Bristol: Penske Racing race report

Allgaier. Keselowski Finish 1-2 at Bristol

BRISTOL, Tenn. (March 20, 2010) - Justin Allgaier captured his first NASCAR Nationwide Series victory in style Saturday as he led a Penske Racing 1-2 finish ahead of teammate Brad Keselowski in the Scott Turf Builder 300.

Allgaier, the 2009 Nationwide Rookie of the Year, steered his No. 12 Verizon Dodge Charger past Keselowski on a race restart with 27 laps remaining in Saturday's race. Driving the No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge, Keselowski battled hard to try and reclaim the lead from Allgaier, but the 23-year-old native of Riverton, Ill. held his ground to claim his first NASCAR win.

"The Verizon Dodge guys are awesome. I just have to thank everybody at Verizon Wireless," said Allgaier. "They came onboard with somebody from the Midwest that was trying to make it in this industry and I couldn't be happier to be here. I have to thank all our sponsors. We have the best sponsors in the world. We have Dodge behind us, Penske Engine power and all the guys back in the shop. This is an unbelievable win. We want to thank the fans; this is why we do what we do. That battle with Brad at the end was awesome. I couldn't be happier to see two Penske cars running up there for the win."

The victory enabled Allgaier to vault into third place in the championship standings as he scored his second top-five finish and fourth top-10 result in four starts this season. Keselowski maintained his second-place ranking in the points and he now trails leader Carl Edwards by just 26 points after four rounds of action.

"I'm real proud of Justin. He ran a good hard race," said Keselowski. "He had the opportunity on the last restart to use me up and he did. That's cool because I wrecked him here last year, so I had one coming (smiles). He's been running great and I'm really happy for his team and for Roger Penske. A great effort for our Nationwide Series team. I hope everyone back home is really proud of that one at Penske Racing. I'm glad to have another solid finish with the Discount Tire/Ruby Tuesday Dodge. This gets us right to where we need to be in points."

With the win, Penske Racing has now visited Victory Lane for three consecutive weeks with Kurt Busch winning the Cup Series race in the Miller Lite Dodge at Atlanta on March 7, Will Power guiding the Verizon Team Penske Indy car to victory last Sunday in the series opener at Brazil and Saturday's win with Allgaier.

-source: penske racing