It was a spin and win kind of day for Kyle Busch at Road America on Saturday, making a late-race pass on AJ Allmendinger for his 101st career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory, despite a pair of off-track excursions throughout the course of the event.
Brand-new tires and an amazing restart allowed Busch to stalk AJ Allmendinger for the lead of the race, eventually passing the No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet with five laps to go in the event. From there, Busch was able to extend his margin to over three seconds, before Daniel Hemric – the next car on fresher tires — was able to move into second-place.
However, Busch’s road to the win wasn’t exactly a smooth one, as the two-time Cup Series Champion was involved in three seperate incidents throughout the 45-lap race. On lap nine, Busch made an evasive move to avoid a slowing Sam Mayer, which resulted in a spin from the No. 54, after contact with Mayer’s teammate Justin Allgaier. At the end of the second stage, Busch went wide in the kink, dipping his tires into the grass and kicked up dirt for the cars behind him.
The kink bites @KyleBusch today again at @roadamerica! pic.twitter.com/ludw5lxTLj
— NASCAR Xfinity (@NASCAR_Xfinity) July 3, 2021
Finally, Busch collected minor damage to his Toyota Supra in the final caution of the event on lap 39, when Myatt Snider got turned around exiting the first corner, causing a chain reaction accident. The damage on Busch’s car was minor and did not require him to visit pit road.
Video: Allgaier, Cindric, Kyle Busch Among 11 Cars Involved in Late Crash at Road America
Busch’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammates again showed immense speed, with Daniel Hemric, Ty Gibbs and Brandon Jones all taking turns at the front of the pack. Hemric finished in second-place after rebounding from a pit road penalty, while a late-race spin left Jones finishing 19th. For the 18-year-old rookie, a transmission issue from second-place ended the race for his No. 81 Monster Energy Toyota Supra on Lap 36.
In third-place, Michael Annett collected a season-best third-place result, recording his first top-five finish on a road course since 2017 and his best finish in the Xfinity Series since Summer 2019. AJ Allmendinger and Harrison Burton rounded out the top-five. Kevin Harvick, Riley Herbst, Austin Cindric, Noah Gragson and Justin Haley, who all faced some form of adversity throughout the race, rebounded for top-10 finishes.
The 45-lap event featured seven full course caution flags for a total of seven laps, the most spectacular of which belonged to Spencer Pumpelly, whose No. 6 Chevrolet Camaro climbed the tire barriers in turn one at the beginning of the third stage, after a brake failure launched the veteran road racer into the corner at full speed. The 46-year-old emerged from the vehicle under his own power.
Next weekend, the NASCAR Xfinity Series joins the NASCAR Cup Series at Atlanta Motor Speedway, for another round of racing at the 1.5-mile facility. The last time the series visited the track, Justin Allgaier picked up the victory in his No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro. That event will kick-off on Saturday, July 10th at 3:30pm / EST with coverage on NBCSN.
