The victory was the first in the series for Lofton, who arrived at the finish line .261 seconds ahead of owner/driver Keselowski, who was trying to score his first NCWTS win. Lofton took over the series lead by one point over Timothy Peters.

Todd Bodine ran third, followed by Jason Leffler and Ron Hornaday Jr. After the race Keselowski had a heated exchange with Hornaday, stemming from contact between their trucks on the next-to-last restart with nine laps left.
After a lackluster start to the race, when he quickly dropped from second to seventh in the space of three laps, Lofton began learning.

“I had had terrible restarts all night,” Lofton said after the race. “The truck was not bad on the very first start of the race — I just had that bad a (start) and fell back that far. But the stars aligned, I figured out what I needed to do, and the best thing is, I outsmarted him (Keselowski).

“I think I had some help from Ron Hornaday, when he and Keselowski got in a little battle. Once I got out front (with four laps left), I knew I was OK. There was a short amount of laps left that I knew I could stay out front. I surprised myself, definitely.”

Keselowski had just cleared Lofton for the lead entering Turn 1 on Lap 119 when Nelson Piquet Jr. caused caution for the second straight time when he pancaked his No. 30 Chevrolet against the Turn 1 wall.

But Keselowski lost the lead on the restart on Lap 125 of 134 when Hornaday, who lined up behind him, ran into the back of his No. 19 Ram. To Keselowski, the contact was unjustified.

“I came on the radio and asked him, ‘Hey, man, I’ll play it cool; just be nice and smooth, and we’ll both have great days,” Keselowski said of his communication with Hornaday before the restart. “Instead he decided to be a jackass and just run me over.

“And it cost him what would have been an easy second place, and then it obviously cost me the win, so we both lost out on the deal.”

For Hornaday, who scored his first top-five finish with Joe Denette Motorsports, time was running short with just nine laps left.

“They stopped and played jackrabbit,” Hornaday said of Lofton and Keselowski, “and somebody got into the back of me, and I just had to go, too. Sorry about that to him, but we’re all looking for spots — and it’s pretty cool for Joe Denette Motorsports to get a top five.”

Lofton held the lead when caution flew for the eighth time with four laps left for debris in the form of a bumper bar in the racing groove. Keselowski fell back on the restart and didn’t have time to catch Lofton before the finish.

KBM is still seeking sponsorship for the remaining races on the schedule.

Leffler said:

As a racer, your ultimate goal is to win races, and driving the No. 18 Dollar General Tundra for KBM is definitely an opportunity where I expect to achieve that goal. Kyle has put together a first-class organization that builds top-notch equipment. I’m honored that he has the confidence in me as a driver to come in and carry on the winning tradition that his team has established. Dollar General is one of the premier sponsors in our sport and I’m looking forward to representing them on and off the track.

Busch got the opportunity for his career-best 51st Nationwide Series victory and his eighth of the season in 19 starts when Carl Edwards, who had dominated the race, lost three spots during the final round of pit stops under caution.

Edwards ran second, .696 seconds behind Busch. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. retained the series points lead with a third-place finish. Ryan Truex came home fourth, followed by Kenny Wallace.

Elliott Sadler, Aric Almirola, Reed Sorenson, Justin Allgaier and Joe Nemechek completed the top 10.

“Carl was certainly really, really god there, and I thought at first we were probably a third- or fourth-place car, and then kind of worked on it and made it a second- or third-place car,” Busch said. “We were keeping up with Carl, and then, on that final pit stop, my guys really put the pressure on, knowing how quick they’d been on pit road all night—and they did it once again.

“We were able to get off first, and I think Carl came off fourth, so when we had the restart there, he got mired up in traffic there, and that gave us some room to get out … (Crew chief) Jason (Ratcliff) and these guys made some awesome adjustments all night, making the car a little bit better—just be able to make it a little more drivable. Every run we got closer, and then, there on that last run, we had track position and a good car.”

The race followed a consistent pattern: a caution, followed by a restart with Busch in the lead, followed by a pass by Edwards for the top spot a few laps later. As long as the race stayed green, Edwards was in control.

Edwards led Busch by a half-second when an ongoing fracas between Kevin Harvick and Trevor Bayne erupted into a full-blown wreck in Turn 3. Frustrated by Harvick’s efforts to block him—and by contact that wrinkled the hood of Bayne’s Ford—Bayne rubbed Harvick into the wall on Lap 210.

Harvick retaliated immediately, turning Bayne nose-first into the SAFER barrier in Turn 3. The incident caused the sixth caution of the race, and during pit stops under yellow, Busch regained the lead and Edwards lost three positions in the pits because of problems with the right front tire.

“It was going to be a battle if Kyle and I started side by side,” said Edwards, who led 160 of 250 laps. “I thought it was going to be tough enough that way, but we had a tire get stuck on the fender, I guess, on the right front.

