Brad Keselowski wins NASCAR Nationwide race in Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS — Brad Keselowski won the NASCAR Nationwide Series race Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, but Kyle Busch made him work for it.

Busch was on Keselowski’s tail entering the final lap of the Boyd Gaming 300 with both of them rapidly approaching slower lapped traffic.

But Keselowski deftly weaved his No. 22 Ford through the lapped cars while holding Busch’s No. 54 Toyota at bay to secure the win.

“I drove as hard as I could every lap,” said Keselowski, a Team Penske driver who led 144 of the 200 laps in the race in NASCAR’s second-tier series. “Kyle was coming there.”

A dejected Busch said of his effort, “That’s all we had,” and acknowledged that Keselowski had “probably the best car — he was really good.” Busch led 33 laps earlier in the race.

It was Keselowski’s first Nationwide win at the 1.5-mile oval and his 28th Nationwide victory.

Kyle Larson was third, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was fourth and rookie Chase Elliott finished fifth.

Larson’s finish was notable because the body of his No. 42 Chevrolet was damaged on the fourth lap when he spun and hit the wall.

“Hats off to all the guys on my team for working hard and fixing the car that I tore up,” Larson said of his Turner Scott Motorsports team.

Only nine of the 40 cars that started the race finished on the lead lap.