Keselowski Wins at Texas, Clinches XFINITY Owner’s Title for Penske

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Brad Keselowski’s love affair with the Lone Star State continued in full force on Saturday with a hard-fought NASCAR XFINITY Series victory in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge at Texas Motor Speedway.

Keselowski grabbed the lead from Coors Light Polesitter Austin Dillon on lap 189 of 200 after a restart with 16 laps left in the race. The No. 22 Team Penske Ford finished 1.137 seconds ahead of the No. 88 JR Motorsports entry driven by Kevin Harvick, who passed Dillon for the runner-up spot with four laps left. Continue reading

Buescher on Brink of First XFINITY Series Championship

Photo - Jerry Markland/Getty Images

Photo – Jerry Markland/Getty Images

It seems hard to believe, but just three races remain in the 2015 NASCAR XFINITY Series campaign.

The series just completed a 16-week stretch with no off-weekends that began at Daytona International Speedway in July and culminated at Kansas Speedway. Back at Chicagoland in June, the last race prior to the off-weekend, I wrote that when this stretch was completed, a driver would emerge as the championship favorite.

That driver pilots the No. 60 Ford for Roush Fenway Racing. While many expected Chase Elliott to defend his series championship before his promotion to the Sprint Cup Series next season, it’s been Chris Buescher that has maintained the lead since his trip to victory lane at Iowa Speedway back in May. Continue reading

Kyle Busch Outduels Teammate Matt Kenseth for 75th XFINITY Win

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Overcoming obstacles in the NASCAR XFINITY Series is commonplace for Kyle Busch.

In Saturday’s Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway, Busch brushed aside a pit road speeding penalty, a hole in the nose of his No. 54 Toyota, a pit stop that dropped him to seventh for the next to the last restart, an unwelcome green-white-checkered-flag restart and a teammate who had the fastest car for much of the afternoon.

The result was Busch’s 75th XFINITY Series victory, extending his own record. Busch won for third time at Kansas and for the fifth time in 20 starts this season. Continue reading

NASCAR XFINITY Series, Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Preview

KSL 300 on white

NASCAR XFINITY Series

Next Race: Kansas Lottery 300

The Place: Kansas Speedway

The Date: Saturday, Oct. 17

The Time: 4 p.m. (ET)

TV: NBCSN, 3:30 p.m. (ET)

Radio: MRN, SiriusXM Ch. 90

Distance: 300 miles (200 laps)

 

Buescher: The Master of his Own Destiny

Roush Fenway Racing’s Chris Buescher is now leading the NASCAR XFINITY Series standings by 26 points over second-place Chase Elliott with just four races remaining in the season. Buescher does control his own destiny – but it’s tough, very tough. If he finishes second in the next four races, he’ll clinch no matter what any other driver does.

Buescher came to this point in the season by being impressively consistent. In 29 starts, he has posted two wins at Iowa and Dover with 11 top-fives and 19 top-tens – that’s a top-ten finishing percentage of 65.5%. And, his average finish this season is an 8.1 – best among championship contenders. Continue reading

Austin Dillon Completes XFINITY Series Sweep at Charlotte

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When NASCAR comes to Charlotte Motor Speedway, Austin Dillon doesn’t mind being a creäture of habit.

After experienced veterans Kyle Busch and Kasey Kahne knocked themselves out of contention 151 laps into Friday night’s Drive for the Cure 300 NASCAR XFINITY Series race at the 1.5-mile track, Dillon streaked away from Erik Jones to win by 2.809 seconds over the Joe Gibbs Racing driver.

With the victory, Dillon completed a season sweep at Charlotte, both wins coming from the pole position. The triumph was Dillon’s third of the season in the XFINITY Series and the sixth of his career.

Dillon’s closest call came not on the track, but during the pre-race ceremony. A fireball from one of the skyrockets used to liven up the proceedings dropped out of the evening sky and singed Dillon’s firesuit. Continue reading