CP MOTORSPORTS - KESELOWSKI WINS O'REILLY AUTO PARTS CHALLENGE, GIVES ROGER PENSKE TITLE
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After major disappointment one week ago in Martinsville, former Sprint Cup champion Brad Keselowski needed a hot weekend in the Lone Star State to continue his bid for a second championship. While there wasn't much Keselowski could do to better his Cup chances in Saturday's O'Reilly Auto Parts Challenge -- winning couldn't hurt.
Winning is exactly what Keselowski did. In fact the driver of the No. 22 Discount Tire Ford led 62 laps to grab his second Xfinity career Xfinity win at Texas and his 34th victory overall.
"Winning never hurts," Keselowski said. "It builds confidence."
More importantly the win marked the eighth time the No. 22 Team Penske entry has visited victory lane clinching Roger Penske's third straight owner's championship in the series. While the race was won by the driver who gave Penske it's only championship in Sprint Cup competition, his win was far from dominant.
ìKyle Larson was going to run away with this thing before he had this flat,î Keselowski said. ìI didnít know what to expect, but I didnít give up. That was a big part of it.î
Larson grabbed the lead from pole sitter Austin Dillon with only 11 laps to go in the race but suffered from tire failure which only allowed him to muster a 33rd place finish despite leading 50 laps in the race's closing stages.
Former Xfinity series champion Kevin Harvick grabbed the runner up spot. The finish for Harvick marks his 15th top-ten finish in 18 career Xfinity series races at Texas. Austin Dillon led 54 laps but battled a tight condition late and was able to hang onto a third place finish. Dillon has finished in the top-ten in all seven of his Xfinity series appearances at Texas.
Friday night's winner in the Truck series race, Erik Jones, drove to a fourth place finish with Ty Dillon, Daniel Suarez, Brian Scott, Chase Elliott, Regan Smith and Elliott Sadler rounding out the top ten finishers.
Points leader Chris Buescher was not too far behind his competition as he finished in 11th place. Buescher, who is a native of Texas, lost three points in the championship to defending champion Chase Elliott but with two races to go and a 24 point lead the title is his to lose.
"I'm not comfortable yet," Buescher said. "It is a cushion that we have a I guess you average that out to 12 spots per race. So if we go out and finish top-10 the last two, we should be in good shape. That would be cutting it too close for comfort but we need to just have some solid runs the next two weeks."
NASCAR XFINITY Series Race Number 31
Unofficial Race Results for the 11Th Annual O'reilly Auto Parts Challenge
- Saturday, November 7, 2015
Texas Motor Speedway - Fort Worth, TX - 1.5 Mile Paved
Total Race Length - 200 Laps - 300 Miles - Purse: $1,288,388
Leader
Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Pts Bns Driver Rating Winnings Status Tms Laps
1 2 22 Brad Keselowski(i) Discount Tire Ford 200 0 138.8 $74,829 Running 6 62
2 8 88 Kevin Harvick(i) Hunt Brothers Pizza Chevrolet 200 0 127.4 $56,590 Running 2 24
3 1 33 Austin Dillon(i) Rheem Chevrolet 200 0 116.7 $47,982 Running 2 54
4 3 20 Erik Jones(i) GameStop/Call of Duty Black Ops III Toyota 200 0 111.1 $43,341 Running
5 9 3 Ty Dillon Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Chevrolet 200 39 102.3 $35,321 Running
6 5 18 Daniel Suarez # ARRIS Toyota 200 38 97.8 $33,389 Running
7 11 2 Brian Scott Albertsons/Sanderson Farms Chevrolet 200 37 91.5 $30,662 Running
8 10 9 Chase Elliott NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet 200 36 93.7 $30,590 Running
9 4 7 Regan Smith Suave Men Chevrolet 200 35 105.1 $28,454 Running
10 14 1 Elliott Sadler OneMain Financial Ford 200 34 88.1 $30,317 Running
11 12 60 Chris Buescher AdvoCare Ford 200 33 86.1 $26,711 Running
