Kyle Busch celebrates in victory lane after winning Thursday night’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Kentucky Speedway. Photo by Rainier Ehrhardt/NASCAR via Getty Images
SPARTA, KY – Kyle Busch scored his sixth consecutive NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory in Thursday night’s UNOH 225 at Kentucky Speedway. For Busch, in his 120th NCWTS start, he recorded his fifth triumph of the season, winning in every event he has entered thus far in 2014.
After taking the last two races off at Texas Motor Speedway and Gateway Motorsports Park respectively, Busch returned with a vengeance recording his second truck series win at the Sparta, Kentucky track, the other occurring in July, 2011.
By winning his 40th career NCWTS victory, Busch helped manufacturer Toyota notch their 10th consecutive victory dating back to Phoenix International Raceway, where Kyle Busch Motorsports’ Erik Jones became the youngest winner in the series’ history. It is the longest active win streak by any manufacturer in NCWTS history.
“Tonight was great,” said Busch. “It’s a great opportunity to drive good equipment and good stuff, and I’m really proud that my name is on the door. I’m most proud of Eric Phillips (crew chief) and all the guys, everyone at Kyle Busch Motorsports for all their hard work and dedication and everything they’ve done to build really good trucks, they’ve done a great job for me. Seeing Darrell (Wallace, Jr.) come home second tonight was pretty great, especially him getting back in traffic, like we both were and being able to methodically work his way back up to second.”
It was a good day for the 29-year old as he also scored his first NCWTS pole at the 1.5-mile speedway on Thursday afternoon alongside teammate and most recent (Gateway) winner Darrell Wallace, Jr. The driver of the No. 51 Dollar General Toyota Tundra led the field to green, but Wallace, Jr. decided he wanted to impress the boss and made the move for the lead, as the caution flag waived for the first time on Lap 3 for debris on the backstretch.
Wallace, Jr. led the KBM duo through the first 35 Laps, before Busch maneuvered around his NASCAR Next alum on lap 36 to retake control of the field. Busch would continue the pace the field in the eighth race of the season until green flag pit stops began on lap 48.
Eleven laps later, Busch rolled through the cycle and re-inherited the lead until the third caution of the night waived on lap 61 for debris in turn 3.
On the restart, Busch pulled away from Wallace, Jr. on the start and by lap 75 had stretched his lead by 1.888 seconds over the Joe Gibbs Racing development driver. Behind them, German Quiroga lurked in third, then the two trucks from Brad Keselowski Racing of Brad Keselowski and Ryan Blaney.
John Wes Townley, who lost his primary truck in a practice accident Thursday morning triggered the fourth caution flag of the day, when he lost control of his No. 5 Zaxby’s Toyota Tundra in turn 4.
Under the yellow, varying pit strategies shuffled the running order, putting Keselowski, who elected not to pit at the point. Max Gresham in the No. 23 GMS Racing Chevrolet hailed on his outside for the lap 81 restart.
The 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion used clean air to his advantage to check out from his competition, but methodically Kyle Busch, who restarted eighth muscled his way back into second on lap 89 and found himself on the rear-bumper of Keselowski on lap 93, and retaking the top-spot on lap 96.
The caution flag waived four laps later, which sent the leaders to pit road for their anticipated final stop of the night. Keselowski though would lose a massive amount of track position as the team left a wedge wrench in their truck as Keselowski exited sending him back to pit and restarting 13th.
Keselowski’s misfortune was teammate’s Ryan Blaney’s gain however, as he restarted alongside Busch for the lap 104 restart.
In typical Busch fashion, he pulled away from the group on the restart, extending his lead to 1.563 seconds over Blaney on lap 108. Ten laps later, the Las Vegas, NV native continued to stretch his lead over Blaney by 3.3 seconds.
Only a late race caution would allow the rest of the lead lap trucks to have any chance of dethroning Busch from his domination. It came on lap 139.
Under the yellow, Keselowski gave up his spot inside the top-five in lieu of four fresh Goodyear tires. Restart mid-pack, Keselowski had his work cut out for him, but wasn’t out of the picture.
Wallace, Jr. with advice from crew chief Jerry Baxter tried to make a late-race pass with eight laps to go on his ‘boss’, but to no avail. Busch was able to clear his protégé on the high side coming to 143 laps complete and cruised to a 1.844 second triumph, giving Kyle Busch Motorsports their first-even 1-2 finish in NCWTS competition.
“Really proud of Kyle Busch Motorsports finishing 1-2,” added Busch. “It’s a great testament for everything we’ve gone for and strived for and Eric (Phillips) been here since the beginning, I give a lot of credit to Eric and the team he’s built. Having him as the core has, I think been really good for us. Qualifying 1-2 and finishing 1-2, I think I was more pumped for having a 1-2 finish, than winning, honestly. I told Darrell ‘thank you’ in victory lane. Just appreciate the way he drove tonight and fought hard.”
