Kyle Bush's Pass in Overtime Propels Him to Xfinity Win in Charlotte

Chris Graythen/Getty Images

CONCORD, NC - RIS - Kyle Busch led a lot of the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Charlotte on Monday night, but a speeding penalty on pit road made things interesting.  A large multi-car accident slowed things down with Busch in second behind Austin Cindric.  On the last lap of overtime, Busch got by and rolled to the win.  Cindric wound up third.

“Aaaaahhhhhhh,” Cindric yelled on his radio after the race. “(Dang) it. I tried. I never lifted.”

The victory is Busch’s ninth Xfinity win in 27 career starts at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The victory also is Busch’s first win in the series this year and 97th in his career.

Daniel Hamric finished second. Cindric, who had older tires than the top two finishers, fell third on the final lap and was followed by Ross Chastain and Justin Allgaier.

Multiple cautions in the last 30 laps thinned the field of contenders, damaging the cars of Noah Gragson, Justin Haley and Brandon Jones.

Pit road speeding also damaged the hopes of Chase Briscoe and Brandon Jones.  Briscoe, who won last week at Darlington by passing Busch, and Chastain, who had led earlier and appeared to be the biggest threat to Busch, each hit the fluid and hit the wall when Timmy Hill’s car suffered an engine failure.

That was just part of a rough night for Briscoe, who won last week at Darlington. He was penalized or an uncontrolled tire and speeding on separate stops. He also hit the wall a second time.

Busch critiqued his strategy in overtime, saying he picked the wrong lane on the final restart.

“I thought choosing the outside was the right way but obviously it wasn’t. I don’t know,” Busch said. “Those guys put up a whale of a fight tonight on restarts. I guess I’m not good at it anymore.”

Busch’s win his 18th overall win at Charlotte Motor Speedway across NASCAR’s top three series – the most of any driver.

Cindric had a competitive race, regardless, but the youngster found solace in who the winner happened to be.

“To almost beat one of the best in the business on worse tires, I never lifted, I never lifted until I knew I was done,” Cindric said. “I wanted to win so bad.”

