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Jul
15th

NASCAR: Brad Keselowski holds off Kevin Harvick for New Hampshire Nationwide win

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Although Brad Keselowski was dominant, he had some help from lapped traffic holding off Kevin Harvick for the Nationwide Series win at New Hampshire.

Austin Dillon finished third and took home the $100,000 Nationwide Dash 4 Cash bonus.

Keselowski led a race-high 131 laps but gave up the lead on restart on lap 155 when Harvick made contact with Amber Cope who was running 33-laps back.

"The 24 (Cope) every time you come to her she don't know whether she is going high or low," he said. "She wants to be Danica Patrick, but can't hold her helmet," said Harvick. It was Cope's second Nationwide race.

After Harvick's contact Keselowski retook the lead with 26 laps to go and sailed to the victory. It was a clean sweep for Keselowski, who took the pole earlier in the day - his third straight Nationwide Series pole at "The Magic Mile."

It was Keselowski's 19th victory in 182 Nationwide races, which ranks 15th on the all-time series wins list.

"Kevin (Harvick) raced me hard and there are very few guys that I'd like to race more than Kevin. He's a lot of fun to race with. I caught a little bit of a break in lapped traffic. That's the way it goes. You're always going to have some traffic.

"You're always going to have those that don't know where you're at. That's part of this series, different driver learning and trying to pick up their awareness on the race track."

"We've had great runs in the past, but we couldn't close the deal," said Keselowski, who now has two victories and nine top-10s this season. "It feels great to finally close the deal. It's a good two days on the Nationwide side - hopefully we can carry it over into Sunday and get another win."

Sam Hornish Jr. (Keselowski's teammate) finished fourth and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. the defending series champ finished fifth. After the race Stenhouse collapsed due to dehydration and exhaustion.

"I feel OK now," Stenhouse said after being released after being released from the track care centre. "They gave me some fluids and got good to go. I think just being a little sick all week, not eating much and not drinking enough fluids caught up with me after the race.

"I think we'll be good to go now."

Elliott Sadler, who finished seventh still holds the series points lead over Dillon by three points, and by 16 over Stenhouse.
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