The NASCAR Xfinity Series raced at sunny Phoenix Raceway in the LS Tractor 200. NASCAR Cup regulars Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski joined the Xfinity drivers for the race. With Busch’s record many assumed that he would lead the race and it would be boring. It was anything but, especially for Brandon Jones who passed Busch in his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, with 20 laps to go for the lead and the win.
This is Jones’s second career win and first for this season. It also is the 500th victory for Toyota in NASCAR’s top three national series.
I can’t believe he (Busch) left the bottom open. We’re so strong on the top lane.” Jones said, “ Toyota is the manufacturer to be with, I love those guys so much, it’s like a family working with them.” He added, “Coach Gibbs is great, life is good. We’re going to work hard and we’re going to get big results because of it.”
Stage 1 only saw one caution for a minor incident with Ray Black Jr. Busch and Cindric had a great battle for the lead swapping it back and forth but on the last lap Justin Allgaeir swept in and took the Stage 1 win.
Stage 2 also only had one minor caution. Allgaier was strong and ran out front for several laps until Busch took the lead over on Lap 75. It looked like Busch was going to win this stage but on the last lap Noah Gragson snuck in there to take the stage win.
Stage 3 is where all the action happened. There were three cautions, only one of which involved more than one car, none had serious damage. There was a lot of great side by side racing. On Lap 47 Busch was back on top again and looked like he would cruise to the finish, only Jones’ car was getting bigger in his mirror. On Lap 20 Busch left the bottom open and that was all Jones needed to take the lead and the checkered flags. Last weeks’ winner Harrison Burton was also able to get his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota past Busch for second place, while Busch finished third in his No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Driver Dillon Bassett was upset with Brandon Brown and met him on pit road but before he could get out of the car Bassett reached in and a small fight ensued. Needless to say, both of them and their crew chiefs got called to meet with NASCAR.
Keselowski and Haley rounded out the top five. Chase Briscoe, Noah Gragson, Austin Cindric, Ross Chastain, and Riley Herbst finished sixth through 10, respectively.
Burton is in the points lead with 176 points over Briscoe who has 173 points.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series heads next to Atlanta Motor Speedway.
