Kyle Busch edged Stewart Friesen in a thrilling, side-by-side finish to win the FR8 208 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Saturday, February 22.
The two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion from Las Vegas, Nevada, led eight times for a race-high 80 of 135 scheduled laps in an event where he started in ninth place. He navigated his way to the front for the first time on Lap 40 and won the second stage period on Lap 60. Busch proceeded to lead on six additional occasions since the final period’s commencement with 68 laps remaining. He also made several swift moves on his fellow competitors by transitioning from the inside to the outside lane to reassume the lead from them after he briefly lost out during previous laps.
Then on the final lap, Busch, who had lost the lead to Stewart Friesen a lap prior, spent the entire lap dueling with Friesen from the inside lane and in front of a stacked field. As Friesen started to surge ahead from the outside lane entering the frontstretch, Busch would use the inside lane to side-draft Friesen and surge back ahead. This allowed Busch to beat Friesen by 0.017 seconds at the finish line to score a thrilling victory and record the first NASCAR National Touring series victory of the 2025 season for himself and Spire Motorsports.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, February 21, rookie Connor Mosack claimed his first Truck pole position of his career after he posted a pole-winning lap at 173.418 mph in 31.969 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Grant Enfinger, who clocked in his best qualifying lap at 173.007 mph in 32.045 seconds.
Before the event, Chandler Smith dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to his No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford entry.
When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Connor Mosack muscled his No. 81 Friends of Jaclyn Foundation Chevrolet Silverado RST entry ahead of Grant Enfinger from the inside lane entering the first two turns. Daniel Hemric, Mosack’s teammate, would follow suit as both transitioned to the outside lane and in front of Enfinger entering the backstretch. Mosack would proceed to fend off teammate Jack Wood and the field stacked up in two drafted lanes through the final set of turns as he led the first lap.
Over the next four laps, Mosack led a 1-2-3-4 charge for McAnally-Hilgemann Racing as Mosack retained the lead over teammates Wood, Tyler Ankrum and Hemric while Enfinger fell back to fifth place. With a majority of the field racing in single-line formation towards the outside lane, Kyle Busch was in sixth place ahead of teammate Rajah Caruth, Layne Riggs, Matt Crafton and Ben Rhodes while Corey Heim, Ty Majeski, Luke Fenhaus, Stewart Friesen and Jake Garcia were racing in the top 15, respectively.
Through the first 10 scheduled laps, nearly the entire field continued to race in single-line formation towards the outside wall as Mosack was leading ahead of teammates Wood, Ankrum and Hemric while Enfinger, Busch, Caruth, Riggs, Rhodes and Crafton followed suit in the top 10, respectively. Meanwhile, Heim, who nearly made contact with Crafton and tried to ignite a charge from the inside lane, fell back to 15th place while Luke Fenhaus, who was trying to assist teammate Ben Rhodes as the latter kept making moves to the inside lane to move up the leaderboard, was also mired in the top-15 mark. Shortly after, Rhodes, who nearly made contact with Caruth while trying to move in front of him through Turns 3 and 4, slipped back to 12th place.
Ten laps later, the top 13 competitors were separated by more than a second of one another as Mosack continued to lead ahead of teammates Wood, Ankrum and Hemric while Enfinger, Riggs, Caruth, Crafton, Busch and Jake Garcia were in the top 10. Behind, Ty Majeski fell back to 13th place and teammate Rhodes was back in 21st place. Meanwhile, Chandler Smith was up to 22nd place in front of rookie Andres Perez de Lara and Frankie Muniz while Heim was in 11th place ahead of Friesen.
Three laps later, Mosack and the lead lap field navigated past a group of competitors racing towards the rear of the field, among which included rookie Toni Breidinger. Another two laps later, Busch tried to ignite a charge from the inside lane, but he drifted back to 12th place after receiving no drafting help through the first two turns. Enfinger then tried to ignite a charge with drafting help from Riggs on the inside lane through Turns 3 and 4, which was enough to battle Wood for the runner-up spot before Enfinger claimed the spot over Wood on Lap 28.
