NASCAR at Atlanta: Kyle Busch hangs on to win Xfinity race, his fifth in a row

The NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway is today. The Credit Karma Money 250 race is at 3:30 p.m. on NBCSN.

The race is 251 miles (163 laps) with stages ending on Laps 40, 80 and 163. All times are Eastern.

Follow NASCAR reporter Alex Andrejev on Twitter at @AndrejevAlex.

Race results

Final stage

6:09 p.m., Lap 164: Oh my, what a finish. Kyle Busch with a big run outside for the final lap. and Kyle Busch will win his 102nd Xfinity series race, in what might be his final Xfinity race.

6:08 p.m., Lap 163: Green green green... Jeb Burton with a good run off the top. Prior to the start, his team told him to be safe, take the bottom, but to win, take the top. He took the top, and he’s got the lead.

6:07 p.m., Lap 161: We will have extra laps here as things get settled after the last yellow (perhaps not the final yellow of the afternoon). Kyle Busch will restart in first place, Brett Moffitt in second, Jeb Burton in third, Justin Haley in fourth and AJ Allmendinger in fifth.

6:03 p.m., Lap 159: Green, green, green. For about five seconds. And once again we have caution. This time, it’s feel-good story Daniel Hemric, looking for his first Xfinity win. A little well-intentioned nudge from Kyle Busch gets him squirrely and he hits the wall outside.

5:58 p.m., Lap 155: The cars with new tires are anxious for the green to go. The front-runners will have to try to hold on with those “scuffs.” They’ll restart with seven to run. Is that enough? Kyle Busch telling his team he’s having restart troubles. He’s still fast, but perhaps not fast enough.

5:55 p.m., Lap 154: No doubt as Hemric overtakes the lead right off the get go. and we get an immediate caution as Weatherman gets run into by a bunch of cars as he seems to stall on the restart. His choice to start on the outside proves costly to a handful of drivers.

5:53 p.m., Lap 152: With just 12 to go, a handful of drivers have fresh tires, the rest have 10- or 12-lap scuffs. On to green we go.

5:48 p.m., Lap 149: Will they or won’t they? The answer: Yes. The leaders are going to go down to get some tires. Not new ones, but “scuffs,” tires that have been run on shorter runs earlier, that are a bit cooler. 10-lap scuffs for Kyle Busch. Justin Allgaier will have brand new tires and will restart seventh.

5:45 p.m., Lap 147: Caution is out! This is the last thing Daniel Hemric wanted to see as he was driving away from Kyle Busch, increasing his lead from .3 to .9. Carson Ware has spun and we’ll see what the tire strategy here with only 17 to run.

5:40 p.m., Lap 138: Allmendinger and Moffitt are battling hard for 3-4 position, meanwhile Daniel Hemric is holding off Kyle Busch for the moment. Busch’s car seems to have a bit of a waggle coming out of the turns, and his speed is coming down a bit. His gap from first to second has grown a bit now with 25 to go.

5:34 p.m., Lap 127: All of the fresh tires have sped to the front now. Hemric regains the lead, Busch, Moffitt, Allmendinger, and Harrison Burton round out the top 5.

5:32 p.m., Lap 124: Green we go... 39 laps remain. Allgaier with a bad mistake hitting the box at the lane split to choose high line or low line.

5:30 p.m., Lap 123: Noah Gragson may have just been the big beneficiary here. He stays out after he had an earlier tire issue, and he’s in fourth. His tires are three laps fresher than Ty Dillon, Myatt Snider and Tommy Joe Martins in 1-2-3, who all stayed out. But behind Gragson are the heavy hitters, Hemric, Busch and Allmendinger.

5:25 p.m., Lap 120: Caution is out again, and this is going to make the tire gamblers happy. The 19 car of Brandon Jones slams the wall hard on the outside, and we’ll see which cars decide to hit those tires. Jones is out of the car, and it appears his day is over. The car is smoking.

5:21 p.m., Lap 114: We’re now at the point where the top nine cars are all cars that pitted at Lap 97, under the most recent caution. The cars that stayed out have to be hoping for one more caution at this point. Hemric maintains a slim lead on Kyle Busch, but Buschu is closing every lap.

5:16 p.m., Lap 107: Hey, look... a Kyle Busch sighting near the front. Again. Daniel Hemric has worked his way to the front as the first car on fresh tires. Justin Allgaier is in second, but Busch is now lurking in third.

5:14 p.m., Lap 103: Odd moment here as Gragson pits behind the pace car coming off the restart.

5:10 p.m., Lap 98: Kyle Busch makes the decision to pit. Gragson does not pit. Moffitt does. Big decisions here. With 64 to go, the cars can all make it on fuel and tires the rest of the way, but if there’s another caution... makes it all interesting.

5:07 p.m., Lap 97: Gray Gaulding into the wall, and we have a caution. Gaulding makes his way to the pits as the field slows around the track. Great work by all of the cars around him not to get caught up in that.

