Kyle Busch Started the Alsco 300 at Kentucky Speedway from the pole position and never looked back en route to a dominate performance on Friday. Busch drove his #18 NOS Energy Toyota into the lead for 185 of he 201 laps turned and took the checkered flag in overtime. The Sprint Cup veteran pulled away from Austin Dillon in Turn 4 and finished the race almost half a second out in front. The all-time Xfinity Series winner contributed a little luck to his winning effort in his post race interview.
“We always get the Kyle Busch cautions,” Busch said. “Apparently this time it was true. There was some problems with another car smoking. You always have to make your money’s worth, I guess. Always have to give the show to the fans and their money’s worth. Certainly means a lot to us to win here in the Alsco 300 and also bring our Camry home to Victory Lane again at Kentucky Speedway.”
Austin Dillon made a gutsy last ditch effort to find the lead on the race’s final re-start. Dillon took advantage of some tight nit racing in front of him and dived to the inside. As a result, he was able to pull even with eventual race winner Kyle Busch going into Turn 3.
Dillon used his inside position to force Busch to the disadvantaged outside lane. Suprisingly, it didn’t give the Richard Childress Racing mainstay the leverage he hoped for. Dillon passed the finish line in the Alsco 300 for a well earned second place outcome. The Sprint Cup regular commented on Busch’s use of the outside lane.
“I didn’t think he’d be able to hold it through (Turns) 3 and 4 like that,” said Dillon, who thought he had the preferred position on the inside. “But he also did a great job of holding me down. I wish we could have got it done for (sponsor) Rheem, but it was a really close race.”
Daniel Suarez, Kyle Busch’s teammate, seemed to have all the right things going for him in the closing laps before the contest’s final caution. Little by little he was closing the gap between him and the race leader. The scenario resembled the race at Iowa Speedway just two weeks prior. In the that contest, Suarez managed to run down the superstar on the race’s final lap.
Well this wasn’t Iowa and the stars didn’t align right for the Mexican born prodigy. The yellow flag flew with only a handful of laps to run because of smoke emanating from the #74 of Mike Harmon. That cut Daniel Suarez’s lap by lap run down short and re-positioned the cars for a final three lap dash for the Alsco 300 victory.
In fact, the caution could’ve been seen as a gift to Daniel Suarez. It allowed him to close the shrinking gap all in one fail swoop. On the race’s final re-start he got caught up in a battle with his hard charging teammate Erik Jones. The brief back and forth challenge allowed Dillon to dart to the inside and pass them both at once. Suarez finished the event with a respectable third place finish.
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Erik Jones looked to have the race in hand after passing Kyle Busch on lap 175 of the Alsco 300. Busch’s teammate also used the outside lane to pass the dominant Xfinity driver. Jones cleared his teammate and was out in front for four circuits when the race’s fourth caution emerged.
That’s when things went south for the Reser’s Fine Foods team. Jones’s hot-rod fell behind the pace car when he hit the wrong switch in an attempt to save fuel. The costly error also slowed his car down allowing Kyle Busch to pass. NASCAR’s rules require a competitor to keep pace car speed in order to keep his or her running position. When the smoke cleared, the re-start specialist Busch was out in front for the next wave of the green flag. Jones and his #20 Toyota ended the race in the fourth position. Jones sounded confused in his post race interview.
“I don’t know. I fell back 20 feet from the pace car, no different than if you’re saving fuel — and they put me to third place,” Jones said. “So I guess I gave it away. It’s very unfortunate.”
The Alsco 300 at Kentucky Speedway took two hours and five minutes to complete. There were 5 cautions for 22 laps and 11 lead changes between six different speedsters. The average speed of the field was 144.258 miles per hour and the winning margin was .455 seconds. “Rowdy” Busch captured the Coors Light Pole Position for his qualifying efforts. He also reeled in the Mobil 1 Driver of the Race Award. Furthermore, Erik Jones won the Sunoco Rookie of the Race Award for his performance Friday night.
