NASCAR Notes: Kyle Busch takes Phoenix for 3rd straight Xfinity Series win

Kyle Busch made it 3 for 3 in the Xfinity Series this season, cruising to another victory at Phoenix International Raceway on Saturday in Avondale, Arizona.

A week after leading all but one lap at Las Vegas, Busch led 175 of 200 laps on the mile oval to win for the record 79th time in the second-tier series.

Busch also posted a dominating win at Atlanta. He didn’t race in the opener at Daytona.

In the past three weeks, Busch has led 493 of 563 laps.

“Some people will say I’m a failure for just joining this field,” the Sprint Cup regular said. “I get plenty of criticism, whether I’m winning, losing or participating. For me, I don’t really pay attention to any of that. I do what I need to do to help support my team.”

Busch’s biggest obstacle was lapped traffic and the lone competition his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates. Busch and series rookie Erik Jones raced side-by-side for several laps before their green-flag pitstops with 24 laps left. Busch beat Jones to the line and built as much as a 3-second edge.

When Brad Keselowski finally pitted with 13 laps left, Busch took the lead for good and secured his ninth Xfinity Series win in 20 races at Phoenix.

“A knack for this place, I guess,” Busch said. “We’ve been off a little bit on the (Sprint) Cup side for years, but this year we seem to be a lot better. … The Xfinity Series program has always been good. I’m not sure why.”

Jones finished second, 2.3 seconds back. But his car failed the post-race laser inspection and his team could be fined.

Daniel Suarez, who scraped the wall early, was third. It gave JGR a top-three sweep for the second straight week.

“That pit stop we lost a lot of ground to him,” Jones said about Busch. “It just got too tight after that and he ran away.”

Busch started third behind Jones and Suarez on the sunny and breezy day and shot to the lead on the sixth lap. He worked his way from fourth to first after three drivers took only two tires on a mid-race pitstop.

Justin Allgaier finished fourth and Chase Elliott fifth.

With Elliott winning at Daytona, a Sprint Cup regular has won every Xfinity race this season.

The series switched to a playoff format similar to the Sprint Cup this season. But Jones and Suarez haven’t been able to take advantage of the win-and-you’re-in format, not with their teammate dominating.

“They made me run hard all day long,” Busch said about his JGR mates. “There’s nothing left in this car.”

Suarez opened an eight-point lead over Elliott Sadler in the season standings. Sadler finished eighth.

Harvick dominates

Kevin Harvick’s dominance amazes Carl Edwards. Jimmie Johnson shrugs while making Harvick the favorite on Sunday.

When NASCAR comes to Phoenix International Raceway, all drivers chase Harvick, who has won a record seven Sprint Cup races in the desert.

“I think really at this time in the sport for anyone to be that dominant at a track it really must have something special,” Edwards said. “Yeah, I think the whole field is chasing those guys and chasing Kevin and that 4 car at this track.”

There might be some hope for the field heading into Sunday’s 312-mile race. Kyle Busch, who will be on the pole, noticed Harvick’s Chevrolet “was a little off” on Friday when he qualified 18th.

But there was Harvick on Saturday morning with the second-fastest car in practice on the mile oval behind Kurt Busch.

Harvick followed that by posting the fastest speed in the final practice session at midday, with track conditions most resembling those of Sunday afternoon’s race.

“It’s hard to pick a favorite, but I guess if I’m forced to, the No. 4 car is the one that we’ll all be paying close attention to,” Johnson said.

It’s true that when Harvick makes his 500th consecutive Cup start, he won’t be the defending champion at Phoenix for the first time since November 2013. His four-race win streak was snapped last fall when Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the rain-shortened race.

Harvick still led the most laps and finished second.

“For me personally, this is a fun place to come just for the fact that I started racing here in the mid-’90s,” Harvick said. “You still see some of the same fans and people that followed your career up through the ranks.”

The Bakersfield, California, native went from minor league races at Phoenix to dominating this track after it was repaved in 2011.

Now Harvick, who has finished fourth, sixth and seventh in the first three races of the season, is looking to lock up a spot in the season-ending Chase for the Sprint Cup with a track-record eighth win.

“We grew up on a lot of these flat style-type tracks, short tracks, up and down the West Coast,” Harvick said. “For whatever reason, all the flat tracks have just kind of still fit my driving style throughout the years, whether it be here or Loudon.

“But obviously this place, we have had a lot more success than some of the others.”

Power leads Penske

Not even illness could slow Will Power on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida.

Power led a Team Penske sweep of the top four spots in qualifying for the IndyCar season-opener, and he did it in record time.

Power broke his own track record three times Saturday. His best time around the streets of St. Petersburg was in the second session, but he won the pole in the third session at 1 minute, 0.2450 seconds. The record set in his second session was 1:00.0658.

It was Power’s sixth pole at St. Pete in nine career races. The Australian has won 43 career poles.

Power downplayed the qualifying session, but praised his Penske team for repairing his car after he wrecked on Friday.

“Had to replace the whole rear end. First-class team, I love driving for Team Penske,” he said.

Power is a two-time winner at St. Pete but didn’t reveal much in terms of his strategy for the race Sunday.

“We’ll be good, do our thing and see what happens,” he said.

He later admitted he wasn’t feeling well and skipped the post-qualifying news conference.

“Unfortunately, I’ve been feeling pretty ill all day,” he said. “It was a struggle to get through qualifying, honestly, but we were able to do it … I just started feeling a lot worse. I’ll try to get some good rest tonight and come back ready to race on Sunday.”

Simon Pagenaud qualified second and was followed by Helio Castroneves and Juan Pablo Montoya, the defending race winner. The four Penske drivers will try to give owner Roger Penske his eighth win in 12 tries at St. Pete.

Scott Dixon qualified fifth as Chevrolets took the top five spots. But the reigning IndyCar champion wasn’t pleased with the session.

“It’s tough to see the Penske’s in the top four spots,” Dixon said.