During the final lap of the first stage period, Wood and Riggs pinned Mosack in a three-wide battle for the lead entering the first turn. With all three continuing to race dead even through the first two turns, Wood received the momentum and draft from Enfinger and a bevy of competitors from the outside lane to boost his No. 91 Adaptive One Calipers Chevrolet Silverado RST ahead through the backstretch. With Riggs, Enfinger and Mosack all pinned in three-wide formation through the first set of turns, Wood muscled away to claim his first Truck stage victory on Lap 30. Riggs claimed second place over Enfinger, Mosack and Busch while Heim, Friesen, Ankrum, Hemric and Caruth were scored in the top 10, respectively.
Under the stage break, Riggs, who was penalized for going below the double-white line while trying to make a move beneath Mosack during the penultimate lap of the first stage period, fell off the pace due to a power issue as his No. 34 Northside Hospital Ford F-150 entry was pushed to the garage. Not long after Riggs’ issue, nearly the entire field led by Wood pitted for a first round of service, mainly for fuel, while Heim and Majeski remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Enfinger exited pit road first as he was followed by Busch, Mosack, Ankrum and Wood, respectively. Amid the pit stops, both Hemric and Nathan Byrd were sent to the rear of the field for speeding on pit road.
The second stage period started on Lap 37 as Heim and Busch occupied the front row. At the start, Heim received a push from Majeski to jump ahead of Busch entering the first two turns. With Heim leading Majeski entering the backstretch, Busch and Mosack, both of whom were leading the charge from the inside lane, transitioned up to the outside lane as they were followed by Enfinger and Wood. Heim would lead the following lap before Majeski overtook Heim through the backstretch to assume the lead on Lap 39.
Not long after, Busch, who kept making moves to the inside lane, was drafted by Mosack as he led the Lap 40 mark over Majeski. Meanwhile, Riggs returned to the track despite being pinned two laps behind while Crafton, who was racing in the top 10, scraped the outside wall entering Turn 3 and pitted his No. 88 Menards Ford F-150 entry under green. The misfortune cost Crafton multiple laps.
By Lap 45, Busch retained the lead as he also led a long single-file line of competitors racing towards the outside lane, including runner-up Majeski. Meanwhile, Mosack was racing in third place and leading a small group of competitors on the inside lane that included teammate Ankrum, Bayley Currey, Caruth and Chandler Smith. Mosack would continue to duel with Majeski for the runner-up spot while Busch retained the overall lead.
At the Lap 50 mark, Busch continued to lead ahead of Majeski while Mosack and Heim dueled for third place in front of Ankrum, Enfinger, Currey, Wood, Caruth and Michael McDowell. Amid the tight two-wide formation over the next five laps, Enfinger made his move to the inside lane as he led a small drafted group ahead of Mosack and Ankrum. Enfinger, however, would move back up the outside lane in sixth place and McDowell would move up to fifth place while Mosack slipped back to eighth place. Amid the battles, Busch kept leading ahead of Majeski, Heim and Wood.
With two laps remaining in the second stage period, Heim fell off the pace due to a fuel issue to his No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro entry. As the race remained under green flag conditions, Busch retained the lead over Majeski, McDowell, Wood and Enfinger as he commenced the final lap of the stage period. With Enfinger trying to mount a charge to the front from the inside lane, Busch fended off an attempted charge by Majeski exiting the backstretch. As the field fanned out entering the frontstretch, Busch proceeded to claim the stage victory on Lap 60. Majeski followed suit in second ahead of Enfinger, McDowell and Kaden Honeycutt while Wood, Mosack, Friesen, Chandler Smith and Hemric were scored in the top 10.
During the stage break, the entire field led by Busch pitted for fresh tires and fuel. Following the pit stops, Caruth exited pit road first as he was followed by Hemric, Perez de Lara, Enfinger, McDowell, Honeycutt, Mosack, Busch, Chandler Smith and rookie Giovanni Ruggiero, respectively. Earlier, Majeski pitted prior to pit road being accessible to the field due to running out of fuel, which sent him to the tail end of the field as he also lost a lap to the leaders, while Heim was pinned multiple laps down amid his late fuel issues. Amid the field pitting, Chandler Smith was penalized for a safety violation.
