After a exciting finish at Daytona International Speedway, the NASCAR Xfinity Series headed to Atlanta Motor Speedway. The track which is a favorite among most of the drivers is known for its slick and worn pavement.
After scoring a top five finish in his debut with JR Motorsports, points leader Elliott Sadler looked to continue his strong start at a track where he has found success at in the past. A favorite for the NXS championship in Erik Jones had a rough start last week after getting involved in an early wreck. Jones would start second along side Kyle Busch who earned the pole.
On the start of the race Jones rough start continued when he was posted for beating the leaders, Busch to the line. Busch quickly came on the radio and said he spun his tires but Busch was forced to make a pass through on pit road.
On lap nine, David Starr blew an engine and brought out the caution. It was a huge break for Jones who was able to stay on the lead lap and catch up to rest of the field. None of the leaders would hit pit road only nine laps in.
Only a handful of laps later caution waved again and handful of cars hit pit road. One of those were Brad Keselowski. On the restart, Keselowski was flying as by lap 30 after restarting outside the top 15, he took the lead from Busch.
Green flag stops began on lap 47.Jones, Kevin Harvick, Daniel Suarez, Kyle Larson pitted. Caution waved for Ray Black, Jr. who cut a tire on lap 49. Busch who was on pit road as caution waved drove right back onto track and would pit with the rest of the leaders. Justin Allgaier, would stay on track and take over the lead next to Keselowski.
It wouldn’t take long as Keselowski would drop back on the restart after spinning his tires but would pass Allgaier and take over the top spot. Busch would follow him by Allgaier and take over second. Busch would challenge Keselowski for the lead.
Harvick who was running sixth on lap 70 hit pit road for what they assumed were more tire issues. Harvick would be a lap down but would also have to hit pit road again as he was having overheating issues.
On lap 99, Larson would run down Busch and look to take the lead but Busch would battle back as Darrell Wallace, Jr. would spin coming onto pit road. The leaders would pit on lap 101 after Keselowski had just pitted.
With 40 laps to go Joey Gase had issues and brought out the caution. The leaders hit pit road for tires and fuel. Everyone would have to pit at lease one more time as this was well outside their window to make it to the end.
Larson and Busch would restart side by side but with 35 laps to go Wallace would have a flat tire and caution would wave. The rest of the leaders stayed out knowing while they wouldn’t have the tires to last 35 laps but track position was everything. Jones though took advantage and hit pit road to go off sequence from the leaders.
On the restart, Busch pulled away but the battle for the top five was heating up as Jones looked to take advantage of the fresher tires and the laps winding down. With five laps to go Larson ran down Busch.
Lap traffic would play a role as Larson perferred lane of the top was taken away with two laps to go. It hurt any momentum he had and Busch would be able to hold off the hard charge.
Busch would do something he had not done before in 12 starts at AMS in the NXS; that’s win.
The rest of the top 10 were Larson, Jones, Paul Menard, Ty Dillon, Keselowski, Suaurez Allgaier, Sadler and Jeb Burton.
He said what..
“Larson was better than us as the run went on.”-Busch on Larson’s charge.
“I would have gotten to him but would have been tough to pass him.”- Larson on lap traffic and Busch.
“Nice to be able to battle back from adversity and at least have a shot at it.”- Jones
Next up for the NXS is Las Vegas Motor Speedway next Saturday.
NASCAR Lugnuts 