NASCAR Xfinity Series: Race reports for top teams at Texas Motor Speedway
Kyle Busch won Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race, the My Bariatric Solutions 300, at Texas Motor Speedway. How do the sport’s top teams look after this race?
Kyle Busch returned to the victory lane at Texas Motor Speedway for the second time this weekend after winning Friday night’s Truck Series race at the track. The younger Busch brother earned his 95th career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory by winning the My Bariatric Solutions 300 thanks to great pit strategy during the final caution and a fantastic restart.
His victory highlighted an up-and-down day for Joe Gibbs Racing, and it ended what was really an up-and-down day for every race team. Let’s take a look at the sport’s lone top Toyota team before taking a look at the sport’s top Chevrolet and Ford teams.
Joe Gibbs Racing
Joe Gibbs Racing dominated once again in the Xfinity Series, but they had to work for this win and dealt with a great deal of adversity. Race winner Kyle Busch nearly hit the wall when his #18 Toyota got lose and Christopher Bell was issued a speeding penalty. Both drivers overcame those errors to finish in the top three.
The only Joe Gibbs Racing driver who was unable to recover was Brandon Jones, who unfortunately dealt with a loose car while someone was on his outside. He collided with Stewart-Haas Racing’s Cole Custer and both drivers sustained race-ending damage.
Jones was scored in 33rd place. Who knows how he would have finished had his issues come with an empty middle lane? He has run solid all year, and in the four races he has finished, his average finish is 5.25.
Incidents aside, Joe Gibbs Racing continue to be the model of consistency in the Xfinity Series. Even without Busch, they’d likely be the class of the series. That’s not to say they don’t have anything to work on.
Since abusing the competition at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Bell has struggled to finish races. He’s always in contention, but as the races wind down and everyone else improves, he and his team struggle to match those improvements. Stewart-Haas Racing’s Chase Briscoe nearly passed Bell on the last restart for third place.
Jones always has one mistake between him and a banner day. They have plagued his first one-plus seasons at Joe Gibbs Racing. He had a great car and track position in today’s race before his wreck. He has proven that he can compete for wins when he maintains both, and doing that is the key.