Brad Keselowski takes the F.W. Webb 200 at Loudon

Credit: Tom Pennington/Getty Images for NASCAR

NASCAR's Nationwide Series hosted its 23rd F.W. Webb 200 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Saturday and Penkse's Brad Keselowski won his first Nationwide race at NHMS. He started today’s race on the pole, and led the most laps, a total of 131.   

This was Keselowski’s first win at NH, his third consecutive pole here, his 13th career pole and first for the season. He broke the pole record for a speed of 131.035. 


"What a great day for this team. (We had) a great car," said Keselowski. "I'm proud of them for putting that effort in on this Snap-on Discount Tire Dodge, just a great car."

Kevin Harvick finished in second after an eventful race of maintaining a top-five position. He took over the lead from Keselowski on Lap 155 but lost it because of lapped traffic. After the race Harvick showed his displeasure with the driver of the No. 24, Amber Cope, by pulling over and waiting for her to catch up to him, then bumping her as they headed onto pit road.  

Brad Keselowski accepting his Pole award
Miss Coors Lite Rachel Rupert
Photo Credit: Genevieve

Austin Dillon in his No. 3 AdvoCare Chevrolet started in twelfth but made it to the top three by Lap 50 and stayed there for the remainder of the race. He went on to finish third, the top-finishing rookie, top-finishing Nationwide Series regular, and winner of the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash. 

Nationwide series regular Ricky Stenhouse Jr.  started in third and stayed inside the top ten for most of the race, finishing fifth. Being on the Roush Fenway race team, he was heard telling his crew on the radio that he wanted to win this race for Red Sox Nation. Stenhouse Jr. is in his final full-time Nationwide season with the No. 6, with Sprint Cup teammate Matt Kenseth leaving the team, Stenhouse is moving up to the No. 17 Ford in 2013. 


Upon exiting the car, Stenhouse Jr. collapsed from heat exhaustion exacerbated by a bout with strep throat earlier in the week. He was briefly treated and released from the infield care center.

Stenhouse Jr. was also eligible for the Dash 4 Cash but just couldn't catch Dillon. As the second-highest finishing Nationwide regular, he'll be eligible for the next round, along with Sam Hornish Jr., who finished fourth, and Elliott Sadler who came home in seventh. 

Danica Patrick is very well liked here in New Hampshire, so much so that state troopers escorted her to her car. At previous races I've noticed many fans wearing Dale Earnhardt Jr. t-shirts.  Today, Patrick fans were seen throughout the grandstands. She started in 18^th, and moved her No. 7 GoDaddy.com Chevy to just outside the top 10. She and Jason Bowles in the No. 81 American Majority Toyota tangled on Lap 50 to bring out the final caution. Patrick finished in 14th. 

Travis Pastrana started in 20th and had his hands full for his NHMS debut. Pastrana lost control of his No. 99 Boost Mobil Toyota when the right-front tire blew. He hit the wall hard in Turn 3, damaging the right side of the car and bringing out the second caution of the day. 

Travis Pastrana before the start of NNS race[
Photo Credit: Genevieve

“Just the tire went flat coming into the corner," Pastrana told reporters. "It bogged up real bad on that  first restart - I guess it wasn’t green yet, but everyone took off like it was green so I started shifting through the gears and it (the line) just stacked up. We knocked the car out of alignment and it got really tight in the front.

Pastrana wasn’t injured and gave a heartfelt, apologetic interview on television.

“My spotter just never said, ‘Green,” said Pastrana. “Everybody took off so I was like, “Here we go. I guess you could say, ‘It is what it is.’ It (is) a learning experience and I’ll make sure that never happens again. I know we keep saying this race after race, but, every race we’re learning something.”

He finished 77 laps of 200. 

 Kasey Kahne started in second and stayed in the top five for the early part of the race, leading 43 laps. He finished in sixth. Kahne came close to collapsing after having seen Stenhouse Jr. pass out. 

Kyle Busch , three time defending NHMS winner, started in his No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota for his team in fifth and struggled with fuel pressure. He ran 121 laps and finished 28th. 

The Nationwide Series top ten in point includes (1) Elliott Sadler, (2) Austin Dillon, (3) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., (4) Sam Hornish Jr, (5) Justin Allgaier, (6) Michael Annett, (7) Cole Whitt, (8) Mike Bliss, (9) Danica Patrick, (10) Brian Scott.

FULL RESULTS 

FINISH	START	CAR	DRIVER
1	1	22	Brad Keselowski
2	4	33	Kevin Harvick
3	12	3	Austin Dillon *
4	6	12	Sam Hornish Jr.
5	3	6	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
6	2	38	Kasey Kahne
7	7	2	Elliott Sadler
8	13	31	Justin Allgaier
9	9	30	Jamie McMurray
10	11	18	Ryan Truex
11	14	43	Michael Annett
12	8	11	Brian Scott
13	15	44	Mike Bliss
14	18	7	Danica Patrick
15	27	1	Mike Wallace
16	16	81	Jason Bowles *
17	25	51	Jeremy Clements
18	10	88	Cole Whitt *
19	19	87	Joe Nemechek
20	22	19	Tayler Malsam
21	28	41	Timmy Hill
22	37	14	Eric McClure
23	33	70	Tony Raines
24	32	39	Josh Richards
25	21	108	Matt Frahm
26	43	124	Amber Cope
27	40	52	Joey Gase *
28	5	54	Kyle Busch
29	36	4	Danny Efland
30	17	23	Jamie Dick
31	20	199	Travis Pastrana
32	34	89	Morgan Shepherd
33	30	86	Kevin Lepage
34	29	171	Scott Riggs
35	38	50	T.J. Bell
36	42	174	Mike Harmon
37	39	175	Matthew Carter
38	35	46	Chase Miller
39	41	15	Charles Lewandoski
40	26	40	Erik Darnell
41	24	42	Josh Wise
42	31	47	Stephen Leicht
43	23	10	Jeff Green
* Denotes Rookie