Kyle Busch scores 84th NASCAR Xfinity Series victory

Credit: Carol D'Agostino for Skirts and Scuffs

by Carol D'Agostino

The 36^th Annual Virginia529 College Savings race at Richmond was billed as the race that could determine the fate of drivers looking to lock up spots in the inaugural Xfinity Series Chase. What it ended up being, however, was another runaway win for Kyle Busch.

The race only had two cautions and three race leaders – Busch, polesitter Austin Dillon and Erik Jones.

This victory marks Busch’s 84^th career win in 325 NASCAR Xfinity Series races. It was his sixth victory and 18^th top-10 finish in 21 races at Richmond, and he's racked up eight wins and a dozen top-10 finishes so far in 2016.

Although dominant wins are nothing new to Busch, he didn’t expect this one. 

“I figured we were going to be stuck fourth to eighth, and I was there on the first run. We were fourth, but the guys made some awesome adjustments," Busch said. "The guys on pit road gave me a great pit stop to get me out front to get me the lead, and the car was really good after that. I didn’t expect that from practice earlier today and from how we qualified."

Although a Busch win is never a surprise, crew chief Chris Gayle knows night races are unpredictable.

“It’s really tough here, you never really have the conditions that you’re going to race in at night, so you never really feel 100 percent about where your car is and where it’s going to be for the night," Gayle said. "There are days where you think you have the best car and it turns out bad for you and then there are days where you don’t always have the best car and it turns out a lot better in the race than you expected."

Rounding out the top-10 finishers were Erik Jones, Brad Keselowski, Elliott Sadler, Justin Allgaier, Ty Dillon, Austin Dillon, Daniel Suarez, Alex Bowman and Brendan Poole. The 11th-place driver Ryan Reed clinched his spot in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Chase, which begins at Kentucky Speedway in two weeks.

For full race results click here.