Ty Dillon passes Kyle Busch late to win UNOH 225 at Kentucky Speedway
“This could be the start of something good…” Ty Dillon said on the radio as he crossed the finish line.
With 26 laps to go, Ty Dillon would pass Kyle Busch to take the lead and never looked back, taking the victory in the UNOH 225 at Kentucky Speedway.
“First things first, I got to thank the Lord,” the driver of the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet said in victory lane. “I was praying on the last restart. Got to thank him first. This couldn’t be a better day. So proud of Marcus Richmond and all of these guys.”
It marks second victory of Dillon’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career, the first of this season.
“We got a strong team,” the 21-year-old added. “We won’t give up. We’re going to put our superman cape from here on out.”
After battling hard with a really loose truck mid-race, Brad Keselowski would come back to finish second.
Busch would finish third after struggling with a loose truck late in the race.
“I was loose before the stop,” he commented. “We tried to tighten it up but it was loose. It seemed like clock work in the test – 9 o’ clock comes and it gets loose. Can’t believe we messed it up that bad.”
James Buescher would finish fourth while Ryan Blaney had to settle for fifth.
With 32 laps to go, Blaney was side-by-side with Busch for the lead, though would make contact with the outside wall.
“I was really excited about the run we were having – everybody did a good job at getting this truck better as the race went on,” he said. “I was running the bottom really good and I knew it was only a matter of time before I caught Busch. I went to the outside, he got loose, got up into me and put me in the wall. It just damaged the outside of the truck too much.”
“I got out of the throttle, turned it all the way to the left, but it kept taking the air off my spoiler and sliding up,” Busch commented on the contact.
Timothy Peters would finish sixth, followed by Miguel Paludo, German Quiroga, Jeb Burton and Matt Crafton. Crafton leads the points, still, 22 points ahead of Burton.
Joey Coulter was battling for eighth on the last lap when his truck got loose, causing him to make contact with the outside wall. As a result, Coulter finished 16th.
Darrell Wallace Jr. dominated the first half of the race, though would get loose on lap 86 while underneath Blaney and spin around, making contact with the outside wall.
“Just came around,” he said. “Just barely had room there. I mean, I’m not pissed off of Ryan. We’re good friends. Just frustrated. Haven’t been able to figure out these trucks yet. It seems everytime I get behind someone, I get really loose.”
Lap by Lap: UNOH 225 won by Ty Dillon
Ty Dillon would pass Kyle Busch late in the race to pick up his first victory of the season at Kentucky Speedway.
Lap 1 Blaney and Wallace are side-by-side in turns one and two, Blaney takes the lead into turn three
Lap 3 Blaney leads Wallace Townley KyBusch Gaughan Crafton Coulter Peters Quiroga Paludo…..Townley passes Wallace off of turn four
Lap 4 Busch passes Wallace for third off of turn two
Lap 6 Peters by Coulter for seventh
Lap 16 Blaney leads Townley Busch Wallace Peters Gaughan Crafton Keselowski Quiroga Coulter
Lap 25 Busch passes Townley for second
Caution lap 26 Brendan Gaughan with smoke pouring out the back. Leaders head down pit road for tires and fuel. Wallace leads Keselowski Crafton Blaney Busch off pit road
Restart lap 31 three-wide between Wallace, Keselowski and Crafton for the lead. Crafton takes the lead off of turn two. Brennan Newberry has a breakage on the restart to bring the caution back out.
Restart lap 36 Wallace grabs the lead as Blaney uses a three-wide move to move up to second
Lap 39 Wallace leads Blaney Busch Keselowski Dillon Crafton Buescher Peters Townley Paludo…..Dllion passes Keselowski for fourth
Lap 40 Crafton and Buescher pass Keselowski…….Peters and Townley also pass Keselowski
Caution lap 41 Max Gresham goes around and hits the outside turn two wall.
Restart lap 46 Wallace grabs the lead as Blaney gets sideways, drops back some spots but saves it
Lap 55 Wallace leads Busch Dillon Buescher Crafton Blaney Peters Townley Burton Coulter
Lap 67 Wallace leads Busch Dillon Buescher Crafton Blaney Peters Townley Burton Coulter
Lap 69 Keselowski passes Coulter for 10th
Lap 70 Wallace and Busch battle side-by-side through lap traffic
Lap 71 Keselowski passes Burton for ninth
Caution Lap 80 Townley gets sideways, makes a great save – but still there was a caution. Leaders head down pit road. Busch leads Keselowski
Restart lap 85 as Busch grabs the lead
Caution lap 86 Darrell Wallace Jr. gets loose well underneath Blaney and goes around and backs into the wall
Restart lap 90 Busch pulls ahead of the field once again
43 to go Busch leads Blaney Peters Buescher Dillon Crafton Paludo Buton Gale Townley……caution as Bryan Silas spins. Busch leads the race off of pit road.
