Kyle Busch Pulls Away For Victory

By ESPN

 NASCAR's 2017 Cup playoffs came into sharper focus Sunday in the ISM Connect 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Among the things learned?

* It helps to drive a Toyota.

* Being Kyle Busch or Martin Truex Jr. is a good thing.

* Misfortune can strike at any time in the most unexpected of ways.

* There's a long way to go to the Homestead finale, but four of the 16 playoff drivers are getting eliminated at Dover next week, and we have a pretty good idea who those four may be.

Busch pulled away to victory, dominating the final half of the race after somehow avoiding a wreck just one lap shy of the halfway point and the end of Stage 2, which he also won thanks to some luck and skill.

"Getting through that smoke was the defining moment of the race for sure," he said. "And we've got a good pit crew and they did everything right today. Today was a good catch-up moment for us."

He had led 39 laps to start after winning the pole on Friday and led 187 of the 300 laps in his Toyota, beating Chevrolet's Kyle Larson by more than 2.6 seconds for his third career win at New Hampshire and 41st overall.

"This is what it's all about, you know?" Busch said. "We're supposed to do these things and it feels even better when we can do those things and, you know, we've missed out on a lot of opportunities I feel like this year, but today we were able to execute all day long.

"We were able to get the things that we needed done done."

The wreck started on Lap 149 when Austin Dillon and Kevin Harvick tangled, sending Harvick into a tire-smoking spin that confused everyone who approached it. Getting through was more of a guessing game than anything.

Truex, for his part, managed to come all the way back to finish fifth after the wreck took his Toyota out of the lead and dropped him to 18th. With his win last week, Truex didn't even need to continue to race to advance to the second round of the playoffs, which starts Oct. 8 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

"I could not see anything and I was just approaching the smoke and I'm like, 'Oh no, where am I going to go?'" Truex said. "I mean, literally I couldn't see anything and my spotter said go low. By then, it was kind of too late and I was already like to the smoke and I couldn't commit. I just kind of like just kept slowing down and the 33 [Jeffrey Earnhardt] just came by me on the outside and hit me and spun me down through there, so just unfortunate, you know?

"We were coming to the green-white-checkered to win the second stage ... you know we had damage and had to fight from the back of the pack the rest of the day, so proud of our effort to run fifth after all that, but it definitely hurt our day."

But as important as identity of the winner and front-runners Sunday, was the misfortune that befell Kurt Busch and Harvick in that wreck as well as a breakdown on Kasey Kahne's car late in the race.

While Harvick is likely to make the second round at 15 points ahead of the cutoff and in 10th place, Ford teammate Kurt Busch and Chevy's Kahne likely need to win at Dover -- or benefit from a lot of misfortune for the four drivers directly in front of them in the standings -- to move on as they find themselves 15th and 16th, respectively.

"It's tough when you're running where we were," Kurt Busch said. "We were just trying to limp it to the end of Stage 2 and I heard, 'Car spinning off of two' in my ear. I saw smoke up ahead. A lot of times they'll come back up, and I tried to leave the high side or the low side and then, boom, as soon as the smoke cleared I'm looking at Harvick's door, my teammate.

"We're both running for the playoffs and it's a shame that the handling is off and we're both running where we were, but we were still going to fight all the way to the end, but now we don't have a chance. I cannot understand the bad luck that we're having."

Larson and Ford's Brad Keselowski have clinched the second round of the playoffs on points and are second and fourth in the standings, respectively. Toyota's Denny Hamlin, who finished 12th, and teammate Matt Kenseth (third) also look safe at fifth and sixth in the standings, respectively. Kenseth is the lowest ranked of the four Toyota drivers.

Seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson is seventh, with Ford's Ryan Blaney eighth and Johnson's Chevy teammate Chase Elliott ninth. Chevy's Jamie McMurray is 11th, nine points ahead of the cutoff.

Ford's Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is the final driver who would advance as of now in a tiebreaker over Chevy's Dillon. Chevy's Ryan Newman is a point behind Stenhouse and Dillon.

No Protests Made Prior to NASCAR Race

LOUDON, N.H. -- It appeared that no drivers, crew or other team members participated in a protest during the national anthem to start the NASCAR Cup series race Sunday.

Several team owners and executives had said they wouldn't want anyone in their organizations to protest.

Hall of Fame driver Richard Petty's sentiments took it a step further.

"Anybody that don't stand up for the anthem oughta be out of the country. Period," Petty said. "What got 'em where they're at? The United States."

When asked if a protester at Richard Petty Motorsports would be fired, Petty said, "You're right."

