texas

Keselowski Win at Texas for Penske's 3rd Xfinity Title

While Brad Keselowski clinched a third consecutive NASCAR Xfinity owners' championship for Roger Penske, Chris Buescher did what he had to do to maintain his lead for the drivers' title.

Points leader Buescher finished 11th at his home track Saturday, and with two races left has a 24-point lead over Chase Elliott after the defending series champion finished eighth at Texas Motor Speedway.

"It wasn't a bad day but not the day we were hoping for. All in all, we just couldn't get that one thing that was going to really turn our day around," Buescher said. "It isn't comfortable yet. It is a cushion that we have and I guess you average that out to 12 spots per race so if we go out and finish top-10 the last two we should be in good shape."

Ty Dillon was highest-finishing Xfinity regular, his fifth-place finish pushing him to third in points, 30 behind Buescher and jumping one ahead of Regan Smith, who was ninth Saturday.
Keselowski led a race-high 62 of 200 laps for his second series victory this year and 34th overall. He had an average speed of 139.607 mph in the No. 22 Ford to finish ahead of Kevin Harvick, Austin Dillon and Erik Jones.

Since Sprint Cup practices earlier in the day were canceled because of a wet track after several hours of drying the track, the Xfinity race provided some extra track time for drivers who are racing Sunday.

Keselowski is one of eight remaining Chase contenders and the polesitter for that race.
"Yeah, we have a good little run going so far. We have to keep it going," Keselowski said. "It doesn't really matter when they drop the green flag tomorrow what we have done today.

We have to look forward and keep pushing. For today, I am really proud of the effort not just today but all season long to get my team owner Roger Penske his fourth Xfinity Series owners' championship."

Jones won the Camping World Truck race Friday night and is driving in place of suspended Matt Kenseth in the No. 20 car for Joe Gibbs Racing on Sunday at the high-banked, 1 1/2-mile track.
There were 17 lead changes among seven drivers, none of them being the top three championship contenders.

Kyle Larson led 50 laps, and was in leading on the 175th lap when a rubbing left tire finally went down coming out of the fourth turn and he was passed by Harvick. Keselowski led six times, taking the lead for the last time with 11 laps remaining.

Busch, who has won three truck races at Texas, finished 14th after being unable to get his car out of fourth gear because of a shifting problem most of the second half of the race. 

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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