Kyle Busch executed a masterclass performance by notching a dominant NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory in the ECOSAVE 200 at Dover Motor Speedway on Friday, May 15.
The two-time Cup Series champion from Las Vegas, Nevada, led three times for a race-high 147 of 200 scheduled laps in the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet. Busch was also the fastest in practice, qualified on the pole position and captured the event’s first two stage periods. After restarting in third place to commence the third and final stage period, Busch spent the following two restarts dueling with Ross Chastain for the lead.
Despite being outdueled by Chastain twice through a pair of restarts amid Chastain’s late tire gamble for track position, Busch used fresher tires by pitting his Spire entry before the final stage with the field to overtake Chastain for a final time with 58 laps remaining. From there, Busch managed through his fuel tank, tires and fended off Ty Majeski for the event’s remainder to add another Truck victory at Dover to his accomplished racing resume.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, Kyle Busch secured his first Truck pole position of the 2026 season with a pole-winning lap at 161.740 mph in 22.258 seconds. Busch shared the front row with Ty Majeski as the latter clocked in the second-fastest lap at 161.544 mph in 22.285 seconds. Before the event, Stewart Friesen dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments that were made to his No. 52 Halmar Friesen Racing Toyota Tundra TRD Pro entry.
When the green flag waved and the event commenced, Kyle Busch and Ty Majeski dueled for the lead for half a lap until Busch motored his No. 7 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Silverado RST entry ahead from the outside lane entering Turns 3 and 4. As Busch led the first lap, Majeski retained second place ahead of Kaden Honeycutt. Brandon Jones, Giovanni Ruggiero, Christopher Bell, Ross Chastain and the field pursued amid close-quarters racing.
Over the next four laps, Busch extended his early advantage to six-tenths of a second over Majeski while Honeycutt, Ruggiero and Jones occupied the remaining top-five spots ahead of Bell, Chastain, Jake Garcia, Ben Rhodes and Daniel Hemric. Amid a series of early on-track battles around Dover, Busch proceeded to lead by a second at the Lap 10 mark while Honeycutt started to reel in Majeski for the runner-up spot.
Through the first 20 scheduled laps, Busch was leading by more than a second over Honeycutt, who assumed the runner-up spot from Majeski on Lap 11. Behind, Ruggiero and Bell occupied the remaining top-five spots over Jones. Chastain, Rhodes, Garcia, Hemric, while Layne Riggs, Andres Perez De Lara, Carson Hocevar, Cole Butcher and Chandler Smith trailed in the top 15 ahead of Mini Tyrrell, Grant Enfinger, Parker Eatmon, William Sawalich and Brenden Queen, respectively. Meanwhile, Tanner Gray, Justin Haley, Clint Bowyer, Christian Eckes, Luke Baldwin, Dawson Sutton, Tyler Ankrum, Stewart Friesen, Corey LaJoie and Kris Wright were mired in the top 30, respectively, while Natalie Decker, Dystany Spurlock, Toni Breidinger, Spencer Boyd and Frankie Muniz were all lapped by Busch.
Ten laps later, Kyle Busch added another second to his advantage as he led by more than two seconds over Honeycutt and Majeski while Bell and Ruggiero were racing in the top five ahead of Jones, Chastain, Rhodes, Riggs and Garcia. Meanwhile, Hemric plummeted to the bottom of the leaderboard as he fell off the pace due to a low fuel pressure and coasted his No. 19 CRC Brakleen Chevrolet Silverado RST entry to pit road. Amid Hemric’s issues, Busch retained the lead by more than two seconds over Honeycutt by Lap 35.
On Lap 39, the event’s first caution flew when Dystany Spurlock, who made history in being the first African American female competitor to compete across NASCAR’s top three national touring series at the event’s start at Dover, got loose entering the backstretch as she was racing in front of Andres Perez De Lara. After trying to gain control of her No. 69 Foxxtecca Ford F-150 entry through the backstretch, she then snapped to the right and hit the outside wall head-on, which concluded her debut with a wrecked entry.
During the event’s first caution, select names led by Cole Butcher, Brenden Queen, Dawson Sutton, Stewart Friesen and Corey LaJoie remained on the track while the rest led by Busch pitted. Following the pit stops, Honeycutt exited pit road first over Busch while Majeski, Ruggiero and Chastain followed suit. Amid the pit stops, Honeycutt and Rhodes were sent to the tail end of the field due to speeding on pit road.
When the event restarted for a one-lap dash to cap off the first stage period, Butcher was pushed by Busch ahead of Queen from the outside lane through the frontstretch before Busch used the outside lane to overtake Butcher for the lead through the first two turns. As Busch used his fresh tires to motor away from the field, the field fanned out and jostled through the backstretch before they navigated through Turns 3 and 4. At the front, Busch stormed to the first stage victory over Majeski, Butcher, Chastain, Hocevar, Ruggiero, Garcia, Bell, Enfinger and Riggs, respectively.
