Busch Prunes Atlanta Truck Race

Kyle Busch rarely saw Atlanta traffic

(Hampton, GA - Mar 20, 2021 - RIS) Kyle Busch dominated the Fr8 Auctions 200 Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, leading 102 of the 130 laps, taking the final checkered flag over four seconds ahead of Austin Hill, who was over five and a half seconds ahead of John Hunter Nemechek. "It's just a part of good people, having good people. Coach (Joe Gibbs) always says you have to have good people to have success. We’ve had great people, and we’ve had good people too and it’s just a matter of evolving. This sport is ever-changing. Six months from now the setups will be different again. It’s cool to have fresh ideas, different concepts and things that we can continue and try and continue to improve. It's good to see John Hunter (Nemechek) come home with another top-three today with him racing for a championship this year, that’s important. Certianly, I want to give a shoutout to Samantha (Busch) and Brexton (Busch) at home. Brexton is racing tomorrow, so he didn’t make it this weekend, so good luck buddy. Thank you to Rowdy Energy, Murphy USA for being on board today.

"Anytime I'm in my truck I want to be able to go out there and score the victory. With good competition and good competitors, it's not easy. With John Hunter (Nemechek) coming on board, at Vegas he was super fast and did everything right, no mistakes. We'll go back and regroup and make sure that 4 (Nemechek) truck can stay in front of that 16 (Austin Hill) truck the rest of this year."

Austin Hill commenting on his second consecutive runner-up in the Atlanta event said: "when we had that last restart. I was trying to save my tires a little bit. I didn't want to kill them right off the bat. When it was go time, I started matching Kyle's (Busch) lap times. We had a green flag pit stop, got out in second. The pit crew did an awesome job today, but yeah, I kind of gave that gap up and I could never close it. I was matching his lap times, but I need to be a little bit quicker. Our United Rentals Toyota Tundra was really fast today. We had to fight a little bit of adversity today with restarts and stuff that happened on the race track. We had to rebound, but all in all, a solid day. I wish we were racing here again because I love Atlanta Motor Speedway. It's my home track. I can't thank the fans enough for coming out and watching today. It was awesome to have you guys back. I just wish I could have got the job done. This is a fun place to run."

Brett Moffitt started the race as a contender for the hard luck and hard charger awards when his engine failed during warmup and the crew pulled out the original engine and installed a new one in less than an hour, sending him to the back of the field from his tenth-place starting position. He raced his way back to a ninth-place finish.

John Hunter Nemechek picked up this weekend where he left off at the last race, in first place, winning the first stage after passing his team owner with only a lap left in the stage. This stage win continued the Kyle Busch Motorsports streak of winning every Truck Series race stage at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Kyle Busch led most of the stage, taking the lead from Matt Crafton early and leading until his young driver passed him for the stage points.

Crafton passed pole-sitter Nemechek on the first lap.

Making his first start in years is Bill Lester, whose new book Winning in Reverse has just been released, describing his career in racing.

Nemechek won the second stage, taking the lead from Busch as they rounded the final corner leading to the green and white checkered flag. 

Busch took the lead again to start the stage, giving up the point only for a green-flag pit stop and drove on to an edge of over four seconds ahead of second-place Austin Hill in a totally dominating performance before he headed back to Bristol, where he plans to race a super late-model on the dirt surface in preparation for next weekend's first Cup race on dirt since Richard Petty's win at the Raleigh, NC State Fairgrounds race in 1970.

Unofficial Results: 13th Annual Fr8Auctions 200, Atlanta Motor Speedway, March 20, 2021

