Brad Keselowski storms to dominating NNS win at Loudon - MotorSportsTalk

Brad Keselowski dominated en route to victory in Saturday’s 25th Sta-Green 200 NASCAR Nationwide Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Keselowski led 153 of the 200 laps, holding off Kyle Busch, who led 34 laps but was forced to conserve fuel in the final 15 laps and just didn’t have enough to catch the race winner.

“It was actually hard-fought at the end there,” Keselowski told ESPN. “(Kyle) was really good. I didn’t think I was going to be able to hold him off. … It’s another win for Team Penske and I’m real proud to be part of it.”

Keselowski earned the 29th win and 100th top-five finish of his NNS career in 211 starts in NASCAR’s junior league.

Matt Kenseth finished third, followed by Kyle Larson and Chris Buescher.

Sixth through 10th were Elliott Sadler, Brian Scott, Chase Elliott, Trevor Bayne and Regan Smith.

Smith was the highest finishing driver in the Nationwide Series Dash-4-Cash contest, earning $100,000.

A wreck involving several drivers occurred on Lap 107 of the 200-lap event. Elliott Sadler was tapped from behind by Brian Scott, causing Sadler to spin out.

“I hate that I got into (Sadler) and caused that mix-up,” Scott said. “It was just my fault. I had a good roll going on the inside. … They checked up and I just got into them. I apologize, I think (Sadler) knows I don’t really race like that and we’ll be good.”

Added Sadler, “We got spun and lost a couple positions. … It was a tough weekend, I’m not going to lie. We battled all weekend, but to make the Dash-4-Cash (for next week’s race at Chicagoland Speedway) and to finish sixth, we’ll take that and move on to Chicago.”

Also being collected in the Scott-Sadler imbroglio were Paul Menard (his second wreck of the day; was involved in a minor wreck with Chase Elliott on Lap 102), James Buescher, Dakoda Armstrong, Carlos Contreras and Austin Theriault.

Here’s the final finishing order of Saturday’s Sta-Green 200 Nationwide Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway:

1 Brad Keselowski

2 Kyle Busch

3 Matt Kenseth

4 Kyle Larson

5 Chris Buescher

6 Elliott Sadler

7 Brian Scott

8 Chase Elliott

9 Trevor Bayne

10 Regan Smith

11 Ryan Reed

12 Ty Dillon

13 Dylan Kwasniewski

14 Ryan Preece

15 Landon Cassill

16 Brendan Gaughan

17 JJ Yeley

18 Ryan Sieg

19 Paul Menard

20 Jeremy Clements

21 Austin Theriault

22 James Buescher

23 Jeffrey Earnhardt

24 Brennan Newberry

25 Matt Frahm

26 Eric McClure

27 Tanner Berryhill

28 Derrike Cope

29 Joey Gase

30 Dakoda Armstrong

31 Jake Crum

32 Mike Bliss

33 Kevin Lepage

34 Josh Reaume

35 Carlos Contreras

36 Ryan Ellis

37 Harrison Rhodes

38 Josh Wise

39 Blake Koch

40 Matt DiBenedetto

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Auto racing safety has continued to improve through the decades, but the sport remains inherently dangerous, according to a new survey.

At the close of 2018, a new organization called Racing Safety United emerged with the intention of reducing drivers’ risk of being harmed.

RSU is made up of more than 30 members including former NASCAR Cup Series competitor Jerry Nadeau, two-time NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Randy LaJoie, NHRA team owner Don Schumacher and motorsports journalist Dick Berggren.

One of RSU’s first initiatives was to determine what current drivers thought of racing safety. The organization developed a 14-question survey and promoted it on select motorsports websites and forums.

Participants were given the opportunity to disclose their identity or remain anonymous, and those who provided contact information were entered to win a $500 prize (for anonymous participants, the prize funds would be donated to a motorsports charity).

More than 140 individuals participated in the survey over the course of 12 months. Below are the results of the survey:

Driver status

The vast majority of survey participants (60%) were amateur racers, while 26% of the participants were classified as Semi-Pro/Professional racers. The remaining 14% consisted of other individuals involved in the sport such as team owners and crew chiefs.

When asked how frequently they race, 58% of driver respondents averaged 10 or more times per year on track, while 42% averaged 10 times or less.

The top five tracks respondents said they raced most often: Road Atlanta (21 votes), Watkins Glen (17 votes), Virginia International Raceway (16 votes), Mid-Ohio (16 votes), and Road America (13 votes).

Vehicular damage, injuries common

Over a third of respondents said they had been injured while racing, and almost two-thirds sasid they had suffered severe vehicle damage while racing

Driver error was cited as the top cause of vehicle damage (42 mentions), followed by concrete walls (26 mentions), mechanical failures (24 mentions), and other drivers (19 mentions). The study concluded those results indicated a need for better driver training/coaching, energy absorbing walls, and more technical inspections.

Almost a quarter of drivers said they had experienced racing-related concussions, and nearly half the respondents said one or multiple concussions would affect their decision to race in the future.

Drivers primarily influenced by peers

Roughly half the drivers said they would consider adopting new safety equipment if influenced by another driver (51 total mentions) and/or if recommended by a sanctioning body (47 total mentions). The study concluded those results indicated a need for drivers to become safety advocates and educate other drivers and for sanctioning bodies to mandate safety equipment.

Drivers concerned with concrete walls

Approximately three-quarters of the drivers surveyed said they believed certain race tracks were more dangerous than others. Nearly half the drivers surveyed believe that concrete walls were the primary cause of damage to drivers and vehicles.

Drivers willing to help

Just more than three-quarters of the drivers surveyed said that they would be willing to join a safety alliance to advocate for safer tracks. Two-thirds of drivers said that they also would be willing to contribute to a motorsports safety fund.

Click here for the full results of RSU’s survey

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