Kyle Busch is making milestones this year in the Cup Series and now he’s marked off another one in the Xfinity Series, by winning the Pocono Green 250 at Pocono Raceway. The win today was Busch’s first win at Pocono in the Xfinity series.
He led 64 of 100 laps today in his Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota culminating in his 92nd career win in the Xfinity Series. Busch dominated the race overall, finishing 2.85 seconds over second place Chase Elliott in his No. 23 GMS Racing Chevrolet.
In Victory Lane, a happy Busch remarked, “It feels good for as good as our car was, and I tried to screw it up early again this week.” He added, “The car was on rails this week you know it was last week too, but we were able to overcome our deficits we had this week.” He also said, “It’s a lot of fun to race with meaning and cause, so I dedicate this win to the men and women that are fighting for our country both now and past.”
UPDATE: According to a NASCAR spokesperson, Busch failed post-race inspection height measurements. Any possible penalties will be announced next week.
Stage 1 would be caution free from start to finish. Cole Custer brought the field to the green, but by Lap 2 Busch was leading the field and wouldn’t look back. There were some great battles going on with all the cars fanning out four and five wide on the track, making for an exciting race. Busch would take the stage win leading 23 of 25 laps.
Stage 2 started off in an interesting way. During the caution, Busch, along with Christopher Bell, received speeding penalties and had to restart at the rear of the field. But, starting at the rear would not hinder either Bell or Busch as within 10 laps both drivers were back in the top 10. There was only one caution for the spinning car of Michael Annett. Paul Menard worked his way to the front to be the winner of Stage 2.
Stage 3 had some of the best action with cars battling for position. John Hunter Nemechek, Bell, and Brandon Jones were all swapping the top spots. The yellow flag waived twice for cautions, once for Annett and Chase Briscoe who got tangled up and into the wall. The next caution would involve Justin Allgaier and Bell who were both in the top 10 all day, ending their chances at a win. Busch had the top spot when the green flag flew again and stayed there to the finish getting his first Xfinity win of 2018.
Second place would go to Elliott in his No. 23 GMS Racing Chevrolet. After the race, he commented, “Kyle was really fast at the beginning though I thought about halfway through I was equal to him.” He went on to say, “If I was right behind him I could draft and stay close and I thought that was going to be good if I could’ve got the air and run a little further up on that restart.” He finished by saying, “ It was fun, had a good day, I’m looking forward to the next one.”
Daniel Hemric in his No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet would take the third spot today. Hemric summed his day up as a ”Chicken salad kind of day.” He explained it this way, “We struggled trying to get track position early, we hoped we had a lot more speed, it was so hard to make runs or passes. You get side by side but it all depends on what the guy behind you did, if he went with you or with the other guy.” He continued, “It seems like I was always the other guy who (they) didn’t get going with.”
Austin Cindric and Cole Custer would round out the top five. Elliott Sadler, John Hunter Nemechek, Paul Menard, Tyler Reddick, and Ryan Truex finished sixth through 10th respectively.
Sadler leads the Xfinity Series standings with 474 points, Cole Custer is second with 412 points and Daniel Hemric is in third place with 411 points. Tyler Reddick sits in fourth place with 410 points, and rounding out the top five is Christopher Bell with 395 points.
The Xfinity Series will be heading next to Michigan International Speedway on Saturday, June 9.
