Kyle Busch Wins in the Xfinity Series and Goes for the Sweep on Sunday

Jonathan Ferrey- Getty Images

LAS VEGAS, NV -RIS -Kyle Busch won the NASCAR Xfinity race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday, but it wasn’t easy.  Holding the lead with 7 laps to go to go, a crash brought out the caution, making the race go into overtime.  Before the two-lap overtime could declare a winner, another crash meant a second overtime.  Busch finally outran John Hunter Nemechek to get the victory.

It was his record 93rd career Xfinity series win to his victory in the Truck Series race on Friday, meaning he goes for the sweep in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup race on Sunday. Busch is the only driver ever to win Trucks, Xfinity and Cup series races in the same weekend, doing it at Bristol in 2010 and 2017.

"I thought, 'OK, there's an opportunity here, but there's a lot of things that have to go our way,'" Busch said. "Fortunately, that caution in the beginning of the second stage went our way and allowed us to put our first set of tires on with a fresh wheel. ... This Supra was fast out there today, and awfully fun to drive. We worked for that one, that's for sure."

He stayed in front during two overtime restarts, the second caused when Brandon Jones took heavy damage in a collision with Cole Custer.

"I knew to keep fighting and keep working," Busch said. "It was early enough where you could try to come back from one of those kinds of setbacks. I wasn't sure how we were going to do it, being short a set of tires. We got a lucky break with that caution in the second stage that got us back on cycle."

With 51 career Cup series victories and 53 Truck wins, Busch is just three wins behind Richard Petty's record 200 NASCAR victories.

Las Vegas native Noah Gragson was third, followed by Austin Dillon and Michael Annett.

Busch has won just once in 15 career Cup races on his hometown track, but he'll start third on Sunday. Busch isn't a big fan of NASCAR's new rules package, which keeps speeds down and downforce up in an attempt to encourage tough, tight racing.

