Busch Wins, Preece Impresses In New Hampshire
LOUDON, N.H. – Kyle Busch cruised to a comfortable victory during Saturday’s NASCAR XFINITY Series Overton’s 200 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Busch did not appear to have the best car on Saturday afternoon. That honor belonged to Brad Keselowski, who was piloting the No. 22 Ford for Team Penske. Keselowski looked like he was going to easily win Saturday’s race, but a bit of bad luck on pit road ended his hopes of winning.
Stage two winner Keselowski was the race leader when the final round of green-flag pit stops began on lap 170 when Busch pitted from second. Keselowski followed him down pit road a lap later, but had to pull into his pit sideways to avoid the car of Kyle Larson, who was exiting the pits as Keselowski was entering.
The No. 22 team completed service on Keselowski’s Ford, but as Keselowski peeled out of his pit the gas man failed to remove the fuel can from the car. The gas man hung on to the can, which dislodged from Keselowski’s car in the next pit.
Because the fuel can left Keselowski’s pit, NASCAR issued a stop-and-go penalty to the No. 22 team. That dropped Keselowski out of contention to win the race and handed the race lead to Busch, who proceeded to pull away from the rest of the field to easily earn his third XFINITY Series victory of the year and the 89th of his career.
“Well you can’t always count on the fastest car winning the race I guess,” Busch said in reference to Keselowski’s pit road penalty late in the race. “You can count on teamwork. We had that today. My guys did a great job in the pits and gave me a great piece in order to go out here and contend with him.
“We put the pressure on him. We kept close enough that I knew when we pitted they’d have to pit right after us and they were probably in a hurry because they knew we were going to have a lap on tires on them,” Busch said.
While Busch was the man standing in victory lane, the real winner may have been Ryan Preece. The 2013 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion was making his first start in the No. 20 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing at his home track on Saturday and he made the most of it.
Preece ran inside the top-five all day, battling for position with Busch, Keselowski, stage one winner Kyle Larson and XFINITY Series championship contender William Byron.
Ryan Preece finished a career-best second in his debut driving for Joe Gibbs Racing on Saturday. (NASCAR Photo)
During the final round of pit stops Preece’s team opted to only take two right-side tires, allowing Preece to get off pit road ahead of his closest pursuers and behind Busch in second. He remained their for the rest of the race, earning his career-best XFINITY Series finish in front of his sponsors and local fans.
“This is something I dreamed about to be honest with you,” Preece said. “I didn’t know how today was going to go. I got a limited amount of time in practice, qualified sixth and was a little disappointed in myself. I told Chris (Gabehart, crew chief) before the race started I usually get better in the race. Obviously he made a great call there to get two tires instead of four.
“This one is for all the short-track guys that might not ever get the opportunity. I work hard week in and week out with that modified, so to be able to have this opportunity means a lot to me.”
The second-place finish for Preece completed a strong two-day period for the 26-year-old Berlin, Conn., native. He won Friday’s NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour All-Star Shootout at the 1.058-mile track and finished second in Saturday’s points-paying Modified Tour event that was run prior to the Overton’s 200.
Preece has one more opportunity aboard Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 20 Toyota on July 29 at Iowa Speedway, a standalone event that won’t include any NASCAR Cup Series regulars. Preece is hoping to once again make the most of the opportunity.
“I’m looking forward to Iowa and being as prepared as I can,” Preece said. “I like to win. I’m definitely happy with this second place, but we’ve got a lot of work to do. I’ve got a lot of work to do. I’ve only been to Iowa twice. Hopefully I can get a little time in an iRacing simulator and we’ll be good.”
Byron finished third and was the highest finishing XFINITY Series regular, followed by Cup Series regulars Larson and Keselowski. Ben Kennedy finished sixth and was the final driver on the lead lap at the conclusion of the 200-lap race.
XFINITY Series championship leader Elliott Sadler was seventh, followed by Ty Dillon, Cole Custer and Brennan Poole.
For complete results, advance to the next page.
Source :speedsport.com
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