Busch Dominates in New Hampshire

Originally written for CLNS Media.

Kyle Busch won the ISM Connect 300 from New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sunday afternoon.

Busch had a dominant car throughout the race, and led 187 of 300 laps on Sunday. 

Busch raced with Martin Truex Jr. throughout the first two stages, but it almost ended with a wreck on the final lap of Stage 2.  Truex was leading when an accident blocked most of the track.  Truex was involved in the accident, but Busch was able to squeeze by on the outside.

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Busch drove through a thick wall of smoke to avoid the wreck, and he said it was like a scene out of the movie Days of Thunder.

“You couldn’t see anything, it was just a wall of smoke over there off Turn 2,” Busch said.  “That was some Days of Thunder stuff right there.  Just checked up…trying not to get run into from behind.”

Busch said his dominance was a testament to how hard his team worked all week to help them advance to the next round of the Playoffs.

“It was just a great day for our team; we were able to execute all day long,” Busch said.  “We did everything right and everything we were supposed to do.”

“It’s a testament to this team and everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing…they’ve been fast and it’s a great opportunity for us to put them in victory lane when we can.”

Kyle Larson challenged Busch on the final restart of the race, but he ended up with a second-place finish.  Larson said his car just didn’t have the speed to compete with Busch on the short run.

“I felt like on fairly long runs I was pretty equal to those guys, but on the short run I…couldn’t get the throttle down and we’d get loose,” Larson said.  “He was just really good.”

“Solid effort for us.  We got a fifth last week and a second today; that was pretty much the day that we needed.  Obviously a win would have been great, but second is just as good.”

Unofficial results:

1. Kyle Busch

2. Kyle Larson

3. Matt Kenseth

4. Brad Keselowski

5. Martin Truex Jr.

6. Erik Jones

7. Clint Bowyer

8. Daniel Suarez

9. Ryan Blaney

10. Joey Logano

11. Chase Elliott

12. Denny Hamlin

13. Ryan Newman

14. Jimmie Johnson

15. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

16. Jamie McMurray

17. AJ Allmendinger

18. Danica Patrick

19. Austin Dillon

20. Paul Menard

21. Chris Buescher

22. Ty Dillon

23. Michael McDowell

24. Trevor Bayne

25. Landon Cassill

26. Aric Almirola

27. Corey LaJoie

28. Reed Sorenson

29. David Ragan

30. Cole Whitt

31. Matt DiBenedetto

32. Brett Moffitt

33. Gray Gaulding

34. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

35. Kasey Kahne

36. Kevin Harvick

37. Kurt Busch

38. Jeffrey Earnhardt

39. Cody Ware

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