Though Ron Hornaday, the king of restarts nearly spoiled Busch’s parade by taking the lead on a late race restart – Busch attempted to take the lead back but a spinning Brendan Gaughan inside 10 laps remaining brought out the yellow once again setting up for a wild finish.
On the restart, the duo raced hard but Busch overpowered the No. 33 of Hornaday before the field returned to the start finish line. With Busch back in control, Hornaday had to fend off the hungry pack of Nelson Piquet Jr. and Timothy Peters. From there it was clear sailing for Busch who took the checkered flag in a speedy ran event.
Piquet Jr., the former Formula One ace finished a career-best second in the No. 8 Qualcomm / Autotrac Chevrolet Silverado for Kevin Harvick Inc. Timothy Peters out-dueled Ron Hornaday coming to the checkers to claim third in his No. 17 Dixie HomeCrafters, Inc. Toyota Tundra. Just an hour before the start of the event, the Red Horse Racing team announced the associate sponsor for Peters who scored his third consecutive top-five finish effort and best of the season.
Busch, who continues to smash records this year set another new marker as on lap 114, the 2009 NASCAR Nationwide Series champion led his 20,000th career lap in NASCAR competition. The statistic combines all of the laps that Busch has controlled the field in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, NASCAR Nationwide Series and NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. He is only the 10th driver in NASCAR history to pull off such a feat.
It was the Las Vegas, Nevada’s 26th career win in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and second consecutive spring victory at the 1.33-mile speedway. Friday’s performance was nearly a repeat of 2010 when Busch accelerated his Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) team to a victory from the pole.
“I can’t say enough this team, these guys. Happy Easter to everybody out there — it’s a happy Easter weekend. We’re proud to be out here in Nashville racing in Dollar General’s backyard. I can’t tell you enough about these guys on this team — phenomenal job. This Toyota Tundra was awesome thanks to the Triad engine guys who gave us great horsepower. This is a series I love to race in and participate in,” said Busch in his post-race press conference where he was also recognized for collecting his fourth top-five effort of the season in as many contests.
For Piquet Jr., the finish after starting fourth which was also a career best was a welcoming one the Brazilian after finishing 32nd and 30th in the last two events. KHI fielded four trucks in the Bully Hill Vineyards 200 with the rookie leading the way.
Ron Hornaday Jr. in the No. 33 Steak Umm Chevrolet Silverado slid to fourth at the end with James Buescher in the No. 31 Wolfpack Rentals Chevrolet Silverado leading the Turner Motorsports camp in fifth.
Matt Crafton who started 15th rallied to sixth in his No. 88 Menards / Ideal Door Chevrolet Silverado while points leader Johnny Sauter, the Martinsville (Va.) Speedway winner claimed seventh in the No. 13 Safe Auto / Curb Records Chevrolet Silverado.
David Starr claimed his second top-10 finish of the season with a 2011 best of eighth with Craig Goess Jr. in the No. 46 Greenville Toyota of North Carolina Toyota Tundra notching his first top-10 finish of the year in ninth for Eddie Sharp Racing with Parker Kligerman for reining NASCAR Nationwide Series champion Brad Keselowski shoving his No. 29 Penske Rental Dodge Ram to a 10th place finish.
Austin Dillon recovered from a late race spin to take 11th. A three wide battle between Cole Whitt (No. 60 Red Bull / Fuel Doctor Chevrolet Silverado), Ricky Carmichael (No. 4 Monster Energy Drink Chevrolet Silverado) and Jason White (No. 23 GunBroker.com Chevrolet Silverado) saw the trio fight it out down to the start-finish line with Whitt winning that war in 12th. Carmichael was 13th followed by White with his second top-15 finish of the season for Joe Dennette Motorsports.
Justin Johnson, the former NASCAR Whelen-All American Series champion finished 15th after qualifying a stellar third in his No. 51 Vision Airlines / Wounded Warriors Toyota Tundra. Johnson also led his first NCWTS laps of competition under green for two laps.
2010 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion Todd Bodine had one of the trucks to beat Friday night but a miscue entering pit road under green cost the Chemung, New York native dearly as the No. 30 Germain.com Toyota made contact with the rear of the No. 7 of Miguel Paludo. Despite a gallant effort, Bodine’s crew was unable to return his driver to competitive form with Bodine finishing a distant 19th adding frustration to a less-than-stellar season thus far.
Tennessee native Bobby Hamilton Jr. finished 22nd after starting 30th for Rick Ware Racing in the No. 1 Chevrolet Silverado. Hamilton Jr., replaced Jeffrey Earnhardt who is no longer with the RWR organization.
Turn One Racing’s Justin Marks was the final truck on the lead lap in the 25th position in his No. 60 GoPro / South East Color Chevrolet Silverado.
Cale Gale making his first appearance of the year in the NCWTS and returning to KHI finished a disappointing 29th despite being just two laps off the pace.
After a solid start to the year for Ricky Benton Racing’s the 31st place finish for Clay Rogers in the No. 92 BTS Tire & Wheel / fleet HQ Chevrolet Silverado dropped him two positions in the standings from sixth to eighth.
Johanna Long, the only female in the fifth NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event of the season struggled in her No. 20 Panhandle Grading & Paving Toyota Tundra but finished the race and netted a 32nd place finish overall.
Just three trucks failed to finish the 150 lap / 200 mile event with Nick Hoffman (34th; accident), Johnny Chapman (35th) and Mike Garvey (36th). Both Chapman and Garvey were start and parks.
Four drivers failed to make the race earlier in the day including Jennifer Jo Cobb in the No. 10 DriverBoutique.com Ford F-150 who worked with a skeleton crew which consisted of three females and her crew chief. Brian Johnson Jr., Norm Benning and John King were the other three drivers who failed to make the first of two NCWTS events at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway this season.
Sauter maintains a three-point lead over Peters with Crafton just one point behind Peters and four behind Sauter. Piquet was the biggest mover in the championship standings picking up eight positions from 25th to 17th.
Round six for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series takes the teams to another concrete oval at Dover (Del.) International Speedway for the running of the Lucas Oil 200 on Friday, May 13th. The race will be tape-delayed live on SPEED at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.
