By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service
CONCORD, N.C. – For the fifth time in his allotted five NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series starts in 2019, Kyle Busch took the checkered flag, this time under the lights in the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
“I wish I could do more,” Busch said following his 56th Gander Trucks career win.
The rest of the field undoubtedly is quite happy the owner/driver of Kyle Busch Motorsports won’t be back until 2020. After all, Busch posted a perfect driver rating (150.0) and led five times for 102 laps in Friday night’s 134-lap event. He notched his eighth victory in 13 starts at Charlotte, where he has finished either first or second in nine straight events in the series.
The win was Busch’s 56th overall, extending his own series record and bringing his combined NASCAR national series wins total to 205.
“This Tundra was awesome tonight,” Busch said of the No. 51 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota. “It was flying and it was fast. We worked on it a lot in practice. We were a little off when we unloaded, and we tried to make it better and better and better.
“We made improvements. That’s what’s good about me driving and Rudy (Fugle) crew-chiefing. “These guys do a great job working on it, and we just keep getting better. Happy birthday to Brexton (Busch’s son). He’ll be four tomorrow. It’s awesome to have him here tonight, and we’ll celebrate.”
On a three-lap run to the finish after the seventh and final caution, Busch pulled away to beat Brennan Poole to the stripe by 1.115 seconds. Despite dealing with a broken sway bar for most of the race, Poole grabbed second after staying out under caution before the final restart on Lap 132.
“My truck was all over the place, man,” Poole said. “I just gave it everything I had. I found something running the top lane there on the restarts, and it worked out really good.
“We just ran second to Kyle Busch tonight with a broken sway bar. I’m pretty proud of the effort. I know we’ve got a lot more chances like this coming up in our future to get this Toyota Tundra to Victory Lane. But I’m excited tonight, and I think I may even go get myself a beer when I get home.”
Stewart Friesen ran third, followed by Ben Rhodes and pole winner Matt Crafton. Austin Hill, Todd Gilliland, rookie Anthony Alfredo, Grant Enfinger and Ross Chastain completed the top 10. For Chastain, last week’s winner at Kansas, it was the eighth straight top 10 in eight races this season.
But Friday’s story was all about Busch.
It took just a few seconds to observe just how dominant his Toyota Tundra was going to be. Starting the race from the eighth spot, Busch had powered his way into third by the time the field came off Turn 2 on the opening lap.
On Lap 5, he took the lead for the first time, cruising to the inside of KBM teammate Todd Gilliland. By the time NASCAR called the first caution for Natalie Decker’s hard contact with the Turn 2 wall on Lap 23, Busch held a 5.652-second lead over Gilliland.
Busch pitted for tires and fuel under the yellow, handing the Stage 1 victory to Crafton, who passed Gilliland on Lap 30 and took the green/checkered flag moments later. But four laps after the green waved in Stage 2 on Lap 37, Busch was back in the lead, heading for a stage victory with a margin of more than four seconds.
Divergent strategies scrambled the field during pit stops under rapid-fire cautions on Laps 78 and 85, but Busch regained the top spot on Lap 96, passing Rhodes to the outside off Turn 2.
Busch stretched his advantage to 6.125 seconds before Brett Moffitt cut a tire on Lap 126 and caused the seventh caution when the tire carcass rolled free onto the track in Turn 3. The yellow simply delayed but couldn’t thwart Busch’s seemingly inexorable march to Victory Lane.
NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Race – 17th Annual North Carolina Education Lottery 200
Charlotte Motor Speedway
Concord, North Carolina
Friday, May 17, 2019
1. (8) Kyle Busch(i), Toyota, 134.
2. (17) Brennan Poole, Toyota, 134.
3. (2) Stewart Friesen, Chevrolet, 134.
4. (5) Ben Rhodes, Ford, 134.
5. (1) Matt Crafton, Ford, 134.
6. (20) Austin Hill, Toyota, 134.
7. (3) Todd Gilliland, Toyota, 134.
8. (15) Anthony Alfredo #, Toyota, 134.
9. (9) Grant Enfinger, Ford, 134.
10. (13) Ross Chastain(i), Chevrolet, 134.
11. (4) Harrison Burton #, Toyota, 134.
12. (10) Sheldon Creed #, Chevrolet, 134.
13. (25) Tyler Dippel #, Chevrolet, 134.
14. (22) Jesse Little, Ford, 134.
15. (28) Jordan Anderson, Chevrolet, 134.
16. (23) Timmy Hill(i), Chevrolet, 134.
17. (12) Johnny Sauter, Ford, 134.
18. (18) Chad Finley, Chevrolet, 134.
19. (6) Brett Moffitt, Chevrolet, 133.
20. (7) Cory Roper, Ford, 133.
21. (29) Austin Wayne Self, Chevrolet, 133.
22. (30) Spencer Boyd, Chevrolet, 133.
23. (31) Angela Ruch, Chevrolet, 132.
24. (16) Stefan Parsons, Chevrolet, 132.
25. (27) Korbin Forrister, Toyota, 129.
26. (19) Gus Dean #, Chevrolet, 123.
27. (11) Tyler Ankrum #, Toyota, Vibration, 111.
28. (32) Josh Reaume, Chevrolet, 98.
29. (14) Codie Rohrbaugh, Chevrolet, Accident, 72.
30. (26) Camden Murphy, Chevrolet, Suspension, 40.
31. (21) Natalie Decker #, Toyota, Accident, 32.
32. (24) Joe Nemechek, Chevrolet, Rear Gear, 19.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 114.985 mph.
Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 44 Mins, 53 Secs. Margin of Victory: 1.115 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 7 for 31 laps.
Lead Changes: 19 among 9 drivers.
Lap Leaders: B. Rhodes 1;T. Gilliland 2-4;K. Busch(i) 5-24;T. Gilliland 25-27;B. Rhodes 28;T. Gilliland 29;M. Crafton 30-36;G. Enfinger 37;R. Chastain(i) 38-40;K. Busch(i) 41-62;G. Enfinger 63;S. Parsons 64;K. Busch(i) 65-86;R. Chastain(i) 87-90;A. Hill 91;J. Sauter 92;B. Rhodes 93-95;K. Busch(i) 96-130;B. Rhodes 131;K. Busch(i) 132-134.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Kyle Busch(i) 5 times for 102 laps; Matt Crafton 1 time for 7 laps; Todd Gilliland 3 times for 7 laps; Ross Chastain(i) 2 times for 7 laps; Ben Rhodes 4 times for 6 laps; Grant Enfinger 2 times for 2 laps; Stefan Parsons 1 time for 1 lap; Johnny Sauter 1 time for 1 lap; Austin Hill 1 time for 1 lap.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 13,18,2,4,45,51,52,88,98,99
Stage #2 Top Ten: 18,2,24,4,45,51,52,88,98,99
