Photo Credit: Mike Holloway/OnPitRoad.com
For the fifth race in a row, Joe Gibbs Racing cars led the field to the green flag, and for the fourth time of the season, a Gibbs car driven by Kyle Busch sits in victory lane.
Busch led 150 of 200 laps at the Texas Motor Speedway on a night where most drivers struggled to find grip on track while he continued his dominant streak of winning the last three NASCAR races across all three series. It was Busch’s 80th career XFINITY Series win, and eighth at Texas.
“We fine-tuned and worked on our balance a little bit, but overall, this is so good and cool for these guys,” Busch said. “I appreciate everyone at JGR’s (Joe Gibbs Racing) XFINITY shop, JGR engines, Toyota, again NOS Energy Drink and XFINITY and the fans. We appreciate everyone pulling for us and what we were able to do.”
It seemed like Erik Jones was one of the only drivers who could compete with Busch all night. Jones led 12 laps before the halfway point, but a pit road penalty for a crew member over the wall too soon cost Jones the lead after a caution on lap 79. Jones would finish second, but was never able to fully recover from the penalty.
“A good day for us. We definitely felt like we had the car that could do it today,” said Jones. “That penalty kind of put us back where it got hard to make adjustments on it and keep up with the track.”
Brad Keselowski scored his best finish of the season with a third-place showing at Texas. The No. 22 crew led by rookie crew chief Brian Wilson has struggled to find its footing this year, but the team posted its first top-five finish since Joey Logano finished second in the season opener.
“It was a decent day for the Discount Tire Ford and for our XFINITY program,” Keselowski said. “We haven’t really started off the year like we wanted, but we’ve got a little bit of momentum. I think we’re starting to get our cars a little bit better.”
Texas Motor Speedway has been a kind track to Chase Elliott, and tonight’s race was no different as the 20-year-old brought the fourth JR Motorsports Chevrolet home in the fourth position. Elliott scored his first XFINITY Series win at Texas in 2014. It was a hard fought finish for Elliott who battled inside the top-five for most of the night with team owner Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
Earnhardt would round out the top-five at Texas tonight in the No. 88. Much like his protege Chase Elliott, Earnhardt scored his first series win at Texas back in 1998. Tonight’s race was the first of two scheduled races for Earnhardt this season. He’ll be back in the No. 88 in two weeks to race at Richmond and looks to improve on his performance.
Behind the duo of Chase Elliott and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. were two more JR Motorsports teammates, Justin Allgaier and Elliott Sadler. Allgaier ran inside the top-10 for most of the night, despite having to make an unscheduled pit stop part way through the race for a loose wheel. The 30-year-old Riverton, IL native fell a lap down, but with the help of the free pass, battled his way back for a sixth-place finish.
Austin Dillon, Brandon Jones and Ryan Sieg finished out the top-10. The 10th-place effort for Sieg was his first top-10 of the season, and only the fourth of his career.
Kyle Larson finished 11th, despite leading 38 laps in the race. Larson sidedrafted Kyle Busch on a mid-race restart to take the lead from Busch. He held on to the lead, but began losing the handling on his No. 42 ENEOS Chevrolet.
A tire issue in the last 10 laps dropped Ty Dillon from inside the top-five to a 13th-place finishing spot. Dillon had been complaining of a tire going down in the closing stages of the race, but chose to nurse the car to the finish rather than pit. Dillon ran well inside the top-five all night before tires turned a good run into a sour finish.
Despite finishing one lap down in 16th, Daniel Suarez holds a slim one point lead over veteran driver Elliott Sadler. Suarez struggled with the balance of his car all night, even after starting third, but a spin on lap 79 had his night go from bad to worse. Suarez lost a lap, and never found himself in position to get the free pass.
The XFINITY Series will be back in action next weekend at the Bristol Motor Speedway where the drivers will be tested for the first time with a pair of 50-lap heat races before the 200-lap main event.
