Kyle Busch takes dominant win at Loudon

Kyle Busch has guaranteed himself a place in the second round of NASCAR’s Playoffs with a resounding victory at New Hampshire Speedway.

Busch converted his pole position with 187 laps led on his way to his third win of the year; to join Martin Truex Jr. as guaranteed drivers into the next phase of the playoffs.

Kyle Larson finished second, while Matt Kenseth, Brad Keselowski and Truex Jr. rounded out the top five.

Busch’s win may have looked easy in the results column, but the early stages were the domain of Truex Jr. who took the Stage 1 win; the 19th stage victory of the season.

Then a wreck on the final lap of the second Stage ended the day for Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch, but Kyle Busch had to all but stop to avoid the crash.

Truex spun trying to avoid the wreck, but the stage eventually went the way of Kyle Busch.

From that point Busch was able to control things from the lead. Even when cautions flew, his pit crew and great re-starts allowed him to pull away each time.

After the race Busch spoke about missing the crash and scoring the all-important win.

“That was pretty intense,” said Busch.

“It was just a wall of smoke over there off of Turn 2. I listened to the spotter and was basically told to stop and I’m like, ‘Sounds like a good idea.’

“I checked up as much as I could and I was trying not to get run into from behind. All in all, it was a great day. This thing was awesome. We ran up front all day long, we executed, we did a good job, we did what we were supposed to do.”

As much as it was about the leaders, the attention was also focused on those fighting to stay in the championship hunt. The two big hits were Kurt Busch and Kasey Kahne, who had the rear suspension on his car break late in the race.

Next week the series heads to the Monster Mile at Dover where the bottom four in the Playoff hunt will be eliminated after that race leaving 12 into the next series of races.

VIDEO: Race recap

VIDEO: Kyle Busch speaks after the race win

RESULTS: ISM Connect 300 – New Hampshire Motor Speedway

Cla	#	Driver	Manufacturer	Laps	Laps Led
1	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	300	187
2	42	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	300	1
3	20	Matt Kenseth	Toyota	300
4	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	300
5	78	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	300	112
6	77	Erik Jones	Toyota	300
7	14	Clint Bowyer	Ford	300
8	19	Daniel Suarez	Toyota	300
9	21	Ryan Blaney	Ford	300
10	22	Joey Logano	Ford	300
11	24	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	300
12	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	300
13	31	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	300
14	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	300
15	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Ford	300
16	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	300
17	47	A.J. Allmendinger	Chevrolet	300
18	10	Danica Patrick	Ford	300
19	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	300
20	27	Paul Menard	Chevrolet	300
21	37	Chris Buescher	Chevrolet	299
22	13	Ty Dillon	Chevrolet	298
23	95	Michael McDowell	Chevrolet	298
24	6	Trevor Bayne	Ford	298
25	34	Landon Cassill	Ford	298
26	43	Aric Almirola	Ford	297
27	23	Corey Lajoie	Toyota	297
28	15	Reed Sorenson	Chevrolet	297
29	38	David Ragan	Ford	296
30	72	Cole Whitt	Chevrolet	296
31	32	Matt DiBenedetto	Ford	295
32	83	Brett Moffitt	Toyota	294
33	55	Gray Gaulding	Toyota	293
34	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet	289
35	5	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	289
36	4	Kevin Harvick	Ford	148
37	41	Kurt Busch	Ford	148
38	33	Jeffrey Earnhardt	Chevrolet	143
39	51	Cody Ware	Chevrolet	74

 

 

