Kyle Busch Wins Phoenix Xfinity Race in Dominating Style

Credit Mark Rebilas, USA TODAY Sports

AVONDALE, AZ - RIS - Kyle Busch continued his domination of the NASCAR Xfinity series by winning the Axalta 200 at Phoenix International Raceway.  Busch led 175 of the 200 laps to win going away.  Erik Jones finished second and Daniel Suarez third in a sweep of the first three positions by cars from Joe Gibbs Racing.  Jason Allgaier finished fourth and Chase Elliott fifth.  It was his third straight victory in the Xfinity series with four races run.  He did not participate in that series' race at Daytona International Speedway.

In the past three weeks, Busch has led 493 of 563 laps.

"Some people will say I'm a failure for just joining this field," the Sprint Cup regular said. "I get plenty of criticism, whether I'm winning, losing or participating. For me, I don't really pay attention to any of that. I do what I need to do to help support my team."

Busch's biggest obstacle was lapped traffic and the lone competition, his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates. Busch and series rookie Erik Jones raced side-by-side for several laps before their green-flag pit stops with 24 laps left. Busch beat Jones to the line and built as much as a 3-second edge.

When Brad Keselowski finally pitted with 13 laps left, Busch took the lead for good and secured his ninth Xfinity Series win in 20 races at Phoenix.

"A knack for this place, I guess," Busch said. "We've been off a little bit on the (Sprint) Cup side for years, but this year we seem to be a lot better. ... The Xfinity Series program has always been good. I'm not sure why."

Jones' car failed postrace tech inspection for having too much rear suspension skew. Because it is a new measurement for this year, NASCAR has said it would be lenient for the start of the season and precedent in the Xfinity Series set two weeks ago at Atlanta is a $5,000 fine to the crew chief for the infraction.

Busch started the race third behind Jones and Suarez on the sunny and breezy day and shot to the lead on the sixth lap. He worked his way from fourth to first after three drivers took only two tires on a mid-race pit stop.

Busch's win has added to the strong conversation in social media about Sprint Cup "ringers" winning most of the Xfinity races.  Chase Elliott won the opening race at Daytona and Busch has won the last three.

Unofficial Race Results for the 12th Annual Axalta Faster. Tougher. Brighter.
200 - Saturday, March 12, 2016
Phoenix International Raceway - Avondale, AZ - 1 Mile Paved
Total Race Length - 200 Laps - 200 Miles
Leader
Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Pts Bns Driver Rating Status Tms Laps
1 3 18 Kyle Busch(i) NOS Energy Drink Toyota 200 0 149.7 Running 3 175
2 1 20 Erik Jones # Reser's Fine Foods Toyota 200 40 1 122.4 Running 1 5
3 2 19 Daniel Suarez Juniper Networks Toyota 200 38 118.6 Running
4 10 7 Justin Allgaier BRANDT Chevrolet 200 37 114.0 Running
5 5 88 Chase Elliott(i) TaxSlayer.com Chevrolet 200 0 107.6 Running
6 4 3 Ty Dillon Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Chevrolet 200 36 1 107.7 Running 1 11
7 6 2 Austin Dillon(i) Ruud Chevrolet 200 0 100.6 Running
8 16 1 Elliott Sadler OneMain Chevrolet 200 33 93.4 Running
9 7 22 Brad Keselowski(i) Discount Tire Ford 200 0 101.6 Running 1 9
10 17 48 Brennan Poole # DC Solar Chevrolet 200 31 86.8 Running
11 8 33 Brandon Jones # E-Z-GO Chevrolet 200 30 91.1 Running
12 9 6 Darrell Wallace Jr. Cheez-It Ford 199 29 91.5 Running
13 11 62 Brendan Gaughan South Point Chevrolet 199 28 85.0 Running
14 13 16 Ryan Reed Lilly Diabetes/American Diabetes Association Ford 199 27 81.0 Running
15 14 42 Justin Marks Katerra Chevrolet 199 26 78.8 Running
16 12 11 Blake Koch LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet 199 25 74.2 Running
17 15 43 Jeb Burton J. Streicher Ford 199 24 75.2 Running
18 26 28 Dakoda Armstrong JGL Racing Toyota 198 23 65.7 Running
19 28 93 Dylan Lupton RSS Racing Chevrolet 198 22 65.2 Running
20 23 14 JJ Yeley Toyota 198 21 66.5 Running
21 24 01 Ryan Preece # teamjdmotorsports.com Chevrolet 197 20 58.3 Running
22 22 44 David Starr Zachry Toyota 197 19 52.6 Running
23 18 21 Spencer Gallagher(i) Kingman Chevrolet/Allegiant Chevrolet 196 0 59.3 Running
24 19 4 Ross Chastain teamjdmotorsports.com Chevrolet 196 17 63.8 Running
25 25 07 Ray Black Jr. # Scuba Life Chevrolet 196 16 52.3 Running
26 27 24 TJ Bell Jr. Apex Contracting and Restoration Toyota 196 15 52.3 Running
27 21 39 Ryan Sieg RSS Racing Chevrolet 195 14 66.0 Running
28 20 51 Jeremy Clements RepairableVehicles.com Chevrolet 195 13 58.4 Running
29 35 78 BJ McLeod # X-TREME PH Sports Water Ford 194 12 43.8 Running
30 38 97 Harrison Rhodes Vroom Brands Chevrolet 194 11 40.3 Running
31 34 0 Garrett Smithley # teamjdmotorsports.com Chevrolet 194 10 42.3 Running
32 31 25 Timmy Hill(i) Wrap Nation Chevrolet 193 9 45.8 Running
33 36 52 Joey Gase Donate Life Arizona Chevrolet 191 8 36.8 Running
34 37 70 Derrike Cope E-Hydrate/Ashurst Honey Chevrolet 191 7 32.6 Running
35 32 90 Mario Gosselin BuckedUp Apparel/CrashClaimsR.Us Chevrolet 190 6 40.0 Running
36 33 13 DJ Kennington Northern Provincial Pipelines Dodge 190 5 33.0 Running
37 40 15 Todd Peck Ford 188 4 27.3 Running
38 39 74 Mike Harmon Dodge 182 3 28.3 Running
39 30 89 Morgan Shepherd Chevrolet 11 2 26.5 Overheating
40 29 10 Jeff Green Tri-Star Motorsports Toyota 5 1 23.2 Vibration

Ron Fleshman

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 2016, Issue 3, Posted 10:50 PM, 03.12.2016