Keller dominates for Stacker 2 200 win

NAZARETH, Pa. -- Jason Keller used the weekend's dominant car and scored an easy victory -- regaining the NASCAR Busch Series' point lead in the process -- in Sunday's Stacker 2 200 at Nazareth Speedway.

Jason Keller gets a shower in Victory Lane. Credit: Worth Canoy/VSP-Autostock

Keller, who has won three of the last five Busch Series races, took the lead in his No. 57 Albertson's Ford for the final time with 30 laps remaining under caution after a violent two-car accident involving Jeff Purvis and defending race winner Greg Biffle.

Keller calmly sat out a 21-minute, 46-second red flag period while Purvis was cut from his No. 37 Timber Wolf Chevrolet, persevered through the race's eighth and final yellow flag and raced off to a 1.735-second victory over ppc Racing teammate and Raybestos Rookie of the Year leader Scott Riggs' No. 10 Nestle NesQuik Ford.

"I never had a race car that fast," said Keller, who led 151 of 200 laps. "I had never won a race here and to dominate like that was pretty impressive."

The victory was Keller's fourth of the season. He unofficially took the point lead -- by 31 points over former leader Jack Sprague -- for the fourth time in a season only 12 races old that has seen 10 points lead changes among five drivers.

"That's fantastic," Keller said. "We just need to keep running hard every week and this is what I love doing -- winning races. This Ford ran fast all weekend long."

Points leader Jack Sprague was sidelined early with a damaged radiator.

"I know we had the fastest car yesterday but sometimes the fastest car doesn't always win the race," said Keller, who was best in both practice sessions Saturday. "I think the fastest car won the race today and what about my teammate -- this was the first one-two finish by ppc Racing."

"This is not a rookie team -- they do an awesome job," said Riggs, who has a pair of victories himself for the team that won the 2000 NBS championship with Jeff Green. "I want to thank (team owner) Greg Pollex for putting a great race team together."

"We always run good enough for a one-two finish but circumstances have never worked out that way," said Riggs, who unofficially moved into third in the standings.

Ron Hornaday, whose first laps of the weekend in the No. 26 Dr Pepper Chevrolet were turned in the race; Jamie McMurray's No. 27 Williams Travel Centers Chevrolet and two-time Busch Series champion Randy LaJoie's No. 7 Kleenex Chevrolet rounded out the top five.

Hornaday missed both practice sessions Saturday when he had to fly from Nazareth to Concord, N.C., along with Stacy Compton to drive in Saturday night's Winston Open special event at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

Nazareth was his second race since taking over the seat of the Carroll Racing car and he posted team owner Dave Carroll's best finish of the season as the pair work on a deal that would put Hornaday in the car for the rest of the season, at least.

Mark Green's car was heavily damaged in an incident.

"I've got a lot of guys to thank," Hornaday said, "Dave Carroll, (crew chief) Todd Lohse and especially Andy Santerre. It takes a whole team to do this and this is our second straight race with the same car."

Santerre, a former Busch Series winner that is currently racing in the Busch North Series but who made a token entry in his own car in the Stacker 2 200, practiced Hornaday's car in both Saturday practices rather than his own.

On Sunday morning, Hornaday expressed some concern over the car's set-up being radically different than anything he had ever run at the oddly shaped one-mile oval before. Hornaday has two career victories at Nazareth, including one in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and the 2000 Busch Series race.

"This means a lot to me, especially since I need a job," Hornaday said. "Dave Carroll and I have got a (handshake) deal to run the rest of the year (and) we are trying to put together a contract for a three- to five-year deal. I am trying to put something together for my son to do -- get him in the car for some experience."

While six caution flags marred the first half of the 200-lap event on the oddly shaped one-mile oval, the race went 77 laps before the seventh caution flew on lap 170 for Purvis and Biffle's wreck.

Greg Biffle's car stops after heavy contact with Jeff Purvis.

After he was airlifted to Lehigh Valley Hospital in Allentown, Pa., Purvis was admitted and listed in serious but stable condition after sustaining a contusion of the left base of the brain and a fracture of the first and second vertebrae, according to Dr. K. Shah, a trauma surgeon at Lehigh Valley.

According to Dr. Shah, Purvis was able to move all his extremities. At 6 p.m. ET he was undergoing further tests and was scheduled for more tests either Monday or Tuesday.