Chris Buescher celebrates winning the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship Saturday at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images
Chris Buescher won his first-career NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship in Saturday’s Ford EcoBoost 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, beating out defending series champion Chase Elliott for the title in just his second full season in the series.
Kyle Larson took the checkered flag in the season-finale race for his first Xfinity Series win of the season. Larson led the final five laps after passing race leader Austin Dillon for the top spot.
Dillon held on for second followed by newly crowned Camping World Truck Series Champion Erik Jones in third. Brian Scott and Ryan Blaney rounded out the top five finishers.
Buescher, who had held the points lead for the last 23 races, cruised to the finish line in 11th place and clinched the title by 15 points over Elliott and 18 points over Ty Dillon.
Buescher’s championship-winning drive is the fifth driver’s title for Roush-Fenway Racing and their third in the last five years after winning back-to-back championships with Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. in 2011 and 2012.
Buescher is the second member of his extended family to win a NASCAR title, following his cousin James Buescher, who won the Truck series championship in 2012.
“This is the biggest moment in my career,” said Buescher. “Just an awesome year for our organization, for our team. The guys did a tremendous job. No DNFs all year, no mechanical failures, nothing that we beat ourselves on. You know, we were flawless in that regard, and it put us in the position to go out and win this thing like we can today. We didn’t have to go out there and win the race in order to bring a championship home. We had to make sure we finished, and we did just that.”
Buescher, a native of Prosper, Texas, began his racing career driving Legends Cars before moving up to stock cars in the ARCA Series in 2010. The following year, he signed as a development driver for RFR running a limited schedule in the Xfinity Series.
In 2012, Buescher captured the ARCA Series championship before moving on to run full-time for RFR in the Xfinity Series.
“I am blessed to be here,” said Buescher. “It is so cool to be able to pull it off. It is so nice to have everybody out here to support us and be with us for this accomplishment.
“I’ve got to thank my parents for being gracious enough to let me move away from home at 16 years old. That was tough on them. But I think after today, they know it was well worth it.”
Needing to finish 13th or better on Saturday, Buescher played it safe for much for the race and kept his No. 60 Ford in the top-20 and never mounted much of a challenge for the lead.
Kyle Larson celebrates with the trophy in victory lane after winning Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Photo by Jeff Curry/NASCAR via Getty Images
Up in front, the race for the top spot was Kyle versus Kyle, as Larson and polesitter Kyle Busch traded the lead six time over the opening 80 laps.
Busch looked to finally get the better of Larson after winning race off pit road during the final round of pit stops with 21 laps to go, but Busch was nabbed with a penalty for an uncontrolled tire and was sent to the back of the line, handing the lead to Austin Dillon.
Dillon grabbed the lead on the restart and tried to open up a gap on Larson, but Larson tracked him down and was right on Dillon’s bumper when Dillon scraped the wall coming out of turn four with five laps to go, giving Larson an opening to take the lead.
Dillon made a couple of challenges on Larson on the low side over the next two laps before Larson was able to pull away, beating out Dillon by half a straightaway.
“All these cars prepared a great car for me,” said Larson. “From the moment we unloaded off the truck, I don’t know that we made any adjustments, the car was amazing. I knew we were going to be good in the race – we didn’t qualify that well – but as soon as the green flag dropped I was able to power my way up and almost get by Kyle. Then it was just a matter of me staying in front of him on the short runs – I was really good on long runs but he was a little bit better on the short runs. Then he had his pit issue there and that really saved the race for us.
“I about gave it away on the last two restarts, especially the last one, that was pretty hairy there, I almost wrecked myself and Erik Jones and he wasn’t too happy with me there. I was able to get ripping on the top and run down Austin (Dillon) and he made a mistake there trying to run really aggressive because we were really good up there.
“I love this track, I almost won the last few races here and it feels good to finally get it done.”
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Homestead-Miami Speedway – Homestead, FL
Ford EcoBoost 300 – November 21, 2015
1. (9) Kyle Larson(i), Chevrolet, 200, $85343.
2. (3) Austin Dillon(i), Chevrolet, 200, $62858.
3. (7) Erik Jones(i), Toyota, 200, $57863.
4. (4) Brian Scott, Chevrolet, 200, $48941.
5. (5) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 200, $42390.
6. (2) Daniel Suarez #, Toyota, 200, $37076.
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8. (13) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 200, $32524.
9. (14) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 200, $30930.
10. (21) Darrell Wallace, Jr. #, Ford, 200, $33365.
11. (11) Chris Buescher, Ford, 200, $29785.
12. (6) Aric Almirola(i), Ford, 199, $23580.
13. (8) Elliott Sadler, Ford, 199, $29229.
14. (16) Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, 199, $28918.
15. (19) Dakoda Armstrong, Ford, 199, $29156.
16. (20) Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, 199, $28846.
17. (17) Ryan Reed, Ford, 199, $28459.
18. (25) Blake Koch, Toyota, 199, $28323.
19. (24) Ross Chastain #, Chevrolet, 199, $28161.
20. (18) Ben Rhodes, Chevrolet, 198, $28550.
21. (15) J.J. Yeley, Toyota, 198, $27940.
22. (22) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 198, $27825.
23. (12) Brendan Gaughan, Chevrolet, 198, $27687.
24. (28) Harrison Rhodes #, Chevrolet, 197, $27576.
25. (33) David Starr, Toyota, 197, $27565.
26. (26) Mason Mingus(i), Chevrolet, 195, $27304.
27. (30) Anthony Kumpen, Chevrolet, 193, $21193.
28. (34) Garrett Smithley(i), Chevrolet, 192, $21072.
29. (36) Eric McClure, Toyota, 190, $26921.
30. (1) Kyle Busch(i), Toyota, Accident, 185, $28110.
31. (37) Josh Reaume #, Chevrolet, 185, $20679.
32. (29) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, Ignition, 180, $26568.
33. (40) Tim Viens(i), Dodge, 156, $26528.
34. (31) Mario Gosselin, Chevrolet, Suspension, 88, $26466.
35. (39) Derek White, Dodge, Engine, 81, $26416.
36. (38) Carlos Contreras, Chevrolet, Engine, 59, $24246.
37. (23) Mike Bliss, Toyota, Vibration, 44, $23246.
38. (32) B.J. McLeod(i), Chevrolet, Vibration, 36, $16246.
39. (35) T.J. Bell(i), Toyota, Vibration, 23, $15246.
40. (27) Jeff Green, Toyota, Transmission, 3, $14246.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 128.266 mph.
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 20 Mins, 20 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.934 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 6 for 26 laps.
Lead Changes: 13 among 5 drivers.
Lap Leaders: K. Busch(i) 1-27; M. Bliss 28; K. Busch(i) 29-30; K. Larson(i) 31-33; K. Busch(i) 34-63; K. Larson(i) 64-78; K. Busch(i) 79-81; K. Larson(i) 82-142; E. Jones(i) 143; K. Larson(i) 144-145; K. Busch(i) 146-147; K. Larson(i) 148-179; A. Dillon(i) 180-195; K. Larson(i) 196-200.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): K. Larson(i) 6 times for 118 laps; K. Busch(i) 5 times for 64 laps; A. Dillon(i) 1 time for 16 laps; M. Bliss 1 time for 1 lap; E. Jones(i) 1 time for 1 lap.
Top 10 in Points: C. Buescher – 1,190; C. Elliott – 1,175; T. Dillon – 1,172; R. Smith – 1,168; D. Suarez # – 1,078; E. Sadler – 1,075; D. Wallace Jr. # – 1,071; B. Scott – 1,032; B. Gaughan – 1,012; R. Reed – 902.
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