Kyle Busch takes Phoenix for third straight Xfinity Series win

AVONDALE, Ariz. — The trend this weekend at Phoenix International Raceway is awesome for Joe Gibbs Racing and awful for the hopes of their competitors in Sunday’s Good Sam 500.

Kyle Busch won Saturday’s Axalta Faster. Tougher. Brighter. 200 Xfinity Series race, his record ninth series win at PIR and second in a row at the Avondale oval.

It was his third consecutive victory this year in the No. 18 NOS Energy Drink Toyota. He hasn’t lost on the Xfinity tour in 2016.

Busch’s teammates, Erik Jones and Daniel Suarez, finished second and third.

They started 1-2-3 for the third consecutive time, with rookie Jones on the pole. They wound up 1-2-3 for the second consecutive Saturday, with Suarez ahead of Jones last week at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

And, in Friday’s Sprint Cup qualifying, Busch, Carl Edwards and Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin were the three quickest, all in Gibbs’ Camrys.

"I think everyone’s on a high right now," said Busch, who finished 2.2 seconds ahead of Jones. "They feel really good about what they’re doing. As long as all that continues we’ll continue to shine. It's high marks for everybody right now."

At least it wasn’t quite so easy this time for Busch, the defending Cup champion and all-time Xfinity leader with 79 career victories. He didn’t lead 25 of the 200 laps. Last week, at Las Vegas, he led all but one of the 200 laps.

In the laps before their final fuel stop, Jones closed on Busch — who admitted he had used up his tires working through traffic — and actually got alongside the team leader a couple of times. But Jones had a longer refueling stop and Busch was too far ahead to catch in the remaining 14 laps.

"It may not have looked like it, but I had to run as hard as I could all day long," Busch said.

"I felt like we were a little better than him at that point (before the pit stop)," Jones said. "After the stop, there was no chance."

In total, Busch spent just under three seconds less on pit road than Jones.

It’s reached the point that if Busch doesn’t win in an Xfinity race, some consider it a failure.

"I do that (compete in Xfinity) for a reason, to try to be a better driver on Sunday," Busch said. "To get a chance to be out there on the track with a little different (softer) tire than what we’ve run here the last couple times, which is the same tire we’re going to run (Sunday), there’s lots of things to learn."

It promised to be a restless night for the 38 drivers starting behind him Sunday.

Michael Knight is a correspondent for The Arizona Republic, part of the Paste BN Network.

PHOTOS: Behind the wheel with Kyle Busch

Axalta Faster. Tougher. Brighter. 200

Saturday's results from the 1-mile oval at Phoenix International Raceway (starting position in parentheses):

1. (3) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 200 laps, 149.7 rating, 0 points.

2. (1) Erik Jones, Toyota, 200, 122.4, 40.

3. (2) Daniel Suarez, Toyota, 200, 118.6, 38.

4. (10) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 200, 114, 37.

5. (5) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 200, 107.6, 0.

6. (4) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 200, 107.7, 36.

7. (6) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 200, 100.6, 0.

8. (16) Elliott Sadler, Chevrolet, 200, 93.4, 33.

9. (7) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 200, 101.6, 0.

10. (17) Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, 200, 86.8, 31.

11. (8) Brandon Jones, Chevrolet, 200, 91.1, 30.

12. (9) Darrell Wallace Jr., Ford, 199, 91.5, 29.

13. (11) Brendan Gaughan, Chevrolet, 199, 85, 28.

14. (13) Ryan Reed, Ford, 199, 81, 27.

15. (14) Justin Marks, Chevrolet, 199, 78.8, 26.

16. (12) Blake Koch, Chevrolet, 199, 74.2, 25.

17. (15) Jeb Burton, Ford, 199, 75.2, 24.

18. (26) Dakoda Armstrong, Toyota, 198, 65.7, 23.

19. (28) Dylan Lupton, Chevrolet, 198, 65.2, 22.

20. (23) J.J. Yeley, Toyota, 198, 66.5, 21.

21. (24) Ryan Preece, Chevrolet, 197, 58.3, 20.

22. (22) David Starr, Toyota, 197, 52.6, 19.

23. (18) Spencer Gallagher, Chevrolet, 196, 59.3, 0.

24. (19) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 196, 63.8, 17.

25. (25) Ray Black Jr., Chevrolet, 196, 52.3, 16.

26. (27) T.J. Bell, Toyota, 196, 52.3, 15.

27. (21) Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, 195, 66, 14.

28. (20) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 195, 58.4, 13.

29. (35) B.J. McLeod, Ford, 194, 43.8, 12.

30. (38) Harrison Rhodes, Chevrolet, 194, 40.3, 11.

31. (34) Garrett Smithley, Chevrolet, 194, 42.3, 10.

32. (31) Timmy Hill, Chevrolet, 193, 45.8, 0.

33. (36) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, 191, 36.8, 8.

34. (37) Derrike Cope, Chevrolet, 191, 32.6, 7.

35. (32) Mario Gosselin, Chevrolet, 190, 40, 6.

36. (33) D.J. Kennington, Dodge, 190, 33, 5.

37. (40) Todd Peck, Ford, 188, 27.3, 4.

38. (39) Mike Harmon, Dodge, 182, 28.3, 3.

39. (30) Morgan Shepherd, Chevrolet, overheating, 11, 26.5, 2.

40. (29) Jeff Green, Toyota, vibration, 5, 23.2, 1.

———

Race Statistics

Average Speed of Race Winner: 114.087 mph.

Time of Race: 1 hour, 45 minutes, 11 seconds.

Margin of Victory: 2.285 seconds.

Caution Flags: 3 for 16 laps.

Lead Changes: 5 among 4 drivers.

Lap Leaders: E.Jones 1-5; K.Busch 6-97; T.Dillon 98-108; K.Busch 109-177; B.Keselowski 178-186; K.Busch 187-200.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Led, Laps Led): K.Busch, 3 times for 175 laps; T.Dillon, 1 time for 11 laps; B.Keselowski, 1 time for 9 laps; E.Jones, 1 time for 5 laps.

Top 10 in Points: 1. D.Suarez, 144; 2. E.Sadler, 136; 3. T.Dillon, 135; 4. J.Allgaier, 132; 5. B.Jones, 129; 6. E.Jones, 126; 7. B.Gaughan, 119; 8. R.Reed, 106; 9. B.Poole, 102; 10. D.Wallace Jr., 96.