Travis Kvapil hunted down leader Kyle Busch over the final ten laps and made the move to the front coming to take the white flag and was able to hold on to win the Michigan 200 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race Saturday at Michigan International Speedway. Kvapil, the 2003 series champion, started from the pole and diced near the front all day long, leading a total of 18 laps on his way to his seventh career series win.

For Kvapil, he returns to victory lane for the first time since September 2004 when he last won at New Hampshire. And although he's only been in the seat of the Roush Fenway Racing No. 6 K&N Filters Ford for ten races, this trip to victory lane was a long time in coming.

"We started the year off kind of struggling, but the guys have figured out what we need to do to make these trucks fast," Kvapil said. "Kansas was the turning point. Ever since then we've been a top five truck, we just haven't been able to pull it off. Until today."

For team owner Jack Roush, it was his 45th win as an owner in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, but his first with Kvapil behind the wheel. Kvapil becomes the tenth driver to win a race in a Roush Fenway Racing truck.

"I know that Travis has won races and won a championship here before," Roush said. "But I was starting to worry. I was hoping to see him close strong, and he did that here today."

Mike Skinner, Kyle Busch and Travis Kvapil are three wide leaving the pit area at the Michigan 200. (Ronda Greer Photo)

Close strong was exactly what Kvapil did. Over the final 20 miles of racing, he repeatedly took a run at Busch, trying to time out a move that would put the nose of his truck ahead at the stripe. The pressure he put on Busch forced the leader into slipping out of his line slightly entering turn three coming to the white flag, and allowed Kvapil to cleanly pass coming off turn four. From there, it was clear sailing to the checkered.

"I knew I wasn't going to make someone as good as Kyle make a mistake," Kvapil said. "I chased him and tried timing it out lap after lap to see if I could make a run off turn four and get in front at the stripe. If worse came to worst, I thought we would be able to make a run off four and get him at the line on the last lap. But he slipped up just a little in three coming to the white flag and that's what allowed us to get by."

Busch was humble in defeat. Rather than racing the No. 51 Flanders Beef Patties Chevrolet into victory lane, Busch instead was forced to settle for a second-place finish. Busch also finished second in his only other previous Truck race at MIS in 2005.

"It was a great race and I had a lot of fun racing Travis at the end," Busch said. "It is a shame we couldn't get it tightened up there at the end. We were just too loose all day, just could never get back of the truck under me, just real sideways off the corners. I could never put the throttle down on the exit of the corner. It was a solid effort by these Billy Ballew Motorsports guys. I appreciate their support and helping me out so I can run the truck series.

"I was all over the place, the middle the bottom the top. I just could never find a place that would let me get a good run off the corner. I was just too loose. Our truck was good enough, solid enough to win the race, but just not quite good enough to get where I needed to be off the corner. It was too loose to control it. These guys on this team work so hard on these trucks and do such a great job, I wanted to win the race for them."

Kvapil and Busch both had Brendan Gaughan's No. 77 South Point Hotel and Casino Chevrolet looming large in their rear view mirrors over the final fifteen laps. Gaughan may have had a truck that could have won the race, if not for an ill-timed caution and a late race scuffle with the turn two wall.

Mike Skinner and Brendan Gaughan cross the start finish line at the Michigan 200. (VPS Motorimages Photo)

"I am really happy to be here after the last three weeks," Gaughan said, "but at the same time I am infuriated. The last three weeks we have had great trucks but just never got a chance to show it. We went out and qualified first at Mansfield and got stuck with a slippery race track and had to start from the back. Then at Dover, well, we didn't even get a chance to get started at Dover and we were done. Last week, we wiped out Lone Star, my favorite truck and the oldest one in our fleet. So it's nice to come here and get a good finish and be in the media center talking to you guys.

"But at the same time I am upset because we had a truck that could have won the race," he continued. "I have to thank Mike Skinner and Ted Musgrave for not splattering me all over the backstretch. I tried to time it out coming off turn two to make a run and I ended up getting a big push and almost knocking down the fence. Great racecar drivers can do great things, and they did. But I feel like the driver may have let down the guys today."

Mike Skinner finished fourth in the No. 5 Toyota Tundra Toyota and Ted Musgrave rounded out the top five finishers in the No. 9 Team ASE/U-Coat It Toyota. Rick Crawford was sixth in the No. 14 Ford Power Stroke Diesel by International Ford, Todd Bodine was seventh in the No. 30 Lumber Liquidators Toyota, Kevin Harvick rallied from the back of the pack at the start to finish eighth in the No. 2 Camping World Chevrolet, Johnny Benson was ninth in the No. 23 Toyota Certified Used Vehicles Toyota, and Ron Hornaday rounded out the top ten in the No. 33 Camping World Chevrolet.

There were four caution flags throughout the 100-lap race that slowed the field for a total of 16 laps. The first caution waved on lap 30 for debris, while A.J. Allmendinger slapped the wall in turn one to bring out the second caution on lap 57. Ken Schrader's engine expired in lap 74 to bring out the third yellow, and Jack Sprague's miserable luck continued as he lost a tire and contacted the turn three wall to bring out the final caution of the day on lap 82.

The average speed was 135.364 miles per hour. There were 13 lead changes among four drivers - Kvapil led for three times for 18 laps, Busch led for times for 38 laps, Skinner led twice for 9 laps, while Mark Martin led four times for 35 laps. Martin had a dominant truck early on, but was sidelined by engine failure just before the halfway mark.

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series moves next to The Milwaukee Mile for next Friday's Toyota Tundra 200. The eleventh race of season is slated for a 9 P.M. Eastern start and can be seen live on SPEED. TruckSeries.com will have complete event coverage starting with practice updates that morning with Live! Bud Pole Qualifying coverage at 6:30 P.M. Eastern.