Busch Series Championship Battle
Continues to Tighten

The battle for the 2003 NASCAR Busch Series driving championship continued to tighten Saturday at Darlington (SC) International Raceway.  Following the running of the Winn-Dixie 200 presented by Pepsico, only 79 points now separates the top five drivers with 9 races remaining in what is shaping up as one the closest Busch Series championship races in history.

Jason Keller, driver of the #57 Albertson's Supermarkets / Northeastern Supply Company Ford Taurus, managed to rebound from his disappointing performances of the last two weeks by coming home with a seventh place finish—the Travelers Rest, South Carolina driver's 13th top ten finish of the season.  Coupled with an 11th place finish by Ron Hornaday, a 14th place finish by David Green and a 17th place performance by fellow ppc Racing teammate Scott Riggs, Keller was able to cut his deficit in the points race to just 70 behind Riggs who was able to hold onto the lead for the third straight week.

Keller trails new fourth place point man Brian Vickers, Saturday's race winner, by only three points and trails second place point man Green by just 51 as Busch Series action moves to Richmond International Raceway next Friday night for the running of the Funai 250.  That race will be televised live by TNT starting at 8 p.m.

Vickers grabbed the lead following the race's final pit stop after a sensational effort by his crew and he just drove away from the rest of the field following the restart to win by nearly a straightway over runner-up and teammate Kyle Busch.  Busch, who is 18 years old and is the younger brother of Winston Cup Series standout Kurt Busch, and the 19-year-old Vickers both drive for Hendrick Motorsports.  It was Busch's very first race at NASCAR's oldest superspeedway and only the second for Vickers who won for the second time this season.

Keller had a miserable qualifying effort, starting the race from the 24th position.  Once the race began, however, Jason began moving forward and by lap 60 had moved up to the tenth spot.  He was never lower in the standings from that point on and battled the likes of Stacy Compton, Green, Casey Mears and Hornaday before settling into the seventh spot at the checkers.  Keller did catch a break when the race's final caution flag flew when he pitted for the final time and his crew discovered that one of the tires on Jason's car had a cut in it and would have probably forced him to pit under green.  That would have ruined Jason's day and probably would have put him several laps down.  Keller's team was able to change all of the tires on Jason's car under the yellow flag to remain on the lead lap and remain in contention.

With his 11th place finish and Vickers winning the race, Hornaday and Vickers swapped positions in the points standing with the now fifth place Hornaday now 79 points out of the top spot.

Winston Cup Series regulars Kevin Harvick and Michael Waltrip were the race's dominant cars through much of the action but were unable to make up any significant ground on the red hot Vickers at the end.  Waltrip finished third and Harvick fifth.

Keller qualified second for the first Busch Series race this season at Richmond but finished a disappointing 21st after hitting the outside retaining wall late in the race while running in the top 10.  Jason will try and keep up the pressure on the drivers ahead of him in the point standings with a return to Victory Lane, something he did reach at RIR last season in the spring event.