Kyle Busch held off a hard-charging Corey Heim following a late-race restart to win Friday night’s SpeedyCash.com 250 and earn a share of the Texas Motor Speedway record for NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series career victories.
Busch, driving in his fourth NCTS race of the season for Spire Motorsports, led 112 of the 167 laps to earn his sixth career victory at TMS and tie the record held by Todd Bodine. The feat is even more impressive given the fact that Busch was making just his fourth start at TMS in the past decade – all of which resulted in victories (2014, ’19 and ’20).
“I just got lucky the schedule changed,” said Busch regarding his limited opportunities to compete at Texas in recent years. “It was at the time of the year when Cup wasn’t here or it was in the Playoffs and I wasn’t able to do it. Fortunate to have Texas come on the schedule when I could run it. … Real cool to do that and thankful for the opportunity with Spire and everybody at Team Chevy and thanks to (car sponsor) Realtree as well for the support they give us.”
The victory in the No. 7 Chevrolet Silverado was Busch’s second of the season and 66th of his career in the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. Heim of TRICON Garage finished second, .112 of a second behind Busch, and pole sitter Nick Sanchez of Rev Racing finished third.
It appeared that Busch was going to coast to victory, but his pursuers had other ideas as two restarts in the final 17 laps opened the door. He owned the lead on Lap 149 of 167 before a three-truck accident in Turn 2 brought out the caution and Busch relinquished the lead to Eckes.
The seventh and final caution came out two laps later for a four-truck incident in Turn 3 with Eckes maintaining the lead with 10 to go. Eckes held off Busch on the restart before a side-by-side battle ensued and the two-time Cup Series champion regained the lead a lap later.
Then it was Heim’s time to take a shot at Busch and the win. Heim closed to Busch’s rear bumper with four to go and made a last-gasp run on the final lap as he closed to .13 of a second. Busch, however, was able to thwart the challenge and hang on for the win.
Prior to the late-race drama, the only time Busch wasn’t the most dominant truck was in the opening 40-lap stage where Sanchez and Eckes battled for the lead. Eckes led 21 laps and Sanchez 16 before Busch stepped in to lead the final three and win the stage.
Busch never relinquished the lead in Stage 2, winning the segment in dominant fashion by leading all 40 laps. Sanchez was second while Eckes took third. Heim and Taylor Gray got in the mix, taking the fourth and fifth stage positions, respectively.
Busch would go on to lead 112 of the final 130 laps.
In NASCAR Xfinity Series action, Jesse Love of Richard Childress Racing
won the pole position for Saturday’s Andy’s Frozen Custard 300 (12:30 p.m., TV: FS1, Radio: PRN, SiriusXM Radio).
The Xfinity Series rookie continued to impress in qualifying as the 19-year-old Californian collected his third pole in just eight career races. The others came at the first two of the season, with Love winning the pole at Daytona and then Atlanta.
Love posted a lap of 29.093 (185.612 mph) on the 1.5-mile oval to edge defending Xfinity Series champion Cole Custer of Stewart-Haas Racing by .022 of a second. It will be the third consecutive top-five start at Texas Motor Speedway for Custer, who has never qualified outside the top 10 in eight career starts.
Qualifying was tight among the top six as the group was separated by just .061 of a second. Tanner Gray of Joe Gibbs Racing, in his third Xfinity Series race, recorded a season-best qualifying effort of third. JGR driver Chandler Smith, first in the series standings along with two wins, qualified fourth and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Riley Herbst rounded out the top five.
In addition to the Andy’s Frozen Custard 300, Saturday’s on-track activities will include the opening practice session and qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Series. Practice begins at 9:30 a.m. and will be immediately followed by pole qualifying for the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at 10:15 a.m.
Tickets are still available for the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at four price points, beginning at $115. For those looking for a more premium experience, limited tickets remain for the Turn 1 Terrace ($160). For those unable to attend Sunday’s marquee event, tickets including for the Restart Bar, also are available for Friday night’s SpeedyCash.com 250 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race (7:30 p.m.) and Saturday’s Andy’s Frozen Custard 300 Xfinity Series race (12:30 p.m.). Weekend camping spots are still available as well.
Click here for the full weekend schedule.
Tickets are on sale now for the 2024 Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400 NASCAR tripleheader weekend April 12-14. The race weekend begins April 12 with the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series SpeedyCash.com 250 (7:30 p.m. CT on FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Channel 90), continues with the April 13 NASCAR Xfinity Series Andy’s Frozen Custard 300 (12:30 p.m. CT on FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Channel 90) and concludes with the April 14 NASCAR Cup Series Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400 (2:30 p.m. CT on FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Channel 90 and Lone Star 92.5 – local).
Tickets are on sale now at www.texasmotorspeedway.com.
Texas Motor Speedway PR
