Kyle Busch is quickly become Mr. Indy across both NASCAR series that currently compete at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
After winning the pole for the fourth straight year at Indy, Busch led 62 of 63 laps toward his third XFINITY Series victory at IMS, seventh of the season and 83rd of his career.
“I was able to do good on the second-to-last restart,” Busch said. “I was able to set single file into Turn 1 and was able to dictate from there.”
Dictating was the name of the game for Busch, who consistently held a lead of more than two seconds throughout the 63-lap event.
“Having the opportunity to cross that restart line down the backstretch and know whatever flag next would end the race,” he said. “Running the XFINITY cars has certainly helped my Sprint Cup effort I feel like. Hopefully tomorrow can be another smooth, solid day for us.”
Starting from pole in Sunday’s Brickyard 400, Busch will indeed look for a second straight weekend sweep at Indy.
Behind the flying No. 18 was Kevin Harvick, who grabbed his best series finish since Texas last November. In the third spot, Paul Menard also brought home his best result of the season.
“It was a hot day,” Menard said. “Came home with a top 3 so I’m pretty pleased. With how everything started, we were bottom half of the top 10 and we made some big gains throughout the day.”
With heat races on tap for the fourth and final time in 2016, two 20-lap heats set the field for a 60-lap feature, a race that saw no cautions until an Erik Jones spin with 12 laps remaining.
Following a two-car crash on the backstretch on the ensuing restart, the pit strategy became a factor, as Busch and eventual seventh-place finisher, Daniel Suarez, stayed out on older tires while the rest of the lead-lap cars pitted.
Taking advantage of the late shuffles, Justin Allgaier passed JR Motorsports teammate, Elliott Sadler, to win the Dash 4 Cash $100,000 bonus after finishing fifth.
“This right here is something that means a lot to me,” Allgaier said. “I’m proud to be able to hold one of these checks up.”
Completing the top 10 is Kyle Larson in fourth followed by Sadler, Joey Logano, Ty Dillon and Brandon Jones.
Jeb Burton, who ran his first race since Charlotte in May, finished 12th in his No. 98 Ford.
