Last weekend at Daytona International Speedway, Kyle Busch scored top-five finishes in all three of NASCAR's top series, but never once reached victory lane. He rectified that situation in short order Saturday afternoon at the Auto Club Speedway of Southern California, where he scored a dominating triumph in the San Bernardino 200 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Race.
Busch led 51 of 100 laps in his Billy Ballew-owned San Bernardino County Toyota Tundra to cruise to victory ahead of the Lumber Liquidators Toyota of Todd Bodine and Johnny Benson, who charged from the back of the 35-truck field to score an impressive third place in his Toyota Certified Used Vehicles Tundra. Rounding out the top five were Terry Cook's Wyler.com Toyota and defending series champion Ron Hornaday, Jr. in the Camping World Chevrolet. Toyotas have now swept the top four finishing positions in the first two events on the 25-race NCTS schedule.
The top three finishers in Southern California Saturday also finished in the top three at Daytona a week earlier, when Bodine beat Busch and Benson. This time, though, it was all Busch, who scored the seventh NCTS victory of his career and made it look easy.
"Here's the start, hopefully, to a three-peat this weekend," said Busch, who will race in the NASCAR Nationwide Series race Saturday night and the Sprint Cup event Sunday.
The win carried added poignancy for Busch, who was ejected from this track by NASCAR in 2001, when he was just 16 years old and deemed too young to race in an NCTS event he had entered. "This win here probably means the absolute most, because here in 2001, in November, I got kicked out of this race track and that was it," said Busch. "I wasn't able to run in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and probably I could have sat on the pole and won that race, too. But this is pretty bittersweet right here."
Bittersweet or not, it was a surprisingly easy victory for Busch, who started the race 20th. The field was set by the NASCAR rule book because qualifying was rained out, as was Friday's scheduled practice session.
At the start of the 100-lap event, Hornaday began from the pole and took the lead as Skinner radioed in with what he suspected was a dropped cylinder in his Bill Davis Racing No. 5 Toyota Tundra.
Benson, who would have started third, was sent to the back at the start for unapproved modifications, specifically a fuel pump replacement on his Toyota. He worked his way up to 22nd by Lap 5.
One lap later, Justin Marks went around at the exit of Turn 2, his Crocs Toyota pulled around by the side draft of Busch. That brought out the first caution of the race. Under caution, Skinner pitted and found he had a loose plug wire. He restarted 33rd.
Hornaday restarted in the lead ahead of Bodine, Rick Crawford, Matt Crafton and Colin Braun. Charging hard on the restart was Busch, who was all the way up to third by Lap 10.
The second caution flew on Lap 17 for debris at the entrance to Turn 3. The lead-lap trucks pitted a lap later. Bodine took gas only, while Hornaday pitted too close to the wall and had a lengthy stop, emerging 13th. The order out of the pits was Bodine over Ted Musgrave, Philip McGilton and Busch.
By Lap 21, Busch was up to second and challenging Bodine for the lead. Two circuits later, Busch had the lead for the first time, and he opened up a full 3-second margin on the field by Lap 35, just past the one-third distance.
Caution No. 3, the final one of the event, flew for debris on Lap 46. Busch maintained the point following the ensuing pit stops, ahead of Benson, Bodine, Hornaday and Skinner as the track went green one lap before the midway point.
Shortly thereafter, though, it was Bodine back up front, as he dove under Busch to take the lead on Lap 58.
But then Busch returned the favor on Lap 76 and reassumed the point. He and Bodine made their final pit stops on Lap 81, and although Busch surrendered the lead briefly as the green-flag stops cycled through, he was in control.
He took the lead for the final time on Lap 90 and cruised to victory by 1.415 seconds. In terms of points, Busch now leads Bodine by 20 points and Benson by 25.
Tom Jensen is the Senior NASCAR Editor for SPEEDTV.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. He is the author of "Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED," and has appeared on numerous television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the President of the National Motorsports Press Association.
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