{"id":12558,"date":"2017-09-09T19:18:16","date_gmt":"2017-09-10T00:18:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=12558"},"modified":"2017-09-09T19:18:16","modified_gmt":"2017-09-10T00:18:16","slug":"brad-keselowski-wins-nascar-xfinity-series-race-at-richmond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2017\/09\/09\/brad-keselowski-wins-nascar-xfinity-series-race-at-richmond\/","title":{"rendered":"Brad Keselowski wins NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Richmond"},"content":{"rendered":"

Courtesy of NASCAR<\/em><\/p>\n

RICHMOND, Va. \u2014 In the long run, Brad Keselowski<\/strong> knew he had the superior car.<\/span><\/p>\n

And that\u2019s exactly what Keselowski got \u2013 a long run to close Friday night\u2019s Virginia529 College Savings 250 at Richmond Raceway.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Brad Keselowski, driver of the #22 Fitzgerald Glider Kits Ford, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR XFINITY Series Virginia529 College Savings 250 at Richmond International Raceway on September 8, 2017 in Richmond, Virginia. (Photo by Brian Lawdermilk\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cWhen you can race with him (Busch), you know you\u2019re having a good day, especially in this series,\u201d Keselowski said after completing a spectacular celebratory burnout on the frontstretch. \u201cWhen you race with Kyle, you race with the best. He and I may not always get along, but I have a lot of respect for his talent.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

After the second stage, which Keselowski won with a pass of Busch on the final circuit (Lap 150), the race ran without caution for the final 89 laps. Keselowski was driving a car with the new flange-fit composite body, which will be mandatory in the series by 2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe weren\u2019t quite where we wanted to be on the short runs, but good enough to be right there,\u201d said Keselowski, who won for the second time this season, the fourth time at the .75-mile track and the 36th time in his career. \u201cWe just hung with him and got the long runs and we were able to pounce.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Brad Keselowski, driver of the #22 Fitzgerald Glider Kits Ford, crosses the finish line to win the NASCAR XFINITY Series Virginia529 College Savings 250 at Richmond International Raceway on September 8, 2017 in Richmond, Virginia. (Photo by Sarah Crabill\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a testament to the team. (NBC Sports Analyst Jeff) Burton was asking me if it was the setup or the driver. I think it was both. I\u2019m happy to get another win in this series. It\u2019s a lot of fun and the first one in these new bodies. At least you know it isn\u2019t an aero advantage. A great night at Richmond. I\u2019m proud of my whole team.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The cars of Keselowski and Busch were the clear class of the field, but behind them, series regular Elliott Sadler rolled home in fifth place and clinched the regular-season championship, along with the bonus of 15 playoff points that goes with it.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re getting ourselves in playoff form,\u201d said Sadler, who locked up the title with one race left in the regular season. \u201cWe\u2019re fired up and ready to go.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Brad Keselowski, driver of the #22 Fitzgerald Glider Kits Ford, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR XFINITY Series Virginia529 College Savings 250 at Richmond International Raceway on September 8, 2017 in Richmond, Virginia. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Making his last XFINITY start of the season, Busch had to settle for second.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe just didn\u2019t have long-run speed,\u201d said Busch, who lost the lead for the final time in heavy traffic through Turns 1 and 2, after leading on five occasions for a total of 182 laps. \u201cIt\u201ds tough to finish second, especially in the last go-round for the year.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Ty Dillon ran third, followed by Daniel Hemric, Sadler, Christopher Bell, William Byron, Justin Allgaier and Dale Earnhardt Jr.<\/span><\/p>\n

Earnhardt\u2019s No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet was the last car on the lead lap, thanks to the long green-flag run to finish the race \u2014 the same long run Keselowski was so glad to see.<\/span><\/p>\n

Note: The No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Matt Tifft was found have a lug nut violation in a post-race check. Tifft finished 13th in the race. Any potential penalties, typically a fine to the team\u2019s crew chief, will be announced next week.<\/p>\n

For race results, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Media Center Interviews:<\/h3>\n

Brad Keselowski –<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/RIC_NXS_Brad_Keselowski_Winner_090817.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

 <\/p>\n

Kyle Busch – <\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/RIC_NXS_KyleBusch_postrace_090817.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

 <\/p>\n

Elliott Sadler – <\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/RIC_NXS_Elliott_Sadler_postrace_090817.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

 <\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Courtesy of NASCAR RICHMOND, Va. \u2014 In the long run, Brad Keselowski knew he had the superior car. And that\u2019s exactly what Keselowski got \u2013 a long run to close Friday night\u2019s Virginia529 College Savings 250 at Richmond Raceway. \u201cWhen you can race with him (Busch), you know you\u2019re having a good day, especially in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12560,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[79,16,181,486],"class_list":["post-12558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-brad-keselowski","tag-nascar","tag-nascar-xfinity-series","tag-richmond-raceway"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/RIC_NXS_Brad_Keselowski_Trophy_090817.jpg?fit=4464%2C2976","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-3gy","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12558"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12558\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12572,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12558\/revisions\/12572"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}