Keselowski wins Nationwide race

August 16, 2009 at 12:00a.m.

BROOKLYN, Mich. (AP) — Brad Keselowski swooped past Brian Vickers and Kyle Busch to take the lead in the final turn Saturday, then held on to win the Nationwide series race at Michigan International Speedway.

Keselowski took two tires on his final pit stop, then took advantage of a furious battle for the lead between Vickers and Busch on the last lap.

Vickers finished second and Busch third, and they exchanged some heated words on pit road afterward.

“Brian was doing what he needed to do to win the race, and just kind of got snookered by us in the end,” Keselowski said.

It was a rough afternoon for Carl Edwards, whose hopes of a championship in NASCAR’s second-tier series took a hit when he crashed early.

Busch and Vickers pitted with most of the lead-lap cars after a caution with 20 laps to go. They lined up in the second row for the restart behind Justin Allgaier, who stayed on the track, and Keselowski, who took only two tires, for a 12-lap dash to the finish.

Busch immediately took the lead when Vickers got hung up behind Allgaier, but came back to challenge and the two were side-by-side when another caution came out with 10 laps left.

Vickers chose the outside lane on the final restart with seven laps remaining, and was poised to run away with the race. Busch caught up and the two appeared ready to fight it out on the final lap when Keselowski came seemingly out of nowhere.

Busch apparently bumped Vickers’ car pulling onto pit road and the two exchanged words, but the confrontation didn’t escalate.