CONCORD, N.C.: It almost looked like déjà vu all over again for Kyle Busch.
On a restart in NASCAR overtime, Austin Cindric swiped the lead away from the winningest driver in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and the Team Penske driver took the white flag as the leader.
Cindric looking for his first Xfinity Series win on an oval was able to fend off Busch through Turns 1 and 2, but Busch used momentum built from battling with Cindric on the high lane from the exit of Turn 2 and the backstretch to make his move on Cindric entering Turn 3.
With both in a drag race down the backstretch, neither driver was prepared to lift and sailed their automobiles in Turn 3. Busch was able to dive down underneath Cindric and steal the lead and soar to his 97th Xfinity Series win.
Meanwhile, Cindric, though with an adrenaline-type move in Turn 3 lost his momentum to Daniel Hemric who was on newer tires and passed him coming to the start | finish line sending Cindric back to third when the checkered flag waved.
Cindric’s fourth top-five of the season also vaulted him to second in the championship standings following the fifth race of the season.
“I am really proud of this team,” offered Cindric. “We were talking about it on the drive to the track today that this was our turning put last year. It was probably one of my worst races last year. To almost beat the best in the business on worse tires, ugh.
“I never lifted. I never lifted into three until I knew that I was done. I am really thankful to be driving this Ford Mustang. These guys worked really hard with what we unloaded with and there were definitely a lot of unknowns. It was a team effort. I want to win so bad.”
The 21-year-old driver knew that fending off Busch was going to be a difficult task, but took solace in almost beating the best of the best in NASCAR.
“I think we had a lot of opportunities to win the race tonight. If it goes green on a number of occasions I think the Snap-On Ford Mustang is the winner tonight. It just didn’t work out for us. I was on older tires and everyone else on older tires ended up crashing. It is hard to beat the best in the business on older tires. I got a great push from Daniel (Hemric).
“I am shocked the restart zone went as well as it did. That was a big struggle for me all night. I knew I was going to have to defend in three and four and took the top in one and two. He just had way more grip than I did. The heat cycles were killer. I never lifted driving into three. I just gave up second but didn’t really care at that point. I just wanted to win the race.
“Overall, it was a great night and I am really proud of my team. I came here with something that we have never come to the race track with. We had to work on it all night. It shows the strength of the team and I am really proud of the effort.”
Cindric said he never lifted entering Turn 3 and didn’t think of the consequences of such a bold move on older tires.
“I figured my best chance was to drive right onto his right rear and make him as uncomfortable as possible and hopefully we all slow down,” he said. “That was my only chance at that point knowing he was the dominant car. I am not sure what I could have done better. Maybe just covering his air on the bottom but with tires that were that much worse I don’t know what my other move was. I didn’t hit the wall but I am not sure I really cared at that point with a quarter-mile to go.”
The Mooresville, N.C. native now heads to Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway on Saturday afternoon, a track where he won the pole last Spring and believes it’s an opportunity to finish what he started.
“I think it will be a great track for us,” sounded Cindric. “We sat on the pole there last year and have a good baseline for that track. I am excited. I like Bristol. I like short track racing.”
Ford Performance leads the top-two positions in the Xfinity Series standings with Briscoe at 251 points, eight points ahead of Cindric at 243.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
