Kyle Busch wins hectic Xfinity race at Kansas
Kyle Busch picked up his fourth Xfinity Series win at Kansas Speedway on Saturday.
Race winner Kyle Busch, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
NASCAR Media
Busch started from the pole and led seven times for 150 laps on the way to his 85th career victory in the Kansas Lottery 300.
“Awesome car you guys, you deserved that one for sure, I’m glad you got it,” Busch said.
Elliott Sadler was second followed by Daniel Suarez, Joey Logano and Kyle Larson. Regan Smith, Brennan Poole, Brandon Jones, Blake Koch and JJ Yeley rounded out the top-10 finishers.
“I’m proud of all your hard work this weekend,” said Sadler, who is tied with Suarez for first in the standings. They are followed by Koch, Allgaier and Erik Jones. “Way to keep working hard on this thing.”
The race was slowed by 10 caution flags — with the eighth proved costly for several Chase contenders on Lap 165. Brandon Jones triggered the six-car wreck which collected Bubba Wallace, Ryan Reed and Justin Allgaier. Wallace ended up in the garage in 33rd.
“It was just a hard hit,” Wallace said. “It was a really hard hit for us, the whole team really. This 6 Leitos Ford team was working hard to get a good finish. I think we could have picked off a couple spots for a top-10 to set us up for a really good day. It is just unfortunate. I hate it for our guys.
“We worked really hard overnight to get this thing where it needed to be. We were still off in some areas but it was good to start figuring out a rhythm and knowing some key points going into Texas in a couple weeks. We will move on. It is alright. We aren’t knocked out. It is just motivation to go to Texas.”
Allgaier and Reed returned to the track and finished 14th and 16th, respectively.
The next caution occurred 10 laps later when Brendan Gaughan spun off of Turn 4 on the front stretch. After extensive repairs, he returned to the track and finished 31st, 18 laps off the pace.
Larson triggered the 10th caution when he ran into the back of Erik Jones, turned him sideway into Ty Dillon — sending the No. 3 from second to 13th and the No. 20 to pit road.
When the race returned to green with 13 laps remaining, Busch took the lead with Sadler and Suarez in tow. Busch extended his lead by over a second on Sadler after the first lap. Busch’s advantage was 4.025-seconds over Sadler as he took the checkered flag.
For Busch, it was the 10th race in 2016 that he’s led 100 or more laps and the fifth season he has posted nine or more Xfinity wins in a year.
“It was a hard-fought battle,” Busch said. "Seemed like it was going to easy for us, we had a superfast car and when we were out front, I could take it easy on those long runs and we could drive away. The car would turn so well. A lot of things were trying to work against us at the end of the race. We were able to persevere and do the right things and have lucky restarts and be in the right grooves and not get caught up in the melee that was happening."
Cla | # | Driver | Manufacturer | Laps | Time | Laps Led | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 200 | 2:45'01 | 150 | |
2 | 1 | Elliott Sadler | Chevrolet | 200 | 4.025 | 39 | |
3 | 19 | Daniel Suarez | Toyota | 200 | 4.197 | 6 | 39 |
4 | 22 | Joey Logano | Ford | 200 | 6.210 | 2 | |
5 | 42 | Kyle Larson | Chevrolet | 200 | 6.890 | ||
6 | 88 | Regan Smith | Chevrolet | 200 | 7.134 | 16 | |
7 | 48 | Brennan Poole | Chevrolet | 200 | 7.987 | 34 | |
8 | 33 | Brandon Jones | Chevrolet | 200 | 8.312 | 33 | |
9 | 11 | Blake Koch | Chevrolet | 200 | 10.403 | 32 | |
10 | 44 | J.J. Yeley | Toyota | 200 | 12.084 | 31 |
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