BRISTOL, Tenn. — Brad Keselowski admits he’s not the most patient person, but that trait led him to victory in Friday night’s Food City 250 Nationwide Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

The JR Motorsports driver, working for a team co-owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Rick Hendrick, spent several laps shadowing Clint Bowyer, waiting for any chance to pass the leader late in the race. He got it on lap 226 as Bowyer fish-tailed around turn two, giving Keselowski just enough room to get the lead.

Once there he didn’t look back, earning his second win of the 2008 season and moving within 122 points of series leader Bowyer.

“I was very patient, and that was the key,” Keselowski said. “I knew we were dead equal and I needed to catch a break to pass him, and he gave it to me. I know to win this championship I’ve got to win races, so this is big. Victory lane, Bristol — it doesn’t get any better than this.”

Bowyer held on for second, followed by Greg Biffle, pole-sitter Cale Gale, David Stremme, Scott Wimmer, Kyle Busch, David Reutimann, Brian Vickers and Steven Wallace. Carl Edwards, the defending series champion who had been closing in on Bowyer, finished 27th after wrecking on lap 89 and fell to third in points.

Childress hints of Mears

Richard Childress Racing has a news conference called today to announce the driver of a new fourth team for the 2009 Sprint Cup season. Childress could cancel the event after practically announcing Friday that Casey Mears would be that driver, as expected.

“I think he’s a good race driver; I think he’s a solid race driver,” Childress said when asked about the Hendrick Motorsports driver who will be replaced by Mark Martin next season. “I like his attitude. He’s just got the right attitude when it comes to racing. He’s a racer. That’s what I like about him.”

Childress also confirmed that grandson Austin Dillon will begin testing in Truck Series and Nationwide Series vehicles starting Monday.

“I think he’s running a truck at Richmond on Monday, and then going to Iowa to drive a Nationwide car,” Childress said. “We’ll run him in some Nationwide cars. We’ll just see how it goes from there. You know, he’s never run a radial tire. So we’ll try to run him a little and see how he does.”

Harvick defends Gibbs

The hot issue this weekend is the recent cheating scandal at Joe Gibbs Racing, where several crew members were cited for helping rig a NASCAR-mandated Nationwide Series engine test to skew horsepower numbers. Kevin Harvick, who owns a team in the series, couldn’t help but chime in good-naturedly.

“Well, I think there is a new promotion that all Toyota (dealers) are giving away free magnets with any purchase of a new car,” Harvick said, referring to the magnets used to keep gas pedals from reaching the floor of the Nationwide car cockpits.

“Obviously, and I truly honestly feel this, J.D. and Joe Gibbs don’t run their company like that. It is obviously not a decision that was made from the top or the people that represent their company. It was a mistake made by somebody that put their own mind to it. I don’t think it is a representation of anybody at Joe Gibbs Racing, and I think the penalties were obviously pretty harsh for a situation that I don’t think a lot of people had ever seen happen or been involved in.”

Ragan to back again

For the second consecutive week a qualifying accident will send Chase hopeful David Ragan to the back of tonight’s Sprint Cup field. Though the Roush Fenway Racing driver qualified 27th, he will have to go to a backup car after wrecking on his second lap of qualifying. The second-year driver did the same thing a week ago in Michigan.

“I just got a little free and I felt like I would have enough track to chase it and just didn’t get out of the throttle,” Ragan said.

“In a normal situation I would have cracked the throttle and just slowed down a little, but I felt like I could hold on for that extra split-second and still get a good lap in. Our AAA Ford was fast in practice (seventh overall), so we’ll have to put some of the same stuff that worked well in practice on our backup and try to make the best of a bad situation.”

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