Kyle Busch Runs Away With Xfinity Race at New Hampshire

Jeff Zelevonsky - Getty Images

LOUDON, NH – RIS – Kyle Busch, aided by an inopportune pit penalty by Brad Keselowski, for leaving the area with pit equipment, ran away from the field and won the Xfinity Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Saturday.  The Joe Gibbs Racing driver led 77 laps from the pole and beat Ryan Preece, William Byron, Kyle Larson and Keselowski for his third win in six starts this year.

Busch took the lead during green flag pit stops, which he began with 30 laps left in the 200-lap race

Busch’s biggest challenger, Keselowski, had to serve a pass-through penalty after his last pit stop due to his gas can leaving the pit box as the No. 22 exited the box. Keselowski led 102 laps.The race saw 13 lead changes after only having three in 2016.

“You can’t always count on the fastest car to win the race, I guess, ” Busch told the television audience at the start-finish line. “We can count on teamwork. We had that today and my guys did a great job in the pits and they gave me a great piece in order to go out here and contend with them. We put the pressure on, kept them close enough that I knew when we pit they were going to have to pit right after us, probably in a hurry because we were going to have a lap of tires on them. Overall, just a great day.”

Kyle Larson, who had to start from the back, led the first stage, and Keselowski the second stage.  Busch’s margin of victory was about 10 seconds.

Preece finished second and led two laps in his first Xfinity start of the year. His career-best finish came in his 37th start. Preece also won and placed second in two support races at NHMS this weekend.  William Byron finished third for his fourth top-three finish in the last five races, while Ben Kennedy finished sixth for his second top 10 of the year and his first since finishing fourth at Talladega.  Keselowski finished fifth.

“This one is for all the short track guys out there that might never get the opportunity but work week in and week out with that modified,” Preece said.  Preece was in another Joe Gibbs Toyota as was the winner.

Unofficial Race Results for the 28Th Annual Overton's 200 - New Hampshire Motor Speedway

