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Larson And Buescher Star In Xfinity Series Finale At Homestead

Chris Buescher performs victory burnout. [Joe Jennings Photo]

Chris Buescher performs victory burnout. [Joe Jennings Photo]

Homestead, Fla. – Kyle Larson raced his way to a thrilling victory in the Ford EcoBoost 300 in the NASCAR Xfinity Series season finale at the Homestead-Miami Speedway early Saturday evening.

Chris Buescher needed to finish 13th or better to secure the Xfinity Series championship and he prevailed in the championship run by driving to 11th place, ending up 15 points ahead of Chase Elliott.

“This is pretty big. This is the biggest moment in my career. This has been an awesome year for our whole organization. I am blessed to be here. It is so cool to be able to pull it off,” the new champion said in victory lane. “It is so nice to have everybody out here to support us and be with us for this effort.”

Forced to run conservatively as the season wound down, the youthful driver expressed his frustration in doing so. “I am not a points racer,” he said. I don’t like it. It is not the most fun way to run the last 10 races of the season but it is important. This is what we have been fighting for since February and Daytona and these guys have done such a great job and stuck in there with us all year and had no mechanical failures or DNF’s. It is a huge accomplishment for our team.”

Driving for Roush Fenway Racing, the famed team won its fifth series championship.

Team Penske walked away with the series owner’s crown.

In the race, Larson led six times for 118 of the 200 laps and waged a torrid dual with his nemesis Kyle Busch for the opening laps 174 laps until the latter’s crew let a tire loose and Busch was assessed with a drive through penalty.

With Busch no longer a threat, Austin Dillon, Erik Jones and Brian Scott moved into challenging roles, forcing Larson to push harder. At the finish line, the hard-charger held a .9-second advantage over Dillon.

“This is definitely my favorite race track,” the winner said. “I came close to winning in my 2013 rookie season and fell 50 feet short a year ago. Once again I had a really fast car and was able to lead the most laps before almost giving it away on a late race restart. I was pretty frustrated and didn’t even know if I could catch up. I did catch them and put a little pressure on Austin (Dillon) and he got into the wall.”

In scoring his third career series victory, Larson drove the Crest Chevrolet fielded by Harry Scott.

Behind the front quartet came Ryan Blaney, Daniel Suarez, Ty Dillon, Elliott, Regan Smith and Darrell Wallace, Jr.

After experiencing several issues, Busch finished off the pace in 30th. He led 64 laps.

Six caution flags slowed the race for 26 laps.

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