Last Lap Pass Gives Kyle Busch Second XFINITY Win at The Brickyard

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With a relentless charge that forced Ryan Blaney into a mistake on the last lap, Kyle Busch grabbed the lead with a half-lap left at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and took the checkered flag in Saturday’s Lilly Diabetes 250 NASCAR XFINITY Series race.

Blaney missed his mark in turn two as Busch closed in, and with his momentum broken, the driver of the No. 22 Ford couldn’t stave off Busch’s winning pass on the backstretch. The No. 54 pulled away to win by .421 seconds, as Busch continued his white-hot run with his second XFINITY victory of the season, his second at The Brickyard and the record 72nd of his career. Continue reading

Daniel Suárez Becoming a Serious Threat in the NASCAR XFINITY Series

Daniel Suarez, driver of the #18 ARRIS Toyota, stands in the garage prior to practice for the NASCAR XFINITY Series Lilly Diabetes 250 at Indianapolis Motorspeedway on July 24, 2015 Photo - Jerry Markland/Getty Images

Daniel Suarez, driver of the #18 ARRIS Toyota, stands in the garage before practice for the NASCAR XFINITY Series Lilly Diabetes 250 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 24, 2015 Photo – Jerry Markland/Getty Images

In the XFINITY Series, Lilly Diabetes 250 on Saturday afternoon, Daniel Suárez continued to impress spectators with his amazing talent. Having never competed at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Suárez was able to bring home a third-place finish for his Joe Gibbs Racing team.

Suárez now carries a streak of three, top-five finishes over the past three races and continues to showcase his ability to compete for wins in a premier series of NASCAR. Many people did not predict the degree of success by Suárez or his contribution to organization at Joe Gibbs Racing this season along with his XFINITY Series teammate, Kyle Busch.

“I think the biggest part is it came from Joe Gibbs Racing because they keep me doing the right things,” says Suárez  “It’s a lot of work out of the race track as well and I feel like that has been helping us a lot.

”This first part of the season, it’s been race tracks where it’s been my first time ever and all we can do is prepare as much as we can away from the race track, at the shop with information  from my teammates. Kyle (Busch) has been super helpful. He’s been helping me a lot and I think that’s pretty much it. That’s how we’ve been getting better and better. I’m really looking forward to the second part of the season because I feel like we have been learning a lot and the second half, we will have a lot of information to use for the second half.”

Suárez’s third-place finish also comes with perks as he is now eligible for the XFINITY Series Dash4Cash program which will next be showcased at Bristol Motor Speedway in August. The Dash4Cash program, which has been around for a few years and rewards one of four regular XFINITY Series drivers running for points in the series, to compete against each other for a chance at $100,000. Suárez  finished second earlier in this season at Bristol, the next Dash4Cash event.

”It’s great, it’s good,” said Suárez  about the Dash4Cash program. “We’re very grateful to be a part of this

experience with NASCAR. Very happy because the next race for the Dash4Cash is in Bristol and I really like that place a lot. My first time (at Bristol) in the series, we came just a

little bit short of second-place . I’m really looking forward to that race to go back to Bristol. I’m very happy with

XFINITY for providing this program for the drivers who

race all season long in the series.”

Suárez  now sets his sights on Iowa Speedway for next weekend’s XFINITY Series race. He is looking to continue his streak of top-five finishes at a track where he has previously finished 18th. Regardless of his previous finish, Suárez  is optimistic about his chances of continuing his string of success next weekend at Iowa and feels that his finish in May is not a measure of his overall performance.

“Actually we ran pretty good at Iowa last time, we led a bunch of laps and were strong,” said Suárez  ” I just feel like we weren’t that good on the second half of the race, but we led a lot of laps and gathered a lot of information for our race shop. I’m excited to come back. I feel like we can finally get our first win.”

Catch the next XFINITY Series race, the US Cellular 250 at Iowa Speedway on August 1st at 8 pm ET on NBC Sports Network.

Kyle Busch Continues March Toward Chase with New Hampshire Win

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The odds in Kyle Busch’s favor made another dramatic surge on Sunday afternoon at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

In winning for the third time in eight starts since returning from an 11-race injury absence, Busch solidified his chances of qualifying for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup with a serendipitous victory in the 5-Hour ENERGY 301 at the Magic Mile. Continue reading

Sprint Cup Series 5-hour Energy 301 at New Hampshire Preview

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NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

Next Race: 5-hour ENERGY 301

The Place: New Hampshire Motor Speedway

The Date: Sunday, July 19

The Time: 1:30 p.m. (ET)

TV: NBCSN, 1 p.m. (ET)

Radio: PRN, SiriusXM Ch. 90

Distance: 318.46 miles (301 laps)

Saturday Night Live alum and comedy movie star Adam Sandler will play a vital role this weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway – Grand Marshal.

In honor of his NASCAR visit,  peppered throughout this preview are a number of Sandler puns and references. See if you can find them all … any more brain busters?  Continue reading

Denny Hamlin’s XFINITY Win at New Hampshire Leaves Austin Dillon Steaming

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To Denny Hamlin, it was just hard short-track racing for the win.

To runner-up Austin Dillon, it was unnecessarily aggressive driving that led to Hamlin’s victory in the Lakes Region 200 NASCAR XFINITY Series race on Saturday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

On lap 179 of 200 at the Magic Mile, Hamlin drove his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to the inside of Dillon’s No. 33 Chevrolet. Hamlin slid up the track into Dillon, broke the No. 33’s momentum and took the lead. Continue reading