Keselowski finishes 6th in Dollar General 300

After holding the lead for more than three-quarters of the 200-lap Dollar General 300, Brad Keselowski hit some debris on the track and punctured the right rear tire on the No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge Challenger. The mishap occurred on Turn 2 of Lap 171 and nearly caused a collision with Kyle Busch’s No. 18 Z-Line Designs Toyota. The incident cost Keselowski the lead and ultimately kept him from another top-five finish.

“It wasn’t meant to be today,” said Keselowski, who finished sixth. “The Discount Tire Dodge Challenger was fast. We had a shot at winning today and just ran over something while leading and cut down a right-rear tire. I was still able to get up to sixth on those last restarts from 13th which I guess was okay. Honestly, I felt like if I had a couple more cracks at it, I could have got back up to the lead. Just wrong place, wrong time. One of those days.”

Sam Hornish Jr., at the wheel of the No. 12 Alliance Trucks Parts Dodge, had another good run, finishing 12th.

Blake Koch finished 18th in the No. 81 Daystar.com Dodge, beating Rookie-of-the-Year competitor Timmy Hill, who finished 21st. This may be the margin Koch needs to pass Hill, who was just two points ahead after last week’s race.

Reed Sorenson drove the No. 182 Think Pink Zeta Tau Alpha/Crusader Staffing Dodge to a 32nd-place finish: his was the last car to complete the race.

There are just three races left in the 2011 NASCAR Nationwide Series, but there’s a two-week break before the next one, the O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday, November 5. ESPN2 coverage kicks off at 12:55 PM, Eastern Time.