It’s been almost two years since Kyle Busch went to Victory Lane in the NASCAR Cup Series, but don’t worry, because that drought isn’t transferring over to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.
The Las Vegas, Nevada-native picked up a record-extending 68th NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory on Saturday, using his teammate Carson Hocevar as a blocker to get his No. 7 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Silverado RST across the start-finish line first in a shortened event at EchoPark Speedway.
Originally scheduled to be run over the course of 135 laps, Saturday’s event was shortened to 125 laps due to the Adverse Conditions Time Rule. This rule, usually implemented when darkness is approaching at a track with no lights, was used on Saturday to end the race shortly after 4:20 PM ET.
With rain visiting Hampton, Georgia, in the early hours of Saturday morning, NASCAR was forced to push back the start of the NASCAR Truck Series event to accommodate track drying. However, with the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series scheduled to run Saturday evening on a different network, that race could not be moved.
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In what ended up being the closing laps of Saturday’s event, the intensity spiked quite a bit, with multiple drivers making aggressive moves trying to get track position when the clock hit the pre-determined time.
When the clock struck 4:20 PM ET, Kyle Busch and Carson Hocevar, teammates at Spire Motorsports, were out front and holding off advances from drivers behind them, such as Ben Rhodes, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., and others, allowing Busch to collect another victory for himself and a 1-2 finish for Spire Motorsports.
“[Had] huge help from behind, Carson Hocevar was a great teammate today,” Busch said after the race. “Early on in the race, I was like, wait a second, okay, same hold Carson, but as we got toward the end, we started working together, and we started being able to maneuver our way through. At the end of the second stage, we were able to ratchet forward, and then at the end, he was a great wingman.”
With Carson Hocevar finishing runner-up in the No. 77 Delaware Life Chevrolet Silverado RST, Spire Motorsports recorded just its second 1-2 finish in the history of its NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series program, the first of which came last Spring at Kansas with Hocevar and William Byron.
Gio Ruggiero continued to show his god-like strength on the drafting tracks, finishing in third place in the No. 17 First Auto Group Toyota Tundra TRD Pro for TRICON Garage. Just behind him, though, Ben Rhodes made the rebound of his career, coming from two laps down to finish in fourth place, after running out of fuel at the end of Stage 2.
Corey Heim, returning to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series for the first event of a partial schedule for TRICON Garage, finished in fifth place. Chandler Smith, Daytona winner, was sixth, with Jake Garcia seventh, John Hunter Nemechek, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., and Justin Haley rounding out the top-10.
RAM, in just their second event with Kaulig Racing, placed all five entries inside the top-20 with Haley in 10th, Ty Dillon 11th, Daniel Dye 13th, Brenden Queen 16th, and Mini Tyrrell 19th.
Some other notable finishes outside the top-20 include Kaden Honeycutt, who had a tire issue and finished 21st after a green-flag stop, Grant Enfinger, who also had an early flat tire and finished 22nd, Layne Riggs in 27th, Ty Majeski, who hit the wall and finished 28th, Daniel Hemric and Christian Eckes 34th and 36th after mechanical issues for the McAnally-Hilgemann Racing teammates.
Next, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series heads to the Streets of St. Petersburg on Saturday, February 28 at Noon ET on FOX.