Wallace, Jr., who jumped one spot in the championship standings to eighth was satisfied with his runner-up finish.
“He (Kyle Busch) knew what he was doing,” said Wallace. “He’s hard to beat and he’s so good, but I wouldn’t want to be with anyone else – Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) is so strong. The engines were it on the restart – the engines have been stout all year so a shout out to everyone at the engine shop back at JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing). It’s been a lot of fun getting back into a rhythm coming off of Texas and St. Louis and then to finish here second. I try to make the most of it and it was a cool site with KBM one-two, Toyota one-two and 10th win in a row for Toyota. Huge shout out to Toyota Care and this Made in America Toyota Tundra was fast tonight.”
Behind KBM, Ryan Blaney was third followed by Timothy Peters and Brad Keselowski stormed his way through the field for a top-five finish. Matt Crafton, Austin Dillon, Ron Hornaday, Jr., Johnny Sauter and Ben Kennedy comprised the top-10.
In the championship standings, Sauter continues to lead ThorSport Racing teammate Matt Crafton by eight points (297 to 289). Timothy Peters is third (-11), Ryan Blaney fourth (-12) and Ron Hornaday Jr. fifth (-13).
Next up for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series is a stop at Iowa Speedway for the running of the American Ethanol 200 on Friday night, July 11. Timothy Peters is the defending champion.
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NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
Kentucky Speedway – Sparta, KY
UNOH 225 – June 26, 2014
1. (1) Kyle Busch(i), Toyota, 150, $54815.
2. (2) Darrell Wallace Jr., Toyota, 150, $38555.
3. (10) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 150, $30071.
4. (7) Timothy Peters, Toyota, 150, $20245.
5. (14) Brad Keselowski(i), Ford, 150, $11970.
6. (11) Matt Crafton, Toyota, 150, $14595.
7. (23) Austin Dillon(i), Chevrolet, 150, $9945.
8. (8) Ron Hornaday Jr., Chevrolet, 150, $11695.
9. (5) Johnny Sauter, Toyota, 150, $11595.
10. (4) Ben Kennedy #, Chevrolet, 150, $13745.
11. (13) Max Gresham, Chevrolet, 150, $9120.
12. (9) Joey Coulter, Chevrolet, 150, $11195.
13. (12) Tayler Malsam, Chevrolet, 150, $11095.
14. (18) Joe Nemechek, Toyota, 150, $10995.
15. (6) German Quiroga, Toyota, 150, $11695.
16. (16) Bryan Silas, Chevrolet, 149, $10765.
17. (15) Corey Lajoie, Ford, 148, $10665.
18. (28) Justin Jennings, Chevrolet, 148, $10565.
19. (20) Mason Mingus #, Toyota, 147, $10465.
20. (22) Tyler Young #, Chevrolet, 147, $10990.
21. (17) John Wes Townley, Toyota, 147, $10265.
22. (26) Jimmy Weller, Chevrolet, 146, $10165.
23. (21) Caleb Holman, Chevrolet, 144, $7815.
24. (27) Jennifer Jo Cobb, Chevrolet, 143, $8715.
25. (25) TJ Bell, Chevrolet, 142, $8765.
26. (30) Norm Benning, Chevrolet, Rear Gear, 114, $7515.
27. (3) Jeb Burton, Toyota, Accident, 99, $7415.
28. (19) Chase Pistone #, Chevrolet, Engine, 78, $7310.
29. (24) JJ Yeley(i), Chevrolet, Suspension, 24, $7210.
30. (31) Adam Edwards, Chevrolet, Rear Gear, 12, $7610.
31. (29) Charles Lewandoski, Chevrolet, Vibration, 4, $7035.
32. (32) Ryan Ellis(i), Chevrolet, Engine, 3, $7010.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 130.962 mph.
Time of Race: 01 Hrs, 43 Mins, 05 Secs. Margin of Victory: 1.844 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 6 for 23 laps.
Lead Changes: 7 among 4 drivers.
Lap Leaders: K. Busch(i) 1; D. Wallace Jr. 2-35; K. Busch(i) 36-50; J. Sauter 51-53; B. Keselowski(i) 54-58; K. Busch(i) 59-78; B. Keselowski(i) 79-95; K. Busch(i) 96-150.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): K. Busch(i) 4 times for 91 laps; D. Wallace Jr. 1 time for 34 laps; B. Keselowski(i) 2 times for 22 laps; J. Sauter 1 time for 3 laps.
Top 10 in Points: J. Sauter – 297; M. Crafton – 289; T. Peters – 286; R. Blaney – 285; R. Hornaday Jr. – 284; G. Quiroga – 272; B. Kennedy # – 263; D. Wallace Jr. – 261; J. Townley – 257; J. Coulter – 242.
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