Unofficial Results for the 23rd Annual Boyd Gaming 300 - March 2, 2019 - Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Fin, Str, Driver, Car, , Laps, St1, St2, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1) 8, Kyle Busch(i), No. 18 Extreme Concepts/iK9 Toyota, 213, , 3, 4, 98, , 0, Running
2) 10, John Hunter Nemechek, No. 23 Allegiant Chevrolet, 213, 5, 5, , , , 47, Running
3) 4, Noah Gragson #, No. 9 Switch Chevrolet, 213, 10, , , , , 35, Running
4) 31, Austin Dillon(i), No. 10 Stitched Chevrolet, 213, , , , , , 0, Running
5) 16, Michael Annett, No. 1 Pilot/Flying J Chevrolet, 213, 6, 8, , , , 40, Running
6) 18, Ryan Sieg, No. 39 Lombard Bros Gaming Chevrolet, 213, , 9, , , , 33, Running
7) 15, Ross Chastain, No. 4 RM Parks/EZ Angus Ranch Chevrolet, 213, , , , , , 30, Running
8) 28, Chase Briscoe #, No. 98 Nutri Chomps Ford, 213, , 10, , , , 30, Running
9) 1, Cole Custer, No. 00 Haas Automation Ford, 213, 1, 4, 2, 47, 1, 45, Running
10) 13, Justin Haley #, No. 11 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet, 212, 9, , , , , 29, Running
11) 20, Ray Black II, No. 07 ISOKERNFrplcs&Chmnys/ScubaLife Chev, 211, , , , , , 26, Running
12) 35, Gray Gaulding, No. 08 Flywheel Chevrolet, 211, , , 1, 2, , 25, Running
13) 3, Christopher Bell, No. 20 Rheem/Smurfit Kappa Toyota, 210, 4, 2, 2, 3, , 40, Running
14) 12, Tyler Reddick, No. 2 Hurdl Chevrolet, 208, 3, 1, 3, 62, 1, 41, Accident
15) 17, Jeremy Clements, No. 51 RepairableVehicles.com Chevrolet, 208, , , , , , 22, Running
16) 19, Josh Williams, No. 36 All Sports Coffee/JoeFroyo Chevrolet, 208, , , , , , 21, Running
17) 11, Brandon Brown #, No. 86 Brandonbilt Motorsports Chevrolet, 208, , , , , , 20, Running
18) 22, Garrett Smithley, No. 0 teamjdmotorsports.com Chevrolet, 208, , , , , , 19, Running
19) 27, David Starr, No. 52 Chevrolet, 208, , , , , , 18, Running
20) 29, BJ McLeod, No. 15 teamjdmotorsports.com Chevrolet, 208, , , , , , 17, Running
21) 2, Chad Finchum, No. 42 Amana/Smithbilt Homes Toyota, 207, , , , , , 16, Running
22) 5, Austin Cindric, No. 22 MoneyLion Ford, 206, 8, , 1, 1, , 18, Accident
23) 34, Timmy Hill, No. 66 Francovich Manhattan Toyota, 206, , , , , , 14, Running
24) 6, Zane Smith, No. 8 The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas Chevrolet, 205, , , , , , 13, Accident
25) 24, Ja Junior Avila, No. 99 Art General Contractors/JW Transport Toyota, 205, , , , , , 12, Running
26) 14, Vinnie Miller, No. 78 Koolbox Chevrolet, 202, , , , , , 11, Running
27) 30, Stephen Leicht, No. 01 teamjdmotorsports.com Chevrolet, 200, , , , , , 10, Running
28) 9, Brandon Jones, No. 19 Menards/Jeld-Wen Toyota, 198, 2, 7, , , , 22, Accident
29) 25, Matt Mills, No. 5 JF Electric Chevrolet, 196, , , , , , 8, Running
30) 37, Mike Harmon, No. 74 Time for a Hero Chevrolet, 194, , , , , , 7, Running
31) 7, Justin Allgaier, No. 7 BRANDT Professional Agriculture Chevrolet, 119, 7, 6, , , , 15, Engine
32) 26, Jeff Green, No. 38 RSS Racing Chevrolet, 99, , , , , , 5, Suspension
33) 38, Morgan Shepherd, No. 89 VisoneRV.com Chevrolet, 61, , , , , , 4, Handling
34) 21, Bayley Currey(i), No. 17 Chevrolet, 24, , , , , , 0, Electrical
35) 36, Stan Mullis, No. 13 Fluidyne/CrashClaimsR.US Toyota, 14, , , , , , 2, Vibration
36) 32, Josh Bilicki, No. 93 RSS Racing Chevrolet, 13, , , , , , 1, Electrical
37) 23, Donald Theetge, No. 90 Mercedes-Benz St-Nicolas/Circuit Acura , 1, , , , , , 1, Accident
38) 33, Joey Gase, No. 35 Nevada Donor Network Toyota, 1, , , , , , 1, Accident
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie

Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 35 Mins, 12 Secs.
Total Race Length - 213 Laps - 319.5 Miles
Average Speed: 123.518 MPH
Margin of Victory: 0.192 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 00, 19, 2, 20, 23, 1, 7, 22, 11, 9
Stage 2 Top 10: 2, 20, 18, 00, 23, 7, 19, 1, 39, 98

Race Comments: Kyle Busch won the Boyd Gaming 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, his 93rd NASCAR Xfinity Series victory. Prior to the start of the race, the following cars dropped to the rear under penalty for the reasons indicated: Nos. 01 and 20 (unapproved adjustments.

Caution Flags: 7 for 37 laps; Laps: 3-7 (#35 and 90 Incident in Turn 3 [None]); 47-52 (Stage 1 Conclusion [08]); 60-63 (#22 and 8 incident in Turn 2 [07]); 92-97 (Stage 2 Conclusion [0]); 190-194 (#99 Spin in Turn 4 [1]); 200-205 (#0 and 19 Incident in Turn 3 [4]); 207-211 (#2, 8, 20 and 22 Incident in Turn 4 [11]).

Lead Changes: 12 among 7 drivers; C. Custer 1-8; A. Cindric 9; C. Custer 10-48; T. Reddick 49-93; G. Gaulding 94-95; T. Reddick 96-111; K. Busch(i) 112-147; C. Bell 148-149; K. Busch(i) 150-180; C. Bell 181; K. Busch(i) 182-204; T. Reddick 205; K. Busch(i) 206-213.

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 2019, Issue 2, Posted 10:49 PM, 03.02.2019