Kyle Busch 101: Winning in the Xfinity Series. Career Win #101 for Kyle Busch!

It’s the 4th of July weekend and NASCAR makes a stop at a new destination in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. However for the Xfinity Series, this is a familiar place for some and a place where road ringers can take on the regulars, running for an Xfinity Championship. This weekend, there was qualifying and with that, the phenom Ty Gibbs scored the pole in a 5th Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Supra, numbered 81. The race also had a number of DNQ’s with the amount of cars entered. Those who failed to qualified are Jeffrey Earnhardt, Colby Howard, Kyle Weatherman, Gray Gaulding, Boris Said, Matt Jaskol and Bayley Currey. Stages for the race were 10-10-25, totalling in 45 laps. A couple notable drivers in the field will be racing with BJ McLeod Motorsports with Andy Lally in the 5 and Kevin Harvick in the 99. 

Ty Gibbs led the field to the green flag along with Austin Cindric. While Gibbs led early on, it wasn’t too long until AJ Allmendinger, a driver that is very strong on road courses, took the lead from Gibbs in his #16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet. The first caution was caused by a spin by Spencer Pumpelly, who was driving the #6 for JD Motorsports, in which he was stuck in the sand and couldn’t get moving.

Pit stops took place with three laps left in stage 1 as Ty Gibbs would be the first one off pit road. AJ Allmendinger and Austin Cindric led the field to the restart with 2 laps left in the stage. Allmendinger pulled away, meanwhile back in the pack, Kyle Busch got turned by Justin Allgaier. Busch was able to keep going and Allmendinger went on to take stage one at Road America. 

Stage 1 Results:

1. AJ Allmendinger 
2. Austin Cindric 
3. Jeb Burton 
4. Justin Haley 
5. Noah Gragson
6. Daniel Hemric 
7. Justin Allgaier 
8. Michael Annett
9. Josh Billicki
10. Riley Herbst

Josh Billicki, despite the excellent stage one performance, was sent to the rear for crew members over the wall too soon. Stephen Leicht and Natalie Decker also went to the rear for the same issue. Daniel Hemric led the field to the restart but a quick caution comes out for the #8 of Sam Mayer as he goes spinning, collecting heavy damage. 

With three laps left in stage two, AJ Allmendinger battled with Allgaier. Kyle Busch ended up in the grass, losing out on a 3rd place finish. Allmendinger then took the lead from Allgaier as other leaders, including Myatt Snider, pit near the end of the stage. Kyle Busch was able to fight his way back up to the top five in the final lap of the stage. There was intense battling for position at the end between Gibbs, Brandon Jones, Harrison Burton, Austin Cindric, Kevin Harvick and Riley Herbst for the final spots for stage points. Once again, Ding Ding Ding! AJ Allmendinger sweeps the stages!

Stage 2 Results:

1. AJ Allmendinger 
2. Justin Allgaier 
3. Daniel Hemric 
4. Justin Haley 
5. Kyle Busch 
6. Brandon Jones 
7. Ty Gibbs 
8. Austin Cindric 
9. Harrison Burton 
10. Riley Herbst 

AJ Allmendinger was hit with a pit road penalty for crew members over the wall too soon. A huge blow to the #16 Kaulig Racing team! At the beginning of the final stage, Austin Cindric would take over the lead. Jeremy Clements, 2017 Road America winner, would retire from the race with mechanical issues. Jade Buford, who put down a good qualifying run, also would go to the garage with suspension issues. Then Spencer Pumpelly crashed into the barrier hard into turn one, luckily he was ok. After pit stops, Daniel Hemric was hit with a penalty for crew members over the wall too soon. Frustration continues for Hemric, who is still chasing his first career win. Brandon Jones, who stayed out, led to the restart with 16 to go. However it wasn’t too long after that Austin Cindric would take the lead. Jeb Burton and Brandon Jones went spinning while battling for position but they were able to continue racing, no caution. With 15 to go, the caution comes out with Ty Gibbs stopped on the track. 

With eight laps to go, Cindric restarted 10th with the freshest tires. In the closing stages, Kyle Busch fought through a lot of adversity in this one, but he passes Allmendinger for the lead and he once again prevails in the Xfinity Series and gets win #101 at Road America! This was also Kyle’s 200th win with Toyota. Looking at the playoffs, Jeremy Clements is the last driver in currently, 33 points from the cut line. Brandon Brown and Riley Herbst are the first two out. The Xfinity Series heads next to the Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Final Results:

1. Kyle Busch 
2. Daniel Hemric 
3. Michael Annett 
4. AJ Allmendinger 
5. Harrison Burton 
6. Kevin Harvick 
7. Riley Herbst 
8. Austin Cindric 
9. Noah Gragson 
10. Justin Haley 
11. Brandon Brown
12. Justin Allgaier 
13. Andy Lally 
14. Jeb Burton 
15. Tommy Joe Martin’s
16. Preston Pardus
17. Josh Williams
18. Kaz Grala
19. Brandon Jones
20. Timmy Hill
21. Alex Labbe
22. Ryan Seig 
23. Myatt Snider 
24. Cody Ware 
25. Kris Wright
26. Stephen Leicht 
27. Landon Cassill 
28. Jeremy Clements 
29. Josh Billicki (DNF)
30. Ryan Ellis (DNF)
31. Brett Moffitt (DNF)
32. Natalie Decker (DNF)
33. Ty Gibbs (DNF)
34. Jade Buford (DNF)
35. Sam Mayer (DNF)
36. Spencer Pumpelly (DNF)