5:06 p.m., Lap 94: It’s going to take a failed pit strategy or a wreck to keep Kyle Busch out of Victory Lane today. he is driving away from the field already with about 70 laps to go, now a good 2 seconds in front of No. 2 Noah Gragson. Brett Mofftt sits in third and Daniel Hemric in fourth. Interesting to note, both Moffitt and Hemric had lap times better than Busch’s last time by.

5:02 p.m., Lap 89: Green flag waves as Kyle Busch continues to lead. He won the first and second stages, and has said he’s done racing Xfinity once he hits 100 wins. He’s at 101 — including the past two — and this is the final race of his contract with the series this season.

4:58 p.m., Lap 84: Lead lap cars pit for 4 tires with Kyle Busch winning the race off of pit road, Justin Allgaier fell all the way back from fourth to seventh.

Stage 2

4:53 p.m., Lap 80: Kyle Busch has led 76 of 80 laps so far and he wins Stage 2 with ease. AJ Allmendinger, Noah Gragson, Justin Allgaier, Daniel Hemric, Harrison Burton, Brett Moffitt, Ty Dillon, Justin Haley and Austin Dillon finish in the top 10 for stage points.

4:40 p.m., Lap 63: Josh Berry goes for a spin in Turn 4 to bring out another caution. The leaders stay out as only three cars, CJ McLaughlin, Matt Mills and Ryan Vargas, pit. Busch gets the lead after the restart.

4:30 p.m., Lap 50: David Starr brings out the caution on the frontstretch after contact with Matt Mills. Kyle Busch had just taken the lead from Noah Gragson driving high. Gragson lined up in the front row on the outside for the last restart. This time, they pair chooses the inside lane with Busch leading.

Stage 1

4:22 p.m., Lap 50: Kyle Busch wins Stage 1 at Atlanta, his third stage win of the season. He’s followed at the flag by AJ Allmendinger, Harrison Burton, Daniel Hemric, Noah Gragson, Brett Moffitt, Alex Labbe, Justin Haley, Brandon Jones and Austin Dillon. The leaders pit, but Busch loses spots, coming out in fifth with Harrison Burton taking first for the restart.

4:13 p.m., Lap 37: Austin Dillon has worked into the top 12 while Alex Labbe, who took new tires at the competition caution, is into the top 10. Kyle Busch leads AJ Allmendinger, Harrison Burton, Daniel Hemric, Noah Gragson and Justin Allgaier.

4:07 p.m., Lap 26: A group of cars pit at the competition caution, including Austin Cindric, who’s team makes a shock adjustment. Alex Labbe comes off pit road first, but many of the leaders stay out. Kyle Busch continues to lead after the restart, as Daniel Hemric drives up to fourth. Austin Dillon is up to 16th.

3:58 p.m, Lap 15: Kyle Busch has led all laps so far. CJ McLaughlin pits with a motor issue as Busch starts laping cars in the back of the pack. Austin Dillon, who dropped to the back, is up to 24th. The order is Busch, AJ Allmenginger, Harrison Burton, Noah Gragson and Justin Haley in the top five.

3:50 p.m., Lap 3: Pole sitter Kyle Busch jumps out to the early lead on the hot track followed by AJ Allmendinger. NBCSN reports a track temperature of 136 degrees.

Pre-race

3:25 p.m.: Austin Dillon is planning to substitute as the driver of the No. 1 car for Michael Annett, who suffered an apparent leg injury and missed last night’s Truck Series at Knoxville. Annett was slated to start sixth, but the driver change will send Dillon to the back. The change comes less than an hour to the green flag.

3:07 p.m.: Drivers introductions are underway. A major storyline for today’s race is that this is Kyle Busch’s last scheduled Xfinity race. This is Busch’s fifth race this season and he’s seeking his fifth win this year (102nd career Xfinity race). Busch is announced at the track and is met with a loud mix of boos and cheers from the crowd.

1:40 p.m.: NASCAR announces that pre-race inspection is complete ahead of the Xfinity Series race. Four cars twice failed pre-race technical inspection and will lose pit selection at the next event. The four penalized drivers are Ronnie Bassett Jr., Brett Moffitt, Noah Gragson and AJ Allmendinger.

NASCAR race at Atlanta how to watch

▪ Race: Credit Karma Money 250

▪ When: Saturday, July 10

▪ Time: 3:30 p.m.

▪ TV: NBCSN

▪ Radio: PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

▪ Distance: 163 laps (251.02 miles) with stage breaks on laps 40, 80 and 163

NASCAR at Atlanta Xfinity starting order

This story was originally published July 10, 2021 at 3:30 PM.

Alexandra Andrejev

The Charlotte Observer

NASCAR and Charlotte FC beat reporter Alex Andrejev joined The Observer in January 2020 following an internship at The Washington Post. She is a two-time APSE award winner for her NASCAR beat coverage and National Motorsports Press Association award winner. She is the host of McClatchy’s podcast “Payback” about women’s soccer. Support my work with a digital subscription