It’s The Kyle Busch Show Again At Bristol
BRISTOL, Tenn. – Kyle Busch was in a league of his own once again on Friday night at Bristol Motor Speedway as he easily drove to victory in the NASCAR XFINITY Series Food City 300.
It was Busch’s second victory this week at Bristol Motor Speedway. He also dominated Wednesday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Bristol, setting Busch up for the possible sweep of all three NASCAR national events at the historic half-mile oval. Busch is the only driver ever to win all three races in one weekend at Bristol, having accomplished that feat in 2010.
Friday’s Food City 300 was very similar to Wednesday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series UNOH 200 for Busch. He dominated the first stage Friday’s race, but just like Wednesday’s Truck Series race he was hit with a pit road speeding penalty that dropped him to the rear of the field.
That penalty didn’t seem to phase Busch, who stormed from 19th at the start of the second stage to take the lead from Daniel Suarez on lap 157. He then built up a comfortable lead to easily capture stage two.
Busch led the entire field down pit road before the third stage, but Suarez and Justin Allgaier both beat Busch off pit road. Busch came off pit road third, followed by Elliott Sadler and Brennan Poole.
Suarez jumped out into the lead at the start of the final stage, with Sadler moving into second. A few laps later Sadler dispatched Suarez to take the lead while Busch began moving back towards the front.
On lap 196 Busch moved by Suarez for second and on lap 202 he moved around Sadler to re-take the race lead. Fourteen laps later the caution flag waved when Tommy Joe Martins hit the wall.
Kyle Busch (18) leads Daniel Suarez during a restart Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway. (Drew Hierwarter Photo)
Busch brought the field down pit road again under caution, with Busch maintaining the race lead over Suarez, Allgaier, Daniel Hemric and Poole. The green flag waved again on lap 224 and Busch quickly jumped out into the lead again as Hemric, Ty Dillon, Suarez and Sadler began battling for second.
It looked like a walk in the park for Busch at that point, but the final caution flag of the night waved with 16 laps left when contact with Jeb Burton sent Brendan Gaughan into the backstretch wall.
The green flag waved for the final time with eight laps remaining and Busch didn’t wait long to get away from the field, quickly pulling away from Suarez to easily capture his 91st XFINITY Series victory.
“It is just cool to race with these guys. I love this team. I love Joe and all of Joe Gibbs Racing. I love Coy (Gibbs) and J.D. (Gibbs), we’re always praying for J.D.,” Busch said after his ninth Bristol XFINITY Series victory. “It’s nice to come out there and race in this series. I want to thank XFINITY especially for that. This NOS Energy Drink Camry was awesome today and it was awesome off the truck yesterday.”
Suarez finished second, followed by Sadler in third. The third-place finish for Sadler gave him enough points to mathematically clinch a place in the NASCAR XFINITY Series playoffs. Dillon finished fourth, with Allgaier completing the top-five.
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Source :speedsport.com
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