STANDINGS

Pos	Driver	Pts	Behind	Wins	Starts	Top 5’s	Top 10’s	Poles
1	Martin Truex Jr.	2,149	Leader	5	28	12	19	1
2	Kyle Larson	2,125	-24	4	28	13	17	3
3	Kyle Busch	2,119	-30	3	28	11	17	8
4	Brad Keselowski	2,106	-43	2	28	12	16	2
5	Denny Hamlin	2,088	-61	2	28	12	16	0
6	Matt Kenseth	2,087	-62	0	28	8	14	2
7	Jimmie Johnson	2,076	-73	3	28	3	9	0
8	Chase Elliott	2,070	-79	0	28	7	15	1
9	Ryan Blaney	2,070	-79	1	28	3	10	1
10	Kevin Harvick	2,069	-80	1	28	9	17	4
11	Jamie McMurray	2,053	-96	0	28	2	14	0
12	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	2,044	-105	2	28	4	7	1
13	Austin Dillon	2,044	-105	1	28	3	4	0
14	Ryan Newman	2,043	-106	1	28	6	11	0
15	Kurt Busch	2,027	-122	1	28	5	13	0
16	Kasey Kahne	2,023	-126	1	28	3	4	0
17	Joey Logano	719	-1,430	1	28	9	14	1
18	Clint Bowyer	718	-1,431	0	28	5	11	0
19	Erik Jones	703	-1,446	0	28	4	12	1
20	Daniel Suarez	624	-1,525	0	28	1	10	0
21	Trevor Bayne	512	-1,637	0	28	1	4	0
22	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	482	-1,667	0	28	1	4	1
23	Paul Menard	478	-1,671	0	28	2	3	0
24	Ty Dillon	458	-1,691	0	28	0	0	0
25	Michael McDowell	438	-1,711	0	28	1	1	0
26	Chris Buescher	438	-1,711	0	28	0	3	0
27	AJ Allmendinger	426	-1,723	0	28	1	5	0
28	Danica Patrick	415	-1,734	0	28	0	1	0
29	David Ragan	341	-1,808	0	28	0	2	0
30	Aric Almirola	329	-1,820	0	21	2	3	0
31	Matt DiBenedetto	292	-1,857	0	28	0	2	0
32	Landon Cassill	287	-1,862	0	28	0	0	0
33	Cole Whitt	268	-1,881	0	28	0	0	0
34	Corey LaJoie	190	-1,959	0	25	0	0	0
35	Gray Gaulding	119	-2,030	0	22	0	0	0
36	Reed Sorenson	118	-2,031	0	22	0	0	0
37	Jeffrey Earnhardt	107	-2,042	0	26	0	0	0
38	Derrike Cope	36	-2,113	0	13	0	0	0
39	Michael Waltrip	29	-2,120	0	1	0	1	0
40	Billy Johnson	15	-2,134	0	1	0	0	0
41	Boris Said	15	-2,134	0	2	0	0	0
42	Gary Klutt	6	-2,143	0	1	0	0	0
43	Cody Ware	6	-2,143	0	5	0	0	0
44	Alon Day	5	-2,144	0	1	0	0	0
45	Stephen Leicht	5	-2,144	0	1	0	0	0
46	Kevin O’Connell	4	-2,145	0	1	0	0	0
47	Tommy Regan	3	-2,146	0	1	0	0	0
48	D.J. Kennington	2	-2,147	0	2	0	0	0
49	Brendan Gaughan	0	-2,149	0	3	0	1	0
50	Darrell Wallace Jr.	0	-2,149	0	4	0	0	0
51	Timmy Hill	0	-2,149	0	13	0	0	0
52	Elliott Sadler	0	-2,149	0	3	0	0	0
53	Ross Chastain	0	-2,149	0	1	0	0	0
54	Joey Gase	0	-2,149	0	5	0	0	0
55	Regan Smith	0	-2,149	0	2	0	0	0
56	JJ Yeley	0	-2,149	0	4	0	0	0
57	Ryan Sieg	0	-2,149	0	5	0	0	0
58	Carl Long	0	-2,149	0	2	0	0	0
59	B.J. McLeod	0	-2,149	0	5	0	0	0
60	Brett Moffitt	0	-2,149	0	4	0	0	0
61	Josh Bilicki	0	-2,149	0	2	0	0	0
62	Ray Black II	0	-2,149	0	1	0	0	0