Kyle Busch hadn’t won a Camping World Series truck race in his last seven starts but at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Friday night he overcame a pit road penalty to win the North Carolina Education Lottery 200.
On lap 84 Busch had come into the pits for a fuel only stop and the gas can was caught in the receiver and left the pit box meaning he had a pass-through penalty. At that point Busch had dominated the race leading 66 laps but he had to restart in the rear of the field.
Busch used the penalty to get fresh tires and charged through the field with the aid of some caution periods due to accidents.
“It was an eternity… the starts were spread over a year and half,” Busch said about his winless streak. “It certainly was frustrating last year that (his crew chief) Eric (Phillips) and I weren’t able to get to Victory Lane. We only ran three starts, and in all of those three starts, we were a really good truck and had a shot to win in all three of those.”
“We’ve been fast. These guys do a good job, (crew chief) Rudy (Fugle) here, taking over for my stuff on the No. 51 with a smaller team…it’s only him and a couple of other guys that are full-time for it… These guys do a lot of work for being so small and just coming out here trying to knock out some wins.”
Brendan Gaughan finished second, Max Gresham third while Matt Crafton and Ty Dillon rounded out the top five.
Matt Crafton retained his points lead leaving Charlotte while Jeb Burton moved into second place, 22 points behind Crafton