“The guys did a really good job, only losing three spots with that. I just couldn’t get to him, and by the time I was in second, I had worked my tires over pretty badly, and I needed a caution to start next to him again. But Kyle and those guys definitely earned it—we didn’t give it to ‘em with that pit stop. I think they were going to be tough either way.”

The field restarted on Lap 221, with Busch out front, followed by Stenhouse, Truex and Edwards. After that final restart, Busch began to pull away.

Notes: Stenhouse leads second Sadler by 16 points in the series standings. … Stenhouse also won the $100,000 Nationwide Dash4Cash bonus. Stenhouse, Truex, Wallace and Sadler earned eligibility for the Dash4Cash bonus in the Oct. 14 race at Charlotte.

Danica Wows at Daytona

Danica Patrick raced her tail off and tried her best to get the win Friday night in the Subway Jalapeño 250.  Though she didn’t win the race, she proved that she belongs in the Nationwide series.

She started her GoDaddy.com Chevy in seventh place and finished in 10th place.  Patrick led many laps and worked well drafting with Tony Stewart and Aric Almirola.  However, on the last lap Mike Wallace attempted to block her and caused a multi-car pile up that resulted her 10th place finish.  Leave it to a veteran to cause “the big one” at Daytona.

Patrick handled the incident well and kept her cool.  “It looked like Mike Wallace was like a fish out of water at the end,” Patrick said. “He was high, he was low and then he was high into me. It was just a cluster.”

Although the No. 7 JR Motorsports team did not get the finish they hoped for, the team was very excited about how well they ran and the progress they achieved.  “Hopefully I earned people’s respect out there some more,” said Patrick. “That’s what it’s going to take – whether you’re a girl or a boy, or young or new, you’ve got to earn the respect of your peers. That’s what I try to do every weekend.”

She seems to have the drafting aspect of it down.  Now she has to work on her intermediate and short-track skills.  When she came into the sport she had no idea how to communicate with crew chief Tony Eury Jr in NASCAR lingo.  She is quickly picking that up, helping Eury Jr get the car to her liking.  The cars are getting faster and the results are getting better for this JRM team.  She still has a lot of learning to do, but I am very excited to see how she does in the future.  I hope she will soon make the switch full-time to NASCAR so we can have a competitive female racer in our sport.

Turner Motorsports Success

Turner Motorsports is taking the Nationwide Series by storm.  Following the Subway Jalapeño 250, they now have all three drivers in the top 5 in points.  Reed Sorenson is the series point leader with one win under his belt.  Justin Allgaier and Mark Martin have also each gotten a win for the team this year.  Turner Motorsports is now the team to beat.  Reed Sorenson, Justin Allgaier, and Jason Leffler all have a legitament chance to win the Nationwide title.  Not to mention, all three drivers finished in the top 5 at Daytona this weekend and ranked fastest on the restarts.

Sorenson also won the Nationwide $100,000 ”Dash for cash” reward, given to the highest finishing young gun in the race.  Don’t underestimate this team; they only get better every week!

Joey Logano Finally the Bride

Joey Logano finally became the bride at Daytona. Logano held off hard-charging Jason Leffler to get his first win of the season for Joe Gibbs Racing.  He only led the last half mile of the last lap, but thankfully for him that’s all that counts.

Logano had help from his JGR teammate Kyle Busch to push him to the lead.  “Usually, I’m the guy that’s finished second – unfortunately — but this time I am the winner, so I’m pretty pumped up about that. This is a huge win for me for a lot of reasons,” Logano said.  I’m still not sure where Joey came from on that last restart, but congratulations to him on his long awaited win.

As the action in Turn 4 on the final lap unfolded behind him, Logano surged into the lead and held off a charge from Jason Leffler to win his first Nationwide Series race of the season and the ninth of his career.

Logano took the checkered flag as many of the cars that had led into the final turn—including those of Danica Patrick, Aric Almirola, Tony Stewart and Elliott Sadler—wrecked behind him.

Leffler ran second followed by series points leader Reed Sorenson, who also claimed a $100,000 prize as the highest finisher among four drivers eligible for Nationwide’s Dash 4 Cash program.

Kyle Busch came home fourth, Justin Allgaier fifth and Michael Annett sixth. Kenny Wallace skated through the infield grass and took the checkered flag in seventh position, ahead of the wrecked cars of Sadler, Almirola and Patrick, which slid across the finish line in positions 7-10, respectively.

Logano got a push from Busch to hold off Leffler as the cars approached the stripe. He finished .040 seconds ahead of the runner-up.

“Any time we’ve hooked up like that we’ve been pretty successful,” Logano said of his pairing with Busch, his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate. “Usually, I’m the guy that’s finished second—unfortunately—but this time I am the winner, so I’m pretty pumped up about that. This is a huge win for me for a lot of reasons.”

