Kyle Busch captures 3rd win in 4 races at New Hampshire
Kyle Busch drove his No. 18 Toyota to Victory Lane on Sunday to claim his third victory in four races, as well as Loudon the Lobster, at the 5-hour ENERGY 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
That's what 3 for 4 looks like! ? pic.twitter.com/1hXxvY43wX
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) July 19, 2015
The win, his second in a row, puts Busch 33rd in the driver standings, just three spots and 58 points outside of the top-30 cut-off to make the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
Brad Keselowski finished second after leading 101 of 301 laps and captured his first top-five finish since April. Kevin Harvick finished third, followed by Joey Logano and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
The race was another successful Joe Gibbs Racing outing with three of the four team members finishing in the top 10. Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards finished sixth and seventh, respectively.
Jeff Gordon, who is still looking for his first win of the season, finished ninth. Kyle's brother Kurt rounded out the top 10 and the fourth JGR driver, Denny Hamlin, ended his day in 14th.
On Lap 96, Alex Bowman's No. 7 Chevrolet's tire burst into flames when he was leaving pit road. He finished 42nd.
At the halfway point, Keselowski was out in front of the pack. But, after a bad restart following a caution for debris on Lap 194, he moved to third, allowing Harvick and Busch to slip ahead of him.
On Lap 244, there were reports of oil, from numerous drivers, on the track. Busch thought he had a tire problem and pitted. He took four tires and went a lap down.
The 30-year-old's machine was fast and he was back on the lead lap in no time. When NASCAR finally called a caution to check for the oil on the track, Busch stayed out. All of the leaders pitted and he took over the lead.
The Sprint Cup Series visits Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Brickyard 400 next weekend on July 26 at 3:30 p.m. ET.
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