Keselowski wins Memphis Nationwide

The JR Motorsports driver, who is set to make the switch to a full-time Sprint Cup seat with Penske next year, turned a few drivers around, made a great restart to claim the lead in the closing stages, and then held on to his car out of the last corner of the race as Busch tapped its rear in a desperate attempt to avoid another second place finish.

Keselowski was involved in a couple of incidents, first with Penske rookie Justin Allgaier and then with Carl Edwards in the closing stages, spinning the Roush Fenway driver around at the exit of Turn 2.

On the following restart and back in fifth place, he made an impressive move to claim the lead of the race - passing all those ahead nearly all at once. He pulled away until the caution came out again with only nine laps to go, after former race leader Michael Annett got spun against the barrier.

The green flag waved with only five laps to go and Keselowski made a great restart, leaving his rivals behind to fight for second place, although he had to make it all over again as the caution came out for the final time with only two laps to go, when Steven Wallace got spun after making contact with Matt Kenseth.

On the last restart for the green-white-chequered finish, Keselowski managed to stay ahead of Busch, but the points leader kept close enough to make a last-lap banzai move.

At the exit of Turn 4 and with the chequered flag within sight, Busch turned him sideways, but Keselowski was able to avoid getting spun to narrowly beat the Joe Gibbs racer.

"That's short track racing," said Keselowski. "This tyre is so slick, this racetrack so tight and it's really hard to see with all that sun. I got in the back of Carl and that's the one I feel the worst about. I didn't know he was going to make that move.

"I might have got a little too far a couple of times but the fans love it and we've got to thank them, and we've got to put a show on that they like, and they liked that show, you can see it right out here."

Busch finished second for the 11th time this year and said he was not trying to spin Keselowski out.

"I was just trying hard to win the race," Busch said. "I'm sorry we didn't get one spot better, but I couldn't put it to myself to spin him out."

Jason Leffler finished third ahead of Mike Bliss, who led a race-high 85 laps before losing ground in the closing stages. Brendan Gaughan also led the race but lost out in the final pitstop, dropping three places and out of contention for victory, although he still finished fifth.

Edwards recovered after being hit by Keselowski to finish the race in sixth place, but he is already 215 points behind Busch with only three races remaining.

"I hope it's just a racing deal," said Edwards about the incident with Keselowski. "I like Brad, I like him a lot. He probably didn't go out there thinking 'I'm going to wreck him'. He probably didn't give me the space either."

Besides his victory, Keselowski won a US $75,000 bonus from Nationwide for scoring the most points in the four standalone events of the season.

Pos  Driver               Car        Laps
 1.  Brad Keselowski      Chevrolet   254
 2.  Kyle Busch           Toyota      254
 3.  Jason Leffler        Toyota      254
 4.  Mike Bliss           Toyota      254
 5.  Brendan Gaughan      Chevrolet   254
 6.  Carl Edwards         Ford        254
 7.  Scott Wimmer         Chevrolet   254
 8.  David Reutimann      Toyota      254
 9.  Stephen Leicht       Chevrolet   254
10.  Landon Cassill       Chevrolet   254
11.  Matt Kenseth         Ford        254
12.  Shelby Howard        Chevrolet   254
13.  Kenny Wallace        Chevrolet   254
14.  Matt DiBenedetto     Toyota      254
15.  Mike Wallace         Chevrolet   254
16.  Michael Annett       Toyota      254
17.  Blake Koch           Dodge       254
18.  Tony Raines          Chevrolet   254
19.  Justin Allgaier      Dodge       254
20.  Steve Wallace        Chevrolet   254
21.  Michael McDowell     Dodge       252
22.  Eddie MacDonald      Ford        250
23.  Richard Boswell      Chevrolet   249
24.  Justin Marks         Toyota      249
25.  Kelly Bires          Chevrolet   235
26.  Brian Ickler         Toyota      234
27.  Kevin Conway         Chevrolet   215
28.  Jason Keller         Ford        207
29.  Jeremy Clements      Chevrolet   206
30.  Eric McClure         Ford        163
31.  Erik Darnell         Ford        152
32.  Robert Richardson Jr Chevrolet    89
33.  Mark Day             Chevrolet    86
34.  Morgan Shepherd      Chevrolet    58
35.  Jeff Fuller          Chevrolet    52
36.  Andy Ponstein        Chevrolet    38
37.  Kenny Hendrick       Ford         25
38.  Coleman Pressley     Toyota       15
39.  Chase Miller         Dodge         8
40.  John Wes Townley     Ford          7
41.  Justin Hobgood       Chevrolet     4
42.  Danny O'Quinn Jr     Chevrolet     4
43.  Willie Allen         Dodge         3