Kyle Busch made it look easy on Sunday afternoon at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, starting from the pole, winning the second stage and leading a race-high 187 laps, as he charged into the second round of the Playoffs. The driver of the #18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was largely unchallenged throughout the second half of the race, leading all but three of the final 150 laps and beating runner-up Kyle Larson to the finish by 2.6 seconds. He joins Martin Truex, Jr., last weekend’s winner at Chicagoland Speedway, with a guaranteed spot in the second round of the post-season that opens in two weeks at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Matt Kenseth finished third yesterday, giving Joe Gibbs Racing two of the top three spots. Brad Keselowski ran fourth and Truex, who won Stage 1, completed the top five.
How dominant was Busch’s Sunday drive? There were just six lead changes, a season low in the Monster Energy Series, among only three drivers: Busch, Larson and Truex. The race was slowed by six cautions for 32 laps. Sunday’s win was Busch’s 41st and his third at New Hampshire. The two others came in 2006 and 2015. Joe Gibbs leads all Cup Series team owners in victories at New Hampshire with eleven. Denny Hamlin, one of Busch’s J-G-R teammates, finished twelfth in his bid for a season sweep on “The Magic Mile” after winning there in mid-July.
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– story by John Singler
www.mrn.com
Concord, North Carolina
1. Martin Truex, Jr.
2. Kyle Larson (-24)
3. Kyle Busch (-30)
4. Brad Keselowski (-43)
5. Denny Hamlin (-61)
For the complete driver standings in the Playoffs, please visit the official page on nascar.com.
