By Tim Tuttle Special to the Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (April 27, 2009) — Mike Skinner drove Randy Moss Motorsports to its first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory Monday in the rain-delayed and -shortened O’Reilly Auto Parts 250 at Kansas Speedway.
Skinner’s win was his first of the season and 26th of his series career. He joined the team, formed when NFL star Moss became partners with Morgan-Dollar Motorsports owner David Dollar last July, in January to form a two-truck effort with rookie Tayler Malsam.
“Randy, we got it buddy,” Skinner said. “We got us one. It’s really, really cool. We’ve got a lot of effort to build this program.”
TALLADEGA, ALA. — Carl Edwards was heading for Victory Lane when a nudge from rookie Brad Keselowski sent him careening into the frontstretch retaining fence to end a wild and wooly Aaron’s 499 Nascar Sprint Cup race here Sunday. Edwards ended up finishing 24th.
The last-lap wreck also took veteran Ryan Newman out of the race as well. Newman had tucked in behind Edwards and pushed him towards what appeared to be a sure-fire Edwards win before the bumping incident.
Keselowski went on down the track to win his first-ever Sprint Cup race with smoke and parts from Edwards’ Ford filled the air.
It was a day of costly wrecks for many of NASCAR’s biggest stars but Dale Earnhardt, Jr., brought his Hendrick Chevrolet home second behind the rookie winner.
It has taken several hours but I have finally managed to pull myself and my brain together enough to put together a coherent blog post about today’s race.
After only five starts in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and running for a part time single car team, Brad Keselowski
Brad Keselowski hugs his Nationwide owner, Dale Jr. in Victory Lane
won his first Cup race. It was in true underdog fashion with Brad pushing Carl to the lead, blowing by the drafting team of Ryan Newman in the 39 and Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the 88, that he found his way from mid-pack to second place. Keselowski had been running mid pack most of the day with a couple of stints in the top five. However, the last lap is the only lap that matters.
In what is sure to become an infamous move, Brad decided to go low to make the pass on Edwards. However, Edwards threw a block and Keselowski was just smart enough not to go below the double yellow line. This caused Edwards demise and, ultimately, a very frightening wreck. Debris from the crash, which you can view on NASCAR.com’s video page, flew into the stands and injured 8 people. Thankfully no one was seriously injured.
I am pretty certain that this race will be one for the ages. As many of my friends, especially those on Twitter, know, I have become a big Brad Keselowski fan in the recent months. I have thoroughly enjoyed the day and receiving the happy messages from friends all day.
I just want to be clear- just because I am thrilled about Brad’s win, that does not take away from the utter fear I felt watching Carl’s accident. There was actually a point where I had to shut my eyes so not to be reminded of my own which was not quite as spectacular. It seems a lot of Brad’s fans are getting attacked and while I generally don’t care what people really think of me, I have to stick up for him
Brad did what he was supposed to do according to the NASCAR rules- he held his line and did not drop below the double yellow line. Carl doesn’t blame him. Brad doesn’t blame himself. NASCAR doesn’t blame him. So why should we? The next time you are in a position like Brad’s, then you can say whatever the heck you want but until then, leave the driving to the drivers.
Here is a quote from NASCAR.com and Brad:
“I’ve got to apologize to Carl for wrecking him, but, man, the rule is you can’t go below the yellow line,” Keselowski said. “He blocked, and I wasn’t going to go below. I don’t want to wreck the guy, but you’re forced in that situation. There was nothing else that I could do.
“We had a lot of fun [Sunday night]. Man, was that fun. This is NASCAR racing, and that was cool.”
Congrats to Brad Keselowski, James Finch, and the entire 09 team on their well earned win!!!!
RACE RECAP | TALLADEGA 10 Jeff Burton
9 Joey Logano
8 Brian Vickers
7 Greg Biffle
6 Kurt Busch
5 Scott Speed
4 Marcos Ambrose
3 Ryan Newman
2 Dale Earnhardt Jr.
VICTORY LANE
1 Brad Keselowski in just his 5th Cup Series start, driving for James Finch in a former Hendrick Motorsports car and engine has only led just 1 lap in his career and he sure made it count.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (April 27, 2009) — Mike Skinner drove Randy Moss Motorsports to its first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory Monday in the rain-delayed and -shortened O’Reilly Auto Parts 250 at Kansas Speedway.
