NASCAR: Busch-whacked for the 102nd time

Kyle Busch went out on top in the Credit Karma Money 250, though it wasn’t as vigorously celebrated as some of his 101 others in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

Coming out of caution with six laps to go Saturday at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Busch lined up behind leader and teammate Daniel Hemric. Busch gave Hemric a bump as they went to green. The move went sideways, as did Hemric.

“(I’m feeling) what could have been, I guess,” said Hemric, who was bidding for his first NASCAR win after nine runner-up finishes. “As soon as he touched me, it just steered me off the left rear and right into the fence and that was it. I tried to hang on to the Poppy Bank Toyota Supra, but it just wasn’t meant to be.”

After Hemric’s No. 18 hit the wall, the race ended with a caution-filled finish and a familiar sight. Busch won his 102nd Xfinity race — Mark Martin is second with 49 — and became one of just a handful of drivers to win five in a row on the series.

“I meant to push him,” Busch said. “I wanted to hit him. I just wanted to hit him more forward and straight. But I turned him sideways a little bit. I was just trying to help a teammate. That’s why I restarted behind him.

“It was a great day for the 54 car, but the 18 was better and deserved this win. So I’m sorry to Daniel and those guys. I hate it that all that transpired. That’s why this win is a little more somber than some because you don’t take solace in a win like that.”

Busch had stated he’d hang up his helmet in the Xfinity Series once he reached triple-digit wins. He didn’t waiver on that stance after his victory.

“Never say never, but yeah, this is it,” the 36-year-old said.

Busch led 97 laps and held off a furious charge from Jeb Burton in the final two laps. Burton languished in the back half of the field for the first two stages, both of which were won by Busch, but hounded the No. 54 on the final restart searching for a path to victory. He ultimately finished .550 seconds behind Busch.

It had looked as if Busch, who led a race best 98 laps, and Hemric were going to settle the trophy between themselves. A victory for the 30-year old Hemric, would have been his first in any of NASCAR’s premier series. He now has 105 Xfinity Series starts and nine runner-up finishes. On Saturday, he finished 30th.

“Not quite the win we were hoping for,’’ Busch said, “a little bit of a somber win, I guess, not just for it being it the last one, but for the way it kind of happened.

“Really hate it for my teammate Daniel Hemric there on the front stretch. Just trying to get to him, trying to push him, trying to hit him and get him moving forward. We hit that bump there on the track at the same time and it kind of juked his car and he was across traffic, I guess. Ended up wrecked, which was not all how I foresaw that all going.

“But we were able to push our way through and get on to victory lane.’’

Added Busch, who won both stages and now has led an Xfinity Series record 20,088 laps, “He probably was going to have us beat, you know. Whoever got ahead off of Turn 2 on a restart was probably going to circle back around and take the checkered.’’

For his part, an obviously disappointed Hemric had very little to say on the team radio when the incident happened on-track, but spoke to reporters on pit road after the race and remained upbeat despite the frustrating situation.

“What could have been, right, that’s all you can think about,’’ Hemric told NBCSN on pit road. “On the flip side, you can’t change it. Obviously, I know it wasn’t intentional by no means. I did spin the tires a little bit, we were on scuffed tires there.

“I thought we got rolling there the best we could, and Kyle just went to push me and help out momentum in the bottom lane. Right when he went to hook on my back bumper, there’s a swell there right before you turn into one Turn 1. The way the car loads there, and the bumpers didn’t align and it shot me right there.

“I know it wasn’t intentional but at the end of the day, I’m talking to you guys with a torn-up race car. This sucks.”

“I don’t know if I should have been expecting something different than what happened,’’ Hemric continued. “But as soon as he touched me, I never had a chance. That’s a product of taking off in a restart zone on older tires, and we’re all doing all we can.

Noah Gragson was third after battling up front for much of the race. Justin Haley was fourth and Ty Dillon was fifth. Brett Moffitt, Justin Allgaier, Jeremy Clements, 18-year-old Sam Mayer and Austin Cindric rounded out the top 10.

