Aric Almirola passed Todd Bodine and Kyle Busch three-wide through the middle with seven laps left in Saturday’s VFW 200 and held on to win the Camping World Truck Series race at Michigan International Speedway.
Bodine finished second and retained his series lead by 55 points over Almirola, who won for the second time this season in Billy Ballew’s No. 51 Toyota. Busch ran third, followed by Ron Hornaday and pole-sitter Austin Dillon, who overcame a late pit-road penalty to post his second consecutive top-five. NASCAR.com
Bodine, Almirola, Timothy Peters and Busch took the final green flag of the race in the first four positions with eight laps to go. Busch shot to the inside and created three-wide racing with Bodine and Almirola early in the first lap of green, and the leaders raced in that tight line for a lap.
Almirola, who won earlier in the year at Dover, finally surged through the middle to take the lead with seven laps to go and stayed there the rest of the way despite pressure from Bodine and Busch. Those were the only laps he led all day.
Almirola, who was picked to stand by as a possible substitute driver in Sprint Cup for Jimmie Johnson in the next few weeks as Johnson awaits the birth of his first child, said he knew he had to challenge Bodine at the restart to have a shot at winning. That created the dangerous three-wide racing. FOXNews
“This weekend we did it fair and square,” Almirola said. “I raced my butt off with those guys.”
“He just suckered me,” Busch said of Bodine.
“It was a good day,” Bodine said. “Nobody likes to lose. I’m not a sore loser.”
Almirola wasn’t the only person on his team with something to prove. Busch won 10 times in 2008 and 2009 while driving for truck owner Billy Ballew and crew chief Richie Wauters. Busch did it so easily there was some discussion that the team’s performance was based solely on his considerable skill.
“We knew we needed to win races to show that our equipment is good and our team is good and not just Kyle carrying us,” Wauters said.
Almirola’s performance erased any lingering doubts.
Pole-sitter Austin Dillon, grandson of longtime NASCAR owner Richard Childress, led 18 laps but had his hopes for winning dashed due to a pit box violation. Dillon was attempting to exit the pits when the gas can got stuck. It fell off as he was pulling out and rolled over the yellow pit box line.
“It was just a mistake on us,” Dillon said. The Associated Press
Click Here to Read More:
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series: VFW 200 at Michigan - Race-Results
| 
|