Toyota Driver Passes James Buescher On
Penultimate Lap To Score Fifth Truck Series Win of 2010
Date: Sept. 18, 2010
Kyle Busch salutes the fans with donuts and a wave over the granite strip start/finish line after Busch claimed his 21st career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series win on Saturday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H. - Photo Credit: Getty Images for NASCAR
Event: Theracedayraffleseries.com 175 (Round 19 of 25)
Series: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
Location: New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon (1.058-mile oval)
Start/Finish: 1st/1st (Running, completed 175 of 175 laps)
Winner: Kyle Busch of Kyle Busch Motorsports (Toyota)
The statistics will show that Kyle Busch dominated Theracedayraffleseries.com 175 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon. But the driver-owner of the No. 18 Toyota Tundra for Kyle Busch Motorsports had it anything but easy Saturday afternoon en route to his fifth Truck Series win of 2010.
Busch led eight times for a race-high 156 laps, but battled with Kevin Harvick throughout much of the 175-lap event. The duo ran 1-2 for nearly the entire race, often side-by-side, with Busch able to stay ahead most of the time.
On a lap-164 restart, Harvick went below Busch in turn one and slid up the racetrack, making slight contact with Busch’s Toyota Tundra. With the two of them slipping up the racetrack, James Buescher went to the very bottom of the track and passed both drivers to take the lead for the first time in his 42-race Camping World Truck Series career.
With Busch and Harvick battling behind him, it appeared Buescher might be on his way to his first career Truck Series win, but a caution on lap 170 for an accident in turn four involving Ron Hornaday Jr., and Timothy Peters gave Busch one last chance.
On the lap-174 restart, Busch went below Buescher in turns one and two and, after making slight contact with Buescher’s truck exiting the corner, was able to retake the lead down the backstretch. Busch was able to hold off Buescher and took the checkered flag by just .280 of a second.
“It was a close race,” said Busch, who now has 80 victories in NASCAR’s top three divisions (Sprint Cup – 19, Nationwide – 40, Camping World Truck 21). “Myself and Harvick just battled it out all day long. I can’t thank these guys and this team enough. All they want to do is come out and win races and that’s what we’re doing. I’m so proud to have guys like Eric Phillips (crew chief) and Rick Ren (KBM director of competition and general manager) and all the guys who work so hard on this team. They do such a great job and they gave me a good piece today.
“I tried messing it up. I couldn’t go for the first 20 laps or so. And then, after that, we could run away. It took that long just to get going. I knew if we were going to have a race with late cautions, it was going to be a pain in the butt. I can’t thank Toyota enough, and Traxxas, Flexco, NOS Energy Drink, Marquis Jets, Electric Sunglasses, Gillette – I have a lot of people who have been on this thing all year long and it’s worth it for them. Hopefully, we can get somebody to come on for next year, even if we have to piece it together. It would be nice to come back and return and have someone drive this piece again and be able to race it with me. Thanks to Camping World, and also the fans. It was cool today.”
The win was Busch’s second consecutive Truck Series win at New Hampshire as he also took the checkered flag last year.
“On that last restart, I knew I needed to have a good run through (turns) one and two. If I didn’t clear him (Buescher) off of (turn) two, he was going to run all the way down the back straightaway and side-draft me and get back alongside of me and get me loose in (turn) three. I knew I had to clear him regardless of what was going to happen, I had to clear him. I tried rubbing off on him and he was still there a little bit and it turned me into the wall. It was a hard hit. It knocked my helmet crooked. I wasn’t sure what I had getting down into turn three, but those guys got to racing back there and the truck felt fine through three and four. I was surprised, really, that it felt the way it did and we were just able to mosey around for the next couple of laps and bring it home. I was glad that it was okay enough to drive. I’m sure after 30 laps or so it would get tight because it knocked the fender in pretty bad. Overall, it wasn’t that bad, but you have to do what you have to do in order to win the races coming down toward the end and, the last restart on a green-white-checker, you’ve got to go.”
Following Busch and Buescher, Harvick, Matt Crafton and rookie Austin Dillon rounded out the top-five. Timothy Peters, Johnny Sauter, Aric Almirola, Todd Bodine and Bobby Hamilton Jr., comprised the remainder of the top-10.
The race featured eight caution periods for 32 laps, with eight drivers failing to finish the 185.15-mile event.
While Busch is not running the full Camping World Truck Series schedule, the No. 18 Toyota is competing for the owner’s title and maintained the second position in the standings, but closed the gap to just 25 points behind the first-place No. 30 truck of Germain Racing.
The next event on the Camping World Truck Series schedule is the Sept. 25 Smith’s Food & Drug Stores 350 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The race starts at 9 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by SPEED beginning with its pre-race show at 8:30 p.m.
- True Speed Communication for Kyle Busch Motorsports, Press Release