With 68 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced under green as Caruth and Hemric occupied the front row. At the start, the top two competitors battled dead even in front of the stacked field for nearly a full lap. Not long after, the field then fanned out to three lanes as select names including Hemric were shoved out of the draft. As Wood fell off the pace due to hitting the wall, Caruth and Enfinger battled for the lead. Amid the battles, Caruth, who was being drafted by teammate Perez de Lara, would retain the top spot over the next four laps until Mosack returned atop the leaderboard with 63 laps remaining.
With 62 laps remaining, Busch pulled a crossover move on Mosack as he reassumed the lead entering the frontstretch. Amid the battles at the front, Byrd scraped the outside wall through Turns 3 and 4, but the race remained under green flag conditions. In addition, McDowell fell off the pace due to reporting a potential tire issue.
A lap later, the caution flew after Caruth, who was battling Mosack for the runner-up spot, snapped sideways entering Turns 3 and 4 and spun his No. 71 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Silverado RST entry backward towards the outside wall. Caruth was then hit by Hemric, Perez de Lara and Ruggiero before he got hit by William Sawalich, the latter of whom was hit by Ankrum while trying to avoid the carnage, in the frontstretch, which concluded Caruth’s run with a wrecked truck for a second consecutive event. The incident was enough for the event to be placed in a red flag period for more than 12 minutes as the on-track safety crew cleaned the carnage and addressed any potential signs of fluid being spilled.
When the red flag lifted and the field returned under a cautious pace, Busch led nearly the entire field to pit road for service, primarily for fuel, while Dawson Sutton remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Busch exited first as he was followed by Mosack, Rhodes, Honeycutt, Enfinger, Ruggiero, Fenhaus, Tanner Gray, Friesen and Currey. Sutton along with Spencer Boyd would pit shortly after, which handed the lead back to Busch.
With the race resuming under green with 50 laps remaining, Busch gained a slight advantage over Enfinger through the first two turns as he had Mosack drafting him from the outside lane. As Enfinger tried to draw even with Busch through Turns 3 and 4, Busch would muscle his No. 7 Gainbridge Chevrolet Silverado RST entry back ahead and lead the following lap as he was being followed by Mosack and Rhodes. Honeycutt, Tanner Gray and Currey would make their way into the top six and Enfinger would fall back to ninth place with 48 laps remaining as Busch continued to lead.
Then with 47 laps remaining, Mosack got shoved out of the draft by Rhodes as Rhodes muscled his way up to second place. Mosack, who would get pinned in the inside lane with no drafting help, would slowly lose more spots over the next two laps and drop out of the top-10 mark as Rhodes, Honeycutt, Tanner Gray and Currey pursued Busch.
Down to the final 40 laps of the event, the top 13 competitors were separated by within a second of one another as Busch led Rhodes, Honeycutt, Gray, Currey, Ruggiero, Enfinger and a long line of competitors racing in single-line formation towards the outside lane. Meanwhile, Mosack had drifted back to 13th place in between Ankrum and Majeski while Hemric was mired in 18th place behind McDowell.
Ten laps later, the front-runners continued to race in single-line formation towards the outside wall as Busch remained at the front ahead of Rhodes, Honeycutt, Gray, Currey, Ruggiero, Enfinger, Matt Mills, Fenhaus and Chandler Smith, respectively. Shortly after, trouble within the pack ensued as Muniz went up the track and made contact with Mosack against the backstretch’s outside wall, which left both competitors with damaged trucks. Amid the incident, the race remained under green flag conditions as Mosack pitted. Muniz, however, remained on the track and his No. 33 NUGGETTRAP.COM Ford F-150 entry dropped debris entering the first turn before he got sideways and spun below the apron. Amid the late misfortunes for both Muniz and Mosack following strong runs, Riggs cycled back onto the lead lap.
During the caution period, some including Mosack, including those racing at the rear end of the field, pitted while the front-runners led by Busch remained on the track.
