Lebanon, TN (Betting Express) - Brad Keselowski padded his lead in the Nationwide Series point standings after a convincing win in Saturday's Federated Auto Parts 300 at Nashville Superspeedway.

Keselowski led 97 laps after starting from the 24th starting position. He passed fellow Sprint Cup Series competitor Carl Edwards for the lead on the final restart with 23 laps remaining, and then held off Edwards by 1.7 seconds for his third victory of the season and the ninth of his Nationwide career.

"We didn't qualify all that well," Keselowski said. "We just ran a good, smart race, drove through the field, great pit stops and it really came down to the restarts, and who could make the right moves. I just made the right move on Carl. I think Carl's car might have been a touch better."

His first win in the series came two year's ago at Nashville. He drove for Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s Nationwide team -- JR Motorsports -- at the time.

Keselowski, Edwards, Paul Menard and Michael McDowell are those drivers pulling the Pocono-Nashville combo this weekend.

After Friday's Sprint Cup activities at Pocono concluded, Keselowski quickly traveled to Nashville, where he participated in practice for the 300-mile race. He was the only one of the four double-duty drivers to do so.

"If I didn't come here yesterday, I don't think I would have won the race," he said.

Menard finished third -- his best run since the 2006 season-finale at Homestead. Nationwide regulars Justin Allgaier and Mike Bliss rounded out the top-five. Allgaier started on the pole and led the first 58 laps.

Brad Coleman drove the No.18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to a sixth-place finish. Kyle Busch, the 2009 series champion, has driven the No.18 car in the first 12 races this season. Busch, who has five Nationwide wins so far this year, did not compete at Nashville due to his commitments at Pocono.

Reed Sorenson finished seventh, followed by Steve Wallace, Scott Riggs and Matt DiBenedetto, who took over driving duties of Gibbs' No.20 car for Nashville.

McDowell crashed midway through the race and ended up finishing 30th.

Keselowski entered Nashville with just a one point advantage over Busch, but that lead has now stretched to 196.

"I still wish Kyle was here, because this would be much more fun to beat him," Keselowski said.

Edwards is 277 points behind Keselowski.

"It was a great run for us," Edwards said. "I thought there for a little while that we would have the car to beat, and we just didn't follow the adjustments well enough, and we got it a little bit too loose there at the end."

Keselowski's team owner, Roger Penske, had a banner night, with Keselowski picking up the win at Nashville, and then shortly after, Ryan Briscoe scoring the victory for Penske in the IZOD IndyCar Series race at Texas Motor Speedway.