Kyle Busch Wins His 50th NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Race At Las Vegas

by March 3, 2018 0 comments

LAS VEGAS, Nev. – In his hometown of Las Vegas, Kyle Busch won his 50th NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race on Friday night after capturing the checkered flag in the Stratosphere 200 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Busch started on the pole in the Kyle Busch Motorsports No. 51 Cessna Toyota, and he led a race high of 55 laps en route to his first series victory at the track. Busch’s 50th win places him second on the all-times wins list in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. NASCAR Hall of Famer, Ron Hornaday Jr. holds the top spot in the record books with 51 wins.

“It means a lot, we’ve had some great runs in the races that we’ve had at Kyle Busch Motorsports,” Busch said. “We’ve raced and won all across the country, but I’ve just never been able to get back to Las Vegas to run a race. This one’s pretty cool to be able to win in the hometown and finish my list of Truck Series facilities that I’ve raced at and I’ve won at. I couldn’t be prouder to do it with this Cesna Beechcraft Toyota Tundra – just phenomenal race truck.”

Johnny Sauter finished runner-up for the second weekend in a row. The driver of the GMS Racing No. 21 Allegiant Airlines Chevrolet has finished inside the top-three in all three events so far this season. Friday’s effort was Sauter’s seventh top-10 finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

“I thought that lap truck would, you know, stay out of the way, and I was trying to run the middle there to try and get one last shot at Kyle (Busch) down the backshoot, and that guy obviously just checked up or stopped or whatever,” Sauter said. “It’s just a frustrating night. We just could not get going on restarts again, and you know, I think everybody probably thinks it’s me, and it just won’t run. We’ve got to figure something out. I’ve got to get better speed, but all-in-all good night. Pit stops were amazing. Those guys were awesome.”

Atlanta winner, Brett Moffitt finished third in the Hattori Racing Enterprises No. 16 ASIN Group Toyota. Prior to the final caution of the night, Moffitt was leading the race when there was significant contact with the lapped truck of Michel Disdier. Busch made his way around Moffitt to retake the lead on lap 109. Moffitt fell back due to the contact, but he was able to battle back for his second consecutive top-three finish of the year.

“When the 13 (Myatt Snider) pulled out from the pits a couple laps down and side drafted us for the lead and it allowed Kyle (Busch) to close in I tried to go to the bottom of a lapped car and he turned down into us,” Moffitt said. “It’s just frustrating because when you’re out of the race you shouldn’t get in the way of the leaders. It was fun out there racing Kyle and we had a strong AISIN Group Toyota Tundra, just can’t thank TRD and all of our partners enough for getting us here. It’s just a bittersweet race.”

Grant Enfinger and Stewart Friesen finished fourth and fifth respectively. Rounding out the top-10 was Dalton Sargeant, Ben Rhodes, Cody Coughlin, Justin Fontaine and Austin Hill.

Throughout the 134-lap race, there were five cautions: two were for the conclusions of Stages 1 and 2, and only one caution involved multiple trucks. On lap 73, the caution came out when Justin Haley lost control in Turn 2 after slight contact with Noah Gragson while they were racing four-wide with Grant Enfinger and Spencer Davis. As Haley spun and backed his truck into the outside wall, he made contact with Myatt Snider.

Following the Stratosphere 200, Sauter leads Moffitt in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series standings by 39 points.

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will take two weekends off before returning to action at Martinsville Speedway on Saturday, March 24 for the Alpha Energy Solutions 250. Live coverage of the fourth race of the year will broadcast on FOX Sports 1 (FS1) and the Motor Racing Network (MRN) at 2 p.m. ET.

Photo Credit: Sarah Crabill/Getty Images

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