12 13 62 Brendan Gaughan South Point Chevrolet 200 32 83.7 $26,155 Running
13 18 39 Ryan Sieg Uncle Bob's Self Storage Chevrolet 200 32 1 81.3 $25,624 Running 1 1
14 6 54 Kyle Busch(i) Monster Energy Toyota 200 0 101.7 $19,195 Running 2 6
15 17 16 Ryan Reed Lilly/American Diabetes Association Ford 200 29 78.2 $25,567 Running
16 24 4 Ross Chastain # teamjdmotorsports.com Chevrolet 200 28 71.3 $24,841 Running
17 20 51 Jeremy Clements AllSouthElectric.com/RepairableVehicles.com 200 27 73.5 $24,715 Running
18 19 43 Dakoda Armstrong WinField Ford 200 27 1 71.0 $24,589 Running 1 3
19 7 6 Darrell Wallace Jr. # Fastenal Ford 199 25 66.8 $24,462 Running
20 23 98 Ryan Truex Carroll Shelby Engine Company Ford 199 24 63.8 $24,836 Running
21 25 8 Blake Koch LeafFilter Gutter Protection Toyota 198 23 61.8 $24,210 Running
22 21 01 Landon Cassill teamjdmotorsports.com Chevrolet 198 22 62.7 $24,078 Running
23 15 28 JJ Yeley JGL Racing Toyota 197 21 63.0 $23,927 Running
24 26 97 Mason Mingus(i) VroomBrands Chevrolet 195 0 55.5 $23,775 Running
25 32 44 David Starr Zachry Toyota 194 19 50.3 $23,774 Running
26 30 52 Joey Gase Donate Life Texas Chevrolet 193 18 52.3 $23,497 Running
27 22 15 Ray Black Jr.(i) Burnie Grill Chevrolet 192 0 51.2 $23,371 Running
28 33 24 Eric McClure Reynolds Wrap Toyota 190 16 40.3 $23,245 Running
29 38 90 Martin Roy Gamache Truck Center Chevrolet 190 15 44.0 $23,169 Running
30 29 70 Derrike Cope Ehydrate/MD Resort Chevrolet 189 14 40.7 $17,419 Running
31 37 13 Derek White Braille Battery/Grafoid Chevrolet 188 13 35.7 $23,063 Running
32 39 74 Mike Harmon Hunky Monkey Clothing Company Dodge 180 12 35.9 $23,002 Running
33 16 42 Kyle Larson(i) ParkerStore Chevrolet 178 0 101.7 $16,962 Accident 3 50
34 35 0 Harrison Rhodes # teamjdmotorsports.com Chevrolet 102 10 46.5 $22,927 Engine
35 31 89 Morgan Shepherd Courtney Construction Chevrolet 42 9 35.5 $16,863 Handling
36 28 14 Mike Bliss Toyota 40 8 38.5 $21,200 Transmission
37 36 40 Josh Reaume # Braille Battery/Grafoid Dodge 14 7 27.3 $14,200 Suspension
38 27 26 TJ Bell(i) JGL Racing Toyota 12 0 29.7 $19,200 Electrical
39 40 92 Mario Gosselin BuckedUp Chevrolet 9 5 24.7 $12,200 Vibration
40 34 19 Jeff Green Premier Barter Exchange Toyota 4 4 25.8 $11,200 Transmission
Race Comments: Brad Keselowski won the O'Reilly Auto Parts Challenge, his 34th career NASCAR XFINITY Series victory. Prior to the start of the race, the following cars dropped to the rear of the field for the reasons indicated: Nos. 6 (back up car), 92 (missed driver introductions) and 89 (missed driver meeting).
Failed to Qualify: N/A
Time of Race: 02 Hrs, 08 Mins, 56 Secs. Average Speed: 139.607 MPH Margin of Victory: 1.137 Seconds
Caution Flags: 4 for 23 laps: Laps: 27-31 (Competition [8]); 79-83 (#74 Stalled On The Backstretch [4]); 116-121 (Debris Backstretch [43]); 178-184 (#42 Spin Frontstretch [4]).
Lead Changes: 17 among 7 drivers: A. Dillon(i) 0; B. Keselowski(i) 1-8; A. Dillon(i) 9-54; K. Busch(i) 55-59; K. Harvick(i) 60-78; K. Busch(i) 79; B. Keselowski(i) 80-117; K. Larson(i) 118-121; B. Keselowski(i) 122-123; K. Larson(i) 124-163; B. Keselowski(i) 164-165; R. Sieg 166; D. Armstrong 167-169; K. Larson(i) 170-175; K. Harvick(i) 176-180; B. Keselowski(i) 181; A. Dillon(i) 182-189; B. Keselowski(i) 190-200.
Top 10 Driver Points: (1) C. Buescher 1,126;(2) C. Elliott 1,102;(3) T. Dillon 1,096;(4) R. Smith 1,095;(5) E. Sadler 1,008;(6) D. Wallace Jr. # 1,001;(7) D. Suarez # 1,000;(8) B. Scott 959;(9) B. Gaughan 959;(10) R. Reed 854.
3M Lap Leader : Austin Dillon, #33 55 Laps Duralast Brakes "Brake in the Race" : Austin Dillon, #33
Mahle Clevite Engine Builder of the Race : Roush-Yates Engines, #22 Mobil 1 Driver of the Race : Elliott Sadler, #1
Sunoco Rookie of the Race : Daniel Suarez, #18
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
Next Race: Nov. 14, 2015 - Phoenix International Raceway
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