Keller pulls away for Rockingham win

ROCKINGHAM, N.C. -- Having posted dominant victories at both Bristol and Dover in the past, Jason Keller is well known for his prowess on concrete. Saturday, he proved that he’s not so bad on rock, either.

Keller led a race-high 75 laps Saturday at North Carolina Speedway en route to victory in the 1-866-RBCTerm.com 200. The win is Keller’s first-ever at The Rock, and the sixth overall of his career.

			Jason Keller celebrates in victory lane. Three of his six Busch wins have come on one-mile tracks.

Keller leads the Busch Series standings for the first time in his 256-race Busch career.

“Man, that was a great day for us,” Keller said. “I really felt like we were really good in Happy Hour. We made no changes and it all worked out.”

With the win, Keller moved to the head of the championship points chart, a welcome blessing after having finished second and third, respectively, over the past two seasons. He leads teammate Scott Riggs by 30 points heading to Las Vegas.

“We’ve talked a big game all winter long, now we were able to back up here,” Keller said. “That’s real nice.”

Keller took the lead for good with 74 laps to go, his car was so dominant on long runs that his advantage was extended with each passing lap. He eventually took the checkers 6.2 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Greg Biffle.

Biffle’s run was equally impressive. Having stopped his car too close to Jeff Green’s pit stall early in the race and therefore having gotten blocked in by Green, Biffle lost a lap early. After pitting for new tires, he made up every bit of ground he’d lost -- and more.

			Christian Elder loses a wheel on lap 112.

Had one more caution flown, he may well have won the darn thing.

“I got really tight at beginning, so it was a little loose when I wanted to (push the) throttle,” Biffle said. “That pit stop kind of screwed me up, but I came back from a lap down to finished second. We’ll take it. if we could have stopped for tires one more time…I think maybe we could have had something for (Keller).”

Two-time series champion Randy LaJoie finished third, his best-ever finish here. Meanwhile Riggs, a rookie, battled back from a lap down to finish fourth. It wasn’t an easy ride back to the front, either.

“I let it go at first, gave him the benefit of the doubt,” said Riggs of a multiple-occurrence on-track scuffle with Jack Sprague. “Then, he kept on. I won’t play those games. If you play those games, you end up back where he was.”

Sprague finished sixth, just behind Mike McLaughlin.

Jimmy Spencer rolled home seventh, followed by Ashton Lewis, Jr., Tony Raines and Larry Foyt, who tallied the first top-10 of his career.