Fin, Str, Driver, Truck, Laps, St1, St2, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1) 2, Kyle Busch(i), No. 51 Cessna Toyota, 130, 2, 2, 4, 102, , 0, Running
2) 6, Austin Hill, No. 16 United Rentals Toyota, 130, 3, 4, , , , 50, Running
3) 1, John Hunter Nemechek, No. 4 Mobil 1 Toyota, 130, 1, 1, 2, 21, 2, 54, Running
4) 13, Johnny Sauter, No. 13 Vivitar/RealTree Toyota, 130, 10, , , , , 34, Running
5) 8, Sheldon Creed, No. 2 Overton's Chevrolet, 130, 9, 6, , , , 39, Running
6) 7, Zane Smith, No. 21 Overton's Chevrolet, 130, 8, 7, , , , 38, Running
7) 40, Ross Chastain(i), No. 44 CircleBDiecast.com Chevrolet, 130, 5, 5, , , , 0, Running
8) 3, Matt Crafton, No. 88 Flex Seal/Menards Toyota, 130, 7, 9, 1, 3, , 35, Running
9) 10, Brett Moffitt, No. 45 Overton's Chevrolet, 130, , 8, , , , 31, Running
10) 4, Stewart Friesen, No. 52 Halmar International Toyota, 130, 4, 3, , , , 42, Running
11) 19, Grant Enfinger, No. 98 Champion Toyota, 130, , , , , , 26, Running
12) 17, Carson Hocevar #, No. 42 Overton's Chevrolet, 130, , , , , , 25, Running
13) 29, Derek Kraus, No. 19 NAPA AutoCare Toyota, 129, 6, 10, , , , 30, Running
14) 15, Parker Kligerman, No. 75 Overton's Chevrolet, 129, , , , , , 23, Running
15) 32, Ryan Truex, No. 40 Overton's Chevrolet, 129, , , , , , 22, Running
16) 5, Ben Rhodes, No. 99 Bombardier LearJet 75 Toyota, 129, , , , , , 21, Running
17) 9, Todd Gilliland, No. 38 Chicago Pneumatic Compressors Ford, 129, , , , , , 20, Running
18) 30, Tyler Ankrum, No. 26 LiUNA! Chevrolet, 129, , , , , , 19, Running
19) 14, Tanner Gray, No. 15 Ford Performance Ford, 129, , , , , , 18, Running
20) 39, Spencer Davis, No. 11 INOX Toyota, 129, , , , , , 17, Running
21) 28, Hailie Deegan #, No. 1 BUILT FORD TOUGH Ford, 129, , , , , , 16, Running
22) 18, Josh Berry(i), No. 02 MasterTech Chevrolet, 129, , , , , , 0, Running
23) 12, Austin Wayne Self, No. 22 GO TEXAN/AM Technical Solutions Chevrolet, 128, , , , , , 14, Running
24) 26, Chase Purdy #, No. 23 BamaBuggies.com Chevrolet, 128, , , 1, 4, , 13, Running
25) 24, Jordan Anderson(i), No. 3 Overton's Chevrolet, 128, , , , , , 0, Running
26) 22, Tate Fogleman, No. 12 Solid Rock Carriers Chevrolet, 128, , , , , , 11, Running
27) 34, Cory Roper, No. 04 Preferred Industrial Contractors Ford, 127, , , , , , 10, Running
28) 21, Danny Bohn, No. 30 North American Motor Car Toyota, 127, , , , , , 9, Running
29) 20, Codie Rohrbaugh, No. 9 Overton's Chevrolet, 126, , , , , , 8, Running
30) 16, Timothy Peters, No. 25 Rackley Roofing Chevrolet, 126, , , , , , 7, Running
31) 27, Dawson Cram, No. 41 Overton's Chevrolet, 126, , , , , , 6, Running
32) 35, Bret Holmes, No. 32 Southern State Bank Chevrolet, 126, , , , , , 5, Running
33) 25, Spencer Boyd, No. 20 Credit MRI Chevrolet, 125, , , , , , 4, Running
34) 36, Ryan Ellis(i), No. 34 Overton's Chevrolet, 124, , , , , , 0, Running
35) 11, Chandler Smith #, No. 18 Safelite AutoGlass Toyota, 124, , , , , , 2, Running
36) 31, Bill Lester, No. 17 Camping World Ford, 123, , , , , , 1, Running
37) 38, Akinori Ogata, No. 33 Kyowa Industrial Toyota, 123, , , , , , 1, Running
38) 33, Jennifer Jo Cobb, No. 10 Fastener Supply Company Chevrolet, 117, , , , , , 1, Running
39) 23, Raphael Lessard, No. 24 Richelieu Chevrolet, 115, , , , , , 1, Transmission
40) 37, Norm Benning, No. 6 MDF A Sign Company/Camping World Chevrolet, 72, , , , , , 1, Too Slow
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie

Time: 1 Hrs, 29 Mins, 43 Secs
Race Length: 130 Laps, 200.2 Miles
Average Speed: 133.888 MPH
Margin of Victory: 4.133 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 4, 51, 16, 52, 44, 19, 88, 21, 2, 13
Stage 2 Top 10: 4, 51, 52, 16, 44, 2, 21, 45, 88, 19

Comments: Kyle Busch won the 13th running of the Fr8Auctions 200 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, his 60th victory in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

Prior to the start, the following cars dropped to the rear of the field under penalty for the reasons indicated: Nos. 45 (engine change), 02 (driver change). 

Caution Flags: 3 for 16 laps;
Laps: 17-20 (Competition Caution [32]);
32-37 (Stage 1 Conclusion [18]);
62-67 (Stage 2 Conclusion [3]).

Lead Changes: 8 among 4 drivers;
M. Crafton 1-3;
K. Busch(i) 4-28;
J. Nemechek 29-45;
K. Busch(i) 46-59;
J. Nemechek 60-63;
K. Busch(i) 64-101;
C. Purdy # 102-105;
K. Busch(i) 106-130.

Mobil 1 Driver of the Race: John H. Nemechek, No. 4
Mobil 1 Driver of the Race: Kyle Busch, No. 51
Sunoco Rookie of the Race: Carson Hocevar, No. 42