Larson wins Nationwide race at Charlotte

Concord, NC (SportsNetwork.com) - Kyle Larson claimed his second career win in the Nationwide Series by beating his fellow Sprint Cup Series competitors Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch in Saturday's History 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Larson, a rookie in Sprint Cup this season, grabbed the lead from Keselowski on lap 118 and took command from there. The 21-year-old driver from Turner Scott Motorsports ran in front for 82 of the final 83 laps, relinquishing the top spot only during a round of green-flag pit stops.

"It was about perfect for us," Larson said. "I knew we had a good [car] but not that good."

While Keselowski and Busch were battling for the second position and got caught up in traffic in the closing laps, Larson was able to widen his lead over the two. Larson beat Keselowski to the finish line by 1.5 seconds.

"It was nice looking in the rear-view mirror and seeing them get smaller and smaller each lap," Larson said. "It's not very often that you see the 22 [Keselowski] and the 54 [Busch] get smaller in your mirror, so it just showed how great of a car we had."

Busch started on the pole and led 27 of the first 28 laps before his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Matt Kenseth, took over and ran in front for a total of 67 laps.

Keselowski managed to hold off Busch at the finish line for the runner-up spot.

"Kyle [Busch] and I had a great race," said Keselowski, who led a total of 22 laps. "Kyle Larson was fast and a little bit better than us. We just needed a little more."

Busch was attempting to win a Nationwide race at Charlotte for the ninth time. He won both races in the series here last year.

"Just disappointed, thought we were better than that," Busch said. "Just wrecking-loose all day, had no grip. We struggled real bad and came home with a third."

Kevin Harvick finished fourth, and Brian Scott was fifth. Kenseth ended up placing sixth.

Regan Smith took over the lead in the Nationwide point standing after his seventh-place run. Smith holds a five-point advantage over Elliott Sadler, who finished 12th.

Chase Elliott dropped from first to third in the standings after finishing 37th. Elliott experienced a mechanical issue and made contact with the wall on lap 87, forcing the second of just three cautions in this race. He spent 26 laps behind the wall for repairs before he returned.

"Something on the right-front broke," Elliott said. "It wasn't a tire. I initially thought it was a tire. I definitely hate it. It wasn't a good day for us. We dug ourselves a hole, so we have to get out of it somehow."

Elliott is now 28 points out of the lead.

Trevor Bayne finished eighth, followed by rookies Chris Buescher and Ty Dillon.

Earlier in the day, Bayne and team owner Jack Roush announced that Bayne will drive the No. 6 car full-time for Roush Fenway Racing in Sprint Cup next year. Bayne has been running a partial schedule in NASCAR's top series for Wood Brothers Racing.