Kyle Busch gets OT win
He fends off a late rally by Austin Cindric with a last-lap pass to earn Xfinity victory
Kyle Busch passed Austin Cindric on the final lap in overtime to win his 97th career Xfinity Series race in dramatic fashion Monday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
After a crash involving several cars sent the race into overtime, Cindric passed Busch on a restart starting at the inside lane of the front row. But Busch battled back and pushed the pedal to the floor, passing Cindric on the last lap to earn his 18th overall win at Charlotte Motor Speedway across NASCAR’S top three series — the most of any driver.
“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.”
Cindric thought he had Busch beat.
“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.”
Busch has now won 210 career races across NASCAR’S top three series.
Daniel Hemric edged Cindric for second. Cindric finished third followed by Ross Chastain and Justin Allgaier.
Busch appeared in control for most of the race winning the first two stages, but was assessed a speeding penalty on pit row with 38 laps to go, dropping him to 10th place. But Busch battled back through the field with the help of a series of strong restarts on cautions in the final 30 laps.
There were just five cautions in the first 155 laps, but six yellow flags over the last 45 laps.