Kyle Busch takes Xfinity race at Indy
INDIANAPOLIS — Kyle Busch led all but one lap Saturday to win the NASCAR Xfinity Series Lilly Diabetes 250 race at Indianapolis for the second straight year.
The 2015 Sprint Cup champion beat Kevin Harvick by 0.415 seconds in the race that went 63 laps instead of the 60 scheduled.
“I’d like to hope so,” Busch said after being asked if he can keep this up after his seventh Xfinity win this season and record-extending 83rd of his career. “I don’t know exactly how many (races) I have left, that’s changing every day. But, hopefully, with whatever we have left, we can have the same amount of success we’ve had here.”
Paul Menard was third, 1.338 seconds back.
Busch posted the fastest practice times in both series Friday, won both poles Saturday and can sweep both races for the second straight year by winning the Brickyard 400 today.
No NASCAR driver has ever won both poles and both races here.
The only prize Busch didn’t get Saturday was the $100,000 dash-forcash prize, for which he was ineligible. That payout went to fifth-place finisher Justin Allgaier, who was the best of the non-Cup regulars. Allgaier said the thermometer in his car reached 137 degrees.
Busch, a Joe Gibbs Racing star, held off two former Brickyard 400 winners and one, Harvick, couldn’t even catch the leader after taking new tires during the final caution period, which extended the race to 63 laps.
The difference: Busch’s well-timed restarts.
“New tires for those guys were good for them, not so much for us,” Busch said after completing the final 36 laps without a stop. “On the restarts, the second-to-last one was really good. The last one was OK.”
ROSBERG CAPTURES HUNGARIAN GP POLE
BUDAPEST, Hungary — Nico Rosberg of Mercedes will start from the pole position today at the Hungarian Grand Prix, ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton and Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull.
Rosberg’s fourth pole of the season and 26th of his career was confirmed later Saturday by officials after reviewing whether the overall leader had slowed down enough during a yellow flag situation.
Qualifying was hampered by heavy rainfall, which delayed the start by 20 minutes and led to several interruptions and crashes, including by Felipe Massa of Williams and Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson.
Rosberg posted a time of 1 minute, 19.965 seconds, 0.143 seconds faster than Hamilton, who barely made it to the last of the three qualifying sessions, finishing 10th in the second session. Ricciardo was third, 0.172 seconds off Hamilton’s pace.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, the only non-Mercedes winner this season, was fourth, followed by Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.
“It was a challenging qualifying. I just got a really good lap in the last lap, so I’m really happy with that,” Rosberg said. “I’m happy to be on the pole because it’s a great chance for me to win a grand prix tomorrow.”
Hamilton is seeking a record fifth victory at the Hungaroring circuit. Michael Schumacher also has four wins in Hungary.
“I’m not really too disappointed” with starting second, Hamilton said. “It was a tricky session and I did the best I could do.”