Brandon Jones races to 2nd career NASCAR Xfinity victory
AVONDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Brandon Jones passed Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota teammate Kyle Busch with 20 laps remaining and pulled away Saturday at Phoenix Raceway for his second career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory.
Rookie Harrison Burton finished second and Busch was third, giving Joe Gibbs Racing the top three finishers. Burton has finished in the top 10 in all four races this season, winning last week at Fontana.
Brad Keselowski was fourth in a Team Penske Ford. Justin Haley's Chevrolet was fifth.
Jones said the win was extra special since he was able to beat Cup stars Busch and Keselowski.
“Yeah, man, absolutely,” Jones said. “Those are two of arguably the best in the business. We just had a car to beat them today. These guys do an incredible job.”
Busch started on the pole and led a race-high 78 laps on the mile oval. But the 23-year-old Jones gained momentum on a 47-lap green-flag stretch that ended the race, passing Busch was relative ease.
Busch is the defending Cup Series champion and was running in his first Xfinity race of the year. He has a series-record 96 victories. ___
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