Kyle Busch already has the largest trophy case in NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series history, but he’ll need to add room for at least one more trophy, after winning Friday’s SpeedyCash.com 250 at Texas Motor Speedway.
The victory is the 66th of Busch’s career in the NASCAR Truck Series and the sixth at the 1.5-mile facility located in Fort Worth, Texas, tying Todd Bodine for the most Truck Series victories at Texas Motor Speedway.
“Great team, everybody here at Spire [Motorsports],” Busch said in his post-race interview. “Appreciate Brian Pattie and everybody that was able to work so hard to prepare us a really fast Realtree Silverado.”
Busch qualified his No. 7 Realtree Chevrolet Silverado in fourth place and went on to sweep the race’s opening two stages, the second time this season he’s managed to accomplish such a feat. The Las Vegas, Nevada native also led a race-high 112 laps en route to his second win of 2024.
“Corey [Heim] kept us honest right there, he started to find that top over there and to get some momentum over there,” Busch said about his late-race battle. “I tried it with three to go and I chattered really bad, so my front wasn’t working over there. I just needed more laps on my tires to be able to get up there and make that work.”
Six NASCAR Truck Series wins at Texas for @KyleBusch! #NASCARonFS1 pic.twitter.com/ah0y58S1Ps
— Amanda Busick (@AmandaBusick) April 13, 2024
Heim would come home in the runner-up position, driving the No. 11 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro for TRICON Garage. In doing so, the Marietta, Georgia native continued his streak of finishing inside the top-10 in each race this season.
Polesitter Nick Sanchez came home in third place, while McAnally-Hilgemann Racing teammates Christian Eckes and Zane Smith rounded out the top five.
Daniel Dye finished sixth, matching a career-best result from last Fall at Talladega Superspeedway. TRICON teammates and brothers Taylor and Tanner Gray managed to come home in seventh and eighth place. Tanner Gray had to start at the rear of the field after a crash in practice sent him to a backup.
Stefan Parsons earned his second top-10 finish of the season with Henderson Motorsports, finishing in ninth place, while Ty Majeski rounded out the top-10 as the highest-finishing Ford in the field.
Related: SpeedyCash.com 250 Results
Once the race got underway, it didn’t take long for trouble to brew, as a multi-truck incident on lap two took multiple drivers out of the race. Thad Moffitt’s No. 46 Chevrolet broke loose and went up the track in turn two. Moffitt made contact with Kris Wright while attempting to save the truck, which caused Tyler Ankrum and Memphis Villarreal to become involved.
Video: Thad Moffitt Crashes, Collects Ankrum, Villarreal, and Wright
Wright would be able to get repairs to his No. 1 Toyota Tundra, while Moffitt, Ankrum, and Villarreal all suffered race-ending damage. For Ankrum, it resulted in a second wrecked truck of the night, as he, like Tanner Gray, was racing in a backup truck due to a crash in practice.
The next incident occurred on lap 13 when Rajah Caruth spun his No. 71 Chevrolet in turn two. Caruth was able to keep his truck away from the wall and continued in the race.
"He's really fortunate to not get into the outside wall."
An early spin for Rajah Caruth in Texas. https://t.co/4PgmErPkfn pic.twitter.com/qDBQfHU0r9
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) April 13, 2024
The rest of stage one was incident-free. With five laps remaining in the stage, Kyle Busch passed Christian Eckes for the race lead and held on to win the stage in his No. 7 Chevrolet.
Stage two was run completely under green, with Busch leading every lap to take home his second Truck Series stage sweep of the season. Busch also swept both stages at Bristol Motor Speedway but finished second in the race to Eckes.
The next caution did not come out until lap 131 for an incident involving Layne Riggs. Riggs got loose in the middle of turn two, causing his No. 38 Ford F-150 to spin up into the outside wall. The contact left Riggs with major right rear damage and continued what has been a very rough start to his rookie Truck Series campaign. Riggs would stay out on track for a few laps but retired from the event during the next caution.
The race did not stay green for very long, as the caution flag flew again with 21 laps to go for yet another multi-truck incident in turn two. Kris Wright, who was also involved in the lap two crash with Thad Moffitt, got loose underneath the No. 02 of Mason Massey. The No. 1 spun up the track into the path of Stewart Friesen, collecting the No. 52 Toyota Tundra. Wright suffered major damage to his truck and would not be able to continue, while Friesen stayed on the lead lap despite his damage.
Following the restart, the race did not stay green for a single lap, as the biggest incident of the race occurred in turn three with 17 laps remaining. Dean Thompson got loose underneath Grant Enfinger going into the corner, sending both the No. 5 and No. 9 trucks into the outside wall. Matt Crafton, Bret Holmes, and Johnny Sauter were also collected in the incident, with Enfinger receiving the most damage of the trucks involved. Enfinger’s CR7 Motorsports Chevrolet would be the only one of the five to retire as a result of the crash.
Christian Eckes led the field back to green with ten laps to go, but Busch was able to get by the No. 19 Chevrolet just two laps later. Despite a strong charge in the last two laps from Corey Heim, Busch was able to hold on for his 66th Truck Series victory. The victory is the sixth for Chevrolet in the first seven races of the season and the third for Spire Motorsports.
Leaving Texas, Christian Eckes leads the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series point standings by two points over Corey Heim, with Ty Majeski, Nick Sanchez, and Taylor Gray rounding out the top five.
The next Craftsman Truck Series race is scheduled for Saturday, May 4, and will be broadcast by FS1.
