Just when you think someone else in the Truck Series has a great shot to win, Kyle Busch comes through and wins again for the fourth consecutive time this season. It was his first win at Texas since 2014 and Busch didn’t miss a beat.
The three stages were 35/35/71 laps for the Vankor 350, making up the 147 total laps.
It was a wild race from the get go in the first stage that was 35 laps. Stage 1 saw four cautions and a thrilling finish at the end of all 35.
The night didn’t start out so well for the Kyle Busch Motorsports team. Todd Gilliland brought out the first caution on lap three after bouncing off the wall and teammate Harrison Burton wrecked in Turn 2 on lap 11 thus ending his night early due to extensive damage.
Turn 2 was the trouble spot again as Lap 18 saw Angela Ruch wreck off of Turn 2 and Gus Dean was involved to bring out the caution again. Dean was in an incident all by himself on the
Kyle Busch pitted under the Lap 26 caution, falling behind the leaders. This saw Thorsport teammates Grant Enfinger and Ben Rhodes battle it out for the stage win. Enfinger barely
Unfortunately, issues arose for Enfinger and the No. 98 team, as their pit crew was over the wall too soon, which saw them get a penalty and lose any track position gained.
Since Kyle Busch made a pit stop in Stage 1, he was able to stay out during the stage caution and claim the lead.
Like Stage 1, Stage 2 was off to another wild start. On Lap 48, DGR-Crosley driver Anthony Alfredo, wrecked in Turn 2 after getting loose. When Alfredo hit the wall, his truck caught fire. However, he climbed out of his truck unscathed with no injuries.
The red flag was flown on Lap 52 in an attempt to let safety workers clean up the accident and fluid that was put down by Alfredo. The red flag lasted for 15 minutes.
Daytona winner Austin Hill started to have problems with his truck. Rising water temperatures were the issue as it rose to 270 degrees. The team came down pit road to pull the tape
Kyle Busch went on to win Stage 2. It was his sixth stage win of the season.
The race only got more wilder when the race restarted with 71 to go for the final stage.
Busch retook the lead with 66 to go after a fierce battle with Brett Moffitt. Moffitt was able to close in 10 laps later, but the battle was built by yet another caution with 45 to go. This saw Korbin Forrister spin off Turn 2.
Another incident and the caution flag was flown with 31 to go for Codie Rohrbaugh who wrecked in Turn 2.
The final restart of the night came with 25 to go. It saw Busch, Moffitt, Sauter, among others battling for the race win. However, with 20 to go, Moffitt cut a right-rear tire ending any chances at a shot to win. This saw Stewart Friesen go to second.
For the last 15 laps of the race, Friesen and Busch battled hard with each other for the race win. Unfortunately, with less than 10 to go, Friesen’s truck got loose and started to go away, and he began falling back. He ran out of time and was unable to catch Busch.
Busch was able to fend off Stewart Friesen for his fourth consecutive Truck Series win of the season.
“Yeah, it was a pretty good night for us,” Busch told MRN Radio. “Obviously, the Cessna Beechcraft Tundra was fast. I wish we were faster. I thought we were pretty good. Not as good as we wanted to be though when we stacked up against the field. The 24 (Brett Moffitt) was really fast, the 52 (Stewart Friesen) was really fast. They made me work for it. They certainly got my money’s worth tonight.”
“You know, I want to say thanks to TRD, Rowdy Manufacturing, all the fans, the Truck Series fans,” Busch continued to MRN Radio. “The Truck Series fans are the thorough bread of our sport. Coming out here on a Friday night to support the truck guys is what makes all this go round. I appreciate them. Gander Outdoors and Black Clover, DEX sunglasses, Adidas, Incredible Bank. It takes a lot of us to go get all of this to go, so it’s fun.”
Busch led seven times for 97 laps. There were six leaders among 16 lead changes and nine cautions for 47 laps.
Stewart Friesen continues to lead the standings by six points over Grant Enfinger.
The Truck Series takes a month off and will return to action at the Dover International Speedway on Friday, May 3.