Struggles in the Sprint Cup Series and whispers that his job might be in jeopardy haven’t escaped Logano’s notice, but he has tried to keep those concerns in the background.

“Those aren’t things that make the car go faster,” Logano said in explaining why he can’t afford to worry about them.

The lead-lap cars made their final pit stops under caution for Clint Bowyer’s hard Lap 80 crash into the backstretch wall off the bumper of teammate/owner Kevin Harvick. Patrick and Almirola were dicing with Sadler and Stewart for the lead positions when caution flew for the sixth time on Lap 90.

On a Lap 94 restart, Sadler led Stewart, Patrick and Almirola to the green flag. Patrick was in the mix to the end, but after getting separated from Almirola briefly on Lap 99 of 100, she dropped back before trying to work her way through traffic with Almirola pushing.

The JR Motorsports tandem got a run to the outside through the final two corners but tangled with Mike Wallace and Sadler off the last turn.

“Very small holes that I was taking,” Patrick said of the last-lap run. “That’s pretty much what I saw. Man, it looked like Mike Wallace was a like fish out of water there at the end … it was just a cluster.”

Note: After a hard crash in Turn 1 on Lap 44, Eric McClure, driver of the No. 14 Chevrolet, was taken to the infield care center, then to a local hospital for further evaluation. McClure had walked away from the wreck.

The beginning of the race saw more caution laps than green-flag laps, with three caution flags flying in the first 12 laps. Marcos Ambrose and Jacques Villeneuve had the strongest cars to start the race, with Ambrose dominating. But, the pit strategy of some of their competitors put Ambrose and Villeneuve in 14th and 15th after pitting.

Ambrose powered through the field, as did Villeneuve albeit a little less aggressively than Ambrose. As Villeneuve made his way to the front, he got into the corner a little too hot behind Said and started wheel-hopping. He made contact with Said, sending him around. Both were able to right their cars and continue on.

Ambrose took the lead from Carl Edwards on lap 36, but one lap later, he reported that he thought there was something wrong with the battery or alternator. Edwards was able to get by him for the lead, and Ambrose pitted on lap 45 for a battery change. But, damage to the car prevented the crew from making a quick change, resulting in Ambrose losing two laps on pit road under green.

About six laps later, Ambrose broke something in the suspension, ending his day. He finished 33rd.

With 10 laps to go, Edwards, who looked poised for victory with Ambrose out, was leading when he broke a track bar mount. He went behind the wall for repairs.  He finished 20th.

Robby Gordon assumed the lead when Edwards had his problem, but was iffy on fuel. He conserved over the last two cautions. But, when Trevor Bayne hit the wall and Jason Leffler wrecked, the race was red flagged. Gordon didn’t have enough fuel for the upcoming green-white-checkered finish. 

On the restart, Said got by Gordon for the lead. Gordon gave him a shot in the rear bumper before running out of fuel and coasting while cars blew by him. He finished 14th.

Said took the lead, but Max Papis was all over Said’s rear. Papis passed him under braking  heading into the final two turns. But, Papis swung a little wide coming off of the final turn allowing Said to pull along side of him. The two had a drag race to the finish with Said getting the edge by a nose.

Top 5: Said, Papis, Villeneuve, Brad Keselowski, and Paul Menard.

Joey Logano, JR Fitzpatrick, Parker Kligerman, Justin Allgaier, and Trevor Bayne rounded out the top 10.

Notables: Kenny Wallace (13th), Robby Gordon (14th), Mike Bliss (15th), Mike Wallace (17th), Carl Edwards (20th), Jason Leffler (21st), Colin Braun (22nd), Tayler Malsam (23rd), Ricky Stenhouse Jr (24th), Michael Annett (25th), Brendan Gaughan (27th), Joe Nemechek (28th), Ron Fellows (30th), Patrick Carpentier (32nd), Marcos Ambrose (33rd), and Steve Wallace (38th).

Top 5: Ambrose, Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski, and Kyle Busch. 

Ron Fellows, Nelson Piquet Jr, Jacques Villeneuve, Steven Wallace, and Michael McDowell rounded out the top 10.

Notables: JR Fitzpatrick (11th), Tayler Malsam (12th), Tony Ave (15th), Paul Menard (17th), Michael Annett (19th), Kenny Wallace (21st), Boris Said (22nd), Ryan Newman (25th), Trevor Bayne (29th), Brendan Gaughan (30th), Carl Edwards (33rd), Justin Allgaier (34th), and Jason Leffler (35th).

A 10-car pileup on lap 24 caused a red flag that stopped the race for 25 minutes. It appeared that Jason Leffler made contact with Colin Braun as he was coming back onto the track after getting wide coming off of Turn 1. The contact sent Leffler hard into the outside wall and sent Braun into the inside wall.

