Kyle Busch beats Keselowski in SRX win at Berlin

For the second time in as many weeks, Busch and Keselowski found themselves battling for the lead during the Superstar Racing Experience (SRX) main event, this time Thursday night at Berlin Raceway in Marne, Mich.

SRX, founded by Tony Stewart, Ray Evernham, Sandy Montag and George Pyne, features six short track races on a mix of pavement and dirt with drivers running identical cars.

Busch grabbed the lead on a restart with less than 30 of 100 laps remaining and then spent the remainder of the race fending off Keselowski for the win, just as he had to do in his win one week ago at Pulaski County (Vas.) Motorsports Park.

“This place is so tough, so challenging with all the things you have to do here, rolling into the gas and rolling out of the gas, the steering wheel and keeping the tires underneath you,” Busch said.

“Berlin is one of the toughest short tracks we go to. Brad was really good and I wasn't sure I had anything for him until (Helio) Castroneves got up there and ran him really hard. Then I saw Brad start to slip his tires and I'm like, ‘Okay, he's right on the edge’ so I might have something, too.”

Keselowski ended up second and Ryan Newman rallied to third to maintain his lead in the series standings among those drivers competing in all the events.

Podium celebration, SRX Series Berlin Raceway (Photo by: SRX / Wayne Riegle)

“I pushed a little too hard and just used up the front end a little too much. That was on me,” said Keselowski, a Michigan native. “We had a good race, won a heat race, that was good, drove from the back to second, and that was good, led that the most laps and that was good and just overdrove it a bit and didn’t have enough by the end of the race.”

With two races remaining, Newman leads the series standings with 146 points and holds a 33-point advantage over Keselowski. Reigning series champion Marco Andretti is third, 34 points behind the leader.

The six-race series now heads to Eldora Speedway next Thursday. The NHRA’s Ron Capps will join Stewart, Andretti, Bobby Labonte, Newman, Castroneves, Ken Schrader, Halie Deegan, Keselowski, Chase Briscoe, Matt Kenseth and Tony Kanaan in the field.

The action kicks off at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN.