AUSTIN, Texas – Kyle Busch had never raced at Circuit of the Americas prior to Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race, but that didn’t stop him from crossing the picturesque road course off his bucket list.
Busch dominated Saturday’s Pit Boss 200 at the 3.410-mile road course to earn his 98th NASCAR Xfinity Series triumph in his 358th series start. It’s also the 27th different track Busch has won at in Xfinity Series competition.
“With Ty (Gibbs) being able to run good at the Daytona Road Course, I felt like this was going to be a strong run for us, a place that we could excel a little bit,” Busch said. “(A.J.) Allmendinger and I were always kind of joking, the last couple months he’s been asking me for some help on ovals and I was asking him for some help with the road course stuff last year at the ROVAL and then at the Daytona Road Course.
“He was kind of making a joke that when I get in the 54 its lights out at the road courses this year and sure enough today was one of those days.”
RESULTS: NASCAR Xfinity Series Pit Boss 250
Busch earned the pole during a soggy qualifying session earlier in the day, but the race was run in dry conditions. The change didn’t appear to make much difference to Busch, who quickly pulled away at the start and was never seriously challenged during green flag conditions.
The only times Busch gave up the lead was to pit prior to the end of each stage, which he did in order to cycle back into the race lead at the start of the next stage. He led 35 of 46 laps Saturday afternoon.
Busch now turns his attention to Sunday’s EchoPark Grand Prix, the first NASCAR Cup Series race in Circuit of the Americas history.
“It’s going to be a long day tomorrow. There’s going to be a lot of laps out there, a lot of time to continue to learn and hopefully just be fast and stay up front,” Busch said.
A.J. Allmendinger ran second for most of the race, but he was only able to keep up with Busch for a few laps after each restart. He finished second, more than 11 seconds behind Busch at the checkered flag.
“It’s one of those days that the 54 was dominant. Kyle Busch (is) one of the best that we’ve ever seen, quite honestly,” Allmendinger said. “To run second to him is not the worst thing in the world. Of course you want to be a little more competitive, but I felt like everybody at Kaulig Racing, all the men and women, we worked hard and got everything we could out of the race.
“We were able to win the first stage and got a playoff point and got some good points in the second stage and ultimately finished second, which I felt like was the best we were going to do unless something happened to Kyle.”
Justin Allgaier was third for JR Motorsports, with Kevin Harvick finishing fourth in his first Xfinity Series start since 2018. Austin Cindric completed the top-five.