NNS Recap: Stenhouse Jr. pulls off a BIG win at Atlanta Motor Speedway

Credit: Charlotte Bray/Skirts and Scuffs

Ricky Stenhouse Jr., driver of the No. 6 Cargill Beef Ford, captured the checkered flag for the 21st Annual NRA American Warrior 300 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. This is his fourth Nationwide Series win this season and he is currently sitting 12 points behind Elliott Sadler in the standings. Additionally, this is his first victory and third top-10 finish in three races at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Stenhouse Jr. feels that he did steal a win tonight considering how Harvick ran throughout the entire race and until that last restart where he received a push by Keselowski.

"Heck yeah, we stole it. We've had a few stolen from us, so you go out and get as many as you can, any way that you can.  It was good, hard, clean racing and I'm glad that we could put on a show fro the fans because it really wasn't a show up until that point. It was a great night and fun racing with Kevin there. Getting those bonus points is alwasy nice. I think we got all but one - leading the most laps - so we came in here to get the most points that we could. We were shooting for 48, but I think we'll settle for 47."

Second-place finisher Brad Keselowski, who threw the infamous water bottle, had to overcome two speeding penalties in order to finally make it to the front in order to be more competitive. Brad had this to say about being two laps down and coming back for his top three finish - "All my fault. I sped on pit road and the guys rallied around. Great effort and good battle there at the end. Just proud of a decent day and a good finish out of my team."

Additionally, Keselowski was asked about the controversial water bottle incident and his response was as follows: "I'll have to re-watch the race to see what everybody else is talking about 'cause I really don't know. I mean, obviously, yeah, I threw a water bottle out. Everybody in the dang garage throws a water bottle out and their tear-offs off their nose. I don't know what's going on. NASCAR doesn't throw yellows for that usually so if they said there's another reason I got to believe it."

Third-place finisher Kevin Harvick, who led for a total of 157 laps, was well on his way to becoming the race winner; however, after two late cautions and a final pass by Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. - everything changed. Harvick was extremely upset about the infamous caution (the water bottle) and did not minch words about his feelings. "It's just one of those deals where the car that caused the caution (referring to Keselowski and the water bottle incident) pushed the car that won the race by us." 

Rounding out the top 10 finishers were points leader Elliott Sadler (No. 2), Justin Allgaier (No. 31), Austin Dillon (No. 3), Kyle Busch (No. 54), Cole Whitt (No. 88), Sam Hornish Jr. (No. 12) and Michael Annett (No. 43).

Highlights:

• Eight cautions for 43 laps
• Nine lead changes with six different leaders
• Austin Dillon was the highest finishing rookie

Unofficial Race Results, click here.

Unofficial Points Standings, click here.

The NASCAR Nationwide Series will be heading to Richmond International Raceway on Sept. 7 for the Virginia 529 College Savings 250.  It will be broadcast on ESPN at 7 p.m. ET.

Unique Hiram is an Associate Editor/Contributing Writer/Media Rep for Skirts and Scuffs. Additionally, she is also the author of "Fast Lane Poetry" which was published April 2011. Unique can be contacted via email or through Twitter.