NASCAR Xfinity Series at Atlanta 2016 Results: Winner, Standings and Reaction

Kyle Busch took the checkered flag at the Heads Up 250 in NASCAR's Xfinity Series on Saturday from Atlanta. 

It was his first career win at the track after five second-place finishes over his career. He spoke after the race, via PRN:

Here are the full race results:

Place	Driver
1	Kyle Busch
2	Kyle Larson
3	Erik Jones
4	Paul Menard
5	Ty Dillon
6	Brad Keselowski
7	Daniel Suarez
8	Justin Allgaier
9	Elliott Sadler
10	Jeb Burton
11	Brandon Jones
12	Kevin Harvick
13	Brendan Gaughan
14	Brennan Poole
15	Ryan Reed
16	Ryan Sieg
17	Jeremy Clements
18	Darrell Wallace Jr.
19	J.J. Yeley
20	Blake Koch
21	Dakoda Armstrong
22	Ryan Preece
23	Corey Lajoie
24	Garrett Smithley
25	Mario Gosselin
26	B.J. McLeod
27	Derrike Cope
28	Ross Chastain
29	Chris Cockrum
30	Mike Harmon
31	Cody Ware
32	Joey Gase
33	Ray Black Jr.
34	Josh Reaume
35	Harrison Rhodes
36	Carl Long
37	Morgan Shepherd
38	Todd Peck
39	David Starr
40	Jeff Green

This is what the standings look like after Saturday's race:

Place	Driver	Points
1	Elliott Sadler	70
2	Daniel Suarez	67
3	Ty Dillon	65
4	Brandon Jones	64
5	Justin Allgaier	63
6	Brendan Gaughan	62
7	Darrell Wallace Jr.	58
8	Blake Koch	53
9	Ryan Reed	51
10	Jeremy Clements	50

Busch led 119 of the 163 laps after beginning the race as the pole-sitter. It was a dominant performance by Busch as only Brad Keselowski, Justin Allgaier and Jeb Burton led laps. 

It was no easy feat to do what Busch did, either.

Drivers had to contend with one of the older surfaces in NASCAR's circuit. The last time the asphalt track at Atlanta was re-done was in 1997. The surface slows down cars due to the rocks that become exposed on the track, which wears down the tires. 

Atlanta is also a track that has big, drawn-out curves and short straightaways that don't allow drivers to stay on the throttle like other venues. It created some cautions that included blown tires and plenty of debris on the track, via NASCAR Xfinity:

The trouble, though, didn't end on the track, as NASCAR Xfinity showed:

With 20 laps to go, it became a two-car race between Busch and Kyle Larson. Busch opened up a lead as large as 1.7 seconds in the process, while Larson had more than three seconds on the third-place driver.

As the race dwindled, that separation continued to grow. With seven laps to go, the top two had more than a six-second edge, but Larson was bearing down on Busch. Larson found a solid groove on the top part of the track and was putting up some fast laps. 

His deficit shrank from 1.7 seconds, to less than one with five laps to go, but Busch managed to hold on for the win. Third-place Erik Jones, who started the race in the front row but was forced to the back of the pack after a bad start, finished over nine seconds behind Larson. 

But because Busch is not a full-time Xfinity driver, an early-season win does not thrust him to the top of the series standings. 

After a ninth-place finish, Elliott Sadler remains the series leader by three points over Daniel Suarez, who finished in seventh.

Stats courtesy of NASCAR.com.