2010 Aaron's 312

The 2010 Aaron's 312 was a NASCAR Nationwide Series race held at Talladega Superspeedway in Lincoln, Alabama. The race was a double-header to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race that took place earlier on the same day due to rain that occurred the day before. The race was the 8th of the 2010 NASCAR Nationwide Series season. Kevin Harvick won the pole and led the most laps but the race was won by Brad Keselowski who made a last lap pass after a spectacular last lap crash.

Background
The track, Talladega Superspeedway, is one of six superspeedways to hold NASCAR races, the others being Daytona International Speedway, Auto Club Speedway, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Pocono Raceway and Michigan International Speedway. The standard track at the speedway is a four-turn superspeedway that is 2.66 mi long. The track's turns are banked at thirty-three degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, is banked at 16.5 degrees. The back stretch has a two-degree banking. Talladega Superspeedway can seat up to 143,231 people.

Entry List

 * (R) denotes rookie driver

Qualifying
Kevin Harvick won the pole with a time of 51.106 and a speed of 187.375.

* - Made the field via owner's points

** - Brian Keselowski, Jeff Green, and Scott Lagasse Jr. had to start at the rear of the field. Keselowski and Lagasse Jr. pitted before the green flag and Green had an engine change.

Race
Pole sitter Kevin Harvick led the first lap of the race. On lap 8, Carl Edwards took the lead but Harvick took it back on the next lap. Edwards would take the lead on lap 12 with a push from Jamie McMurray. But on the next lap, McMurray took the lead from Edwards with a push from Harvick. On lap 20, the first of three big ones in the race would occur in the tri-oval that collected 13 cars. It started when Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was pushing Carl Edwards and Stenhouse hit Edwards at the wrong angle turning Edwards around and Edwards spun up right in front of the pack where he was nearly T-boned by Mike Wallace. The cars involved were Mike Wallace, Patrick Sheltra, James Buescher, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Reed Sorenson, Michael Annett, Colin Braun, Clint Bowyer, Jason Leffler, Mark Green, Carl Edwards, Brendan Gaughan, and Steve Wallace. Kevin Harvick won the race off of pit road making him the new race leader. The race restarted on lap 29. On the restart, Kyle Busch took the lead from Harvick. Harvick would take the lead on lap 30 due to Busch and his drafting partner Brad Keselowski getting too far ahead of the pack and losing the draft causing them to lose momentum. On lap 31, Jamie McMurray took the lead from Harvick. Kyle Busch took the lead on lap 35. McMurray would take it back on the next lap. Brad Keselowski took the lead on lap 39. On lap 41, Joey Logano took the lead. On lap 44, McMurray took the lead but Keselowski would take it on the next lap. On lap 47, the second caution flew when Carl Edwards blew a right rear tire in turn 2 and almost caused another big crash as he spun in front of the pack. Fortunately, it was only Edwards who was involved. During pit stops, Joey Logano dragged his gas can out of his pit box and onto the racetrack which would be a very costly penalty for Logano. Eric McClure stayed out and he led the field to the restart on lap 51. Brad Keselowski would immeadeatly take the lead from McClure. But on that same lap, Patrick Sheltra took the lead from Keselowski. On lap 54, Brian Scott took the lead from Sheltra. On lap 55, Brad Keselowski took the lead. On lap 58, Kevin Harvick took the lead. On lap 59, Jamie McMurray took the lead. On lap 60, Kyle Busch took the lead from McMurray.

Final laps
With 48 laps to go, Paul Menard took the lead from Busch. With 46 to go, Kyle Busch took the lead from Menard. With 42 to go, Brad Keselowski took the lead. With 40 to go, Paul Menard took the lead from Keselowski. With 37 laps to go, Kevin Harvick took the lead and held onto it. With 30 to go, green flag pitstops began. With 25 to go, Kevin Harvick gave up the lead to Brendan Gaughan to make his pitstop and Gaughan was the new race leader. While they were coming to pit road, Kyle Busch got rear ended by Patrick Sheltra giving Busch rear end damage and ending his chances of winning. Gaughan soon gave it to Robert Richardson Jr. with 24 to go. After everything cycled through, Kevin Harvick retained his lead. Harvick was looking to become the first driver to win a NASCAR Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series race on the same day since Harvick won the Cup race earlier in the day. With 6 laps to go, Brad Keselowski made an attempt to pass Harvick for the lead but could not get in front of him. But with 4 laps to go, the third caution flew for the second big one on the frontstretch going into turn 1 that collected 7 cars. It started when Colin Braun got hooked by Steve Arpin and Braun turned down into Parker Kligerman in a wreck that also collected Arpin, Kyle Busch, Scott Lagasse Jr., Shelby Howard, and Morgan Shepherd. The wreck would set up a green-white-checkered finish. On the restart Harvick got out in front of Jamie McMurray, who Harvick beat in the earlier Cup race by .011 seconds, with a push from his Cup Series teammate Clint Bowyer. On the final lap, Harvick kept his lead but McMurray was looking for revenge and got a push from Brian Vickers down the backstretch and got side by side with Harvick. Vickers tried to duck below McMurray to pass him but McMurray blocked Vickers. But in turn 3, Brad Keselowski ducked to the outside of McMurray and Harvick with a push by Joey Logano and Keselowski took the lead from Harvick and McMurray. In turn 4, the third big one would occur that brought out the fourth and final caution in a crash that took out 20 cars. It started when Jamie McMurray attempted to get in front of Clint Bowyer but got hooked onto Bowyer's right front and spun in front of the pack. During the wreck, Paul Menard came up in front of Dennis Setzer and Setzer's car ramped onto Menard and the wall and struck the turn 4 catchfence with the front of the car ripping almost the whole front of the car and bursting it into flames. Setzer and everyone were ok. The cars involved were Chrissy Wallace, Steve Arpin, Patrick Sheltra, Brian Scott, Justin Allgaier, Clint Bowyer, Eric McClure, Scott Wimmer, Kenny Wallace, Brian Vickers, Tony Raines, Jeff Green, Scott Lagasse Jr., Brendan Gaughan, Bobby Gerhart, Michael McDowell, Jamie McMurray, Dennis Setzer, Paul Menard, and Trevor Bayne. Brad Keselowski was in front when the caution came out and he was the race winner. The win would be Keselowski's first of 6 wins in 2010 en route to his first Nationwide Series Championship. The top 10 from the race featured some surprises. Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, Jason Keller, and Johnny Borneman III rounded out the top 5 while Clint Bowyer, Tony Raines, Paul Menard, Brian Vickers, and Brian Scott rounded out the top 10. This would be Keller's first top 5 finish since 2008 and his final top 5 of his Nationwide Series career after he failed to qualify 3 of the first 7 races of 2010 with a 4th-place finish. Keller's teammate Tony Raines finished 7th giving owner Mark Smith, the owner of TriStar Motorsports, his first top 5 and top 10 finish of the team's Nationwide Series career. Raines would score another top 10 at Gateway later in the year for Smith. This would be Johnny Borneman III's first and only top 5 finish of his Nationwide Series career as he finished in 5th.