Austin Dillon was 11th after jumping into Michael Annett’s No. 1 car minutes before the race started to sub for the injured driver.

Race Highlights

Race Results

1. (1)  Kyle Busch(i), Toyota, 164.
2. (11)  Jeb Burton, Chevrolet, 164.
3. (9)  Noah Gragson, Chevrolet, 164.
4. (7)  Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 164.
5. (30)  Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 164.
6. (20)  Brett Moffitt, Chevrolet, 164.
7. (8)  Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 164.
8. (19)  Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 164.
9. (22)  Sam Mayer #, Chevrolet, 164.
10. (4)  Austin Cindric, Ford, 164.
11. (6)  Austin Dillon(i), Chevrolet, 164.
12. (16)  Ryan Sieg, Ford, 164.
13. (3)  AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 164.
14. (32)  Ryan Vargas #, Chevrolet, 164.
15. (17)  Alex Labbe, Chevrolet, 164.
16. (14)  Tommy Joe Martins, Chevrolet, 164.
17. (27)  Jade Buford #, Chevrolet, 164.
18. (18)  Josh Williams, Chevrolet, 164.
19. (10)  Riley Herbst, Ford, 164.
20. (36)  Colby Howard, Chevrolet, 164.
21. (15)  Myatt Snider, Chevrolet, 164.
22. (37)  Jeffrey Earnhardt, Chevrolet, 164.
23. (28)  Josh Berry #, Chevrolet, 164.
24. (5)  Harrison Burton, Toyota, 164.
25. (33)  Joe Graf Jr., Chevrolet, 164.
26. (24)  Matt Mills, Chevrolet, 164.
27. (29)  Ronnie Bassett Jr., Chevrolet, 164.
28. (31)  Jesse Little, Toyota, 164.
29. (23)  Mason Massey, Toyota, 164.
30. (2)  Daniel Hemric, Toyota, 164.
31. (12)  Brandon Brown, Chevrolet, Accident, 163.
32. (38)  Kyle Weatherman, Chevrolet, Accident, 162.
33. (25)  Santino Ferrucci, Toyota, 162.
34. (39)  Bayley Currey(i), Chevrolet, 162.
35. (40)  Gray Gaulding, Chevrolet, 160.
36. (26)  Carson Ware, Chevrolet, Accident, 139.
37. (34)  CJ McLaughlin(i), Ford, 139.
38. (21)  Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, 128.
39. (13)  Brandon Jones, Toyota, Accident, 118.
40. (35)  David Starr, Toyota, Accident, 50.

Average Speed of Race Winner:  109.032 mph.

Time of Race:  2 Hrs, 18 Mins, 59 Secs. Margin of Victory:  .550 Seconds.

Caution Flags:  10 for 43 laps.

Lead Changes:  16 among 9 drivers.

Lap Leaders:   K. Busch(i) 1-43;H. Burton 44-46;N. Gragson 47-48;K. Busch(i) 49-65;A. Allmendinger

66;K. Busch(i) 67-97;N. Gragson 98-100;J. Allgaier 101-104;D. Hemric 105-120;T. Dillon 121-124;D.

Hemric 125-148;K. Weatherman 149-151;D. Hemric 152-156;A. Allmendinger 157;K. Busch(i) 158-161;J.

Burton 162;K. Busch(i) 163-164.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  Kyle Busch(i) 5 times for 97 laps; Daniel Hemric

3 times for 45 laps; Noah Gragson 2 times for 5 laps; Justin Allgaier 1 time for 4 laps; Ty Dillon

1 time for 4 laps; Kyle Weatherman 1 time for 3 laps; Harrison Burton 1 time for 3 laps; AJ

Allmendinger 2 times for 2 laps; Jeb Burton 1 time for 1 lap.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 54,16,20,18,9,02,36,11,19,1

Stage #2 Top Ten: 54,16,9,7,18,20,02,23,11,1