Kyle Busch dominates NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series SpeedyCash.com 250 at Texas Motor Speedway

By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio

FORT WORTH – Kyle Busch added to his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series legacy Friday night with a dominant, record-tying victory in the SpeedyCash.com 250 at Texas Motor Speedway.

Busch scored his NCTS-best 66^th career victory after a spirited, late-race battle with rising stars Corey Heim and Nick Sanchez. Busch held off Heim by 0.112-seconds after a series of cautions in the scheduled 167-lapper around TMS’ high-banked/1.5-mile oval. Busch’s sixth victory moved him into a tie with Todd Bodine for most NCTS wins at “The Great American Speedway.”

Earlier Friday, Busch had qualified fourth for his fourth race as part of a “select-tour” wheeling the No. 7 Realtree Chevrolet Silverado fielded by Spire Motorsports.

“Yeah, got a little dicey there with the restarts at the end,” said Busch, 38, who is working with crew chief Brian Pattie. “Don’t think anybody’s going to cut you any slack because of what your name is. Corey kept us honest right there. He started to find that top over there and get some momentum. I tried it with three to go and I chattered really bad so my ‘brightness’ wasn’t working over there. I needed more laps on my tires to be able to make that work.

“But he made it. Got to my bumper getting into (Turn) 3 and I just kind of like…’I don’t know which way to go.’ So, I ran the middle and then darted bottom and then he slipped up-top and so I guess we had enough a gap after that.”

Busch won Stages 1 and 2 en route to leading a race-high 112 laps. But cautions for wrecks on Laps 147 and 152 prompted restarts that saw Busch, Heim and Christian Eckes dicing three-wide at times for the point. Busch barged into the lead for the final time on Lap 159, followed by Eckes and Heim. The latter moved into second on Lap 160 and managed to close to within 0.17-seconds at the drop of the white flag. A two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, Busch never flinched in what amounted to a tune-up for Sunday’s Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400.

Heim, 21, said he basically needed more experience to get around Busch. “He does such a great job aero-blocking,” said Heim, driver of the No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro fielded by TRICON Garage. “I had a couple runs, here and there. It was pretty single-lane tonight. You could make a run in the second groove on older tires, but with all of the throttle time we had – wide open – it was hard to make a lane change and gain momentum.

“Track position was the biggest thing, but he did a great job, too. You can’t take anything away from him – he’s one of the greatest of all time. It just seemed like a big track position game at the end there. I just was doing all I could there – trying to take him three-wide on the next-to-last restart and then got the caution. I was just trying to build a run on him, but he is just too good.

“We were solid tonight. I think we were probably a fifth-place truck. I admittedly struggle here a lot, so to finish second is pretty good. I will take it. Obviously, you want to win, but not a bad day for us.”

Busch bagged his 65^th series victory at sister Speedway Motorsports facility Atlanta Motor Speedway earlier this season, and was runnerup at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Sanchez, the 2023 NCTS Rookie of the Year who earned his second consecutive pole here, finished third in the No. 2 Gainbridge Chevrolet fielded by Rev Racing.  Eckes, who qualified P2, led 31 laps in his No. 19 Gates Hydraulics Chevy en route to finishing fourth. Eckes exited TMS with a two-point lead over Heim after seven races. Zane Smith completed the top-five in his No. 91 SpeedyCash.com Silverado fielded by McAnally Hilgemann Racing.

For the record, Busch scored his 66^th series victory in his 174^th start – a winning percentage of 37.9 percent. Busch’s previous 14 starts at TMS produced five wins (2009, 2010, 2014, 2019, 2020), 10 top-fives, 10 top-10s and 525 laps-led. His win in 2020 was the last time “Rowdy” had raced at Texas in the Truck Series until last night.

“I just got lucky because the schedule changed,” said Busch, noting this race traditionally had been run during a weekend headlined by the NTT IndyCar Series. However, that open-wheel series is not on TMS’ 2024 schedule.

”Fortunate to have Texas come on the schedule at a time when I could run it,” Busch said. “Real cool to do that, and thankful for the opportunity with Spire and everybody at Team Chevy and Team Realtree as well.”

Ty Majeski, who began the day with a seven-point championship lead, slipped to third and 12 points behind Eckes after finishing 11^th in the No. 98 Ford Road Ranger fielded by ThorSport Racing.

Media Center Interview

NCTS Race Winner Kyle Busch (No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet) –