Bell sponsored driver Carl Edwards survived a frantic final lap and two incidents with Keselowski to win Saturday night’s Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250 Nationwide Series race at Gateway International Raceway. On a hot night in the nation’s midsection, tempers flared after the race.

Edwards held a slight lead over Keselowski as they took the white flag. In the first turn, Keselowski bumped Edwards’ left rear in a classic bump-and-run move to send Edwards high on the track. Edwards retained control, but Keselowski pushed to the front down the backstretch.

As the two cars exited turn four in the shadow of the checkered flag, Edwards turned into the back of Keselowski’s Dodge and sent the series point leader crashing hard into the outside wall. As Keselowski bounced across the track, the cars behind him scattered across the surface.

Shelby Howard slammed hard into Keselowski’s car, sending it into another spin.

Edwards kept control of his car and sailed across the finish line, edging Reed Sorenson, who had been third on the white-flag lap.

“I couldn’t let him take the win from me,” said Edwards, finally putting Ford in victory lane. “We came here to win, and they took it from us in turn one. I had to do what I had to do.

“He just got in over his head and tried too hard, and it was at my expense. Well, that [the final crash] was at his expense.”

A caution with 13 laps to go set up the finish. The yellow was caused by Kevin Harvick, who won the Camping World Truck race at the track earlier in the day. He slammed into the outside wall, damaging the right side of his Chevrolet. He was running fourth at the time.

With eight laps to go and drivers in the top 15 frantically swapping positions, Justin Allgaier’s car was damaged in three-wide racing with Steven Wallace and Trevor Bayne. Allgaier slowed and was tapped into a spin by Taylor Malsam, sparking a multi-car crash that also involved Joe Nemechek.

Nemechek’s car wound up stalled in the middle of the track, and NASCAR put the field under red-flag conditions with five laps to go.

The green fell with two to go, and Edwards and Keselowski began their clash for the win. Carl Edwards wears the Bell Vortex Top Air in NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide competition.