HAMPTON, Ga. — Recap by Race Chaser Online Managing Editor Jacob Seelman — Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images for NASCAR photo —
Kyle Busch can check one more box on his illustrious career resume in the NASCAR XFINITY Series: Atlanta Motor Speedway winner.
The former series champion and all-time series wins leader took home his first NXS victory from the Georgia track in a dominating performance, leading 119 of 163 laps in the Heads Up Georgia 250, but had to fend off a late-race charge from Kyle Larson before he could breathe easy.
Larson sliced Busch’s 1.7 second advantage with 20 laps to go down to a scant four car lengths at the four to go mark, but Busch deftly maneuvered lap traffic in the final moments to hold Larson off and collect the trophy.
“This is a really sweet one, both for me and for Toyota,” Busch said following the race. “I’m glad to get them their first win as a manufacturer and I’m glad to be able to finally have an XFINITY win here (at Atlanta).”
(Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images for NASCAR photo)
“I shoulda won my rookie year (driving for Hendrick Motorsports), but my (now) good ol’ teammate Matt Kenseth beat me on a late-race restart … and we weren’t able to hang onto it. I was pretty devastated that day, because it wasn’t that long after the Hendrick plane crash … but you move on from days like that and I’m just glad we were able to do what we did out there (on-track) today.”
The early stages of the race were a story of good and bad for Joe Gibbs Racing, as Busch led the first 28 laps from the pole while his teammate Erik Jones was penalized with a pass-through penalty for beating Busch to the line, after the latter spun his tires coming to the initial green flag.
A pair of early cautions would save Jones, however, as the 19-year-old made his run down pit road at lap five just before the first caution flew for a blown motor on David Starr’s Toyota three circuits later. Another slowdown at lap 14, for Chris Cockrum’s slow machine on-track, would back up the early pace and see Brad Keselowski lead a group down pit road before the first long run of the day broke out beginning at the 20th round.
New tires for the No. 22 Discount Tire Ford would see him turn into a rocketship around the Georgia quad-oval — moving from 19th to the lead in under 10 laps when he blew by Busch for the top spot. Keselowski would then take leave of the rest of the field, pulling out to a near 10-second advantage before the race’s third caution flew right in the middle of green-flag pit stops at lap 49.
As Ray Black Jr. limped to a stop on the backstretch with a shredded right front tire, the leaders returned to pit road and cycled back onto the same strategy cycle, with Justin Allgaier winning the race off and leading the field back to green with 54 laps complete.
Allgaier would use an aggressive restart on the bottom to hold the top spot for 15 laps, but a charging Keselowski would slowly whittle into the margin before resuming command of the field on lap 67 and bringing Busch along to second with him. The latter would then haunt Keselowski’s tire tracks for the next six trips across the start-finish line before powering to the lead with 90 laps to go.
At halfway, it was those two plus the Chevrolet of Kyle Larson leading the train around AMS, but Larson would pick up the pace with 77 laps to go, powering around Keselowski to assume the runner-up position — albeit two seconds behind Kyle Busch. The young Californian, however, would slowly chase down Busch and nearly take the top spot away before he followed Busch down pit road for service with 62 laps remaining.
Busch would gap Larson by three seconds during the cycle and hold that gap all the way until Joey Gase popped the turn three wall with a flat tire, ending a 74 lap green flag run and setting up the final round of scheduled pit service for the frontrunners with 40 laps to go.
The No. 18 would easily win the race off pit road, and hold the lead on the restart with a huge push from Paul Menard to work clear of Larson at the front of the field. A quick yellow for a flat tire on the No. 6 of Darrell Wallace Jr. and potential fluid on the track, however, sent Erik Jones down pit road for four fresh tires and set up a 29 lap dash to the checkered flag.
That dash, while it would see Jones rebound from ninth to third on his fresh tires, would be of no consequence to Busch. The series veteran held off every advance by Larson in the closing stages, dicing in and out of traffic, before driving off into the distance and notching a half-second victory over the young gun when the checkered flag flew.
For Larson, he simply needed a little bit more time to work Busch over for the win.
(Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images for NASCAR photo)
“It was tough to pass out there,” Larson said. “Our ENEOS Chevy was really good … it was better than I expected, to be honest. I figured we’d be somewhere between fourth and sixth but we were a whole lot better. We were a car that should have been challenging for the win today and we were. Just ran out of laps.”
Jones admitted after the race that his podium finish soothed the sting, somewhat, of having to fight back all race long from the penalty he was assessed on the initial start of the race.
“It did ease our minds, somewhat,” the Byron, Mich. driver said. “By halfway we had all honestly forgotten about it, to be honest. At that point we were back in the position that we really felt like we were going to be in (at that point), and just looking ahead and trying to see what we could do to grab the win.”
“Knowing that we got the finish that I believe we would have gotten — with or without the penalty — really helped a lot in the end. This was a good day for us, and now we’ll head west and see what we can do out there.”
Richard Childress Racing teammates Paul Menard and Ty Dillon capped off the top five.
Keselowski finished sixth after a slow pit stop — caused by an air hose getting hung up in a crack in the pit wall — cost him time on his last green flag pit stop. The Team Penske Ford led 28 laps early in the race but could never recover despite the last caution late in the race.
Daniel Suarez, Allgaier, Elliott Sadler and Jeb Burton rounded out the top 10.
Three-time defending race winner Kevin Harvick battled overheating issues all race long, and finished 12th after being two laps down at different points during the race.
The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series returns to action on Saturday, April 2 with the Alpha Energy Solutions 250 from Martinsville Speedway.
Audio with race winner Kyle Busch:
Audio with race-winning crew chief Chris Gayle:
Audio with third-place Erik Jones:
RESULTS: NASCAR XFINITY Series; Heads Up Georgia 250; Atlanta Motor Speedway; Feb. 27, 2016
- Kyle Busch
- Kyle Larson
- Erik Jones
- Paul Menard
- Ty Dillon
- Brad Keselowski
- Daniel Suarez
- Justin Allgaier
- Elliott Sadler
- Jeb Burton
- Brandon Jones
- Kevin Harvick
- Brendan Gaughan
- Brennan Poole
- Ryan Reed
- Ryan Sieg
- Jeremy Clements
- Darrell Wallace Jr.
- J.J. Yeley
- Blake Koch
- Dakoda Armstrong
- Ryan Preece
- Corey LaJoie
- Garrett Smithley
- Mario Gosselin
- B.J. McLeod
- Derrike Cope
- Ross Chastain
- Chris Cockrum
- Mike Harmon
- Cody Ware
- Joey Gase
- Ray Black Jr.
- Josh Reaume
- Harrison Rhodes
- Carl Long
- Morgan Shepherd
- Todd Peck
- David Starr
- Jeff Green
About the Writer
Jacob Seelman is the Managing Editor of Race Chaser Online and creator of the Motorsports Madness radio show, airing at 7 p.m. Eastern every Monday on the Performance Motorsports Network. Seelman grew up in the sport, watching his grandparents co-own the RaDiUs Motorsports NASCAR Cup Series team in the 1990s.
The 22-year-old is currently studying Broadcast Journalism at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C., and is also serving as the full-time tour announcer for both the United Sprint Car Series and the Must See Racing Sprint Car Series.
Email Jacob at: speed77radio@gmail.com
Follow on Twitter: @Speed77Radio or @JacobSeelman77
Email Race Chaser Online: news@racechaseronline.com
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