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When Nationwide Series regular Ricky Stenhouse Jr. took the checkered flag from the dominant Sprint Cup driver, Kevin Harvick, it seemed like déjà vu all over again on Saturday night at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Only on Friday night it was dominant Sprint Cup driver, Kyle Busch, losing out to Truck Series rookie Ty Dillon.
Although the circumstances were very different it was the same result with different drivers on succeeding nights.
Stenhouse took the victory away from Harvick, who had led 157 laps of the 190-lap race, after the seventh and final caution for a crash among Danica Patrick and James Buescher.
To make matters more confusing, a television replay has Harvick (who ended up third) blaming Sprint Cup rival, Brad Keselowski (who finished second) for his defeat.
After his fourth victory of the year, the defending Nationwide Champion laughed at the partial cause of his win: "Heck, yeah, we stole it," Stenhouse said of his last lap run to win.
As the drivers circled on their cool down lap after the race Harvick saw a replay of Keselowski tossing out his water bottle and he blamed his rival for that final yellow.
"It's pretty obvious," said Harvick, who had words with Keselowski on pit road after the race. "They put it on TV and showed when the caution came out on the same lap. ... He told me it was intentional, so it is what it is."
Turning to Keselowski in the post-race interview, Harvick added, "Sleep good tonight."
In his own defence Keselowski argued that Harvick got the time and place of the water bottle incident wrong.
"It went out of my car 15 to 20 laps before the yellow came out," Keselowski asserted. "I guess that's why I was caught off guard with the comment that the water bottle caused the yellow.
TV spokesmen confirmed that the replay of the water bottle toss was from laps before the final caution and a NASCAR official confirmed that the final caution was not due to the water bottle.
With his victory Stenhouse has closed to within 12 points of series leader, Elliott Sadler, who finished fourth. Sam Hornish Jr., who finished ninth, is 32 points behind in third place.
Only on Friday night it was dominant Sprint Cup driver, Kyle Busch, losing out to Truck Series rookie Ty Dillon.
Although the circumstances were very different it was the same result with different drivers on succeeding nights.
Stenhouse took the victory away from Harvick, who had led 157 laps of the 190-lap race, after the seventh and final caution for a crash among Danica Patrick and James Buescher.
To make matters more confusing, a television replay has Harvick (who ended up third) blaming Sprint Cup rival, Brad Keselowski (who finished second) for his defeat.
After his fourth victory of the year, the defending Nationwide Champion laughed at the partial cause of his win: "Heck, yeah, we stole it," Stenhouse said of his last lap run to win.
As the drivers circled on their cool down lap after the race Harvick saw a replay of Keselowski tossing out his water bottle and he blamed his rival for that final yellow.
"It's pretty obvious," said Harvick, who had words with Keselowski on pit road after the race. "They put it on TV and showed when the caution came out on the same lap. ... He told me it was intentional, so it is what it is."
Turning to Keselowski in the post-race interview, Harvick added, "Sleep good tonight."
In his own defence Keselowski argued that Harvick got the time and place of the water bottle incident wrong.
"It went out of my car 15 to 20 laps before the yellow came out," Keselowski asserted. "I guess that's why I was caught off guard with the comment that the water bottle caused the yellow.
TV spokesmen confirmed that the replay of the water bottle toss was from laps before the final caution and a NASCAR official confirmed that the final caution was not due to the water bottle.
With his victory Stenhouse has closed to within 12 points of series leader, Elliott Sadler, who finished fourth. Sam Hornish Jr., who finished ninth, is 32 points behind in third place.