It wasn't even close. With a No. 51 Toyota truck that absolutely
dominated the competition Saturday at Auto Club Speedway, polesitter Kyle Busch
streaked to a 9.023-second victory over Todd Bodine, last week's winner at
Daytona, in the San Bernardino County 200 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
race.
In claiming his 10th win in the series and his second in two starts at the
2-mile California track, Busch led three times for 95 of the 100 laps and led
all but two of the 92 green-flag circuits.
After a gas-and-go under green on Lap 91 -- thanks to new pit rules that
prohibit truck series teams from taking both fuel and tires on the same stop --
Busch quickly overtook Colin Braun, who tried to stretch his fuel mileage but
ran out of gas and rolled onto pit road with three laps remaining. Braun
finished 20th.
Chad McCumbee came home third, followed by David Starr and T.J. Bell. Ron
Hornaday Jr., Matt Crafton, Ricky Carmichael, Timothy Peters and Max Papis
completed the top 10 in the series' second event of the season.
"This thing was just flawless," Busch said of his No. 51 Toyota, which was
serviced through a cooperative effort with James Finch's Nationwide Series crew.
"The guys did flawless. They worked so well and made this truck drive so well. .
.
"It's really a lot fun to come out here and win two years in a row, and
hopefully we can do some more."
Busch is the only driver doing triple duty at Auto Club Speedway. He also was
scheduled to compete in Saturday evening's NASCAR Nationwide Series race, as
well as the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race on Sunday.
Though still unsponsored, Bodine had an excellent truck, too, but his No. 30
Toyota was no match for Busch's ride.
"It's a little disappointing to have a Tundra that's that good and finish
second," Bodine said. "That tells you how good Kyle was. Once the tires got
heated up -- got a little slick -- we were just a little tight through the
center of the corner. I couldn't quite hold it wide open."
Notes: Busch's win was also Doug George's first as a crew chief… Gabi Dicarlo
finished 19th in her truck series debut... Busch leads Bodine by five points in
the series standings after two races. Crafton is third, 77 points behind Busch.