Final Results for the Alsco 300 at Kentucky Speedway:
1 1 18 Kyle Busch (i) NOS Energy Drink Toyota 201 0 147.8 Running 6 185
2 4 2 Austin Dillon (i) Rheem Chevrolet 201 0 117.7 Running
3 2 19 Daniel Suarez ARRIS Toyota 201 38 116.0 Running
4 3 20 Erik Jones # Reser’s Fine Foods Toyota 201 38 1 122.9 Running 1 3
5 11 6 Darrell Wallace Jr Ford EcoBoost Ford 201 36 103.0 Running
6 5 1 Elliott Sadler OneMain Chevrolet 201 35 104.9 Running
7 23 3 Ty Dillon Red Kap/Alsco Chevrolet 201 35 1 95.4 Running 2 10
8 6 12 Ryan Blaney (i) Snap-On Ford 201 0 107.4 Running
9 14 48 Brennan Poole # DC Solar Chevrolet 201 32 88.4 Running
10 10 22 Brad Keselowski (i) Discount Tire Ford 201 0 100.2 Running
11 17 33 Brandon Jones # AAA Chevrolet 201 30 85.4 Running
12 16 42 Justin Marks Katerra Chevrolet 200 29 80.8 Running
13 18 62 Brendan Gaughan South Point Chevrolet 200 28 77.8 Running
14 9 11 Blake Koch LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet 199 27 75.5 Running
15 21 01 Ryan Preece # teamjdmotorsports.com Chevrolet 199 26 69.8 Running
16 19 51 Jeremy Clements RepairableVehicles.com Chevrolet 199 25 69.8 Running
17 15 44 J.J. Yeley Zachry Toyota 198 24 70.0 Running
18 20 28 Dakoda Armstrong WinField Toyota 198 23 64.3 Running
19 29 07 Ray Black Jr # Scuba Life Chevrolet 198 23 1 62.3 Running 1 1
20 12 39 Ryan Sieg Tri County Landscape Chevrolet 197 21 72.0 Running
21 26 93 David Starr Massimo Motors Chevrolet 197 20 60.8 Running
22 24 4 Ross Chastain Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over Chevrolet 197 20 1 56.0 Running 1 1
23 30 78 B J McLeod # Safecraft Safety Equipment Ford 196 18 53.3 Running
24 22 0 Garrett Smithley # KY Fame Chevrolet 195 17 55.7 Running
25 33 15 Travis Kvapil (i) KeenParts.com/CorvetteParts.net Ford 194 0 47.3 Running
26 28 90 Alex Guenette BuckedUp Apparel Chevrolet 193 15 50.5 Running
27 32 52 Joey Gase Donate Life/DB Sales Chevrolet 193 14 45.7 Running
28 34 97 T.J. Bell VroomBrands Chevrolet 189 13 42.1 Running
29 7 16 Ryan Reed Lilly Diabetes/American Diabetes Association Ford 187 12 74.0 Running
30 37 74 Mike Harmon Elder Heating & Air Dodge 187 11 39.0 Running
31 13 7 Justin Allgaier TaxSlayer.com/VisitMyrtleBeach.com Chevrolet 182 10 80.8 Running
32 8 88 Cole Custer (i) Jack Link’s Chevrolet 138 0 75.6 Running
33 27 14 Jeff Green Toyota 70 9 1 43.0 Transmission 1 1
34 39 25 Todd Peck Safecraft Safety Equipment Ford 63 7 31.0 Electrical
35 36 70 Derrike Cope E-hydrate/Circle Track Warehouse Chevrolet 57 6 32.5 Transmission
36 35 92 Dexter Bean BuckedUp Apparel Chevrolet 47 5 30.5 Fuel Pump
37 31 89 Morgan Shepherd Chevrolet 43 4 36.7 Suspension
38 38 13 Harrison Rhodes A1 Ticket Sales Chevrolet 17 3 29.0 Oil Pump
39 40 40 John Jackson CrashClaimsR.Us Toyota 9 2 25.8 Vibration
40 25 10 Matt DiBenedetto (i) Toyota 3 0 23.2 Rear Gear
