NASCAR notes: Keselowski wins Nationwide race
1. 41-vehicle wreck ties up traffic Sunday on I-81 in Rockbridge County
2. Virginia Tech football roster has holes on picture day
3. Medicare penalties hit hospitals in Roanoke, New River Valleys
4. Microfestivus beer event gets downtown Roanoke hopping
5. McFarling: 2 little numbers are a big hurdle for Virginia Tech football
6. DAN CASEY: Copter cost still stirring up dust
7. Arrest made in case of missing Nelson County teen
8. Roanoke farmers markets making local foods more accessible
9. Virginia attorney general's office grows under Ken Cuccinelli
10. Man's drowning is 5th in Lynchburg area
Saturday, August 10, 2013
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. - Brad Keselowski has always had a fondness for Watkins Glen International, and that fondness just grew a bit more.
The reigning Sprint Cup champion, who had finished second three times in the past two years at The Glen, led 49 laps in the Nationwide Zippo 200 and notched his first career road course victory Saturday.
"I don't know, it's hard to explain. I can remember coming here with my dad [in the 1990s], just always having a love affair with this track," said Keselowski, runner-up to Marcos Ambrose in the past two Cup races at the track. "There's something about this track. I have a very deep appreciation for it. It's been a great race track for me."
Keselowski passed Joey Logano for the lead with 16 laps to go, then held off Sam Hornish Jr. in a dominant performance for Penske Racing.
Keselowski, who finished second to Carl Edwards despite leading more than half of this race a year ago, won for the fourth straight time over five months in NASCAR's second-tier series. It was his 24th career Nationwide win, tying him with Tommy Houston for eighth place on the career list.
Brian Vickers was third, followed by Regan Smith and Elliott Sadler. Logano finished 21st after running out of gas on the final lap, his team's fuel strategy backfiring.
Ambrose takes Cup pole
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. - Marcos Ambrose has won the Sprint Cup pole at Watkins Glen International for today's Cheez-It 355.
It was the third career pole for Ambrose, who has won the past two Cup races at The Glen. He turned a fast lap of 128.281 mph Saturday in the new Gen-6 car to easily eclipse the track record of 127.020 set a year ago by Juan Pablo Montoya.
Clint Bowyer qualified second, followed by Martin Truex Jr., AJ Allmendinger and Kyle Busch as Michael Waltrip Racing placed two in the top three.
Max Papis, subbing for the injured Tony Stewart in the No. 14, qualified 29th. Stewart, who has a Cup-record five wins at Watkins Glen, is sidelined with a broken right leg suffered Monday in a sprint car race in Iowa.
1. 41-vehicle wreck ties up traffic Sunday on I-81 in Rockbridge County
2. Virginia Tech football roster has holes on picture day
3. Medicare penalties hit hospitals in Roanoke, New River Valleys
4. Microfestivus beer event gets downtown Roanoke hopping
5. McFarling: 2 little numbers are a big hurdle for Virginia Tech football
6. DAN CASEY: Copter cost still stirring up dust
7. Arrest made in case of missing Nelson County teen
8. Roanoke farmers markets making local foods more accessible
9. Virginia attorney general's office grows under Ken Cuccinelli
10. Man's drowning is 5th in Lynchburg area
THE ROANOKE TIMES
