In 298 previous starts in the Truck Series, owner Billy Ballew never had gotten a 1-2 finish from his teams.
With a push from teammate Aric Almirola, Kyle Busch surged past Todd Bodine in the final quarter-mile of Saturday’s Mountain Dew 250 at Talladega Superspeedway to win his sixth race of the season and the 15th of his career. Almirola ran second, and Ballew had his first 1-2 after 300 combined starts. NASCAR
The win was Busch’s sixth in the Trucks series this season and his fourth in his last four starts.
Bodine, looking for his fifth consecutive win in a restrictor-plate race, was third. Terry Cook was fourth, followed by David Starr.
Busch had endured some tough luck in the last few restrictor-plate stops, including a third-place finish at Talladega last year when Bodine bumped him out of the way on the final lap.
The NASCAR star didn’t waste an opportunity to return the favor. The Associated Press
“That just happened - unbelievable. I owe everything to Aric Almirola today. Sticking with me from that last pit stop to the end, I told him if he just stayed with me they wouldn’t be able to beat the 15 (Almirola) and 51 (Busch). Awesome job to Aric (Almirola), he can take my half of the pay after today. I don’t get paid anything. I don’t know what Billy Ballew will work out with him,’’ said Busch.
NASCAR Truck Series: Mountain Dew 250 at Talladega - Race Results
The race saw a green-white-checkered finish after a 11-truck melee was triggered by Bodine, Mike Skinner and Johnny Sauter on Lap 91. Caught up in the melee was points leader Ron Hornaday Jr., who finished 17th. Matt Crafton, who finished trimmed and sits second in the points, trimmed Hornaday’s points lead to 202.
“That sucked really. The No. 30 cost us both the race. That is all there was too it, just chasing me up the race track and trying to stall me. He stalled me and him and gave the race to the No. 51,’’ said Crafton of Bodine. “If he would have just raced and let us both go the start/finish line nose to tail, we would have been one-two. I don’t have any idea why he did what he did. He killed us both. Oh well. It is Talladega and we have a good piece for Daytona.” AHN
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