Kyle Busch Wins Gander Outdoors Truck Race at Homestead

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Homestead, FL – RIS – Kyle Busch won the NASCAR Trucks Series Baptist 200  race at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Saturday night, his 58th career win on the circuit and his eighth victory in his last 10 trucks starts. He’d been winless in his last two outings, which — by his standards behind the wheel of a truck — constitutes a drought.

Busch hadn’t gone winless in three consecutive trucks starts since 2017. He was about five seconds clear of the field when the second stage ended at Lap 60, part of a dominant night where he led 82 of the 134 laps.

“It was awesome tonight," Busch said.

There were a few challenging situations, though nothing derailed Busch for long.

Busch had to start at the back of the field, then serve a pass-through penalty on top of that, after failing pre-race inspection. But he managed to stay on the lead lap, then worked his way to the front and made it all seem easy.

“We've thrown away the last two races," Busch said. “This is how we're supposed to perform and run and look."

The race was red-flagged for 16 minutes with 26 laps to go after Sheldon Creed crashed into the yellow protective barrels at the entrance to pit road and caused a huge mess. Once things resumed, it didn’t take long for Busch to reclaim the leading position. And then a late caution sent the field into a high-pressure restart with seven laps left, but Busch just pulled away — this time, for good.

Unofficial Results, Baptist Health 200: Homestead-Miami Speedway: Homestead, FL

Fin, St, Driver, Trk, Laps, St1, St2, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1) 2, Kyle Busch(i), No. 51 Cessna Toyota, 134, , 1, 2, 82, , 0, Running
2) 11, Tyler Ankrum, No. 26 May's Hawaii Chevrolet, 134, , , , , , 35, Running
3) 15, Ross Chastain(i), No. 44 Circle Track Warehouse Race Parts Chevrolet, 134, 1, 2, 1, 2, , 0, Running
4) 16, Chase Elliott(i), No. 24 HendrickCars.com/Summer Silverado Sale! , 134, , 7, 1, 3, , 0, Running
5) 10, Johnny Sauter, No. 13 Vivitar Ford, 134, , , , , , 32, Running
6) 18, Todd Gilliland, No. 38 SpeedCo Ford, 134, 6, 5, , , , 42, Running
7) 1, Austin Hill, No. 16 United Rentals Toyota, 134, 3, 3, 1, 29, , 46, Running
8) 4, Christian Eckes #, No. 18 Safelite AutoGlass Toyota, 134, 7, 4, 3, 17, , 40, Running
9) 13, Matt Crafton, No. 88 Jack Links/Menards Ford, 134, 5, , 1, 1, , 34, Running
10) 21, Ty Majeski #, No. 45 Plan B Sales Chevrolet, 134, , , , , , 27, Running
11) 14, Raphael Lessard #, No. 4 Mobil 1 Toyota, 134, 8, 10, , , , 30, Running
12) 20, Tanner Gray #, No. 15 Turtle Beach Construction Ford, 134, , , , , , 25, Running
13) 32, Spencer Davis #, No. 11 Hearn Industrial Services Toyota, 134, , , , , , 24, Running
14) 19, Stewart Friesen, No. 52 Halmar Racing To Beat Hunger Toyota, 134, 9, , , , , 25, Running
15) 7, Derek Kraus #, No. 19 ENEOS/NAPA FILTERS Toyota, 134, , 8, , , , 25, Running
16) 31, Austin Wayne Self, No. 22 GO TEXAN/AM Technical Solutions Chevrolet, 134, , , , , , 21, Running
17) 3, Grant Enfinger, No. 98 Farm Paint/Curb Ford, 134, 4, 9, , , , 29, Running
18) 5, Ben Rhodes, No. 99 Tenda Pet Care Ford, 134, 2, 6, , , , 33, Running
19) 26, Brennan Poole(i), No. 30 RememberEveryoneDeployed.org Toyota, 134, , , , , , 0, Running
20) 8, Sheldon Creed, No. 2 Chevy Truck Month Chevrolet, 134, 10, , , , , 18, Running
21) 24, Cory Roper, No. 04 CarQuest Ford, 134, , , , , , 16, Running
22) 28, Spencer Boyd, No. 20 Hairclub Chevrolet, 134, , , , , , 15, Running
23) 29, Tate Fogleman #, No. 02 Solid Rock Carriers Chevrolet, 134, , , , , , 14, Running
24) 30, Angela Ruch, No. 00 TrueHardwoods.com Toyota, 134, , , , , , 13, Running
25) 27, Tyler Hill, No. 56 RoofClaim.com Chevrolet, 133, , , , , , 12, Running
26) 22, Gray Gaulding, No. 33 MSG Motorsports Safety Group Toyota, 133, , , , , , 11, Running
27) 34, Jennifer Jo Cobb, No. 10 Driven2Honor.org Chevrolet, 132, , , , , , 10, Running
28) 12, Codie Rohrbaugh, No. 9 Grant County Mulch Chevrolet, 132, , , , , , 9, Running
29) 35, Ray Ciccarelli, No. 49 Springrates Automotive Chevrolet, 131, , , , , , 8, Running
30) 33, Clay Greenfield, No. 68 Rackley Roofing Toyota, 122, , , , , , 7, Running
31) 25, Jordan Anderson, No. 3 Bommarito.com/Lucas Oil Chevrolet, 120, , , , , , 6, Accident
32) 37, Dawson Cram, No. 55 Long Motorsports Chevrolet, 111, , , , , , 5, Transmission
33) 23, Korbin Forrister, No. 7 Nursing Home Caregivers Toyota, 95, , , , , , 5, Accident
34) 36, Norm Benning, No. 6 H & H Transport Chevrolet, 89, , , , , , 5, Handling
35) 17, TJ Bell, No. 40 Cypress Ridge Hunting Preserve Chevrolet, 70, , , , , , 5, Accident
36) 9, Brett Moffitt, No. 23 CMRroofing.com Chevrolet, 20, , , , , , 5, Accident
37) 6, Zane Smith #, No. 21 ProAm Racing Products Chevrolet, 19, , , , , , 5, Accident
38) 38, Bryant Barnhill, No. 34 RBR Graphics Chevrolet, 1, , , , , , 5, Transmission
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie

