Busch wins

HAMPTON, Ga. — Shaking off the disappointment of losing the Sprint Cup pole, Kyle Busch claimed his first Xfinity Series victory at Atlanta Motor Speedway by holding off Kyle Larson.

Busch and Larson pulled away from the field after the final yellow flag. Larson closed the gap to about a half-second in the closing laps, but the rally ended when he got caught up briefly behind the lapped car of Ryan Preece.

Busch crossed the line 0.466 seconds ahead of Larson, then did his customary burnout and bow in front of the main grandstand.

The winner has plenty of experience celebrating in the second-tier series, claiming his career-best 77th victory, though Atlanta was one of three active tracks where he’d never won an Xfinity race. Not anymore. The victory was especially sweet coming less than 24 hours after Busch surrendered the pole for today’s Cup race after his car failed inspection.