Above all, Kyle Busch prevailed for another Indy win. (Photo Credit: Stephen Conley/TPF)
It wasn’t an easy win, but in the end, Kyle Busch prevailed at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Busch led 46 laps after starting today’s Indiana 250 from the pole. It was a battle of long run versus short run cars at Indy.
In fact, Kyle Busch took his No. 18 Combo’s Toyota out to an early lead. But his biggest competition throughout the day was JR Motorsports driver Justin Allgaier. Busch said after the race he knew at one point, they ran long in the second stage.
“We were showing cords, and I knew it,” Busch said after his fourth NXS win at Indy. “I just didn’t want to knock the wall down, and we managed to finish it.”
For Allgaier, he observed how Busch’s car was really good down the straightaways and they believed that setting the car up for the long run would pay off as it did in 2018. However, for Allgaier, a late race yellow and subsequent red flag derailed his chances.
Big Crash
Christopher Bell led with eight laps to go at Indy, looking prime for a pristine win. Ultimately, on the restart, Bell and Reddick tangled in Turn One with Bell making hard contact, sending both to the garage just six laps short of the finish.
Justin Allgaier gave Busch everything he had over the final handful of laps. In the end, clean air and a good push from Jeb Burton was key for the No. 18 to get out and hold on for his 4th win in the NASCAR XFINITY Series at Indy.
Following the race, Justin Allgaier talked about the red flag and the caution that ultimately cost the JR Motorsports driver the race.
“For me, the red didn’t actually hurt my balance as much as it looked to help Kyle,” Allgaier said. He also noted how the tires weren’t that good on short runs all day.
“I’m not sure if they would have cooled enough under caution as that was going to be a lengthy yellow,” he said.
This was Allgaier’s fourth runner-up finish and 10th top-five of the season.
“I’m just not sure what I have to do different moving forward,” Allgaier remarked. “We needed a better restart, a better push. It just didn’t pan out.”
Today’s win at Indianapolis is Kyle Busch’s 97th XFINITY Series win.
