Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Kyle Busch wins in XFINITY.
The driver of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota led 175 of 200 laps to score his third straight series victory in the Axalta Faster. Tougher. Brighter. 200 NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Phoenix International Raceway. This is the 79th career win for the all-time winningest driver in the series history.
“I guess we just have a knack for this place,” Busch said. “We didn’t sit on the pole, but our teammates did and were obviously very fast. They made me run hard all day long. The XFINITY Series, it’s fun to come here and participate. I learn a lot and do that for a reason; to try and make myself better on Sundays and hopefully it helps.”
Pole-sitter Erik Jones led five laps in his No. 20 JGR Toyota on his way to a runner-up finish.
“From the start, we had a second-place car it looked like. Then toward the end there before the last (pit) stops, I thought we were better than (Busch) and started to work him over,” Jones said. “But we lost too much ground overall leaving pit road trying to stay with him. After that, we were too tight really to try to run him down.”
Daniel Suárez finished third in his No. 19 JGR Toyota followed by Justin Allgaier who finished fourth in his No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet. Chase Elliott rounded out the top-five in his No. 88 JRM Chevrolet.
Ty Dillon led 11 laps on his way to a sixth-place finish in his No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. Austin Dillon finished seventh in his No. 2 RCR Chevrolet while Elliott Sadler finished ninth in his No. 1 JRM Chevrolet. Brad Keselowski led nine laps on his way to a ninth-place finish in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford as Brennan Poole rounded out the top-10 in his No. 48 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet.
Eleven cars finished the race on the lead lap. The race lasted one hour, 45 minutes and 11 seconds at an average speed of 114.087 mph. There were five lead changes among four different drivers and three cautions for 16 laps.
Complete Race Results:
1. (3) Kyle Busch(i), Toyota, 200.
2. (1) Erik Jones #, Toyota, 200.
3. (2) Daniel Suárez, Toyota, 200.
4. (10) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 200.
5. (5) Chase Elliott(i), Chevrolet, 200.
6. (4) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 200.
7. (6) Austin Dillon(i), Chevrolet, 200.
8. (16) Elliott Sadler, Chevrolet, 200.
9. (7) Brad Keselowski(i), Ford, 200.
10. (17) Brennan Poole #, Chevrolet, 200.
11. (8) Brandon Jones #, Chevrolet, 200.
12. (9) Darrell Wallace Jr., Ford, 199.
13. (11) Brendan Gaughan, Chevrolet, 199.
14. (13) Ryan Reed, Ford, 199.
15. (14) Justin Marks, Chevrolet, 199.
16. (12) Blake Koch, Chevrolet, 199.
17. (15) Jeb Burton, Ford, 199.
18. (26) Dakoda Armstrong, Toyota, 198.
19. (28) Dylan Lupton, Chevrolet, 198.
20. (23) JJ Yeley, Toyota, 198.
21. (24) Ryan Preece #, Chevrolet, 197.
22. (22) David Starr, Toyota, 197.
23. (18) Spencer Gallagher(i), Chevrolet, 196.
24. (19) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 196.
25. (25) Ray Black Jr. #, Chevrolet, 196.
26. (27) TJ Bell Jr., Toyota, 196.
27. (21) Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, 195.
28. (20) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 195.
29. (35) BJ McLeod #, Ford, 194.
30. (38) Harrison Rhodes, Chevrolet, 194.
31. (34) Garrett Smithley #, Chevrolet, 194.
32. (31) Timmy Hill(i), Chevrolet, 193.
33. (36) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, 191.
34. (37) Derrike Cope, Chevrolet, 191.
35. (32) Mario Gosselin, Chevrolet, 190.
36. (33) DJ Kennington, Dodge, 190.
37. (40) Todd Peck, Ford, 188.
38. (39) Mike Harmon, Dodge, 182.
39. (30) Morgan Shepherd, Chevrolet, Overheating, 11.
40. (29) Jeff Green, Toyota, Vibration, 5.
