KANSAS CITY — Kyle Busch continued his dominance of the Xfinity Series at Kansas Speedway Saturday.
Elliott Sadler and Daniel Suarez continued their chase for a title.
Pulling double-duty this weekend, Busch led 150 of the 200 laps in a thoroughly dominant performance for his ninth series win of the season. It was also his third straight Xfinity win at Kansas, where he won in his Sprint Cup car for the first time this spring.
“There were a lot of things trying to work against us toward the end, but we just persevered,” said Busch, who at one point was a lap down. “We had great speed. I think we showed it all weekend. It was just a matter of putting it all together and ending up in victory lane, where we deserved to be.”
Sadler finished second and Suarez finished third to give the Chase contenders a nice start to the three-race round of eight, which now takes a two-week break before continuing at Texas.
“Everyone is starting off square,” Sadler said, “so you’re trying to get a point here and get a point there. Now everybody will have different strategies as we go to Texas and Phoenix.”
Two more Sprint Cup regulars, Joey Logano and Kyle Larson, waged an entertaining duel to round out the top five. But it was some drama around them in the closing laps that shook up the title chase.
Justin Allgaier and Darrell Wallace Jr. were involved in a late wreck, though Allgaier’s partially destroyed car was able to finish a lap down in 14th. Wallace wound up 33rd and now has a massive deficit to make up the next two races if he wants to avoid elimination.
Nor was it Brendan Gaughan’s day. He went slip-sliding through the grass on the front stretch late in the race and wound up 31st — though he did provide some comic relief when he sprinted from the infield care center back to his car in an attempt to squeeze a few more laps in before the finish.
It wound up having no bearing on his result.
Erik Jones also had a gripe after spending most of the day near the front. He was hit from behind by Larson on a late restart, sending him into Ty Dillon and causing enough damage to force a costly pit stop.
Jones ended finishing 15th, fifth among the eight drivers competing for a championship.
“It’s all my fault,” Larson told his spotter after the impact.
Blake Koch finished ninth in a strong start to the round for his championship hopes, while Ryan Reed dealt with a series of problems all afternoon and finished behind Allgaier and Jones in 16th.
Now, they’ll all be chasing Sadler and Suarez over the next two races. — AP