 

Race Length: 134 laps, 201 miles
Time of Race: 1 hr, 54 min, 23 sec.
Average Speed: 105.435 mph
Margin of Victory: 2.847 sec

Stage 1 Top 10: 44, 99, 16, 98, 88, 38, 18, 4, 52, 2

Stage 2 Top 10: 51, 44, 16, 18, 38, 99, 24, 19, 98, 4

Race Comments: Kyle Busch won the Baptist Health 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, his 58th victory in the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series.

Prior to the start, the following trucks dropped to the rear of the field under penalty for the reasons indicated: No. 15 (unapproved adjustments), No. 02 (missing rookie meeting), No. 51 (L1 penalty in inspection).

Caution Flags: 7 for 34 laps;
Laps: 17-19 (Competition Caution [7]);
21-28 (21, 23, 24, 30 Incident Turn 4 [49]);
32-35 (Stage 1 Conclusion [6]);
62-66 (Stage 2 Conclusion [04]);
71-74 (No. 30 Spin Turn 2 [88]);
105-110 (No. 7 Incident Turn 4/No. 2 Incident Frontstretch [Red Flag: 00:15:58] [98]);
124-127 (No. 3 Incident Turn 2 [20]).

Lead Changes: 8 among 6 drivers;
A. Hill 1-29;
R. Chastain(i) 30-31;
C. Eckes # 32-38;
K. Busch(i) 39-96;
C. Eckes # 97-105;
M. Crafton 106;
C. Elliott(i) 107-109;
C. Eckes # 110;
K. Busch(i) 111-134.

Mobil 1 Driver of the Race: Kyle Busch, No. 51

Sunoco Rookie of the Race: Christian Eckes, No. 18

Ron Fleshman with John Davison

RIS NASCAR Editor.  Has been with RIS since the middle 90's. Writes on each of the three main series of NASCAR.

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Volume 2020, Issue 6, Posted 12:05 AM, 06.14.2020