Kyle Busch Staves Off Close Finish Winning Indy Xfinity Race Third Time

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - JULY 23: Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 NOS Energy Drink Toyota, celebrates after winning the NASCAR XFINITY Series Lilly Diabetes 250 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 23, 2016 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS, IN - JULY 23:  Justin Allgaier, driver of the #7 BRANDT Chevrolet, celebrates after winning the Dash for Cash at the NASCAR XFINITY Series Lilly Diabetes 250 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 23, 2016 in Indianapolis, Indiana.  (Photo by Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS, IN – JULY 23: Justin Allgaier, driver of the #7 BRANDT Chevrolet, celebrates after winning the Dash for Cash at the NASCAR XFINITY Series Lilly Diabetes 250 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 23, 2016 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images)

 

As hot as the weather was at the NASCAR Xfinity series Lilly Diabetes 250 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Saturday, it was Kyle Busch who was cool under the collar having plenty to worry about in the final laps of the race.

Pole-sitter, Busch was the class of the field leading for 62 of 63 laps, but a late race caution brought the field back up to his bumper that eventually took the race into NASCAR overtime.  Busch’s dilemma was having to race on older tires on his car when the likes of Kyle Larson and Kevin Harvick, who pitted for fresh rubber surrounding him for the restart and by all accounts had Busch’s goose cooked.

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - JULY 23:  Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 NOS Energy Drink Toyota, leads the field during the NASCAR XFINITY Series Lilly Diabetes 250 Heat #1 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 23, 2016 in Indianapolis, Indiana.  (Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS, IN – JULY 23: Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 NOS Energy Drink Toyota, leads the field during the NASCAR XFINITY Series Lilly Diabetes 250 Heat #1 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 23, 2016 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images)

 

That’s when he proved there’s a reason why Busch has now 83 NASCAR Xfinity wins and did by fending off both Larson, first and later Harvick by .415 of second for his third Indy Xfinity win at the Brickyard and his third consecutive victory in the series.

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - JULY 23:  Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 NOS Energy Drink Toyota, celebrates with his wife, Samantha, and son, Brexton, after winning the NASCAR XFINITY Series Lilly Diabetes 250 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 23, 2016 in Indianapolis, Indiana.  (Photo by Jeff Curry/NASCAR via Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS, IN – JULY 23: Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 NOS Energy Drink Toyota, celebrates with his wife, Samantha, and son, Brexton, after winning the NASCAR XFINITY Series Lilly Diabetes 250 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 23, 2016 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Jeff Curry/NASCAR via Getty Images)

 

“Well, the new tires for those guys was good for them, but not for so good for us having old tires,” Busch said.  “Obviously, but I just dug in deep and gave it everything I had.  I knew I had to get really good restarts in there.  The last (restart), it was OK.  I saw Harvick pull out (but he didn’t challenge).

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - JULY 23:  Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 NOS Energy Drink Toyota, celebrates after winning the NASCAR XFINITY Series Lilly Diabetes 250 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 23, 2016 in Indianapolis, Indiana.  (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS, IN – JULY 23: Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 NOS Energy Drink Toyota, celebrates after winning the NASCAR XFINITY Series Lilly Diabetes 250 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 23, 2016 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

 

Paul Menard finished third and Kyle Larson, who started two late restarts beside Busch, took fourth.

The two 20-lap Dash4Cash races entered Erik Jones, Justin Allgaier, Daniel Suarez and Elliott Sadler as candidates for the $100,000 bonus with Allgaier collecting the bounty by passing his JR Motorsports teammate, Elliott Sadler for fifth place on the white flag lap.

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - JULY 23:  Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 NOS Energy Drink Toyota, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR XFINITY Series Lilly Diabetes 250 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 23, 2016 in Indianapolis, Indiana.  (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS, IN – JULY 23: Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 NOS Energy Drink Toyota, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR XFINITY Series Lilly Diabetes 250 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 23, 2016 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images)

 

The Xfinity tour now heads to Iowa Speedway for the US Cellular 250 next Saturday night on NBCSN at 8 p.m. EDT.

About Jay Wells 321 Articles
Jay Wells, 61, is a veteran motorsports public relations and marketing official. He spent 33 years at the track working with NASCAR, IndyCar, IMSA, and NHRA series' before retiring in 2009. He began writing for RacingJunk.com in September of 2013 covering the NHRA and NASCAR circuits with post race coverage along with feature and breaking news stories. Wells resides in Mooresville, North Carolina. Follow Wells on Twitter @ jaywells500.

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