Monticello — Hometown boy Brad Keselowski took advantage of a heated battle between
Kyle Busch and polesitter Brian Vickers, and made a last lap pass on both,
to win Saturday's Nationwide race.
With Busch and Vickers battling on the bottom of the track, Keselowski
used the outside line to pass both drivers on the final lap at Michigan
International Speedway, with Vickers finishing second and Busch third.
"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."
Vickers led Busch into turn 3 on the next-to-last lap and slipped in the
corner. Busch drove to the inside, and Vickers side-drafted the No. 18
Toyota and forced him down onto the apron as the cars roared out of turn 4.
With momentum to the outside, Keselowski made it three-wide as the cars took
the white flag for the final lap.
Busch took issue with the way Vickers had raced him on the final two
laps and confronted him on pit road after the race.
"Oh, man, I am so sorry‹I forgot it was the Kyle Busch show," Vickers
said. "Hell, I thought we were racing for a winŠI 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, and 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."
Top-10 points leaders after 23 of 35: 1. Kyle Busch-3816, 2.
Edwards-3477, 3. Keselowski-3427, 4. Leffler-3203, 5. Allgaier-2756, 6. S.
Wallace-2673, 7. Keller-2612, 8. Bliss-2595, 9. Gaughan-2538, 10.
McDowell-2474