Brad Keselowski wins wreckfest at Talladega, and takes over the points lead! With the postponement of the Aaron’s 312 yesterday due to weather, today’s race found polesitter Kevin Harvick rushing straight off his win in the Cup race at Talladega today to double-duty driving at the head of the NNS field. Fellow double-duty driver, and front row starter, #60 Carl Edwards, would take the lead for the first eight laps before Harvick went to the front and soon had a long single line of cars drafting behind.

Another double-duty competitor, #88 Jamie McMurray would pass Harvick on lap 13, and by lap 20 of the 117 lap event, the top-ten were #88 McMurray, #33 Harvick, #60 Carl Edwards, #6 Ricky Stenhouse Jr., #22 Brad Keselowski, #10 Reed Sorenson, #11 Brian Scott, #98 Paul Menard, and #01 Mike Wallace. The “big one” would come one lap later when rookie Stenhouse got under the rear of Edwards, sending him into a spin, and leading to major carnage throughout the field. Others involved included #09 Patrick Sheltra, #01Mike Wallace, #66 Steven Wallace, #15 Michael Annett, #38 Jason Leffler, #21 Clint Bowyer, #1 James Buescher, #10 Reed Sorenson, #49 Mark Green and #62 Brendan Gaughan. Under caution, the field would pit, and off pit road Harvick took the lead ,followed by #18 Kyle Busch, McMurray, Keselowski, #7 Steve Arpin, #20 Joey Logano, #32 Brian Vickers, Scott, and Menard.

On the restart, a group of four surged to the front as drafting partners Busch and Keselowski hooked up against Harvick and McMurray. Lap 30 brought a battle between Harvick and McMurray, with McMurray ending up out front, and Harvick left out as the single file parade went by, shuffling him back to 13^th. Lead changes were many heading to the halfway point, with switches between McMurray, Harvick, Logano, Scott, Keselowski, and Busch. Edwards would spin on lap 47, bringing out caution number two.

By lap 66 the field had settled and the top group ran as Busch, Harvick, Logano, Menard, Scott, Vickers, McMurray, #70 Shelby Howard and Arpin. Twenty laps later, Harvick was back in front and led a freight train of twelve cars as the field started green flag pit stops. After the field cycled through, the top-ten were #27 Scott Wimmer, #33 Kevin Harvick, #20 Joey Logano, #21 Clint Bowyer, #40 Jeff Green, #88 Jamie McMurray, #32 Brian Vickers, #16 Colin Braun, #99 Trevor Bayne, and #98 Paul Menard. Points leader Busch had fallen back due to overheating issues and damage from contact with Sheltra as he headed towards pit road.

With seventeen laps to go, Harvick had reclaimed the lead, and held it until five laps left, when Keselowski challenged. One lap later, #7 Arpin and #16 Colin Braun tangled, resulting in a multi-car incident which also involved #42 Parker Kligerman, #43, #18 Busch, and #89 Morgan Shepherd. This yellow set up a green white checkered finish, and on the restart, Harvick took the lead.

As the field headed to the checkered flag, McMurray tried to get in line between leader Harvick and Bowyer, but there was no room, and McMurray got turned, resulting in a wreck involving #28 Kenny Wallace, #92 Dennis Setzer (into the catchfence, on fire), #11 Scott, #27 Wimmer, #62 Gaughan, #98 Menard, #12 Allgaier, #32 Vickers,  Double-duty driver Keselowski was credited with the win, followed by Logano, Harvick, #35 Jason Keller (congrats on 175^th top-ten!), #83 John Borneman III (best NNS career finish), Bowyer, #34 Tony Raines, Menard, Vickers, and Wimmer. Keselowski now assumes the championship points lead by 60 points over second-place Kevin Harvick. Busch now falls to third.