SPARTA, Ky. — Brad Keselowski, fearing his No. 2 Penske Racing Ford was running on fumes, held off a runner-up Carl Edwards to win a fuel mileage race and make it to the finish of the Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway on Saturday night.

Keselowski earned his third career NASCAR Sprint Cup victory at the reconfigured and repaved 1.5-mile oval in Sparta, where he captured his series-leading fourth victory of the season.

With two laps remaining in the 267-lap affair, Edwards pared a 7.5-second gap to pull within sight of Keselowski’s rear bumper, nearly pulling alongside the race leader on the final lap. However, Keselowski, who had radioed his crew chief Paul Wolfe that he had run out of fuel, managed to thwart Edwards and hold on for the victory.

“Yeah, I thought he was out of fuel, and he wasn’t,’’ said Edwards, driver of the No. 19 Toyota fielded by Joe Gibbs Racing. “He played it perfectly. He let me get to him and then [he] stood on it. But we had an opportunity to win the race, and I really appreciated my crew chief putting us in that position and the power and the fuel mileage that we get.

“Those are great engines. We had a shot at it, we just weren’t able to do it. Saved a little too much [fuel].’’

Keselowski’s car finally ran out of gas when he pulled up beneath the flag stand on the frontstretch to collect the checkered flag. He needed to have his car pushed by a tow truck in order to complete his victory lap around the track.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever had that [happen],’’ Keselowski said of his post-race escort by tow truck into Victory Lane. “I don’t want to have it ever again. I’d rather drive it in to Victory Lane, but you take them any way you can get them.’’

The series will resume racing with the first of two New England whistlestops this season in next Sunday’s New Hampshire 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H.