Kyle Busch wins NASCAR Xfinity race at Road America; Alex Labbé 21st (+ video)

The seventeenth event of the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series season, the event contested this Saturday at the Road America circuit in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, saw Kyle Busch recover from a pair of off-road excursions. to claim his fourth victory of the season.

In this race which lasted 2 hours 25 minutes and saw 12 leader changes, Busch led five of the 45 laps in his Joe Gibbs Racing No.18 Toyota, but those 5 short laps were at the end and ended. enough to see him increase his lead over the laps to finally win with 3.522 seconds ahead of his teammate Daniel Hemric. This is Kyle Busch’s first victory on the 4,048-mile Wisconsin road circuit and the 101st of his career in the Xfinity Series.

Michael Annett finished third with his Chevrolet from JR Motorsports. Hemric and Annett managed to overtake AJ Allmendinger (Chevrolet / Kaulig Racing), despite being the favorite of this race, on the penultimate lap. Harrison Burton, another Joe Gibbs racing rider, completed the Top 5, but almost 7 seconds behind Busch.

Busch, who was competing in this event to prepare for the Cup series tomorrow, went off the track once in the first segment, then a second time in the second. But each time he was able to quickly return to the forefront.

It was rookie Ty Gibbs who took pole position in qualifying earlier in the day, but his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota No.81 suffered a transmission failure on lap 35. He was then in second position before stopping at the edge of the track before turn 6.

Allmendinger for his part won the first two segments of this rather poor event, but a pit penalty halfway through the race because a member of his team had crossed the low wall too early during his previous stop. , undoubtedly damaged his chances of contesting Kyle Busch’s victory in the last laps.

Austin Cindric and Justin Allgaier also led several laps, but both suffered pile-up damage on a raise with eight laps to go. Finally, it was Ford drivers Kevin Harvick, Riley Herbst and Austin Cindric who completed the Top 8, ahead of the Chevrolets of Noah Gragson and Justin Haley. For the full ranking, click here.

Starting 22nd, Quebecer Alex Labbé did not have a good race, although he had fought for victory last year on the same Road America circuit and had set the 9th fastest time in free practice yesterday. The driver of the No.36 Chevrolet of DGM Racing finished 21st in a poorly adjusted car, having completed segment 1 in 23rd position and segment 2 in 19th.

The next race in the NASCAR Xfinity series is scheduled for next Saturday at Atlanta Motor Speedway (start around 3pm) … For a summary in pictures of this Saturday’s event, see the video below.