Kyle Busch Captures 65th Career Truck Series Win At Atlanta Motor Speedway
by Hunter Thomas February 24, 2024 1 commentHAMPTON, Ga. – Kyle Busch earned his 65th NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory after he held off the field to win Saturday’s Fr8 208 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Busch, the winningest driver in the series tacked on to his record, but this time, he was piloting a truck for Spire Motorsports, an organization that had only seen Victory Lane two previous times in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.
As the laps ticked away at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Monday, the pressure mounted. On the last lap, Busch led Ty Majeski, Corey Heim and Taylor Gray who had separated themselves from the pack. Majeski pushed Busch into Turn 3 as they entered for the final time, but he was unable to keep pace. Heim then dove underneath to challenge for second place, and as the two drivers battled to the finish, Busch cruised to victory.
“You’re relying on help, right,” Busch said. “So, you’ve got to have guys behind you who are willing to work with you, and Majeski was that guy today for me. I mean at the end there, we had a bunch of Spire teammates out there that were great to work with, too. The 77 (Chase Purdy) was good. The 71 (Rajah Caruth) was good. The 2 (Nick Sanchez) was good. I wanted to get us all on the bottom that time – we did, we drove right up to the front, and then I was going to try and control both lanes. As soon as I pulled out to the top, the bottom went away, so I was like, ‘well, sorry’.
Busch has now won a race in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series for 12 consecutive years, dating back to the 2013 season. The only other driver to come close to that effort is Dennis Setzer, who went eight (1998-2005) consecutive seasons with a victory.
Majeski held on to finish runner-up followed by Heim.
“The 7 (Kyle Busch) was really good,” Heim said. “He did everything right and timed the runs out that we would get, and we didn’t get a big run. I was talking to Ty (Majeski) and wondering why he didn’t back up at any point and he said he was afraid that me and the 17 (Taylor Gray) were going to pick him. That makes sense. I understand why he did that – a little bit circumstantial, but I don’t think we really had the speed today with our Safelite Tundra TRD Pro today to be the leader by any means, but we had a great strategy. Everyone at TRICON Garage put us in position to win. We will work on it for the next time at a drafting track and go from there.”
Gray and Daytona winner, Nick Sanchez, completed the top-five. Rounding out the top-10 was Kaden Honeycutt, Tyler Ankrum, Rajah Caruth, Daniel Dye and Dean Thompson.
Christian Eckes won Stage 1 and was appearing to be a strong content; however, he retired from the event on Lap 50 due to brake issues. Busch won Stage 2.
There were 20 lead changes among seven drivers. Ankrum led a race high of 46 laps. Busch led 33 laps en route to his victory.
The caution flew on seven occasions for 37 laps; however, there was no big accident that typically takes place on a superspeedway.
The third race of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season will take place at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Friday March 1. Live coverage of the Victoria’s Voice Foundation 200 presented by Westgate Resorts Will broadcast on FS1 at 5 p.m. ET.
Photo Credit: Mitchell White/TheFourthTurn.com
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