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

Kyle Busch's NASCAR Xfinity Series dominance continued Saturday at Kansas Speedway, as he won the Kansas Lottery 300 for his ninth victory of 2016 in just 16 starts.

Busch led 150 of 200 laps en route to taking the checkered flag, beating out second-place finisher Elliott Sadler.  

Here is a rundown of the top 10 finishers courtesy of NASCAR.com:

Position	Driver	Car No.
1	Kyle Busch	18
2	Elliott Sadler	1
3	Daniel Suarez	19
4	Joey Logano	22
5	Kyle Larson	42
6	Regan Smith	88
7	Brennan Poole	48
8	Brandon Jones	33
9	Blake Koch	11
10	JJ Yeley	44

While Busch stole the show by extending his career record for most Xfinity Series triumphs to 85, the race was huge for Xfinity regulars since it marked the first event in the Chase's Round of 8.

Sadler will enter Texas with the lead, while Daniel Suarez, Blake Koch and Justin Allgaier are currently the others in line to race for a title at Homestead. The following is a look at where the Chase contenders stand after Saturday's results:

Position	Driver	Points	Above Cutoff
1	Elliott Sadler	3039	+12
2	Daniel Suarez	3038	+11
3	Blake Koch	3032	+5
4	Justin Allgaier	3027	0
5	Erik Jones	3026	-1
6	Ryan Reed	3025	-2
7	Brendan Gaughan	3010	-17
8	Darrell Wallace Jr.	3008	-19

After earning the pole, Busch dominated out of the gates by leading 50 of the race's first 51 laps.

The reigning Sprint Cup champion had no equal in the field in terms of speed, and he used that to his advantage by lapping many of his competitors.

That included Chase driver Ryan Reed, who fell behind early, as seen in this GIF courtesy of NASCAR Xfinity:

Busch lost his lead for a couple of laps due to green-flag pit stops one-quarter of the way through the race, but he quickly regained it once the others hit pit road as well.

The first caution of the day was called on Lap 57 when Matt Waltz's car left fluid on the track, via NASCAR Xfinity:

That did little to disrupt Busch's momentum, as his car proved to be as good on restarts as it was on long runs.

Cole Custer brought out another yellow flag just 11 laps after the first, as Matt DiBenedetto tapped him, and he lost control of his car, as seen in this GIF from NASCAR on NBC:

Custer managed to get back on the track, but he caused yet another caution when he spun out once again on the 76th lap, as seen in NASCAR Xfinity's video:

The cautions continued to come fast and furiously after that, with Ray Black Jr. and Derrike Cope causing them on the 86th and 102nd laps, respectively. But aside from a three-lap rendezvous in first by Darrell Wallace Jr., Busch kept his spot at the forefront of the field.

Joey Logano managed to beat Busch on a restart following a debris caution on lap No. 109, but that was short-lived, as the hard-charging Busch needed only two laps to pass one of his chief Sprint Cup rivals.

The leaders went to pit road with roughly 50 laps remaining for the final round of green-flag stops, but a caution for debris shortly thereafter created an interesting situation.

Just three cars were on the lead lap, and Busch was the first driver a lap down, which gave him the free pass and an opportunity to go back to pit road to take four tires, as NASCAR on NBC shows:

Other drivers such as Erik Jones, Kyle Larson, Sadler and Logano were able to take the wave around to get a lap back, but they could not pit like Busch, which put them at a disadvantage against the No. 18 car's fresh tires.

Shortly after the restart, a potential Chase-changing incident occurred, as Allgaier and Wallace Jr. both suffered significant damage in a crash, via NASCAR Xfinity:

Allgaier was able to save his day with a 14th-place finish, but the wreck put Wallace out and pushed him back to 33rd, which was the worst finish among Chase drivers.

Ty Dillon took the lead off the ensuing restart, while Busch struggled to make headway since the cars in front of him didn't get a great push.

Jones managed to pass Dillon for the lead on Lap 176 before another caution came out when Brendan Gaughan spun out and put his Chase positioning in jeopardy, as he ended up 31st, as seen in this video courtesy of NASCAR Xfinity:

Jones and Dillon led the field on the next restart, but they made instant contact, which caused one of Jones' tires to go down, forced him to pit and brought out another yellow flag, via NASCAR Xfinity:

The 20-year-old salvaged a 15th-place finish; however, he went from potentially winning the race and clinching a chance to go for the title to being forced to battle it out over the next two races.

With Jones and Dillon dropping back, Suarez and Busch assumed the top two spots prior to the caution.

Busch received a huge push from Sadler off the restart to regain the lead, while Suarez was pushed back to third when he was unable to clear the No. 18 car.

Despite a pair of desperate Xfinity Series regulars attempting to chase him down, Busch's car was simply too much to handle, and he closed out the victory without much of a challenge, via NASCAR on NBC:

Busch's win figures to give him confidence and momentum entering Sunday's Sprint Cup race at Kansas, which is significant as he attempts to position himself for a spot in the final eight.

The Kansas Lottery 300 was even bigger in terms of Xfinity Series Chase maneuvering, though, as Sadler and Suarez put themselves in a great spot by finishing second and third, respectively.

Koch's surprising ninth-place result made him a player, while Allgaier, Jones and Reed are all close for the fourth spot with Gaughan and Wallace lagging far behind.

There is still time for everyone to make a run with two races left before the championship event at Homestead, but a clear pecking order was set at Kansas, and it placed both Sadler and Suarez in the driver's seat.

Post-Race Reaction

Although Busch clearly had the best car for most of the race, pitting and constant cautions had him in a tough spot temporarily in the latter stages, but he was happy with how he and his team hung in there to score the victory, according to Lee Spencer of Motorsport.com:

"

It was a hard-fought battle. Seemed like it was going to easy for us, we had a super-fast car and when we were out front, I could take it easy on those long runs and we could drive away. The car would turn so well. A lot of things were trying to work against us at the end of the race. We were able to persevere and do the right things and have lucky restarts and be in the right grooves and not get caught up in the melee that was happening.

"

Sadler wasn't quite able to pick up the win and clinch a spot in the championship race, and while he lamented that fact to some degree, he was happy with the performance overall, per Dave Skretta of the Associated Press (h/t the Detroit News): "We had a great race. So proud of my team. We kept working on the car, working on the car, getting better and better. I just have to do a better job of outrunning that 18 car."

The second round of the Chase started out nearly as well as it could have for Sadler, but that wasn't the case for Wallace, who felt as though a golden opportunity was squandered, according to Joe Menzer of FoxSports.com: "Just unfortunate circumstances, you know. ... I think we could have gotten a top-10 if we hit the restarts just right. But it just wasn't our day. We were trying to make the most of it and get out of here with a clean finish."

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