Keselowski Dominates, Wins at Iowa

In the twentieth race of the thirty three race long Nationwide series, Brad Keselowski dominated a field of Nationwide drivers to win his third race at Iowa Speedway. Brad Keselowski was followed by Joe Gibbs Racing driver, Michael McDowell and Roush Fenway Racing’s Trevor Bayne.

The U.S. Cellular 250 started off with pole winner Trevor Bayne taking and making an early lead with Brad Keselowski in hot pursuit. The top five quickly became single file with Brian Scott in third, Regan Smith in fourth, and Chase Elliot fifth. Previous Iowa winner Sam Hornish Jr. hot on the top five’s heals in sixth place.

By lap 15, the only change in the top five was Sam Hornish’s leap into the top five by passing rookie Elliot, and by lap 19, the leaders began to contend with lap traffic, which allowed the Brian Scott to catch the top two.

On lap 22, the race for the lead became heated, with Brad Keselowski and Trevor Bayne racing sided by side for the better part of three laps. The first caution of the night came out on lap 25 for debris and the battle for first temporarily went to Trevor Bayne.

The first to pit road, Elliot Sadler, was previously running in ninth place, and only a few others took the opportunity to pit during this caution.

The race went green once again on lap 31, and less than a lap later, Brad Keselowski took the lead from Trevor Bayne, and began to lead the drivers around the oval like track.

Chase Elliot took great advantage of the restart and was able to jump into third, trailing the leaders by less than a second.

The remained problematic free, and allowed for Brad Keselowski to jump three seconds ahead of Trevor Bayne and Chase Elliot who were in the midst of duking it out for second when the second caution of the night flew.

This caution was brought out by Tanner Berryhill when his car lost power and stalled between turns one and two. When the pits opened, the front runners all came down and pitted, while Elliot Sadler and a few others stayed out and tried to capitalize on their different pit strategies. Keselowski led the field off it road with Bayne trailing behind him.

When the race resumed on lap 57, Sadler continued to lead the field until lap 61 when Sam Hornish Jr showed his colors for the first time Saturday night and took the lead. By lap 65, Brad Keselowski and Trevor Bayne passed the fading Sadler as well.

Hornish didn’t get to keep the lead long as Brad Keselowski caught and passed him by lap 72. Despite how easily Brad Keselowski passed Hornish though, Hornish stuck to Keselowski’s bumper. The two pulled away from third place Trevor Bayne by nearly four seconds.

The race once again remained relatively quiet and calm, with little changing within the top five except for Chase Elliot’s threading through lapped traffic to get himself to fifth position.

Most came down pit road during this caution. Hornish Jr however, was able to beat Keselowski off pit road. The two were followed by McDowell, Bayne, Smith, Dillon, Kwasniewski, and Elliot.

On lap 117, the green flag was waved and Hornish was able to keep the lead while McDowell forced himself into a battle with Keselowski for second.  The race once again settled down with little happening. Trevor Bayne, fourth place runner, reported a vibration on lap 126, but all else remained quiet.

On lap 163, Hornish slid loose off of turn four, and Keselowski was able to capitalize and steal the lead from Hornish by the outside on lap 164.

The fourth caution of the race came out on lap 183, when Dakoda Armstrong spun off of turn two. Fortunately no contact was made and the race was able to restart rather quickly on lap 189 with Keselowski able to reassert his lengthy lead rather quickly.

Keselowski and Hornish began a heated battle for the lead after lap traffic began to come into play again, but before anything came of it, the caution came out for the final time of the night when James Buescher crashed on the front stretch on lap 241.

For not the first time of the night, mass pit stops took place, with Keselowski leading the field out with McDowell heading out second. Bayne, Scott, and Smith rounded out the top five.

On the restart, McDowell was able to rip the lead away from Keselowski, but the Sprint cup champion was able to snatch it back and win the race, marking his thirtieth in the Nationwide series.

Chase Elliot was able to leave Iowa with the points lead with Regan Smith sitting in second and Sadler and Ty Dillon tied for third.

Trevor Bayne was able to take home the $100,000 dollar bonus as the highest finishing Dash 4 Cash driver.