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Kyle Busch grabs NASCAR Truck win at Kansas Speedway

By Holly Cain-NASCAR Wire Service
Posted 11:19PM on Saturday 1st May 2021 ( 2 years ago )

Statistically speaking, Kyle Busch had a perfect night at Kansas Speedway on Saturday night.

Busch swpet both stage victories in the Wise Power 200 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race, leading the most laps and earning his series record 61st trophy.

But the veteran had to earn that finish – rallying from a fourth-place starting position on the final overtime restart to take the lead in a three-wide battle. He ultimately led the final two laps to take the checkered flag by .665-seconds over Ross Chastain.

It marked the second win of the season for Busch. He’s either won or finished runner-up in his four Truck Series races this season.

Despite the dominance of Busch’s No. 51 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota, he was on the radio with his team during the race’s final caution, worried there may have been some sort technical problem with his truck. But at the drop of the green, he maneuvered around the front-running trucks of Chastain and Winston, Georgia’s Austin Hill, pulling away on the final lap.

Busch’s win marks the fifth straight this season for his Kyle Busch Motorsports. His 59 laps out front was most on the night. It’s Busch’s third victory in his last four Kansas starts.

“No restarts actually went our way tonight, I was shocked, we definitely missed something just being able to come up through the gears and get going,” said Busch.

“It just would not go. Those guys would just swarm us. I think we saw it one of the restarts with the 4-truck (Nemechek) too, he got run over. So all and all, great job by KBM and Toyota, TRD, this Cessna Beechcraft Tundra was awesome.”

Hill finished third, behind Busch and Chastain. Christian Eckes came home in fourth, with Busch’s teammate, John Hunter Nemechek, in fifth.

Todd Gilliland, Zane Smith, Raphael Lessard, Johnny Sauter and Ben Rhodes rounded out the top 10.

As with Busch, at one point Hill was worried about his truck’s performance – pitting twice during the first stage break but steadily making his way back up through the field. Last year’s regular season champion, Hill hasn’t won since September, 2020 and the 1.5-mile Kansas Speedway is statistically, his best track.

“I thought I did everything right on that restart, threw it on the apron and saw Chastain go up to block whoever was coming on his outside and got beside him and from there on out it was a drag race, I was wide open the whole green-white-checkered,” Hill said, adding, “Good finish, finishing third with everything we had going on. I want to win so bad, so just really frustrating right now.”

With his fifth-place finish Nemechek – a two-race winner in 2021 – maintains a 33-point lead over fellow two-race winner Ben Rhodes in the championship standings. And that was good enough to earn Nemechek’s No. 4 Kyle Busch Motorsports team a $50,000 mid-season “road crew” bonus from series sponsor Camping World.

The series next race is Friday night at Darlington Raceway.

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
Kansas Speedway – Kansas City, KS
Wise Power 200 – May 1, 2021

1. (2) Kyle Busch(i), Toyota, 140.
2. (34) Ross Chastain(i), Chevrolet, 140.
3. (7) Austin Hill, Toyota, 140.
4. (17) Christian Eckes, Toyota, 140.
5. (1) John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 140.
6. (6) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 140.
7. (9) Zane Smith, Chevrolet, 140.
8. (15) Raphael Lessard, Chevrolet, 140.
9. (4) Johnny Sauter, Toyota, 140.
10. (3) Ben Rhodes, Toyota, 140.
11. (5) Chandler Smith #, Toyota, 140.
12. (26) Bayley Currey(i), Chevrolet, 140.
13. (20) Hailie Deegan #, Ford, 140.
14. (10) Stewart Friesen, Toyota, 140.
15. (13) Tyler Ankrum, Chevrolet, 140.
16. (16) Austin Wayne Self, Chevrolet, 139.
17. (29) Grant Enfinger, Chevrolet, 139.
18. (18) Tanner Gray, Ford, 139.
19. (30) Chase Briscoe(i), Ford, 139.
20. (31) Ryan Truex, Chevrolet, 139.
21. (22) Timothy Peters, Chevrolet, 139.
22. (25) Timmy Hill(i), Chevrolet, 139.
23. (11) Carson Hocevar #, Chevrolet, 139.
24. (12) Matt Crafton, Toyota, 139.
25. (23) Chase Purdy #, Chevrolet, 138.
26. (21) Danny Bohn, Toyota, 138.
27. (32) Bret Holmes, Chevrolet, 138.
28. (14) Derek Kraus, Toyota, 138.
29. (19) Spencer Davis, Toyota, 137.
30. (36) Jordan Anderson(i), Chevrolet, 137.
31. (28) Dawson Cram, Chevrolet, 137.
32. (8) Sheldon Creed, Chevrolet, 136.
33. (24) Kris Wright #, Chevrolet, 135.
34. (40) CJ McLaughlin, Toyota, 133.
35. (27) Spencer Boyd, Chevrolet, 133.
36. (35) Tate Fogleman, Chevrolet, 130.
37. (39) Jennifer Jo Cobb, Chevrolet, Electrical, 106.
38. (38) Jesse Iwuji, Chevrolet, Too Slow, 73.
39. (37) Norm Benning, Chevrolet, Too Slow, 42.
40. (33) Ryan Reed, Chevrolet, Steering, 27.

Average Speed of Race Winner: 119.582 mph.

Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 45 Mins, 22 Secs. Margin of Victory: .665 Seconds.

Caution Flags: 5 for 25 laps.

Lead Changes: 14 among 7 drivers.

Lap Leaders: J. Nemechek 1-11;S. Creed 12-25;K. Busch(i) 26-37;S. Creed 38-39;K. Busch(i) 40-63;J. Nemechek 64-68;K. Busch(i) 69-74;S. Creed 75-99;K. Busch(i) 100;B. Rhodes 101-102;C. Eckes 103-105;J. Sauter 106-118;K. Busch(i) 119-132;R. Chastain(i) 133-138;K. Busch(i) 139-140.

Leaders Summary: (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led) Kyle Busch(i) 6 times for 59 laps; Sheldon Creed 3 times for 41 laps; John Hunter Nemechek 2 times for 16 laps; Johnny Sauter 1 time for 13 laps; Ross Chastain(i) 1 time for 6 laps; Christian Eckes 1 time for 3 laps; Ben Rhodes 1 time for 2 laps.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 51,4,2,99,88,16,52,38,19,44

Stage #2 Top Ten: 51,4,2,16,21,52,19,99,38,1

Playoff Standings: 1. John Hunter Nemechek – 320 (2 Wins) (Points Leader); 2. Ben Rhodes – 287 (2 Wins); 3. Austin Hill – 242; 4. Sheldon Creed – 237; 5. Stewart Friesen – 215; 6. Matt Crafton – 209; 7. Zane Smith – 201; 8. Todd Gilliland – 200; 9. Grant Enfinger – 199; 10. Johnny Sauter – 169.

Kyle Busch celebrates in victory lane after winning Saturday night's NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Kansas Speedway. Photo: Sean Gardner/Getty Images
Kyle Busch crosses the finish line for the win in Saturday night's NASCAR Truck Series race at Kansas Speedway. (AP Photo/Colin E. Braley)

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