Fin, Str, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, St2, Pts, Tms, Laps, Playoff Pts, Status
1) 1, Kyle Busch(i), No. 18 NOS Energy Drink Toyota, 200, 3, 2, 0, 5, 77, , Running
2) 6, Ryan Preece, No. 20 MoHawk Northeast Inc. Toyota, 200, 2, 4, 51, 1, 2, , Running
3) 7, William Byron #, No. 9 AXALTA/Peerless Chevrolet, 200, 9, 5, 42, , , , Running
4) 3, Kyle Larson(i), No. 42 ENEOS Chevrolet, 200, 1, 3, 0, 1, 11, , Running
5) 2, Brad Keselowski(i), No. 22 Discount Tire Ford, 200, 5, 1, 0, 4, 102, , Running
6) 13, Ben Kennedy #, No. 2 Richmond/Menards Chevrolet, 200, , 10, 32, , , , Running
7) 8, Elliott Sadler, No. 1 OneMain Financial Chevrolet, 199, 4, 6, 42, 1, 5, , Running
8) 12, Ty Dillon(i), No. 3 Rheem/WATTS Chevrolet, 199, 8, 7, 0, , , , Running
9) 10, Cole Custer #, No. 00 Haas Automation Ford, 199, , , 28, , , , Running
10) 9, Brennan Poole, No. 48 DC Solar Chevrolet, 199, 7, 9, 33, , , , Running
11) 4, Matt Tifft #, No. 19 Surface/Fanatics Toyota, 199, 10, 8, 30, 1, 1, , Running
12) 5, Daniel Hemric #, No. 21 Blue Gate Bank Chevrolet, 199, , , 25, , , , Running
13) 14, Blake Koch, No. 11 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet, 199, , , 24, , , , Running
14) 19, Ryan Reed, No. 16 Lilly Diabetes Ford, 198, , , 23, , , , Running
15) 21, JJ Yeley, No. 14 Superior Essex Toyota, 198, , , 22, , , , Running
16) 23, Michael Annett, No. 5 Pilot Flying J Chevrolet, 198, , , 21, , , , Running
17) 16, Brendan Gaughan, No. 62 South Point Hotel & Casino Chevrolet, 197, , , 20, , , , Running
18) 24, Harrison Rhodes, No. 01 teamjdmotorsports.com Chevrolet, 197, , , 19, , , , Running
19) 18, Ross Chastain, No. 4 Sanel Auto Parts Chevrolet, 197, , , 18, , , , Running
20) 20, Ryan Sieg, No. 39 RSS Racing Chevrolet, 197, , , 17, , , , Running
21) 26, Jeremy Clements, No. 51 RepairableVehicles.com Chevrolet, 197, , , 16, , , , Running
22) 39, Dylan Lupton, No. 24 Nut Up Toyota, 196, , , 15, , , , Running
23) 25, Garrett Smithley, No. 0 Adapt 2k Chevrolet, 195, , , 14, , , , Running
24) 15, Dakoda Armstrong, No. 28 WinField United Toyota, 195, , , 13, , , , Running
25) 34, Joey Gase, No. 52 Jerry K. Ask Invstmnts/Iwa Dnr Ntwrk Chevrolet, 195, , , 12, , , , Running
26) 27, BJ McLeod, No. 8 KeenParts.com/CorvetteParts.net Chevrolet, 194, , , 11, , , , Running
27) 32, Spencer Boyd, No. 07 Grunt Style Chevrolet, 193, , , 10, , , , Running
28) 33, Timmy Hill, No. 40 CrashClaimsR.Us Dodge, 186, , , 9, , , , Running
29) 31, Tommy Joe Martins, No. 78 Chevrolet, 185, , , 8, , , , Running
30) 28, David Starr, No. 99 Striping Technology Chevrolet, 184, , , 7, , , , Running
31) 38, Mike Harmon, No. 74 Forj'd Leather Dodge, 178, , , 6, , , , Running
32) 11, Justin Allgaier, No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet, 173, 6, , 10, 1, 2, , Running
33) 37, Martin Roy, No. 90 Cote/Gamache Truck Center Chevrolet, 163, , , 4, , , , Engine
34) 22, Brandon Jones, No. 33 Sparco Chevrolet, 157, , , 3, , , , Running
35) 17, Spencer Gallagher #, No. 23 Allegiant Airlines Chevrolet, 156, , , 2, , , , Suspension
36) 36, Carl Long, No. 13 OCR Gaz Bar Chevrolet, 67, , , 1, , , , Electrical
37) 35, Morgan Shepherd, No. 89 Chevrolet, 59, , , 1, , , , Suspension
38) 30, Jeff Green, No. 93 RSS Racing Chevrolet, 15, , , 1, , , , Electrical
39) 29, Reed Sorenson(i), No. 15 teamjdmotorsports.com Chevrolet, 7, , , 0, , , , Brakes
40) 40, John Jackson, No. 72 CrashClaimsR.Us Dodge, 4, , , PE, , , , Vibration
 (i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie

Time of Race: 01 Hrs, 56 Mins, 11 Secs
Total Race Length - 200 Laps - 211.6 Miles
Average Speed: 109.276 MPH
Margin of Victory: 10.425 Seconds
42,20,18,1,22,7,48,3,9,19
22,18,42,20,9,1,3,19,48,2
 Race Comments: Kyle Busch won the Overton?s 200 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, his 89th NASCAR XFINITY Series victory. Before the start of the event, no cars dropped to the rear  of the field.
 Failed to Qualify: N/A
 Caution Flags: 3 for 15 laps: Laps: 31-35 (#99 incident Turn 1 [0]); 47-51 (Stage 1 Conclusion [52]); 92-96 (Stage 2 Conclusion [62]).
 Lead Changes: 13 among 7 drivers: K. Busch(i) 1-2; B. Keselowski(i) 3-7; K. Busch(i) 8-27; B. Keselowski(i) 28-33; J. Allgaier 34-35; E. Sadler 36-40; K. Larson(i) 41-51; R. Preece 52-53; K. Busch(i) 54-71; B. Keselowski(i) 72-93; K. Busch(i) 94-101; B. Keselowski(i) 102-170; M. Tifft # 171; K. Busch(i) 172-200.
Coors Light Pole Award:  Kyle Busch, #18 129.353 mph
Duralast Brakes "Brake in the Race":  Brad Keselowski, #22 
Mahle Clevite Engine Builder of the Race:  Joe Gibbs Racing Engines - Mark Cronquist, #18 
Mobil 1 Driver of the Race:  Kyle Busch, #18 
Sunoco Rookie of the Race:  William Byron, #9

Ron Fleshman with John Davison

RIS NASCAR Editor.  Has been with RIS since the middle 90's. Writes on each of the three main series of NASCAR.

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Volume 2017, Issue 7, Posted 10:34 PM, 07.15.2017