Jason Allgaier won Saturday’s Nationwide Series race as Penske Racing drivers finished 1-2 at Bristol Motor Speedway!

photo credit: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR

Allgaier took the lead on the final restart with 27 laps to go and had to hold off his Penske Racing teammate, Brad Keselowski, to get his first series win.

“That battle with Brad at the end was awesome,” last year’s Nationwide Series Rookie of the Year Allgaier said. “I couldn’t have been happier at the end to see two Penske cars up there running for the win.”

Polesitter Keselowski battled an ill-handling car at the start, but was able to get the right adjustments made by the end of the race. He lead a race-high 72 laps.

“I had the opportunity (to race hard) and just erred on the side of caution,” Keselowski said. “The last thing I need is to wreck either one of us. That’s the last thing our program needs.”

“It was pretty unbelievable,” Allgaier said. “We had a great car in practice, and I screwed up qualifying and didn’t get the run we really needed and had to start 30th. But (crew chief) Chad (Walter) told me, ‘You’ll be there all day long, and if you push it really hard, you’ll be in victory lane.’

“I wasn’t sure we were going to be able to hold off Brad there for the last couple of laps, but Brad drove a heck of a race and ran us really clean. I’m just excited to get a 1-2 for Penske Racing.”

Team owner Roger Penske was in attendance to see his drivers duel for the win and said “Hopefully the fans and the media see the progress we’ve made over the last 24 months.”

It was the first Dodge win since the Bristol night race in 2007 as well as the first 1-2 finish for Dodge since the July 30th, 2005 series race at Gateway International Raceway.

Kyle Busch led 59 laps in the race and finished 3rd. After leading 24 laps, Carl Edwards settled for a 4th place finish.

Coming to the finish line, Kevin Harvick got into the back bumper of Joey Logano’s #20 ride which sent him spinning. Logano was running 5th at that time. Harvick took the 5th place finishing spot. Logano was credited with a 14th place finish.

“It was for fifth place, so I don’t know what he was doing,” Logano said. “We ran together clean for almost the whole race and then he dumps me on the last lap. I don’t understand what he was thinking.”

It’s said Logano met up and spoke with Harvick as they were walking to the drivers RV lot.

Harvick made history by posting his 123rd top-5 finish, tying him with Tommy Houston for the most top-5 finishes in the series.

Greg Biffle finished 6th followed by Reed Sorenson, Mike Bliss, Jason Leffler and Scott Wimmer rounding out the top-10.

JR Motorsports announced this week their plans to keep the #7 Chevrolet running while Danica Patrick is away.

“This is something we’ve been considering for awhile now, and the bottom line is the No. 7 car is too good not to be at the race track,” said JRM co-owner and crew chief Tony Eury Jr.

For the (unofficial) race results, click here.

There were 11 cautions for 61 laps and 13 lead changes among 10 drivers: Brad Keselowski 0; J. Logano 1-21; K. Busch 22-79; K. Kahne 80-92; S. Wimmer 93-113; K. Kahne 114-122; C. Edwards 123-146; K. Busch 147; G. Biffle 148-191; Brad Keselowski 192; R. Stenhouse Jr. 193-196; J. Leffler 197-202; Brad Keselowski 203-273; J. Allgaier 274-300

Carl Edwards retains the lead in the point standings by 26 points over 2nd place, Brad Keselowski.