Leffler bounced off the wall and slid back into Trevor Bayne, sending Bayne spinning. Justin Allgaier then ran right into the back of Leffler. Allgaier’s badly damaged Dodge slid sideways, blocking part of the track. As the cars close to the incident attempted to stop, other cars ran into them, lifting them onto the hoods of the cars that hit them.

When the dust settled, 10 cars were involved including Said, Brendan Gaughan, Tony Raines, Victor Gonzales Jr, Bill Johnson, among others.

The teams were found to be in violation of Sections 12-1 (actions detrimental to stock car racing); 12-4-J (any determination by NASCAR officials that the race equipment used in the event does not conform to NASCAR rules); 20A-10.8.2E (teams will not be permitted to use tires or wheels from another team unless approved by the series director) and 20A-10.8.2L (identification numbers have been changed on previously approved tires) of the 2010 NASCAR Nationwide Series Rule Book.

Crew chiefs Stuart Cooper (No. 10) and Trip Bruce (No. 38) were suspended for the next two NASCAR Nationwide Series races, suspended from NASCAR until June 23rd, and placed on probation for the rest of the year. Tire specialists Sean Whisenhunt (No. 10) and Kevin Bellicourt (No. 38) received the same penalty.

Malsam and Leffler were each penalized with the loss of 25 Nationwide Series driver’s points. Car owners Todd Braun (No. 10) and Ralph Braun(No. 38) also lost 25 Nationwide Series owner’s points.

In a press release, Todd Braun said:

Though we feel the penalties levied against Braun Racing for infractions at Nashville Superspeedway against the #38 and #10 teams are harsh under the circumstances, we understand NASCAR’s need to be consistent in making sure teams adhere to the rule book in order to promote a level playing field. This situation is the result of miscommunication between team personnel and we will need to further evaluate the circumstances and work to improve our procedures to ensure this does not happen again.

Keselowski was treated in the infield car center for excessive carbon monoxide levels. His level was said to be 13. The maximum allowable level to compete is 5. He underwent intense oxygen treatment, which brought his levels down right before the command to start engines.

Top 5: Keselowski, Logano, Kevin Harvick, Jason Keller, and John Borneman III.

Clint Bowyer, Tony Raines, Paul Menard, Brian Vickers, and Brian Scott finished sixth through 10th, respectively.

Notables: Kenny Wallace (11th), Scott Wimmer (12th), Jamie McMurray (14th), Justin Allgaier (15th), Jeff Green (16th), Chrissy Wallace (24th), Steve Arpin (26th), Brendan Gaughan (27th), Ricky Stenhouse Jr (29th), Colin Braun (32nd), Kyle Busch (34th), Carl Edwards (35th), Joe Nemechek (36th), Steve Wallace (39th), Reed Sorenson (40th), Jason Leffler (41st), Mike Wallace (42nd), Michael Annett (43rd).

Carl Edwards was running in the lead pack when Ricky Stenhouse Jr got into him in the tri-oval, sending him spinning through the grass. Edwards spun up the track into Mike Wallace, who hit Reed Sorenson, sending him into the wall. Steve Wallace, Brendan Gaughan, Michael Annett, Jason Leffler, James Buescher, and Clint Bowyer were involved. 

Edwards made repairs and got back in the race. Later, however, he had a tire go down and he spun as the field passed him. He did not hit anything. He finished 35th.

Around lap 113, Colin Braun and Steve Arpin got together in the tri-oval which resulted in Braun hitting the wall and Arpin spinning to the inside. Several cars were involved including Kyle Busch.

On the green white checkered finish, Kevin Harvick led the field to the green with Jamie McMurray in second. On the final lap, McMurray with a push from Brian Vickers battled Harvick who was getting pushed by Clint Bowyer. Brad Keselowski moved to the outside making it three-wide, with a push from Joey Logano.

Bowyer ducked to the inside of Harvick for a second, but got right back in line. The move, killed his momentum and slowed Harvick a bit. Keselowski and Logano drove to the lead on the outside, with McMurray and Vickers in the middle.

As they entered turn 3, McMurray tried to dive in line between Harvick and Bowyer but there wasn’t enough room. He made contact with Bowyer and then spun in front of the field. McMurray spun into Vickers and Scott Wimmer. Wimmer hit Paul Menard who hit Dennis Setzer, sending him hard into the wall and the catchfence. His car climbed the wall. The front of the car caught the catchfence and spun on the top of the wall and burst into flames. Justin Allgaier then slid up the track and hit Setzer’s car. Brendan Gaughan also slid into the two cars.

The crash ended the race, as the leader had already taken the white flag. Keselowski earned the win. Everyone walked away from the wreck.