Kyle Busch won his second consecutive Superstar Racing Experience at Berlin Raceway to become the fourth driver in series history to record multiple wins. Busch has now won in his first two starts, joining Chase Elliott who performed the feat in back-to-back season finales in 2021 and 2022.
“Being here before, knowing what to expect, all that sort of stuff,” Busch said after the race. “I thought about restarting in fourth and decided not to change it now – just keep doing what I was doing all night.”
Ryan Newman earned the pole for the 100-lap feature when the two heats were added together, but Brad Keselowski in second and Busch in third were up front as well.
Keselowski took the early lead with Busch on his back bumper – literally early in the race when Busch bumped Keselowski during a three-car battle with Newman. Keselowski and Busch paced the field until the first competition caution and when the green flag was unfurled, they went right back to the front.
One of the features of the SRX season is that the commentators are allowed to talk to the drivers while they are racing. Joey Logano’s race time interview may have proven to be a bit distracting for Busch, who lost second to Helio Castroneves just shy of the halfway mark.
Castroneves wasn’t done. As the field was shown the crossed flags, he took the lead from Keselowski. Castroneves held the lead until the second competition caution and then Busch stalked Castroneves for a dozen laps waiting for the IndyCar regular to make a mistake. When that didn’t happen, Busch changed strategy and passed Castroneves on the outside.
Castroneves got gouged out of the bottom groove by Newman while Marco Andretti was pushing Halie Deegan aside. Newman held on to finish third with Andretti fourth. Deegan rounded out the top five.
MORE: Kyle Busch wins in his SRX debut
This is not the only extracurricular activity for Busch this week. He will climb into a dirt late model on Saturday to compete in the Wood Tic Memorial at Merrit (Michigan) Speedway in
Johnny Benson, Jr. replaced Paul Tracy after that racer was suspended for his involvement in a mid-race crash. Benson finished last.
Kasey Kahne made his first start in the series. In fact, it was his first race in a car with fenders since he retired from the NASCAR Cup series. Kahne finished 11th in his debut.
Heat Action
Busch drew the pole position for Heat 1 and scooted out to a lead until a quick caution for weather bunched the field again. On the restart, Keselowski would not allow Busch to get away and the two exchanged the top spot for several laps until Keselowski prevailed on a rain-slicked track.
It was Keselowski’s second heat win after winning the second heat in Stafford Motor Speedway’s second race.
Tony Stewart finished last in Heat 1, which gave him the pole for Heat 2 but he faded quickly with worn tires and finished last. Newman led the field to the checkers over Ken Schrader who held off a charge by Deegan on the final lap.
Feature Results: 1. Kyle Busch; 2. Brad Keselowski; 3. Ryan Newman; 4. Marco Andretti; 5. Hailie Deegan; 6. Ken Schrader; 7. Tony Stewart; 8. Helio Castroneves; 9. Bobby Labonte; 10. Kevin Harvick; 11. Kasey Kahne; 12. Johnny Benson, Jr.