MARNI, Mich. — Even with the Camping World SRX Series giving Brad Keselowski two extra chances to nail down a restart, Kyle Busch was undeterred and kept driving away from the field to his second consecutive win on Thursday night at Berlin Raceway.
The last caution surprised Busch, honestly.
There was a brief rain delay after the first heat race, one that forced ESPN past its television window, so Busch thought the race was over inside the final 10 laps when he had a half second lead after 11 p.m. Not so fast!
They made Busch and Keselowski go again, but the result was the same, and Busch is now two-for-two in SRX competition following his debut last week at Pulaski County Motorsports Park in Virginia.
“I thought with 15 to go, there were no more fun flags,” Busch said. “I was disappointed but I understood the situation and just needed to execute on the restart.”
For his part, Keselowski just didn’t have enough, and there wasn’t going to be enough restarts to change that.
“I pushed a little too hard and just used up the front end a little too much,” Keselowski said. “That was on me. We had a good race, won a heat race, that was good, drove from the back to second, and that was good, led that the most laps and that was good and just overdrove it a bit and didn’t have enough by the end of the race.”
Following two messy races at Stafford and Pulaski County, SRX leaves Western Michigan with no damaged cars. It was also a competitive night of racing that some are calling the best SRX race of the season.
Ryan Newman maintained a 33-point lead over Keselowski with a win in the second heat race and a podium in the feature. And make no mistake, Keselowski is starting to count points now that he has just the two dirt races remaining at Eldora and Lucas Oil Speedway of Missouri.
Replacing the suspended Paul Tracy for Thursday night was local legend Johnny Benson, who won a NASCAR Busch Series and Truck Series championship following a successful start racing at Berlin. He did not have a good night on Thursday, finishing dead last with a car that had a mega shove.
“We were tight a tremendous bit, not a little bit,” Benson said. “In the heat, I thought I could manage it a little bit so I just asked them to free it up. I thought we were pretty good and was holding back until it was time to go and I couldn’t turn it at all.
“Little surprising to my guys and myself. Even at the end, running as slow as I was, I was still full lock on the steering wheel. We don’t know what it was. I think it surprised them and it surprised me too.”
Even though this is the for fun series, Benson was mad, only because he wanted the chance to impress on this night and platform.
“I was happy to be here on the personal side, but on the competition side, no,” Benson said.
SRX continues next Thursday night on ESPN from Eldora Speedway with NHRA star Ron Capps, IndyCar veteran Tony Kanaan, NASCAR Hall of Famer Matt Kenseth and Cup Series regular Chase Briscoe joining the full-time contenders on the World’s Greatest Dirt Track.
SRX Berlin Raceway
- Kyle Busch
- Brad Keselowski
- Ryan Newman
- Marco Andretti
- Hailie Deegan
- Ken Schrader
- Tony Stewart
- Helio Castroneves
- Bobby Labonte
- Kevin Harvick
- Kasey Kahne
- Johnny Benson
Updated SRX Standings
- Ryan Newman
- Brad Keselowski -33
- Marco Andretti -34
- Tony Stewart -51
- Ken Schreader -53
- Hailie Deegan -54
- Bobby Labonte -54