The start of the next restart period with 23 laps remaining featured Busch and Ruggerio occupying the front row ahead of Rhodes, Enfinger, Honeycutt and Luke Fenhaus. At the start, Busch and Ruggiero dueled dead even for the lead in front of two-stacked lanes through the first two turns. Then in the backstretch, Busch muscled ahead with drafting help from Rhodes while Enfinger launched his charge from the inside lane, which resulted in Ruggiero getting shoved out of the draft. Enfinger would proceed to challenge Rhodes for the runner-up spot as Busch led the following lap.
With 20 laps remaining, Busch and Enfinger dueled for the lead in front of two-stacked lanes as Enfinger had Fenhaus drafting him from the inside lane while Busch was being drafted by Rhodes from the outside lane. Amid Enfinger’s charge from the inside lane, he could not execute his slide to move in front of Busch through the straightaways. Enfinger would then receive a shove from Fenhaus that allowed the former to rocket his No. 9 Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet Silverado RST entry ahead entering Turn 3 and move in front of Busch. Enfinger’s bold move allowed him to lead through the frontstretch with 18 laps remaining. Busch, however, returned the favor by moving beneath Enfinger and muscling back ahead of him through the first two turns.
Shortly after, Fenhaus launched his challenge on Busch from the inside lane for the lead. With drafting help from Chandler Smith, Fenhaus would muscle his No. 66 Soda Sense Ford F-150 entry ahead through the backstretch with 16 laps remaining. Fenhaus would then move up the track to block Busch and retain the lead over the next two turns to lead with 15 laps remaining. Busch would then mirror his move he made on Enfinger by executing a swift bold-and-overtake on Fenhaus to reassume the lead entering Turn 1 with 14 laps remaining. As Busch kept Fenhaus and a majority of competitors trailing him from the outside lane, Chandler Smith received a draft from Friesen from the inside lane to duel with Busch for the lead through the backstretch with 13 laps remaining.
Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Chandler Smith, who cleared Busch for the lead a lap earlier, was leading as Busch, Friesen, Fenhaus, Hemric, Ruggiero, Ankrum, Enfinger, Rhodes and McDowell followed suit respectively. Busch then rocketed past Smith’s No. 38 Quick Tie Ford F-150 entry through the backstretch as he led the following lap. Over the next three laps, Smith settled behind Busch as Hemric led a charge with drafting help from teammate Ankrum and Currey on the inside lane. Hemric would then muscle his No. 19 NAPA Chevrolet Silverado RST entry ahead of Busch to assume the lead as he led toward the start/finish line with five laps remaining.
Shortly after, however, Hemric would be overtaken by Busch exiting the backstretch and he got loose through Turns 3 and 4. This shoved Hemric out of the draft as the front-runners overtook him. Meanwhile, Ankrum moved into the runner-up spot behind Busch while Currey, Chandler Smith, Friesen and Enfinger followed suit. Over the next two laps, Busch would be placed on defensive mode as he was trying to block both Ankrum and Friesen before Friesen received a strong push from Currey on the inside lane. This moved Friesen’s No. 52 Halmar International Toyota Tundra TRD Pro entry into the lead exiting the backstretch.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Friesen remained in the lead ahead of Busch, Currey and the field stacked amid two lanes. Through the first two turns, Busch wasted no time darting back to the inside lane as he tried to overtake Friesen. Both, however, remained dead even in front of Currey and Ankrum through the backstretch as they then navigated through Turns 3 and 4. With Friesen appearing to muscle ahead from the outside lane entering the frontstretch, Busch would then manage to squeak ahead of Friesen and edge him at the finish line by 0.017 seconds to win.
With the victory, Busch notched his 67th career victory in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series division, his eighth overall at Atlanta and his third driving the No. 7 Chevrolet entry for Spire Motorsports. The victory was also Busch’s fifth with veteran crew chief Brian Pattie.
Overall, the 2025 Truck event at Atlanta marks the second time in four seasons that the event featured a final-lap pass for the victory and since the track had been reconfigured into a superspeedway venue.
