SPARTA – The hot streak continues for William Byron.

The 19-year-old rookie rode tight with a veteran-heavy field and finished seventh in the Alsco 300 in NASCAR’s Xfinity Series race at Kentucky Speedway on Saturday.

Byron’s top-10 finish came against seven drivers from the Monster Energy Cup Series who were running the first of a doubleheader race schedule. Kyle Busch won the 200-lap race from the pole and led 70 laps.

Byron was the highest finisher among regular Xfinity series drivers, with Cup regulars Ryan Blaney (second), Erik Jones (third), Kevin Harvick (fourth), Ty Dillon (fifth) and Joey Logano (sixth) finishing ahead.

“It was good,” Byron said. “I think any time you can be out there and experience what they’re going through and what they’re doing with their cars, it’s a positive. It was a good day. I think we’ll build on it and go to a race track that we’re strong at and see what happens.”

The young gun from Charlotte, N.C., entered Kentucky with back-to-back Xfinity wins at Daytona and Iowa. He finished second to Denny Hamlin by .012 seconds at Michigan on June 24 and just missed out on his first Xfinity series victory.

But good fortune came the very next week at Iowa by leading 78 laps in the No. 9 Chevrolet for his first series win. He followed it up with a strong plate race and led a race-high 29 laps to beat series-leader and JR Motorsports teammate Elliott Sadler at Daytona.

“It’s been good,” Byron said. “It’s been a fun last couple of months. A couple of wins, so hopefully we can keep building on that.”

Saturday’s seventh-place finish marked another strong showing for Byron at Kentucky. He qualified fifth, the highest start among Xfinity regulars, and placed seventh at the end of Stage 1 and was sixth at the conclusion of Stage 2. Byron stayed in the top 10 all day in a race where none of the full-time Xfinity drivers led a lap.

Byron also won the Camping World Truck Series race at Kentucky in 2016. He’s currently second in the Xfinity Series standings behind teammate Sadler.

“It was a pretty good run for us,” Byron said. “I think we lacked a little bit, but we made really good adjustments. I feel like it was a pretty good overall day, just lacked a little bit of speed. We’ll go to New Hampshire – it’s a really good track for us – and hopefully get a win there.”