Busch races to 100th Xfinity victory in return to Nashville
Allgaier finishes 2nd, Burton 3rd
LEBANON, Tenn., June 20, (AP): Kyle Busch raced to his 100th career Xfinity Series victory at Nashville Superspeedway, where he won for the fourth time.
Busch won in the Xfinity Series in 2009 and the Truck Series in 2010 and 2011, but the track closed the year he won his last race. The speedway re-opened this weekend and will host its first Cup race Sunday.
CAR RACING
Busch led seven times for 123 laps and beat Justin Allgaier in overtime for his third victory in three Xfinity races this season. His 100th win in his 360th career start is a nearly 28% winning percentage.
It might be all said and done after two more Xfinity Series races. Busch doesn’t think Joe Gibbs Racing has sold any Xfinity races yet for him in 2022 and so this year could be his last running his allowed five events a season.
NASCAR only allows Cup drivers to compete in five Xfinity and five Truck Series races a year and Busch uses all his starts. NASCAR first set the limit at 10 races in 2017, cut it to seven in 2018 and then five last year.
Busch and Allgaier had a spirited late battle and swapped the lead six times in the final 49 laps. As the crowd booed him
after he collected the checkered flag, he thanked his “Rowdy Nation” supporters and mocked the haters.
Busch was vilified by fans in 2009 for smashing the winner’s Gibson guitar trophy in victory lane and he playfully pretended he was going to do it again while celebrating NASCAR’s re-opening. But after lifting the Gibson over his head, he instead pretended to play it like a rock star. Allgaier finished second and was followed by Harrison Burton, Josh Berry and AJ Allmendinger.
Reigning Xfinity Series champion retained a 90-point lead over Allmendinger in the standings despite crashing and finishing 32nd.