NASCAR Xfinity Series Race Number 6: Charlotte Motor Speedway: Concord, NC

Fin, Str, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, St2, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1) 18, Kyle Busch(i), No. 54 App State Class of 2020 Toyota, 203, 1, 1, 8, 94, , 0, Running
2) 12, Daniel Hemric, No. 8 Alsco Uniforms Chevrolet, 203, 9, 7, , , , 41, Running
3) 6, Austin Cindric, No. 22 Snap-on Tools Ford, 203, 6, 4, 4, 30, , 46, Running
4) 1, Ross Chastain, No. 10 Nutrien Ag Solutions Chevrolet, 203, 2, 2, 6, 68, , 51, Running
5) 4, Justin Allgaier, No. 7 Hellmann's Chevrolet, 203, , , , , , 32, Running
6) 22, Brett Moffitt(i), No. 02 FR8Auctions Chevrolet, 203, , , , , , 0, Running
7) 9, Michael Annett, No. 1 Pilot Flying J Chevrolet, 203, , , 1, 9, , 30, Running
8) 15, Brandon Brown, No. 68 CCU Class of 2020 Chevrolet, 203, , , , , , 29, Running
9) 11, Harrison Burton #, No. 20 Dex Imaging Toyota, 203, 10, 10, , , , 30, Running
10) 17, Myatt Snider, No. 21 TaxSlayer Chevrolet, 203, , , , , , 27, Running
11) 10, Noah Gragson, No. 9 Bass Pro Shops/BRCC Chevrolet, 203, 4, 5, 2, 2, , 39, Running
12) 5, Riley Herbst #, No. 18 Monster Energy Toyota, 202, 7, 8, , , , 32, Running
13) 19, Dillon Bassett, No. 90 Bassett Gutters & More Chevrolet, 201, , , , , , 24, Running
14) 21, Josh Williams, No. 92 OpenForBusiness/ChasingFreedom Chevrolet, 201, , , , , , 23, Running
15) 34, Jesse Little #, No. 4 Tufco Flooring Chevrolet, 201, , , , , , 22, Running
16) 37, Alex Labbe, No. 36 rousseau Chevrolet, 201, , , , , , 21, Running
17) 14, BJ McLeod, No. 6 TeamJDMotorsports.com Chevrolet, 200, , , , , , 20, Running
18) 36, Bayley Currey(i), No. 74 Save22.vet Chevrolet, 200, , , , , , 0, Running
19) 28, Joe Graf Jr #, No. 08 CORE Development Group Chevrolet, 200, , , , , , 18, Running
20) 8, Chase Briscoe, No. 98 HighPoint.com Ford, 200, 8, 3, , , , 28, Running
21) 30, Mason Massey, No. 99 Gerber Collision & Glass Toyota, 200, , , , , , 16, Running
22) 13, Chad Finchum, No. 13 CrashClaimsR.us Toyota, 200, , , , , , 15, Running
23) 16, Vinnie Miller, No. 78 Koolbox Chevrolet, 199, , , , , , 14, Running
24) 32, Tommy Joe Martins, No. 44 Market Rebellion Chevrolet, 198, , , , , , 13, Accident
25) 23, Jeffrey Earnhardt, No. 0 ContecThankYou Heroes Chevrolet, 198, , , , , , 12, Running
26) 31, Joe Nemechek(i), No. 47 Mutt and Jeff Porkskins Inc. Chevrolet, 198, , , , , , 0, Running
27) 2, Brandon Jones, No. 19 Menards/Pelonis Toyota, 197, 5, 6, , , , 21, Accident
28) 7, Ryan Sieg, No. 39 Chevrolet, 197, , , , , , 9, Running
29) 3, Justin Haley, No. 11 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet, 196, 3, 9, , , , 18, Accident
30) 33, Matt Mills, No. 5 J F Electric Chevrolet, 196, , , , , , 7, Running
31) 24, Garrett Smithley, No. 07 CDA Tech Chevrolet, 193, , , , , , 6, Running
32) 27, Jeremy Clements, No. 51 All South Electric Chevrolet, 176, , , , , , 5, Accident
33) 26, Austin Hill(i), No. 61 AISIN Group Toyota, 173, , , , , , 0, Accident
34) 25, Timmy Hill(i), No. 66 RoofClaim.com Toyota, 151, , , , , , 0, Engine
35) 35, Kody Vanderwal #, No. 52 Chevrolet, 26, , , , , , 2, Engine
36) 20, Jeff Green, No. 93 RSS Racing Chevrolet, 15, , , , , , 1, Power
37) 29, Colby Howard, No. 15 SANY America Chevrolet, 11, , , , , , 1, Overheating
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie

Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 43 Mins, 30 Secs.
Race Length: 203 Laps: 304.5 Miles
Average Speed: 111.743 MPH
Margin of Victory: 0.178 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 54, 10, 11, 9, 19, 22, 18, 98, 8, 20
Stage 2 Top 10: 54, 10, 98, 22, 9, 19, 8, 18, 11, 20

Race Comments: Kyle Busch won the Alsco 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, his 97th victory in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

Caution Flags: 11 for 53 laps;
Laps: 5-7 (No. 52 Incident Turn 2 [None]);
22-25 (Competition Caution [52]);
29-32 (No. 52 Incident Turn 4 [44]);
47-52 (Stage 1 Conclusion [5]);
92-98 (Stage 2 Conclusion [66]);
156-162 (Fluid On The Track From No. 66 [9]);
172-175 (No. 98 Incident Turn 1 [51]);
177-183 (No. 61, 51 Incident Turn 2 [10]);
185-188 (No. 21, 7 Incident Backstretch [44]);
194-196 (No. 18, 11, 19 Incident Frontstretch [7]);
198-201 (No. 19, 20, 9, 11, 44 Incident Turn 2 [21]).

Lead Changes: 20 among 5 drivers;
R. Chastain 1-31;
K. Busch(i) 32;
R. Chastain 33-37;
K. Busch(i) 38-50;
R. Chastain 51;
K. Busch(i) 52;
R. Chastain 53-80;
K. Busch(i) 81-98;
R. Chastain 99;
K. Busch(i) 100;
R. Chastain 101-102;
K. Busch(i) 103-149;
M. Annett 150-158;
A. Cindric 159-174;
N. Gragson 175;
A. Cindric 176-182;
N. Gragson 183;
A. Cindric 184-189;
K. Busch(i) 190-201;
A. Cindric 202;
K. Busch(i) 203.

Mobil 1 Driver of the Race: Kyle Busch, No. 54

Sunoco Rookie of the Race: Harrison Burton, No. 20

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 2020, Issue 5, Posted 11:52 PM, 05.25.2020