However, when reached by ESPN, Andy Murstein, the majority owner of Richard Petty Motorsports, said he would not fire an employee who protests.

"I would sit down with them and say it's the wrong thing to do that, and many people, including myself, view it as an affront to our great country," Murstein told ESPN in a text message. "If there is disenchantment towards the president or a few bad law enforcement officers, don't have it cross over to all that is still good and right about our country."

Longtime team owner Richard Childress said he told his team that protesting would "get you a ride on a Greyhound bus."

"Anybody that works for me should respect the country we live in," Childress added. "So many people gave their lives for it. This is America."

Team owner Joe Gibbs, who won three Super Bowls as coach of the Washington Redskins, said of the anthem that "so much has been sacrificed for our country and our flag. It's a big deal for us to honor America."

"I'm proud of the way we've represented ourselves, and I'm proud of this sport, too," Gibbs said after JGR driver Kyle Busch won at New Hampshire. "I think this sport has a certain way they look at things. I really appreciate that."

Murstein said he understood the feelings of both Petty and Childress.

"They are all proud Americans who have lived through world wars and turbulent times," Murstein told ESPN. "While I respect their thoughts -- and personally, I think it's the wrong thing to kneel -- I wouldn't fire someone for expressing their feelings."

NASCAR instructs its drivers to not get into their cars prior to the national anthem and gives drivers five minutes after the anthem to get settled in their cars before the command to start engines.

"The flag isn't a flag of a few people," said Murstein, a founder and president of Medallion Financial Corp. "It stands for all of America. Yes, there are problems here, but they are nothing close to the problems in North Korea and other parts of the world.

"We must come together as Americans and respect everyone and everything, especially our flag, which is still the symbol of the United States, the greatest country in the world."

Team owner Chip Ganassi said he supports comments made Sunday by Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, whose players stayed in the locker room during the national anthem.

Said Tomlin: "We're not going to let divisive times or divisive individuals affect our agenda."

Reddick Runs Away With Opener

Tyler Reddick crashed the opener of the NASCAR Xfinity Series playoffs on Saturday at Kentucky Speedway by running away with his first career victory.

Reddick, 21, led 66 laps, including the final 39, and beat Brennan Poole to the finish line by 14.540 seconds. The margin of victory was the largest in the 23 times the series has raced on the 1.5-mile track since 2001.

"It was definitely one of those nights,'' said Reddick, who is running a partial schedule this season. "The car was great.''

Reddick had not led a lap in his previous 14 races in the series this season but passed Ryan Preece for the lead on lap 126 and cycled back to the front with 39 laps remaining after green flag pit stops.

The lead grew from there as the race stayed caution-free to the end.

"I was expecting a caution and it just never came,'' Reddick said. "Every lap that went by I'd think about it more and more. It's hard not to when the laps are winding down like that and you have a good-sized lead like that. You're just waiting for something to go wrong and it just didn't happen tonight. We had good fortune and we put ourselves in great position."

Poole started eighth in the No. 48 Chevrolet and was the top finisher among the 12 drivers in the playoffs. It was his third top-10 finish in six races at Kentucky Speedway.

"I felt like we had a really good car all weekend," said Poole, who began the playoffs as the No. 5 seed. "We made good adjustments throughout the race. One round I was a little bit too loose and lost a bunch of track position on my teammate. I really think that was the difference between us getting to victory lane and him winning. I'm really happy for Ganassi to finish 1-2 and for Tyler to go to victory lane."

Justin Allgaier entered the race as the No. 2 playoff seed. A flat tire in the early going Saturday put him two laps down, but he rallied to finish third and leads the points with the series set to visit Dover International Speedway next.

"We might not have won the playoffs tonight but I think we definitely salvaged what we needed to tonight to be able to move ourselves forward," Allgaier said.

By finishing fourth, Preece tallied his third top-five finish in three starts with Joe Gibbs Racing. Playoff contender Cole Custer finished fifth. Custer started third and swept the first two stages. He led 49 laps and is second to Allgaier in the points standings.

William Byron, who started the playoffs as the No. 1 seed, made an unscheduled pit stop early in the final stage to address a loose wheel and lost a lap. He rejoined the race in 27th place and finished 18th.

Defending race winner and playoff contender Elliott Sadler finished sixth.

Joe Gibbs Racing swept the front row for the series' July race at Kentucky Speedway and did it again Saturday.

Kyle Benjamin earned his second pole in five starts this season when the 19-year-old posted a lap of 182.229 mph with less than one minute remaining in qualifying. Moments later, Preece completed a 182.186 mph lap to bump playoff contender Custer from a front row starting spot.

Benjamin led 52 laps and finished 12th.