“I don’t really remember [my moves],” Busch said on the frontstretch on FS1. “Awesome run for this Spire Chevrolet and everybody at Gainbridge, Brian Pattie, all the guys and girls that do a great job at Spire for building us some really good trucks to come out here with. [I was] Just trying to make sure I stayed as far forward as I possibly could. When those guys would cycle to me and get to the next one in front of me, next one in front of me, next one in front of me, I just kept trying to make sure that I battled back and got back to that front so I could try to control it as best as I could.”
“That inside [lane] was good,” Busch added. “They were rolling forward, so it made for a heck of a race. Proud that we had a heck of a race there to the finish and it wasn’t single file. There was some mixing it up for these fans out here to see a cool show…The overall bang of [today’s race] was just to be able to get some laps and come out here tomorrow [for the Cup Series event] and try and win again.”
Friesen, whose latest victory dates back to May 2022 at Texas Motor Speedway, settled in second place amid the near loss. Amid the disappointment of falling short of a victory, Friesen, who recorded only a single top-five finish throughout the 2024 season and has missed the Playoffs over the previous two seasons, was also left satisfied with his run as he strives to maintain the momentum to return to Playoff contention.
“We had a shot and this is my favorite truck,” Friesen said. “We’ll keep digging with it. I guess, I got too far off my help there coming down the [backstretch] the last lap. I thought I could pack some more air on [Busch] getting into Turn 3. We surged ahead, but [I] just had the surge at the wrong time and it let [Busch] pack me and then, it came back. Just proud of my team. It’s been a grind here the last couple of years and we got stuff going in the right direction. Second to the best guy in the business [Busch] isn’t a bad day, I guess.”
Tyler Ankrum settled in third place ahead of Bayley Currey and Chandler Smith. Kaden Honeycutt, Ben Rhodes, Ty Majeski, Jake Garcia and Grant Enfinger completed the top 10 in the final running order.
Notably, rookie Giovanni Ruggiero settled in 11th while Luke Fenhaus and Daniel Hemric fell back to 14th and 16th, respectively. In addition, the following names that included Layne Riggs, Jack Wood, Matt Crafton and Corey Heim capped off their runs from 20th to 23rd, respectively, while Mosack ended up 25th.
There were 19 lead changes for 11 different leaders. The race featured four cautions for 28 laps. In addition, 19 of 32 starters finished on the lead lap.
Following the second event of the 2025 Craftsman Truck Series season, Grant Enfinger leads the regular-season standings by a single point over Ty Majeski, six over Chandler Smith, 16 over Corey Heim and 19 over Ben Rhodes.
Race Results:
1. Kyle Busch, 80 laps led, Stage 2 winner
2. Stewart Friesen, one lap led
3. Tyler Ankrum
4. Bayley Currey
5. Chandler Smith, two laps led
6. Kaden Honeycutt
7. Ben Rhodes
8. Ty Majeski, one lap led
9. Jake Garcia
10. Grant Enfinger, one lap led
11. Giovanni Ruggiero
12. Michael McDowell
13. Matt Mills
14. Luke Fenhaus, two laps led
15. Tanner Gray
16. Daniel Hemric, one lap led
17. Dawson Sutton
18. Josh Reaume
19. Spencer Boyd
20. Layne Riggs, one lap down
21. Jack Wood, two laps down, four laps led, Stage 1 winner
22. Matt Crafton, two laps down, five laps led
23. Corey Heim, three laps down
24. Toni Breidinger, three laps down
25. Connor Mosack, four laps down, 30 laps led
26. Frankie Muniz – OUT, Accident
27. Andres Perez de Lara – OUT, Suspension
28. Justin Carroll – OUT, Engine
29. Rajah Caruth – OUT, Accident, eight laps led
30. William Sawalich – OUT, Accident
31. Nathan Byrd – OUT, Accident
32. Keith McGee – OUT, Electrical
Next on the 2025 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series schedule is Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the Ecosave 200. The event is scheduled to occur on March 14 and air at 9 p.m. ET on FS1.
