Joe Gibbs Racing driver Matt Kenseth took home the checkered flag from the Kansas Lottery 300 Nationwide Series race at Kansas Speedway on Saturday, ahead of Paul Menard, Regan Smith, JGR teammate Kyle Busch and Justin Allgaier. It was Kenseth’s second Nationwide Series win of 2013 and his ninth overall NASCAR win this season.
"I knew it was important to get going (on the final restart)," said Kenseth. "Regan gave me a little bit of a push there. The 31 (Allgaier) was pushing the 54 (Busch) as well. I had just enough speed to get around ‘em off (Turn) 2. I had 'em cleared off of 2, which was a big key, because I could use the whole track from there."
While Kenseth was celebrating a win, Busch and rival Brad Keselowski were having a war of words after the two tangled on Lap 188, sending Keselowski first through the grass and then into the outside wall. Of course, both drivers had different views of the altercation.
"I got wrecked by a dirty driver," said Keselowski after the race. "There’s no other way of putting it. He’s cool with that. I have raced him really cool over the last year to be respectful to him and try to repair our relationship…He put me in the fence in Chicago in the Truck race, and the Nationwide races he has been pulling this crap. It is not going to last, I can tell you that. I feel bad for the guys next to me (indicating the No. 54 team) that are going to have to fix his stuff. That’s going to be part of racing and they are going to have to deal with it…Now we’ve got war."
Busch’s view: it was a racing accident.
"It was hard racing," said Busch. "There were a lot of moments where maybe I felt a little crowded, but the contact there that ultimately ended it… I just got real tight off (Turn) 4. I’ve been battling tight underneath him and behind him and everything else, and finally I thought I had a run, and I tried to stay in the gas so I could get a run on him and get to his quarter and side-drafted him down the front straightaway. I got too tight, got inside his wake and just got too close to him and spun him out."
"Brad Keselowski knows what dirty drivers are because he’s done it plenty of times,” continued Busch. “But I have yet to wreck a person on purpose…I got wrecked for the Chase spot by Brad Keselowski (in 2012) and then had an opportunity to wreck him a few times throughout the Chase and didn’t. (I) let him and Jimmie Johnson battle it out on their own, and ultimately he won the deal. If I wanted to, I could have cost Brad Keselowski a championship, but I’m a bigger person than that."
The Nationwide Series gets back on track next Friday, October 11th at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Keep up with the action at www.nascar.com and joegibbsracing.com.
Quotes in this piece provided by NASCAR.
Check out Paula’s Examiner columns on motorsports:
· NHRA
Follow Paula on:
· Facebook – Paula Thompson Freelance and Examiner.com Motorsports
· Twitter - @paulat14
· Website – paulathompsonfreelance.com
· Flickr – Paula Thompson Freelance
Contact Paula at paulathompsonfreelance@gmail.com
