Kyle Busch celebrates in victory lane after winning Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images
Even a set of old tires and a pair of late race restarts couldn’t derail the Kyle Busch dominance train at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Saturday.
When a late race caution sent most of the rest of his competitors to pit road, Busch stayed out on old tires, and then held off fellow Sprint Cup pilots Kevin Harvick and Kyle Larson to score his second straight NASCAR Xfinity Series win at the Brickyard in the Lilly Diabetes 250.
The win marks his seventh series win of the season in 11 starts, and adds to Busch’s all-time series win list with 83 victories.
Busch said he didn’t know what to expect on the final race restarts.
“I didn’t know what was going to happen, but I just knew to make sure I got a good restart – as good of restarts as I could get – and that worked,” Busch said. “It helped me. Certainly, the second to last one was really good. I got out front of (Kyle) Larson there and in the last one (Kevin) Harvick was right on me, but he must of pulled left in order to block those behind him and hold those guys back, but I had a good run through one and two and was able to go down the backstretch and not really get anybody too close to me, you know?
“Harvick I guess and Larson were racing each other, so that was the best thing for me to be able to kind of sneak away just a little bit.”
To say Busch dominated the race would be a bit of an understatement. After winning the pole earlier in the day, Busch would win his 20-lap heat race, and then go on to lead 62 of 63 laps in the main event.
Earlier in the day, Busch also won the pole for Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Brickyard 400, setting him up for a second straight weekend sweep at Indianapolis.
He said he likes his odds going into Sunday’s race.
“I think they’re pretty good and of course starting up front, that means a lot here at Indy, but, man, it’s a long race. It’s a long 400 miles and we’ll just have to see how it goes, but our Toyota today was strong.”
Busch wasn’t the only winner on the day, as Justin Allgaier turned a fifth place finish into a $100,000 payday as the winner of the Dash4Cash as the highest finishing eligible Xfinity Series regular. He had to beat out his JR Motorsports teammate Elliott Sadler to take the big check home.
“To have to race a teammate for this Dash 4 Cash was something that was challenging and nerve wracking at the end, but definitely, definitely glad to be able to bring this check home,” said Allgaier.
Kevin Harvick would push his way into a position to challenge Busch for the win on the final restart, but had to settle for second in the end.
“We had a good restart on the next to last restart,” said Harvick. “I didn’t want to be three wide on the bottom, I didn’t know that I could clear (Busch), and I got to him a little late and I thought my angle was going to be bad entering turn one. In hindsight, I probably should have just kept going and piled it in there and see what happened. “
While Busch drove away from the competition most of the day, the race was twice interrupted by caution. The first occurred when Busch’s teammate, Erik Jones, spun after cutting a tire going into turn one with 12 laps to go. Jones was able to keep the car off the wall, and was able to continue.
It was just another part of what had quickly turned into a bad day for Jones, who was running in second when he tagged the wall with 20 laps to go. A pit stop for quick repairs put him behind before the tire cut down some eight laps later.
The second and final caution of the day flew when the cars of Ray Black, Jr. spun coming off turn 2 with six laps to go, collecting Harrison Rhodes in the process. That sent the race into overtime, setting up the final restart.
Paul Menard finished in second after making a late pass on Larson, who came home in fourth. Allgaier finished in fifth.
In the preliminary 20-lap heat races, Busch scored the win in the first heat, with Erik Jones winning the second. Both winners led wire-to-wire in their respective heats.
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Indianapolis Motor Speedway – Speedway, IN
Lilly Diabetes 250 – July 23, 2016
1. (1) Kyle Busch(i), Toyota, 63.
2. (4) Kevin Harvick(i), Chevrolet, 63.
3. (8) Paul Menard(i), Chevrolet, 63.
4. (3) Kyle Larson(i), Chevrolet, 63.
5. (6) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 63.
6. (9) Elliott Sadler, Chevrolet, 63.
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8. (5) Joey Logano(i), Ford, 63.
9. (12) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 63.
10. (13) Brandon Jones #, Chevrolet, 63.
11. (10) Brennan Poole #, Chevrolet, 63.
12. (11) Jeb Burton, Ford, 63.
13. (15) Ryan Reed, Ford, 62.
14. (14) Darrell Wallace Jr, Ford, 62.
15. (17) Blake Koch, Chevrolet, 62.
16. (16) Brendan Gaughan, Chevrolet, 62.
17. (19) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 62.
18. (18) Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, 62.
19. (21) J.J. Yeley, Toyota, 62.
20. (20) Dakoda Armstrong, Toyota, 62.
21. (22) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 62.
22. (2) Erik Jones #, Toyota, 62.
23. (25) Garrett Smithley #, Chevrolet, 61.
24. (30) David Starr, Chevrolet, 61.
25. (27) Ryan Preece #, Chevrolet, 61.
26. (28) B.J. McLeod #, Ford, 61.
27. (26) Brandon Gdovic, Chevrolet, 60.
28. (38) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, 60.
29. (32) Mario Gosselin, Chevrolet, 60.
30. (34) Ryan Ellis, Chevrolet, 60.
31. (31) Stanton Barrett, Chevrolet, 59.
32. (36) Derrike Cope, Chevrolet, 58.
33. (24) Ray Black, Jr. #, Chevrolet, Accident, 52.
34. (29) Harrison Rhodes, Toyota, Accident, 51.
35. (33) Mike Harmon, Dodge, Too Slow, 32.
36. (23) Jeff Green, Toyota, Rear Gear, 31.
37. (35) Morgan Shepherd, Chevrolet, Handling, 17.
38. (39) Matt DiBenedetto(i), Toyota, Brakes, 13.
39. (37) Timmy Hill(i), Dodge, Vibration, 9.
40. (40) Todd Peck, Ford, Engine, 0.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 136.298 mph.
Time of Race: 1 Hr, 09 Mins, 20 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.411 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 2 for 10 laps.
Lead Changes: 2 among 2 drivers.
Lap Leaders: K. Busch(i) 1-27; B. Gaughan 28; K. Busch(i) 29-63.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): K. Busch(i) 2 times for 62 laps; B. Gaughan 1 time for 1 lap.
Top 10 in Points: D. Suarez – 608; E. Sadler – 594; T. Dillon – 558; J. Allgaier – 542; E. Jones # – 539; B. Gaughan – 535; B. Jones # – 520; B. Poole # – 519; D. Wallace Jr – 486; R. Reed – 433.
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