Kyle Busch scored his 89th career XFINITY Series win on Saturday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Busch, a native of Las Vegas, found himself in the mix racing for the lead all throughout the afternoon.
“Yeah, it’s awesome because, you know, they deserve it and so does every team out here, but my team I want to say they work the best, they work the hardest and they made this NOS Energy Drink Camry really, really good,” said Busch after the race. “The 22 (Brad Keselowski) was really good and I felt like we were okay on the long runs, but once they got track position it was hard to pass them.”
He and Brad Keselowski were the two most dominant drivers in Saturday’s Overton’s 200. However, when making his final pit stop on lap 170, Keselowski had a fuel can leave the pit box. As a result, Keselowski was popped for removing equipment and forced to serve a pass-through penalty. The veteran driver went on to a fifth-place finish.
“It was a huge difference. That was a game changer, you know? A day changer for us, for them and for everybody, so, you know, but I want to give thanks to my guys and everyone on this NOS Energy Drink team, everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing, Eric Phillips (crew chief), my guys – they work real hard and they do a great job and we were right there,” said Busch when asked about the costly penalty for Keselowski. “We were close, but we were a second-place car today and yet it all takes teamwork and my guys they came together on pit road when it mattered most right there at the end and gave me a fast pit stop. We got out front. I think we kind of coaxed those guys into having to rush themselves and hurry a little bit and maybe we put the pressure and that was the difference was today, so great day for us and excited to have the opportunity to be in victory lane again here in New Hampshire.”
Ryan Preece had quite a busy weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Preece, racing under the Joe Gibbs Racing banner for the first time ever, took home his best career XFINITY Series finish of second.
Before the XFINITY Series got underway at New Hampshire, Preece competed in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. He started that event on the pole and finished in the runner-up position after leading 54 circuits.
Preece also spent some time leading the Overton’s 200. The No. 20 Toyota led one time for two circuits.
William Byron rounded out the top three finishers at New Hampshire. Byron started seventh in his No. 9 Axalta Chevrolet for JR Motorsports. The runner-up currently in XFINITY Series driver standings captured his sixth top five and 11th top 10 finish of the season.
Byron’s teammate Elliott Sadler continues to lead the series standings following Saturday’s event at New Hampshire. He leads the way by 45-points over Byron. Justin Allgaier, Brennan Poole and Daniel Hemric round out the top five. Sadler finished seventh on the leaderboard.
Justin Allgier found some issues towards the middle portion of the Overton’s 200. Allgaier went to the garage area for a short period of time to diagnose a transmission issue on the No. 7 Brandt Chevrolet. He later returned to finish 32nd on the leaderboard.
The series will head to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Lilly Diabetes 250. The IMS Radio Network, in conjunction with the Performance Racing Network, will have the live radio broadcast along with SiriusXM Channel 90. The race will air live on NBCSN at 3:30 p.m. ET.
About Me: Brett has been following the sport of NASCAR since the beginning of the 2006 NASCAR Sprint Cup season. Since Brett was 13, he has had a passion of chasing a job in sports that not many get the opportunity of doing. He has been in the NASCAR media since the middle of the 2010 season. Since then, he has been a part of many racing podcast shows to improve his talents. He has written for racingonfuel.com and theracingwheel.com. Currently, Brett writes for motorsportsnat.com and TracksideChatter.com. You can find him on twitter @NASCAR_Brett.
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