Brad Keselowski scored his first Darlington Raceway win in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series Sport Clips Haircuts VFW 200.
It was also Team Penske’s first win in the Xfinity Series at the track “Too Tough to Tame.”
“We had a really great Ford Mustang today,” Keselowski said. “I could keep up with Ross (Chastain) but I couldn’t pass him, he was so fast. They (Chastain and Harvick) has their thing off (Turn) 2 and we were able to pounce on it. That’s a testament to this team. I ran five races (this season) and we won three of them.
“I really wanted to run this race because I’ve never won here. Great car. We’ve had a lot of fun this year. I’m so proud to be a part of this team.”
Keselowski led twice for 35 laps, including the final 33.
Harvick and Chastain were battling for the lead when the made contact on lap 112 racing off the second turn. Chastain, who regularly races for JD Motorsports, was getting an opportunity to pilot the Chip Ganassi Racing No. 42, and had his car in front of the field trying to hold off Harvick for the top spot.
The duo made contact causing Chastain slap the wall who then came down and ran into the rear of Harvick’s car.
“I’m just trying to race,” Chastain said. “Have to see the film, if I made a mistake, it’s on me. Being the leader there, felt I was just trying to race. We’d been giving each other room all day.”
Harvick was not pleased with the incident of Chastain’s driving.
“I tried to stay as low as I could and he just rode on my door,” Harvick said. “That’s just a really inexperienced racer and a really bad move there and got the air and got on beside me and just kept going up the race track. I couldn’t do anything with the wheel. So, you’ve got a really inexperienced guy in a really fast car and made a really bad move, and then wrecked me down the back straightaway and hooked me to the right. That’s probably the reason that he’ll never get to drive many of them again.”
Chastain led a race-high 90 laps and won the first two stages.
Cole Custer, Tyler Reddick, Denny Hamlin and Elliott Sadler rounded out the top five.
Chase Elliott, Justin Allgaier, Matt Tifft, Ty Dillon and Michael Annett completed the first 10 finishers.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series now heads to Indianapolis Motor Speedway next Saturday afternoon.
