The feud between Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski—dormant since Atlanta in March—erupted like an angry volcano at Gateway International Raceway.

PODCAST: Edwards/Keselowski Smack Down Take Two

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Edwards moves Keselowski for NASCAR Nationwide win

By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(July 17, 2010)

MADISON, Ill.—The feud between Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski—dormant since Atlanta in March—erupted like an angry volcano at Gateway International Raceway.

VIDEO: Carl Edwards wrecks Brad Keselowski for the win

In a drag race to the finish line, Edwards sent Keselowski hard into the outside wall on the way to winning Saturday night’s Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250 NASCAR Nationwide Series race at the 1.25-mile track. As Edwards took the checkered flag two car lengths ahead of runner-up Reed Sorenson, Keselowski careened into the inside retaining wall and took a vicious shot from Shelby Howards’s Chevrolet just short of the finish line.

Less than a lap earlier, Keselowski had bumped Edwards in Turn 1 in an attempt to take the lead after a restart on Lap 199 of 200. Edwards’ Ford and Keselowski’s Dodge raced side-by-side for most of the final lap. With Keselowski edging ahead as the cars approached the stripe, Edwards turned Keselowski’s Dodge, igniting a multicar pileup on the frontstretch.

“I just couldn’t let him take the win from me,” said Edwards, who drew a three-race probation in March for unabashedly turning Keselowski in a NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Atlanta, with the unintended consequence of sending the No. 12 Dodge upside-down into the frontstretch wall. “My guys work way too hard for that.

“We had a great restart. My guys built me a great car. We came to the checkered flag, and I hate to see stuff tore up, but we came here to win and he took it from us there in Turn 1. Just an awesome race. … I’m sure some of them don’t like that win—Brad Keselowski fans and stuff—but, man, I just couldn’t let him take it from me. I had to do what I had to do.”

In Keselowski’s view, Edwards action at Gateway was intentional.

“He turned left into me and wrecked me on purpose,” Keselowski said. “I gave him the lane, and he still wrecked me. … I figured out a way to beat him. He wasn’t happy with me, so he wrecked me. Wrecking down the straightaway is never cool, whether it’s at 200 mph or 120. I’m sorry that’s the way it had to end.”

The last-lap crash marred what should have been a triumphant finish at the venue Columbia, Mo., native Edwards considers his home track. Edwards is the first three-time winner at Gateway, and with his second victory of the year and the 27th of his career, he trimmed Keselowski’s lead in the series standings from 227 to 168 points in what has become, for practical purposes, a two-man race.

Polesitter Trevor Bayne ran third, his best finish to date. Paul Menard came home fourth, followed by Steve Wallace. Brian Scott, Colin Braun, Josh Wise, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Tony Raines completed the top 10.

Harvick beats heat, stiff neck to win trucks race By Reid Spencer Sporting News

NASCAR Wire Service (July 17, 2010) MADISON, Ill.—On a blistering hot day that left fourth-place finisher Todd Bodine lying on the tile floor of the media center with ice packs on his chest, Kevin Harvick beat the heat and trounced the rest of the field to win Saturday afternoon’s blackout-delayed CampingWorld.com 200.

Despite a stiff neck that kept him out of Nationwide Series practice earlier in the day, Harvick, who won the pole on Friday before a power failure forced postponement of the race itself, cruised to his third victory in four NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts this season.

Dillon Wins At Iowa; Sets Milestone For Racing Family

On Sunday Austin Dillon became the second-youngest winner in NASCAR Camping World Truck Series’ history by winning at Iowa Speedway. Dillon led 187 laps from the pole en route to posting a perfect Driver Rating of 150.0.

It was his third consecutive start from the pole and third straight top-five finish. Dillon gained four positions in the series standings and now sits seventh – just 267 out of the lead.

Dillon, the grandson of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series owner Richard Childress, is the only member of the Childress family to earn a NASCAR victory. In 258 starts his grandfather’s highest finish was third at Nashville Speedway in 1978. His father, Mike Dillon, general manager of Richard Childress Racing, made 154 NASCAR starts and scored a career-best fourth place finish at Dover International Speedway in 1997 and Hickory Speedway in 1998.

Busch Takes Weekend Off From Victory Lane

One way to keep Kyle Busch out of Victory Lane in NASCAR Nationwide races is keep him off the entry list. He won’t be running at Gateway, where he’s the defending winner. But it’s debatable whether that will have an impact on his overall races-to wins-ratio in 2010.

Busch has started 15 races this year, winning seven, including last week at Chicagoland. He’s currently scheduled to run in 29 races this year. In 188 career NASCAR Nationwide starts, last year’s series champion has 37 wins and now is in second place on the all-time list. He’s chasing Mark Martin, who has 48 wins in 231 starts. Kevin Harvick, who Busch passed for second, has 36 victories in 251 starts. His seven wins at this juncture are tied with former series champions Sam Ard and Jack Ingram, who each had seven wins after 18 races in 1984.

Busch had four wins after 18 races in 2008, when he tied Ard’s record of 10 wins in one season. He ran 30 races that year.