Under the event’s first stage break period, the following names that included Butcher, Queen, Sutton, Friesen and LaJoie pitted while the rest, led by Busch, remained on the track.
The second stage period started on Lap 53 as Busch and Majeski occupied the front row. At the start, Busch motored ahead of Majeski from the outside lane through the frontstretch. He then transitioned to the inside lane and retained the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch while the rest of the field trailed and jostled for spots. Busch led the next lap over Chastain while Majeski dropped to third in front of a side-by-side battle with Ruggiero and Hocevar. As Bell navigated his way past Hocevar for fifth place while trailing Ruggiero, Busch continued to lead by eight-tenths of a second on Lap 60.
At the Lap 70 mark, Busch maintained an advantage of a second over Chastain while third-place Majeski trailed by more than a second ahead of Ruggiero and Bell. While Hocevar, Garcia, Riggs, Jones and Enfinger occupied the remaining top-10 spots ahead of Honeycutt, Chandler Smith, Eckes, Tyrrell and Rhodes, Busch maintained his lead by seven-tenths of a second over Chastain by Lap 80.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 90, Kyle Busch, who was mired in lapped traffic, fended off Chastain by 0.088 seconds to claim his second consecutive Truck stage victory of the event. Majeski, Ruggiero, Bell, Hocevar, Riggs, Jones, Honeycutt and Enfinger settled in the top 10, respectively, while 24 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap.
During the event’s second stage break period, the lead lap field led by Busch pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Chastain exited pit road first ahead of Majeski, Busch, Ruggiero, Riggs, Bell, Honeycutt, Enfinger, Garcia and Jones, respectively.
With 102 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Chastain and Majeski occupied the front row. At the start, Chastain motored ahead of Majeski and Busch through the frontstretch, the first two turns and the backstretch while Busch and Majeski battled for second place. As the field behind jostled for late spots, Chastain led the next lap over Busch, Riggs, Majeski and Ruggiero while Bell fended off Honeycutt for sixth place. In addition, Bowyer, who made contact with Hocevar entering the first turn at the third stage’s start, was mired in 19th place ahead of teammate Mini Tyrrell while Chastain retained the lead by four-tenths of a second over Busch with 99 laps remaining.
With 83 laps remaining, the caution flew when Luke Baldwin, who had a handful of on-track run-ins with Bowyer, got loose entering Turn 3 and made slight contact with Brenden Queen before he slid up the track, hit the outside wall, slid down the Turn 4 track and hit the inside wall. Prior to Baldwin’s wreck, Hocevar made an unscheduled pit stop under green to have a flat right-front tire addressed. During this caution period, the leader Chastain remained on the track while the rest of the field, led by Busch, pitted for service.
The next restart, with 76 laps remaining, featured Busch and Chastain dueling for the lead for nearly a full lap as Chastain managed to fend off Busch from the outside lane despite being on a tire advantage. Amid a series of on-track battles, contact and jostles within the field, Chastain led the next lap and he managed to motor ahead and maintain a steady lead over Busch over the following three laps.
The caution then returned with 72 laps remaining due to Tyrrell spinning his No. 14 Kaulig Racing RAM 1500 entry through the frontstretch and making contact with the inside wall. Tyrrell’s incident was due to the driver getting loose entering the frontstretch while dueling with teammate Bowyer as Bowyer was bolting past Parker Eatmon, as Eatmon remained on the track with worn tires.
As the event restarted under green with 67 laps remaining, Chastain and Busch battled dead even, starting from the frontstretch through the backstretch, before the former prevailed for a second time from the outside lane and with older tires than Busch entering Turns 3 and 4. As Chastain led the next lap over Busch, a series of on-track battles ensued while Majeksi, Riggs and Bell were racing in the top five ahead of Honeycutt. Meanwhile, Bowyer was racing with a left-front tire rub that was generating smoke through the turns. This was due to Chandler Smith getting loose and hitting Bowyer’s left side amid the latest restart, though Bowyer continued to race towards the top-20 mark. Meanwhile, Chastain maintained a steady lead over both Busch and Majeski with 60 laps remaining.
Then, with 58 laps remaining, Busch overtook Chastain and returned atop the leaderboard. Busch proceeded to lead by nearly half a second over Majeski with 50 laps remaining while Riggs, Bell and Honeycutt trailed in the top five, respectively. Meanwhile, Chastain dropped to sixth place as Busch retained the lead by half a second over Majeski with 40 laps remaining.
Down to the final 30 laps of the event, Busch slightly increased his lead to eight-tenths of a second over Majeski while Riggs, Bell and Honeycutt trailed in the top five ahead of Rhodes, Jones, Chastain, Sawalich and Garcia, respectively. Busch grew his lead to a second with 25 laps remaining and to one-and-a-half seconds with 20 laps remaining while Majeski retained the runner-up spot. Meanwhile, Chastain, who pitted his No. 45 Delaware Office of Highway Safety Chevrolet Silverado RST entry for fresh tires under green with 22 laps remaining, dropped to 22nd place and out of the lead lap category.
