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

Kyle Busch got off to a terrific start this weekend with a victory at the Alsco 300 in the NASCAR Xfinity Series on Friday.

This was Busch's night from the start. He finished first in qualifying and led 185 of the 201 laps at Kentucky Speedway to secure his fifth victory of the season.

Here's a look at Friday's results and the updated Xfinity Series standings:

Position	Driver	Behind Leader (Seconds)
1	Kyle Busch	-
2	Austin Dillon	-0.455
3	Daniel Suarez	-0.753
4	Erik Jones	-1.169
5	Darrell Wallace Jr.	-1.556
6	Elliott Sadler	-1.650
7	Ty Dillon	-1.817
8	Ryan Blaney	-1.952
9	Brennan Poole	-2.612
10	Brad Keselowski	-2.740

Position	Driver	Points	Behind Leader
1	Daniel Suarez	537	-
2	Elliott Sadler	528	9
3	Ty Dillon	518	19
4	Erik Jones	480	57
5	Brendan Gaughan	477	60
6	Justin Allgaier	472	65
7	Brandon Jones	459	78
8	Brennan Poole	454	83
9	Darrell Wallace Jr.	430	107
10	Ryan Reed	378	159
11	Ryan Sieg	371	166
12	Blake Koch	368	169
13	Ross Chastain	354	183
14	Jeremy Clements	331	206
15	Dakoda Armstrong	324	213
16	J.J. Yeley	298	239
17	Garrett Smithley	287	250
18	Ryan Preece	268	269
19	Jeb Burton	260	277
20	Ray Black Jr.	224	313
21	B.J. McLeod	214	323
22	Joey Gase	203	334
23	Justin Marks	167	370
24	David Starr	146	391
25	Mario Gosselin	144	393

The full results are available at NASCAR's official website.

Busch was the star of the race, though he got a late fight from Ty Dillon and Erik Jones. Busch and Dillon were neck-and-neck down the stretch until Dillon had to go into the pits, which allowed Busch to move back into the top spot.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series provided a GIF detailing how close the battle between Busch and Dillon got:

Jones came into the equation after Dillon went to pit road, and he remained in second place through a caution that came out on the 168th lap. The race didn't restart until the 174th lap, with Jones quickly taking the lead before another caution came out after Ray Black Jr. spun out. 

In addition to losing his lead late, Busch did not seem to be happy with what he believed to be a fan's actions, as Todd Fuhrman of SportsLine explained:

If a fan was spraying a water gun at Busch's car on the turn, it didn't seem to hurt his performance. The cautions provided the opening for Jones, who was able to take advantage for a short time. 

Coming out of the restart, Busch vaulted back into the top spot, with Daniel Suarez running second. Jones was bumped down to third for failing to maintain the pace car's speed. 

Jones explained the blunder on Twitter:

It wound up being a costly mistake, as Jones went on to finish in fourth place.

Busch had to make a brilliant move coming out of the restart to take the lead for the final time, as the Xfinity Series showed on Twitter:

The Xfinity Series isn't Busch's full-time gig, but he has had no problems making it his home. The 31-year-old has five wins in nine starts on the circuit so far this year and 81 wins in 320 career starts. 

The win continued a banner year for Busch. His success on the Xfinity circuit has translated to the Sprint Cup Series, as he ranks second in the points standings and is tied with Brad Keselowski for the most wins with three.

Busch will be back on the Kentucky Speedway track Saturday for the Sprint Cup Series' Quaker State 400. He's built up all of the momentum and confidence he needs to take home his fourth win of the year.

Post-Race Reaction

Speaking to reporters after his win, via Reid Spencer of NASCAR.com, Busch admitted that he may have caught a break with the way things broke late:

"

We always get the Kyle Busch cautions. Apparently this time it was true. There was some problems with another car smoking. You always have to make your money’s worth, I guess. Always have to give the show to the fans and their money’s worth. Certainly means a lot to us to win here and bring our Camry home to Victory Lane again at Kentucky Speedway.

"

Even though Busch's win is the top story, Jones' blunder is the main story to come from the race. He was disappointed by the final result: “I think we had the fastest car here once we got out front,” Jones lamented, via Spencer. “It’s just hard to get back up to the front when you get back in traffic.”

In the key moment when Busch took the lead for the final time, he admitted that Jones helped him get there with a move made on a turn:

"

When Erik drove into Turn 3 with me, I started to roll out just a little bit, because I knew I needed to in order to run the bottom. And he drove right on past me, and I was like, ‘Well, all righty then.’ 

I was waiting for him to slip and to not be able to control his car in the black, in the rubber. And it stuck for him and he made it work. I definitely learned that there was a little bit of speed up there, at least for one lap, for one corner.

"

An old cliche about sports is they can be games of inches. Busch proved on this night that old adage holds true.