While there was still buzz around the Daytona finish last week, the Truck Series drivers had to turn their focus on what many call the first real race of the season last Friday night at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Kyle Busch was back in the field and completely dominated the race by sweeping the stages and leading the most laps. Throughout the Strat 200, there were some dicey moments, but for the most part, it was almost a caution-free race as there were only five cautions for 25 laps. Two of them were for stages, while three of them were for incidents.
However, there may have been other notes of interest that racing fans might have missed or the broadcast did not cover it. Here are this week’s four takeaways from the Strat 200.
- Kyle Busch Back In Victory Lane – About a week ago, Busch and the No. 51 Kyle Busch Motorsports team announced its five-race schedule for the 2020 Truck Series season. Those races were Las Vegas, Atlanta, Charlotte, Kansas, and Chicago. It is crazy to bet against him in those races but anything can happen in the racing world. Busch was back in the field Friday night at his hometown racetrack. He didn’t qualify on the pole but had the best truck out of anyone in the race. Busch swept both stages, led 108 laps and picked up his first win of the 2020 season.
- Bounty Out For Busch Win – After the win, on Saturday morning, former Cup Series champion and former Truck Series owner Kevin Harvick issued a $50,000 bounty to any full-time Cup driver that can beat Busch in the next four Truck Series races. After Harvick tweeted that out, Social Media literally blew up with all kinds of comments (mainly offers from Cup drivers). Cup drivers and Xfinity drivers chimed in wanting to take Harvick’s offer. This got so much attention that the owner of the sponsor in the series Marcus Lemonis chimed in and said, “Hey Kevin, I’ll match that… I’m that comfortable Kyle Busch can’t be beat.” With that said, the bounty now has gone up to $250,000 courtesy of Lemonis who wants the event to take place on FOX. It will be interesting to see if this comes to fruition as I’m sure there will be sponsor and manufacturer conflicts for any driver that wants to take the offer. Still, this is one of the most intriguing stories that has taken place in the last 10-years in the Truck Series. It is just one of the many reasons why I love the Truck Series. It deserves more attention then it gets right now.
- Stewart Friesen Rallies To Ninth Place Finish – It was a difficult night for Friesen and his No. 52 team who struggled most of the night. The Canadian had a poor qualifying effort of 17th and really did not make up that much ground during the race. Friesen’s mid-race run was averaging 20th place throughout the night. He spent zero laps in the top-10 and did not collect any stage points. Friesen even was handed a penalty for improper fueling which set him back even more. However, his truck seemed to come to life late in the going and he was able to finish ninth.
- Off-Week – With two races under the belt, the Truck Series will have three-weeks off until the next race that takes place on Saturday, March 14. After a couple of exciting races, race fans can catch their breath as the season will really start to pick up after the Atlanta race. The Truck Series 2020 season has been off to a great start so far this year with just two races in.
