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Keselowski finally breaks into Truck Series win column

Brad Keselowski wins the rain-delayed truck race at Bristol to become the 25th racer to earn victories in NASCAR's top three series.

Race winner Brad Keselowski

Race winner Brad Keselowski

NASCAR Media

Start: Kyle Busch leads
Darrell Wallace Jr.
Brad Keselowski
Start: Darrell Wallace Jr. leads
Darrell Wallace Jr.
Race winner Brad Keselowski
Brad Keselowski
Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch

Brad Keselowski claimed his first-career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series win on Thursday morning.

The third generation racer also became the 25th racer to win in NASCAR’s top three division and the first father-son combination of victors when his No. 19 Brad Keselowski Racing Ford took the checkered flag in the UNOH 200 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.

"It was a good battle," Keselowski said. "I knew we had a shot at it right away from lap one."

The No. 54 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota of Darrell Wallace Jr. battled Keselowski late and wound up with a second-place finish. The No. 30 Turner Scott Motorsports Chevrolet of Ron Hornaday was third.

"I hate finishing second," Wallace said. "I don't care if its' Brad, Kyle or anybody else."

I knew we had a shot at it right away from lap one

Brad Keselowski

Keselowski and Kyle Busch combined to lead the entire 200-lap distance. Keselowski led 119 of those laps with the Sprint Cup series regulars running one-two for most of the race.

Busch started on the pole, and Keselowski was third at the start. Keselowski made his way up to second at the start of the race and then took the lead from Busch in lap traffic on lap 11. Busch retook the lead on pit road during a competition caution on lap 50, but Keselowski was back up front soon after the restart.

Busch did retake the lead one last time just before the halfway point of the race, but Keselowski took the top spot for good several laps after a restart that followed a lap 111 caution.

A new second-place runner, Wallace, got by Busch on a restart following the fourth and final yellow flag of the race that came out on lap 148. 

"On that last restart, we got on the top and got around Kyle," Wallace said. "That was the highlight of the weekend."

Bad luck for Busch

Busch's race day then went from bad to worse in the final 20 laps when he made an unscheduled stop because of a tire issue in the final 20 laps. He wound up 24th at the finish, six laps down.

The ThorSport Racing duo of Matt Crafton in the No. 88 Toyota and Johnny Sauter in the No. 98 rounded out the top-five. Finishing fifth through 10th were the No. 08 SWM-NEMCO Toyota of John Hunter Nemechek, the No. 21 GMS Racing Chevrolet of Joey Coulter, the No. 00 Haas Racing Chevrolet of Cole Custer, the No. 32 Turner Scott Motorsports Chevrolet of Ben Rhodes, and the No. 92 RBR Motorsports Ford of Corey LaJoie.

With the race slowed by only four cautions, Thursday morning's UNOH 200 set a record as the fastest-ever Truck Series race at Bristol, with the 200-lap race distance being completed in one hour, nine minutes and 39 seconds.

Sauter maintains an eight point lead in the truck standings over Crafton. 

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