(CONCORD, NC) — Kyle Busch dominated early, overcame a pit error, and then charged back to the front to win the 11th annual North Carolina Education Lottery 200 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race Friday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Busch took the win by just a half-second over second-place finisher Brendan Gaughan and third-place Max Gresham. Rounding out the top five were Matt Crafton and Ty Dillon.
“Our truck was really fast.” said Busch, who led 80 laps en route to victory. “It’s fun to race here. But we don’t make anything too easy do we? The crew made some good calls, and the truck was awesome. We led some laps and should have led some more. We had to work our way up through the field. But I was glad it all played out.”
This was the 31st truck series win for Busch and his 113th NASCAR national series win. It marked his fifth win in eight truck series starts at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Busch took command early in the 134-lap race and dominated until his crew left the fuel can attached during a caution-flag stop on lap 84, giving Busch a stop-and-go penalty before forcing him to restart at the rear of the longest line.
Less than 10 laps later, Busch was already threatening the leaders. He took control after the lap 121 restart and was able to hold back the advances of Gaughan in the closing laps to secure the win.
Rookie Jeb Burton started from the pole, his third of the season, and was running in the top 5 most of the night. A loose wheel forced him to make an unscheduled pit stop late in the race, dropping him to 13th.
Rounding out the top 10 were James Buescher, Miguel Paludo, John Wes Townley, Ross Chastain and Justin Lofton.
KYLE BUSCH (WINNER, No. 51 TOYOTA CARE TOYOTA): “Our truck was really, really fast. These guys did a great job; they’ve worked awful hard. It’s fun to race here, and we don’t make anything too easy, do we? It was pretty cool. I thought that we didn’t quite have the truck to win with yesterday with the test sessions. We had some opportunities to do some stuff and test some things. (Crew chief)Rudy (Fugle) made some good calls, and this morning it was an entirely different piece. It was awesome. I thank the guys for giving me a really good truck. This is just part of the reward, that we are able to go to Victory Lane. The race was fun. We led some laps and should have led some more laps but had a fuel issue. So we had to work our way back up through the field. I wasn’t sure I was going to make it all the way back up there, but the late cautions helped me and got me in the right position there. It was interesting; glad it all played out. Glad to get the win.”
