NASCAR BGN: Jason Keller Wants A Repeat Performance At Dover Downs

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

May 30, 2001

BOISE, Idaho --- With five career wins in the NASCAR Busch Series, Grand National Division, Jason Keller has many memorable moments. Although his win in New Hampshire was an emotional win, the one that sticks out in his mind most is his June 6, 2000 win at Dover Downs International Raceway. As the laps began to run down, Keller held off Winston Cup regular Mark Martin to capture his fourth career victory in the NASCAR Busch Series.

"Some people complain when the Winston Cup drivers compete in the Busch series," said Keller. "There is no better feeling of accomplishment than battling every mile with a high caliber driver like Martin and beating him to the checkered flag.

"The best part of that win is that we passed Martin on the track and held him off to win. We didn't win because we were quicker out of the pits or because he had problems with the car. Not too many people in the Busch Series can say the beat Martin straight up. The No. 57 was dialed in that day."

The fall race at Dover began to look extremely similar for Keller. He started 21st, just one spot higher than where he qualified in the June race, but finished second to Matt Kenseth.

"We had a good car, but not a perfect car like we had when we won," Keller said. "We got bottled up on the final restart of the race and were held up for about four laps. Kenseth definitely had the better car, but it would have been interesting to see what would have happened if we could have gotten out of traffic."

Keller's success at Dover is no surprise. He is extremely comfortable and successful on concrete tracks. Two of his five career wins came on concrete surfaces (Bristol and Dover). His best finishes to date this season are a win at New Hampshire and a second-place effort at the newest concrete track on the NASCAR Busch Series circuit, Nashville Superspeedway.

"I don't know what it is about concrete surfaces," said Keller. "I have been fortunate to have cars that can stay at the bottom of the race track and come off the corners well. Keeping your car low on the track is vital on the Dover concrete. Once you have a couple of good races on concrete, you get a good feel for it. Fortunately once you obtain a good rhythm and feeling for the surface, it isn't going to change much.

"As a team, we concentrated hard on the race set-up at Dover and it paid off. Now we just have to work on our qualifying effort. We've only been able to get into victory lane once this year, but Dover is just around the corner."

With the passing of each race, Keller finds himself closer to vying for his first NASCAR Busch Series championship. After the first 12 races of the season, Keller is only100 points away from the leader, a significantly higher position than this time last year.

Concrete isn't a favorite of many drivers, but in the case of Keller and the Albertson's team it "paves" the way for success.

Text provided by Heather Kincel

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