The 2019 NASCAR Xfinity Series event at Indianapolis came down to the final straightaway, where Justin Allgaier couldn’t quite catch Kyle Busch for the victory in the Indiana 250.
Busch led from the pole, with Joe Gibbs Racing running 1-2-3 for a while. Christopher Bell ran just behind Busch, nearly catching him at times, with teammate Brandon Jones rounding out the trio.
The three, along with Tyler Reddick, separated themselves from the field until a caution on lap 15. Austin Dillon, running Kaulig Racing’s No. 10 in his fourth appearance in the car this year, stalled on the backstretch access road after pitting with issues.
Busch fell to the back after having to pit a second time under caution, since not all lug nuts were tight on the car. Bell inherited the lead on the restart, but racing was quickly yellow-flagged again after David Starr blew an engine.
Jones got the lead after another round of stops, holding off Busch and Austin Cindric for the stage win.
Soon after the restart, Brandon Brown spun, bringing out the caution once again. Busch led again up until around lap 50, where Allgaier’s No. 7 crept closer and closer to and finally passed Busch’s No. 18 on lap 53.
The JR Motorsports veteran pulled away from Busch, eventually winning the second stage, and swapped the lead back and forth with Busch after the restart.
Reddick joined the battle for the lead until another caution came out, one that saw Josh Williams and Justin Haley gamble on pit stops. Williams stayed out, while Haley took two tires and got out ahead of the leaders. Both couldn’t keep the lead, however, with Reddick and Bell taking over the top two spots.
Busch made his way up to third before Cindric and Jones made contact, sending Jones’ No. 19 spinning with less than 15 laps to go.
The next restart beget the eighth and final caution of the day (and a red flag) when Bell and Reddick started alongside each other. Still side-by-side coming out of turn 2, Bell got loose, slid up into Reddick and both cars slammed into the wall on lap 93.
After the cleanup concluded and the red flag was lifted, Busch and Allgaier restarted alongside one another with four laps remaining. Busch got out in front of the No. 7 but couldn’t drive away from him. At the same time, though, Allgaier couldn’t gain enough momentum to pass the No. 18, and Busch held him off to win at Indianapolis.
This was Busch’s fourth Xfinity Series win at the track and 96th overall, inching him closer to his self-professed cutoff of 100 series victories.
Xfinity Indianapolis results
Next week’s DC Solar 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway will be the final race of the regular season. The race will get underway shortly after 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, Sept. 14.
Adam Cheek joined Frontstretch as a contributing writer in January 2019. A 2020 graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University, he covered sports there and later spent a year and a half as a sports host on 910 the Fan in Richmond, VA. He's freelanced for Richmond Magazine and the Richmond Times-Dispatch and also hosts the Adam Cheek's Sports Week podcast. Adam has followed racing since the age of three, inheriting the passion from his grandfather, who raced in amateur events up and down the East Coast in the 1950s.