Kyle Busch's goal of making it back-to-back victories in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series came up a bit short on Friday night in the Silverado 350K at Texas Motor Speedway.  Busch, piloting the No. 15 ditech.com/National Land Liquidations Chevrolet for Billy Ballew Motorsports, finished in the third position after leading 26 laps.

Busch started the 147-lap event in fourth place and by lap two and caution one was up to the third position.  By lap 10, Busch was able to report back to crew chief Richie Wauters about the handling on the No. 15 machine and discussed what changes he recommended for their first pit stop.  They agreed on a trackbar adjustment, four tires, fuel and a tear-off from the windshield.

Their first stop came on lap 40 during caution number two.  Busch had dropped to the sixth position when he came down pit road.  The lightning fast stop by members of the No. 0 NEXTEL Cup team got Busch and the No. 15 ditech.com/National Land Liquidations Chevrolet out in second place for the restart on lap 43.  "Good stop you guys," said Busch exiting pit road.  "Good job!"

Busch took the lead on lap 44 and shortly thereafter noted he was missing the tape on his rear spoiler.  He held the lead through lap 53 when he encountered a bit of a loose condition.  The No. 15 ditech.com/National Land Liquidations Chevrolet remained on the track during the third caution, overtaking the lead once again.  By lap 80, Busch had dropped to second place and was complaining of losing overall grip.  "I'm trying to take care of it here," said Busch.

The fourth caution came out on lap 85 for an accident by the No. 47.  Wauters and Busch decided to bring the No. 15 machine down pit road for another stop to take on four tires, fuel, tape up the rear spoiler and make a trackbar adjustment.  Busch quickly eliminated those who had taken on fuel only, then retook the lead after caution number five on lap 97.  Busch lost the lead on lap 103 to the No. 5 Toyota.

On lap 118, Busch smacked the wall coming off of turn two causing the right front valance to shove down onto the track.  Sparks flew from the right side of the No. 15 truck, concerning the NASCAR officials.  All were assured the machine would be fine for the conclusion of the race.  "I brushed the wall coming off of two," said Busch. "It's rubbing the track.  It's not too much tighter.  It is, but not as bad as I would've expected."  By lap 130, Busch had fallen one more position to third with the No. 30 Toyota getting around the No. 15 Chevrolet.

The sixth and final caution waved on lap 134.  Wauters and Busch went back and forth before deciding not to pit.  The thoughts of last week's pit strategy replayed in their mind, but due to the amount of cars on the lead lap and the tire wear they had seen play out, they decided against making a stop for four sticker tires, though they had one set left in the pits.

During the caution, Busch radioed in telling the guys he would try to guard the bottom of the track and there would be nobody trying the outside groove.  "That's all she wrote," Busch said.  "Awesome job on the pit stops and I'll finish her out."  Busch knew the Toyotas were tough and he probably wouldn't have an opportunity to get around them to capture his fourth victory of the 2005 season.

Busch made an exciting move to the inside of the No. 5 going into turn one, even clipping the front end of the No. 59.  The move paid off as the No. 15 ditech.com/National Land Liquidations Chevrolet got up to the second position, within reach of the leader.  However, those Toyotas were strong and the No. 30 pulled away and the No. 5 regained second place, ending Busch's day with a third place finish.

"It wasn't too hard to hang on," said Busch after completion of the race.  "I was just driving my heart out trying to keep up with those guys. Todd Bodine had a great truck today -- so did Mike Skinner. Those Toyotas -- I don't know what it was today, but they were fast. This was the only Chevrolet Silverado that could only really keep up with them. I don't know whether it's more downforce and less drag than us which helped them come off Turn 2, but as soon as I'd get about 8 to 10 laps off of it, it was so tight off of Turn 2 I could hardly drive it. All in all it was a good night for the ditech.com/National Land Liquidations Chevrolet. I'm looking forward to Phoenix and Homestead, too."

The next race for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is this Friday evening at Phoenix International Raceway.  Busch returns to the No. 15 for the Chevy Silverado 150 which gets the green flag at 6:00 PM local time.