With 15 laps remaining, Busch grew his lead to more than two seconds over Majeski while Bowyer pitted and spent multiple laps in his pit stall due to a broken wheel on the No. 25 Kaulig Racing RAM 1500 entry. As Busch was told to preserve his fuel tank to the scheduled distance, he had his lead shrink to nearly one-and-a-half seconds with five laps remaining as Majeski tried to reel in Busch. Nevertheless, Busch maintained a steady lead through each turn and straightaway as the laps dwindled.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Busch remained in the lead by two-and-a-half seconds over Majeski. With Busch showing no signs of having any fuel issues or stumbling for a final time, he cycled back to the frontstretch to claim the checkered flag by three seconds over Majeski.
With the victory, Busch, who won in his fourth of eight Truck starts this season with Spire Motorsports, notched his 69th career win in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series division, which extends his all-time record of having the most victories in the series. He also notched his second victory of the 2026 season and his all-time leading fifth victory at Dover, with the Truck division returning to race at Dover for the first time since August 2020.
The 2026 season marks Busch’s 18th season of winning multiple Truck events, as he won earlier in mid-February at EchoPark Speedway. Busch’s next two Truck events are over the next two Fridays. The first will be at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina (May 22) and the second at Nashville Superspeedway in Lebanon, Tennessee (May 29).
“You never know when the last [win] is,” Busch said on the frontstretch on FS1. “I know all too well, unfortunately, with the Cup stuff, but here with the Truck stuff right now, it’s awesome just to be a part of Spire Motorsports. It feels good to have another Kyle being able to [win] and putting ourselves in Victory Lane. [I] Love coming to Dover. Always one of my favorite places to race and definitely some managing of the fuel there, managing of the tires there. It was an interesting strategic battle from the driver’s seat…It’s nice to be able to come back over here [in the Truck Series] and win some more races again with that [No. 7 Spire Motorsports] group. It’s fun and you want to keep doing it.”
Ty Majeski settled in the runner-up spot for a second time in the 2026 season and for his fifth top-10 result through nine Truck events this season. With the result, Majeski picked up two spots in the points standings and is ranked in fifth place as he continues his season-long pursuit of a first victory in the No. 88 ThorSport Racing Ford F-150 entry.
“[We’re] Trending up,” Majeski said. “We just got to keep it flat right here. What a great recovery from the last couple weeks. [I] Had fast trucks all year. Just circumstances have prevented us from getting some finishes that we’ve deserved. Everybody at ThorSport’s [Racing] been working their guys out during this six-week stretch to keep our trucks competitive. We were in the game today…Sold effort. Can’t wait for Charlotte next week.”
Layne Riggs finished in third place while Kaden Honeycutt and Christopher Bell finished in the top five. Brandon Jones, Christian Eckes, Corey LaJoie, Jake Garcia and Justin Haley completed the top 10, respectively, in the final running order. Notably, Ross Chastain, who led 49 laps, settled in 18th place while Clint Bowyer, who was unable to finish due to his late tire hub issue, settled in 29th place.
There were five lead changes for four different leaders. The event featured five cautions for 28 laps. In addition, 13 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.
Following the ninth event of the 2026 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season, Kaden Honeycutt leads the standings by 38 points over Layne Riggs, 39 over Chandler Smith, 61 over Giovanni Ruggiero and 70 over Ty Majeski.
Results:
- Kyle Busch, 147 laps led, Stages 1 & 2 winner
- Ty Majeski
- Layne Riggs
- Kaden Honeycutt, one lap led
- Christopher Bell
- Brandon Jones
- Christian Eckes
- Corey LaJoie
- Jake Garcia
- Justin Haley
- Stewart Friesen
- Chandler Smith
- Brenden Queen
- William Sawalich, one lap down
- Grant Enfinger, one lap down
- Tanner Gray, one lap down
- Kris Wright, one lap down
- Ross Chastain, one lap down, 49 laps led
- Ben Rhodes, two laps down
- Giovanni Ruggiero, three laps down
- Parker Eatmon, three laps down
- Spencer Boyd, four laps down
- Dawson Sutton, four laps down
- Frankie Muniz, four laps down
- Tyler Ankrum, five laps down
- Toni Breidinger, six laps down
- Mini Tyrrell, six laps down
- Andres Perez De Lara, 11 laps down
- Clint Bowyer – OUT, Hub
- Daniel Hemric, 23 laps down
- Carson Hocevar – OUT, Suspension
- Luke Baldwin – OUT, Accident, Accident
- Cole Butcher – OUT, Accident, three laps led
- Natalie Decker – OUT, Too Slow
- Caleb Costner – OUT, Vibration
- Dystany Spurlock – OUT, Accident
Next on the 2026 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series schedule is the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. The event is scheduled to occur next Friday, May 22, and air at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1, NASCAR Racing Network and SiriusXM.
