Kyle Busch wins, but inspection could be trouble
HAMPTON, Ga. — After a bunch of close calls at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Kyle Busch has found the winning touch in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
Busch cruised to his second straight AMS victory in the second-tier series Saturday. With a helping hand from lapped cars, the pole winner was able to hold off fellow Monster Energy Cup Series driver Brad Keselowski by 0.606 seconds. No one else was within two seconds of the front.
But Busch’s triumph was tarnished several hours after the race. NASCAR officials announced his No. 18 car failed a postrace inspection, with both the right and left front measuring too low.
The car will be taken to the NASCAR Research & Development Center near Charlotte for further testing, with any penalties to be announced next week. The team could face a loss of points and a suspension for its crew chief.
“Fantastic,” Busch said sarcastically. “I guess I’ll have to figure out who I’m working with next week.”
Before the 2016 Xfinity race at AMS, Busch had five runner-up finishes, plus third- and fourth-place showings on the 1.54-mile tri-oval.
“It took so long to get here to begin with,” Busch said in victory lane. “Now we’ve won two in a row. That feels so good.”
Keselowski won the first 40-lap stage, while Kevin Harvick took the next 40-lap phase. But it was Busch leading at the end — a promising start to a busy weekend at AMS, where he was competing in all three of NASCAR’s top series.
After celebrating with his team and making a brief stop in the media center, he hustled back to pit road for the Camping World Truck Series race. Today, Busch will start on the inside of the second row in the Cup race.
“It’s kind of a refresher course each and every year to run Saturday and get what I need to know on Sunday,” he said. “I learned a couple of things that I might’ve forgotten about. Hopefully I can use some of those things in my Cup car.”
Harvick led 64 laps — more than any driver — but got shuffled back to fourth at the finish. He will start from the pole in the Cup race.
Another Cup regular, Kyle Larson, was third.
Lapped cars prevented Keselowski from mounting a serious challenge to Busch in the closing laps.
“It’s always a game of cat and mouse, but sometimes it feels like chicken,” Keselowski said. “I kept losing one or two car lengths every time I’d go through traffic.”
Elliott Sadler was the top-finishing Xfinity Series regular, in fifth place, followed by fellow series regulars Darrell Wallace Jr. and William Byron.
It was an impressive run by the 19-year-old Byron, whose radio did not work properly. He was able to hear his crew but wasn’t able to speak with them, forcing the team to work out a system in which he signaled them coming into the pits to indicate what adjustments he needed.
“I would stay on the yellow line a certain way,” Byron said. “It was actually pretty seamless. But hopefully I don’t have that issue next week.”
“It took so long to get here to begin with. Now we’ve won two in a row. That feels so good.” – KYLE BUSCH