Restart 38 to go Busch and Blaney side-by-side into turn one. Busch grabs the lead off of turn four
37 to go Busch leads Blaney Dillon Keselowski…….Keselowski slid up as Dillon tried to take a little extra room
35 to go Busch leads Blaney Dillon Keselowski Buescher Peters Paludo Quiroga Burton Coulter
32 to go Blaney gets into the outside wall as Busch slides up, defending the lead. Dillon moves into second behind Busch
29 to go Busch leads Dillon Keselowski Buescher Blaney Peters Paludo Quiroga Burton Coulter
26 to go Dillon passes Busch for the lead off of turn four
18 to go Dillon leads Busch Keselowski Buescher Blaney
17 to go Keselowski drives in the corner hard, gets loose, saves it and keeps it out of the wall. Dillon leads Busch and Keselowski
13 to go Keselowski passes Busch for second
12 to go Dillon leads Keselowski Busch Buescher Blaney Peters Paludo Quiroga Coulter Burton
Final lap. Joey Coulter spins and hits the outside turn four wall, no caution. Coulter was inside of Quiroga, got loose and up into the wall. Dillon wins ahead of Keselowski, Ky Busch, Buescher, Blaney, Peters, Paludo, Quiroga
Hot 20 over the past 10 – Not even Kurt Busch could solve the problems at JTG-Daugherty from the driver’s seat
It has been since forever since Bobby Labonte had made this list. In fact, to include him, we would have to talk about the Hot 30, which would truly be a misnomer if I ever heard one. After blowing up on the opening lap at Sonoma, he even slipped a spot to sit one position and 21 points behind Danica Patrick over the past ten events. Labonte has been able to pick up just 15.2 points per race over the term. In short, his season sucks.
So, why am I a tad upset the 2000 champion gets parked this Saturday night? I mean, Bobby has not even finished ranked in the top ten since 2006. Since the 1996 Daytona 500 Labonte has answered the call, 704 consecutive races. That is just one short of Jeff Gordon, and third best all-time behind Ricky Rudd’s 788 consecutive string. That ends Saturday, and even that is not the reason I am upset.
The 49 year old, who won his 21st and final race back in 2003, he is being removed from the car in favor of A.J. Allmendinger. They want Allmendinger’s feedback on what they might be missing, how they might become more competitive. The winner of exactly zero Cup races is going to come up with a solution? A car that can not complete a single lap due to a blown engine needs another driver’s perspective on what the problems might be? Bobby Labonte has driven substandard cars since he left Joe Gibbs Racing in 2005, cars that seem to have gotten worse over time.
I strongly suspect the problems with the cars put forth by JTG-Daugherty Racing are the same experienced by James Finch, Mark Smith, Bob Keselowski, Joe Nemechek, Brandon Davis, Bob Jenkins, and Tommy Baldwin. They can not compete because, at present, they do not have the funding to do so. Labonte, Allmendinger, Kurt Busch, or the good Lord himself could not change that from the driver’s seat. Labonte’s streak comes to an end, and maybe mercifully so, because an owner can not accept where the problems truly reside. That is just this one man’s opinion.
The official standings show Dale Earnhardt Jr, Kyle Busch, and Brad Keselowski sitting in a Chase place, but that has nothing to do with how they have done lately. Junior remains 34 points to the good, while Kyle has a couple wins as a cushion, but neither are even warm right now. The defending champ is another story. He is ice cold at present, averaging less than 23 points per race over the past ten, is winless, and just nine points out of 11th.
Kurt Busch still sits 28 points out of the Chase, but after clawing back to finish fourth on Sunday he has climbed from 21st to 9th among our hot hands. He is gaining about five points per race on Keselowski, and with ten to go you never know.
| Name | Points | POS. | LW | Rank | W | T5 | T10 |
| Carl Edwards | 355 | 1 | 4 | (2) | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Kevin Harvick | 349 | 2 | 3 | (4) | 2 | 4 | 7 |
| Clint Bowyer | 349 | 3 | 2 | (3) | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Jimmie Johnson | 342 | 4 | 1 | (1) | 1 | 4 | 6 |
| Martin Truex, Jr. | 327 | 5 | 9 | (10) | 1 | 4 | 6 |
| Matt Kenseth | 309 | 6 | 5 | (5) | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| Tony Stewart | 298 | 7 | 6 | (15) | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Ryan Newman | 284 | 8 | 14 | (18) | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Kurt Busch | 281 | 9 | 21 | (17) | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Greg Biffle | 280 | 10 | 10 | (7) | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Aric Almirola | 279 | 11 | 11 | (16) | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Jeff Gordon | 277 | 12 | 13 | (13) | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Joey Logano | 272 | 13 | 16 | (14) | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Jeff Burton | 272 | 14 | 8 | (20) | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Juan Pablo Montoya | 270 | 15 | 12 | (23) | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| Paul Menard | 266 | 16 | 15 | (11) | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Dale Earnhardt, Jr. | 260 | 17 | 20 | (6) | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Kyle Busch | 258 | 18 | 7 | (8) | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. | 248 | 19 | 18 | (19) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kasey Kahne | 246 | 20 | 19 | (12) | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Brad Keselowski | 229 | 23 | 22 | (9) | 0 | 1 | 3 |
