Photo Credit: Noel Lanier
Two winners were declared at the end of Saturdays race. One was the winner of the StaGreen200, the other won $100,000 dollars. Brad Keselowski, driver of the 22 Hertz Ford was able to pull away from Kyle Busch and win the race from the pole position. Regan Smith was able to stay ahead of the 16 of Ryan Reed and was able to win himself and JR Motorsports $100,000 dollars in the Dash-4-Cash.
The race started with Brad Keselowski jumping ahead of the pack on lap one, and Kyle Busch taking the lead promptly on lap two. The race was pretty dicey from the get go and the first caution came out on lap 5 when Trevor Bayne smacked the wall and had a left rear tire go down.
The race resumed on lap ten and Kyle Busch predictably was able to keep the lead even as Josh Wise lost power and stalled on the backstretch and brought out the second caution.
During this caution, DiBenedetto replace Jeffrey Earnhardt in the 4 machine. Earnhardt is still recovering from a broken collarbone suffered in a motorcycle crash a few weeks back.
The race returned – and stayed – green on lap 18, and Kyle Busch once again beat the field to the line and was able to keep first.
The running order stayed mostly the same until lap 35, when after a hard fought battle, Keselowski used a lapped car for a tactical advantage (having Kyle Busch stuck behind it) and passed Kyle Busch for the lead. By lap 40, Keselowski was able to gain an advantage of over a second on Kyle Busch. By lap 58, over two seconds.
All was as calm as it could be, no cautions waved, and no one made any major moves, and green flag pit stops began on lap 77 when Crum very nearly ran out of fuel, and Landon Cassil followed him down.
On lap 81 Chase Elliot came down pit road, but stalled and ultimately ended up a lap down when the running order was normal again.
‘Normal’ meaning Brad Keselowski resumed the lead and Kyle Busch continued to trail behind, and Keselowski continued to put cars a lap down. By lap 91 only eight cars were on the lead lap.
Caution number three came out on lap 92 when debris was spotted in turn 1.Ryan Reed was the beneficiary of Aaron’s Luck Dog and was all the sudden back in contention for the Dash-4-Cash.
The green flag came back out six laps later, and Brad Keselowski continued to lead as Kyle Busch began to fall back. By the next caution on lap 102, Kyle Busch had fallen back to fifth.
This caution came out after Paul Menard became a little loose from a bump into Chase Elliot and proceeded to hit the wall. There wasn’t any major damage and after a quick cleanup the race resumed on lap 107.
Under the caution, Kyle Busch was one of a few to pit after he described his car as ‘wrecking loose.’ Taking into the fact that only nine cars were on the lead lap at the time of the caution, Kyle Busch didn’t lose too many positions.
The biggest cleanup of the race came during the restart on lap 107. Elliot Sadler was spun by Brian Scott and oncoming traffic was collected. Paul Menard, James Buescher, Dakoda Armstrong, Carlos Contreras, and Austin Theriault were also involved.
On lap 113 Kyle Larson led the field back to green. By this time, Kyle Busch’s car came back to life as he began his drive back to the front. Keselowski began to start picking off the car lengths between himself and race leader Kyle Larson. While things were heating up in the front of the back, a little farther back, the racing for the lucky dog position was intense. At one point, Ty Dillon nearly spun out. He did save himself and the car, but lost a few positions in the process.
On lap 119, Keselowski was able to get past Kyle Larson, while Kyle Busch and Kenseth began to pressure Larson from behind as well. Both drivers were able to get by Larson and Busch continued to try and eat away at Keselowski’s lead.
The race was once again calm up until lap 140 when the caution came out again. This caution was for debris in turn three. The battle for the lucky dog was won by Chase Elliot, but a majority of those fighting for the position took a wave around.
Many drivers came down pit road under this caution and Keselowski, Busch, and Kenseth beat everyone out. Despite the fact that he came back out first, Keselowski would not restart first under this caution, rather Chris Buescher would after he decided to stay out.
Chris Buescher might have been first at the line on the restart, but Keselowski, along with Kyle Busch and Kyle Larson passed him, relegating him to fourth.
The race stayed quiet until the end. Despite his best efforts, Kyle Busch was never able to catch up to Keselowski, and Keselowski finished first and Busch second.
Kenseth was third, followed by Larson Chris Buescher.
The points remained the same in the top three as Smith continues to lead Elliot Sadler and Chase Elliot.
Regan Smith won this week’s Dash-4-Cash making him, along with Chris Buescher, Elliot Sadler, and Brian Scott eligible for the Dash-4-Cash next weekend at Chicago.
