Polesitter Kyle Busch survived a scrape with the wall and held off Todd Bodine in a two-lap dash to the finish to win Friday night’s North Carolina Education Lottery 200 Truck Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Busch, who owns the No. 18 Toyota he drove to victory, crossed the finish line .228 seconds ahead of Bodine to give Toyota its first truck series victory at the 1.5-mile racetrack. Ron Hornaday was third, followed by James Buescher and Elliott Sadler.
The victory was Busch’s second in five starts this season, his third at Charlotte and the 18th of his career NASCAR.com
Busch, in his first year as driver and owner in the Truck Series, started on the pole and dominated early, but he got loose and scraped the wall on lap 40. Shortly after the incident, Busch made a lengthy pit stop under caution, as his team made repairs to the right side of the truck. He quickly made his way back up to the front and passed Ron Hornaday Jr. for the lead just after a restart with 17 laps to go. Busch beat Bodine by 0.23 seconds for his third truck win at Charlotte.
“This team did a great job on preparing a great truck to come out here with, but unfortunately I tried to screw it up, and I guess the driver owes the owner a little bit of money,” said Busch, who led a race-high 69 laps.
Bodine’s second-place run allowed him to take a two-point lead over Aric Almirola, who finished seventh. Almirola picked up his first truck win one week ago at Dover.
“You’re never satisfied with second, but the last few weeks the truck hadn’t been driving really well, and it’s been tough to drive,” Bodine said. “The truck drove beautifully tonight.” MiamiHerald.com
The race went under a yellow flag on Lap 81 when Brent Raymer’s Ford caught fire in Turn 4. Raymer’s truck didn’t appear to make contact with another car or the wall when it caught fire underneath the hood and spread into the driver’s compartment. Raymer spun the truck into the wall before it stopped and he was able to jump out and walk to the top of the track before safety workers arrived.
It was a rough day for Raymer, who wrecked another truck in practice earlier in the day.
“Two trucks and a motor, that’s pretty much our whole fleet,” Raymer said in an interview after he was released from the track’s infield care center. Charlotte Observer
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NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Race at Charlotte - Race Results
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