Kyle Busch won Saturday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) Mountain Dew 250 race at Talladega Superspeedway with help from his Billy Ballew Racing teammate Aric Almirola.
Busch and Almirola went to the outside and created their own two-car freight train in the closing laps. They passed then leader Todd Bodine on the final lap, giving the Ballew Racing its first ever one-two finish.
“That just happened – unbelievable. I owe everything to Aric Almirola today. Sticking with me from that last pit stop to the end, I told him if he just stayed with me they wouldn’t be able to beat the 15 (Almirola) and 51 (Busch). Awesome job to Aric, he can take my half of the pay after today. I don’t get paid anything. I don’t know what Billy Ballew will work out with him.” said Busch.
“Everybody at Billy Ballew Motorsports did a great job and worked really hard. We had two awesome speedway trucks and it showed today. There were not very many people that could hang with us (Kyle Busch) when we got together and we proved that a couple times throughout the race. We tried not to show our cards too much in the beginning. It paid off and it was a one-two finish for Billy Ballew. I just wanted to be one bad.” Almirola said.
“Congratulations to Billy Ballew in his 300th start in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and he got a one-two finish so that’s pretty awesome for him.” Almirola added.
Busch led 10 of 98 laps. With this win Toyota to clinches its fourth consecutive NCWTS manufacturer’s title (2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009).
Almirola finished second, Todd Bodine third, Terry Cook fourth and David Starr finished fifth, giving Toyota the top-five sweep for the first time since April 2006.
“We made the right move. We had a great truck and made the right move at the end and got the lead. We just didn’t have a teammate. Kyle (Busch) had his teammate right behind him. I could have blocked him coming to the checkers, but I didn’t want to be like Carl Edwards and end up in the catch fence.” Bodine said.
Ron Hornaday, Jr. was caught up in the “Big One” on lap 91. Drivers Max Papis, Brian Scott, Rick Crawford, Timothy Peters and Chad McCumbee were also involved when Johnny Sauter and Mike Skinner got together.
Despite a 17th place finish, Ron Hornaday maintains a 202 point lead over in Matt Crafton in the series standings with three races remaining. Crafton finished 10th and Skinner finished 19th.
“It all happened on the outside and they all came down and I was just in the middle of it. It was a shame. We caved the grill in on the back of the No. 9 truck; I didn’t know where he was going, that kind of ruined out day.” said Hornaday.
The series heads to Texas Motor Speedway next week (Friday, November 6).
Unofficial Race Results
Pos. | St. | No. | Driver | Make | Pts. | Bon. | Laps | Status |
1 | 10 | 51 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 190 | 5 | 98 | Running |
2 | 5 | 15 | Aric Almirola | Toyota | 175 | 5 | 98 | Running |
3 | 6 | 30 | Todd Bodine | Toyota | 170 | 5 | 98 | Running |
4 | 2 | 25 | Terry Cook | Toyota | 165 | 5 | 98 | Running |
5 | 14 | 24 | David Starr | Toyota | 155 | 0 | 98 | Running |
6 | 20 | 212 | Mario Gosselin | Chevrolet | 150 | 0 | 98 | Running |
7 | 9 | 60 | Stacy Compton | Toyota | 146 | 0 | 98 | Running |
8 | 22 | 8 | Dennis Setzer | Chevrolet | 142 | 0 | 98 | Running |
9 | 30 | 153 | Justin Hobgood | Chevrolet | 138 | 0 | 98 | Running |
10 | 7 | 88 | Matt Crafton | Chevrolet | 134 | 0 | 98 | Running |
11 | 23 | 117 | Timothy Peters | Toyota | 135 | 5 | 98 | Running |
12 | 1 | 6 | Colin Braun | Ford | 137 | 10 | 98 | Running |
13 | 27 | 8 | Chrissy Wallace | Chevrolet | 124 | 0 | 98 | Running |
14 | 17 | 13 | Johnny Sauter * | Chevrolet | 124 | 0 | 98 | Running |
15 | 19 | 10 | James Buescher * | Ford | 118 | 0 | 98 | Running |
16 | 25 | 129 | J.R. Fitzpatrick * | Chevrolet | 115 | 0 | 98 | Running |
17 | 13 | 33 | Ron Hornaday | Chevrolet | 112 | 0 | 96 | Running |
18 | 29 | 157 | Norm Benning | Chevrolet | 109 | 0 | 96 | Running |
19 | 11 | 5 | Mike Skinner | Toyota | 111 | 0 | 96 | Running |
20 | 15 | 4 | Ricky Carmichael * | Chevrolet | 103 | 0 | 93 | Accident |
21 | 16 | 14 | Rick Crawford | Ford | 100 | 0 | 90 | Accident |
22 | 3 | 9 | Max Papis | Toyota | 97 | 0 | 90 | Accident |
23 | 18 | 16 | Brian Scott | Toyota | 99 | 5 | 90 | Accident |
24 | 12 | 7 | Chad McCumbee | Chevrolet | 91 | 0 | 90 | Accident |
25 | 31 | 102 | Steve Park | Chevrolet | 88 | 0 | 76 | Engine |
26 | 32 | 28 | Andy Lally | Chevrolet | 82 | 0 | 64 | P.Steering |
27 | 8 | 81 | Tayler Malsam * | Toyota | 85 | 0 | 69 | Accident |
28 | 33 | 148 | Mike Wallace | Chevrolet | 84 | 5 | 61 | Accident |
29 | 21 | 11 | T.J. Bell | Toyota | 76 | 0 | 44 | Vibration |
30 | 24 | 41 | Chris Jones * | Dodge | 78 | 5 | 41 | Clutch |
31 | 26 | 176 | Ryan Hackett * | Ford | 70 | 0 | 41 | Rear End |
32 | 4 | 23 | Jason White | Dodge | 67 | 0 | 29 | Engine |
33 | 34 | 121 | Sean Murphy | Dodge | 64 | 0 | 20 | Brakes |
34 | 35 | 47 | Brandon Knupp | Chevrolet | 61 | 0 | 18 | Over Heating |
35 | 28 | 171 | Robert Richardson Jr. | Chevrolet | 58 | 0 | 13 | Engine |
36 | 36 | 250 | Jennifer Jo Cobb | Dodge | 0 | 0 | 1 | Engine |