would happen. Stenhouse would have qualified had it not been for the spin. It all but assures that Stenhouse will not climb into the top 30 in points this year. The best they can hope for is to put the car into 31st in owner points and hope that another top 30 car cuts back to part time. That could happen to the 27 Baker Curb Ford, as this was the last race that Redman will be allowed to be on the car. The 43 ran without a sponsor in Baker Curb’s home state. It’s a team in trouble. Sponsors are not willing to take a chance on a young guy like Scott Lagasse Jr or Scott Wimmer.

It was a great first race for Taylor Malsam, who left the 56 truck team to race a little over half the season in Nationwide. Malsam finished 11th. Willie Allen made some changes to the car after qualifing and was penalized two laps to start the race. He got back on the lead lap and finished 15th.

NASCAR officials say Braun Racing faces a potential penalty for an “unapproved transfer of tires” during the Federated Auto Parts 300 Nationwide Series race at Nashville Superspeedway. NASCAR said the transfer was between the #10 Toyota driven by Tayler Malsam and the #38 driven by Jason Leffler. Leffler blew an engine and finished 34th after 85 laps, while Malsam finished 11th, completing all 225 laps. No other details of the infraction were immediately available. It sounds like Braun racing took tires from the 38 and used them on the 10. All teams have a maximum amount of tires they can use and your not allowed to use more than your given, even if your teammate doesn’t use all of his. Should a penalty occur I’ll post a fanshot.

Here’s the updated points standings:

Given that the 2nd and 4th place guys have both missed a race and don’t plan on driving every race, Brad Keselowski could clinch the Championship with 5 races to go. It does make you wish there was a Chase for the Nationwide Series Championship. Nothing changed in the top 30 drivers lock into next week. Here’s the fight for guareenteed spots:

Join us later in the week for another week of Nationwide Action. I’ll have a Preview of the Meijer 300 from Kentucky later in the week. Enjoy!