LOUDON, New Hampshire — Kyle Busch had an expected result in his unexpected NASCAR start.
Busch led all but a handful of laps and simply dominated in his latest Xfinity Series victory Saturday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Busch raced to his sixth Xfinity victory of the season and record-extending 82nd of his career.
The 2015 Sprint Cup champion also won the last race at Kentucky Speedway and his six wins have come in just 10 races.
Busch has 164 career wins across all three of NASCAR’s national series, and is 36 wins shy of matching Richard Petty’s total of 200. Petty, of course, won all 200 in the Cup series to go with seven championships and a spot in the Hall of Fame.
Busch topped the 17,000 laps-led mark in his career and was never seriously challenged, pulling away off every restart and he eventually took his traditional victory bow.
Busch was not scheduled to drive this season at New Hampshire in the No. 18 Toyota. But he was pulled into duty when Joe Gibbs Racing developmental driver Matt Tifft was forced out following surgery last month to have a tumor removed.
Erik Jones was second, followed by Brad Keselowski, Daniel Suarez and Austin Dillon. Jones, who clinched a spot in Xfinity’s version of the Chase, said he bought a car with the $100,000 earned in the series’ “Dash 4 Cash” promotion for winning at Dover.
“I bought a car, but I can’t talk about it,” he said.
Alex Bowman finished eighth, a day before he subs for Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the Cup race. Earnhardt will sit out because he suffers from symptoms of a concussion.
Hey, he wasn’t the only one bored watching Busch rout the field and lead 190 of 200 laps. Busch continued to roll at New Hampshire, a track that served as one of his turning points last season.
He crashed into a concrete wall the day before the Daytona 500 and broke his right leg and left foot. Busch rebounded from his injuries to win his first career Sprint Cup championship.
But he had missed the first 11 races and was left needing a midsummer hot streak to even think about racing his way into the Chase.
Dixon grabs pole in Toronto
Four-time IndyCar series champion Scott Dixon waited until the last moment to secure pole position for Sunday’s Indy Toronto.
With seconds left in the final “Fast Six” stage of qualifying, the New Zealander clocked a lap of 59.9073 seconds (107.326 mph/ 172.72 Km/h) on the 1.786-mile temporary street course at Exhibition Place, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary hosting IndyCar events this weekend.
Dixon’s 24th career pole moved him ahead of Johnny Rutherford into 12th place on the all-time list. It was the 86th pole for Chip Ganassi Racing.
Dixon denied Brazilian Helio Castroneves a second Toronto pole. After a lap at 107.263 mph in his Penske, Castroneves will start on the outside of the first row.
Series points leader Simon Pagenaud of France was the third-fastest qualifier, just ahead of Penske teammate Will Power of Australia. Rounding out the top six were France’s Sebastien Bourdais and hometown favorite James Hinchcliffe.
