Xfinity Series Heads Up Georgia 250 Review

The NASCAR Xfinity Heads Up Georgia at Atlanta Motor Speedway was won by none other than Xfinity Series all-time winner Kyle Busch. This one was a little more special for the elite racer as it was his first victory at Atlanta in an Xfinity car. He dominated the race for most of the afternoon leading 119 of the 250 laps around the 1.54 mile quad oval starting from the pole position.

Although Kyle Busch controlled the race for most of the races duration, the outcome would be decided in the last 29 laps after the cars were re-started. Kyle Larson in the #42 ENEOS Chrevolet gave Busch all he could handle with a car that improved on the longer runs.

It was clear from the re-start that Kyle Busch’s #18 NOS Energy Drink Toyota was the faster car on the short runs. Busch jumped out to almost a two and a half second lead in the first ten laps but then the tide started to change in Kyle Larson’s favor. With the large lead, Busch was able to save his tires on a lower line while Larson pushed his car on the top of the track, slowly gaining ground. Lap by lap the #42 Chevrolet owned by Chip Gnassi Racing was slowly and methodically running the #18 NOS Toyota down, closing the gap to .75 seconds with nine laps to go.

It looked that the fans could be in for another close finish until the two front-runners caught up to the slothful cars in the field. Kyle Busch managed to navigate through the slower competitors while Kyle Larson got caught behind a few in the high line. Those small setbacks were enough for Busch to keep his car a half a second in front of the charging Larson and take the checkered flag in first.

“I actually thought that last run was going to be too long,” Busch said. “(Crew chief Chris) Gayle did a good job of making some adjustments to our car, and it helped me. It helped me definitely on the front side of a run, for the first 20 (laps), and I don’t think it hurt me from there on to the end of the race.”

“Larson was just better than us. He could close and close and close. Lapped traffic — they were really nice to me. I think they screwed him up a couple of times. So I kind of appreciated those guys,” commented Busch.

There was plenty of good racing for the next top spots as Erik Jones, who elected to take four tires at the last caution of lap 29, found himself moving forward from the ninth spot. With four laps remaining he was able to pass the #2 Chevrolet driven by Paul Menard. Jones, Kyle Busch’s teammate, drove the Hisense USA Toyota to a respectable third place finish. Menard managed to hold on for the fourth spot. Ty Dillon in the #3 Rheem Chevrolet started sixth and rounded out the top five in fifth by overtaking Brad Keselowski’s #22 Ford Fusion in the final laps of the Xfinity contest.

The Xfinity Heads Up Georgia 250 took alittle under two hours to complete. There were five cautions for a total of 21 laps. Joe Gibbs Racing received the Mahle Clevite Engine Builder of the Race Award and Erik Jones captured the Sunoco Rookie of the Race honors.

NASCAR XFINITY Series Heads Up Georgia 250 Results:

1. Kyle Busch
2. Kyle Larson
3. Erik Jones
4. Paul Menard
5. Ty Dillon
6. Brad Keselowski
7. Daniel Suarez
8. Justin Allgaier
9. Elliott Sadler
10. Jeb Burton
11. Brandon Jones
12. Kevin Harvick
13. Brendan Gaughan
14. Brennan Poole
15. Ryan Reed
16. Ryan Sieg
17. Jeremy Clements
18. Darrell Wallace Jr.
19. J.J. Yeley
20. Blake Koch
21. Dakoda Armstrong
22. Ryan Preece
23. Corey LaJoie
24. Garrett Smithley
25. Mario Gosselin
26. B.J. McLeod
27. Derrike Cope
28. Ross Chastain
29. Chris Cockrum
30. Mike Harmon
31. Cody Ware
32. Joey Gase
33. Ray Black Jr.
34. Josh Reaume
35. Harrison Rhodes
36. Carl Long
37. Morgan Shepherd
38. Todd Peck
39. David Starr
40. Jeff Green

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