In his return to the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, Kyle Busch put on a show similar to his recent performances in Xfinity and Cup.
Driving his own Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota, Busch held off a field of Cup stars and truck regulars on three green-white-checkered runs to win the Pocono Mountains 150 at Pocono Raceway .
Busch, who also has four Sprint Cup victories and two NXS triumphs this season, claimed the win in his first Truck Series start of 2015.
Coming in second behind Busch’s No. 51 Dollar General Toyota was Kevin Harvick. Driving the No. 00 Haas Automation Chevrolet for JR Motorsports, Harvick earned the result in his first NCWTS start since 2013.
Tyler Reddick, Cameron Hayley and Austin Dillon made up the rest of the top five, with Johnny Sauter, Timothy Peters, Matt Tifft, Daniel Hemric and Erik Jones rounding out the top 10.
While he finished 10th, Jones was one of Busch’s toughest competitors. The Michigan native led nine laps on the day and was running toward the front when he was turned around on a restart to bring out the race’s penultimate caution.
The championship battle saw a significant shakeup on lap 6 when points leader Matt Crafton and Brad Keselowski collided while fighting for position on the 2.5-mile “Tricky Triangle”. Keselowski’s day would end with the crash, relegating him to a 30th-place finish. Crafton managed to return to the track for a brief run to jump to to 28th and gain two points.
As a result of the crash and Reddick’s third-place run, the Brad Keselowski Racing driver moved atop the points leaderboard, 11 points ahead of Crafton.
The caution flag fell five times for 16 laps in Saturday’s 69-lap race. The lead changed hands four times between four drivers.
The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will return to action on Saturday, Aug. 15, when the field heads to Michigan International Speedway for the Careers for Veterans 200 presented by Cooper Standard.
2015 POCONO MOUNTAINS 150 RACE RESULTS
| Fin | St | # | Driver | Sponsor / Owner | Truck | Laps | Money | Status | Led | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 51 | Kyle Busch | Dollar General (Kyle Busch) | Toyota | 69 | 41542 | running | 53 | 0 |
| 2 | 7 | 0 | Kevin Harvick | Haas Automation (JR Motorsports) | Chevrolet | 69 | 26768 | running | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | 6 | 19 | Tyler Reddick | DrawTite (Brad Keselowski) | Ford | 69 | 27203 | running | 0 | 41 |
| 4 | 16 | 13 | Cameron Hayley | Carolina Nut Co. (Duke Thorson) | Toyota | 69 | 21817 | running | 0 | 40 |
| 5 | 5 | 33 | Austin Dillon | Rheem (Maury Gallagher) | Chevrolet | 69 | 16613 | running | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | 17 | 98 | Johnny Sauter | Nextant Aerospace / Curb Records (Mike Curb) | Toyota | 69 | 16279 | running | 4 | 39 |
| 7 | 12 | 17 | Timothy Peters | Red Horse Racing (Tom DeLoach) | Toyota | 69 | 15725 | running | 0 | 37 |
| 8 | 14 | 54 | Matt Tifft | ToyotaCare (Kyle Busch) | Toyota | 69 | 15475 | running | 0 | 36 |
| 9 | 15 | 14 | Daniel Hemric | California Clean Power (Bob Newberry) | Chevrolet | 69 | 15420 | running | 0 | 35 |
| 10 | 1 | 4 | Erik Jones | Toyota (Kyle Busch) | Toyota | 69 | 18587 | running | 9 | 35 |
| 11 | 8 | 11 | Ben Kennedy | Local Motors (Tom DeLoach) | Toyota | 69 | 15281 | running | 0 | 33 |
| 12 | 11 | 15 | Mason Mingus | Billy Boat Motorsports (Billy Boat) | Chevrolet | 69 | 15141 | running | 0 | 32 |
| 13 | 9 | 8 | John Hunter Nemechek | D.A.B. Constructors (Joe Nemechek) | Chevrolet | 69 | 15058 | running | 0 | 31 |
| 14 | 13 | 23 | Spencer Gallagher | Allegiant Travel (Maury Gallagher) | Chevrolet | 69 | 15003 | running | 3 | 31 |
| 15 | 20 | 2 | Tyler Young | Randco Industries / Young's Building Supplies (Randy Young) | Chevrolet | 69 | 15264 | running | 0 | 29 |
| 16 | 18 | 63 | Garrett Smithley | SegPay / Mittler Bros Machine & Tool (Mike Mittler) | Chevrolet | 69 | 14953 | running | 0 | 28 |
| 17 | 10 | 5 | John Wes Townley | Zaxby's (Tony Townley) | Chevrolet | 68 | 14643 | running | 0 | 27 |
| 18 | 21 | 74 | Jordan Anderson | SRGFX.com (Mike Harmon) | Chevrolet | 67 | 14503 | running | 0 | 26 |
| 19 | 32 | 50 | Kyle Martel | Finish Line Express (William Martel) | Chevrolet | 67 | 14393 | running | 0 | 25 |
| 20 | 25 | 28 | Ryan Ellis | FDNY 150th Anniversary (Jim Rosenblum) | Chevrolet | 67 | 12587 | running | 0 | 24 |
| 21 | 23 | 40 | Todd Peck | Arthritis Foundation / OSS Health (Michael Peck) | Chevrolet | 66 | 11921 | running | 0 | 23 |
| 22 | 30 | 6 | Norm Benning | Norm Benning Racing (Norm Benning) | Chevrolet | 63 | 14060 | running | 0 | 22 |
| 23 | 19 | 1 | Travis Kvapil | Burnie Grill (Mark Beaver) | Chevrolet | 56 | 13949 | running | 0 | 21 |
| 24 | 31 | 7 | Ray Black, Jr. | ScubaLife / NASE Worldwide (Bobby Dotter) | Chevrolet | 52 | 12616 | crash | 0 | 20 |
| 25 | 26 | 94 | Wendell Chavous | Lilly Trucking / Testoril (Jay Robinson) | Chevrolet | 51 | 12727 | crash | 0 | 19 |
| 26 | 24 | 10 | Jennifer Jo Cobb | Driven2Honor.org (Jennifer Jo Cobb) | Chevrolet | 49 | 11533 | running | 0 | 18 |
| 27 | 29 | 8 | Korbin Forrister | Trump For President (Christopher Long) | Chevrolet | 24 | 11505 | crash | 0 | 17 |
| 28 | 3 | 88 | Matt Crafton | ChiChi's / Menards (Duke Thorson) | Toyota | 13 | 12258 | crash | 0 | 16 |
| 29 | 22 | 45 | B.J. McLeod | Tilted Kilt (Christopher Long) | Chevrolet | 12 | 11229 | overheating | 0 | 15 |
| 30 | 4 | 29 | Brad Keselowski | Cooper Standard (Brad Keselowski) | Ford | 5 | 10729 | crash | 0 | 0 |
| 31 | 28 | 36 | Justin Jennings | Mittler Bros Machine & Tool (Mike Mittler) | Chevrolet | 3 | 9229 | vibration | 0 | 13 |
| 32 | 27 | 0 | Caleb Roark | Driven2Honor.org (Jennifer Jo Cobb) | Chevrolet | 3 | 8229 | suspension | 0 | 12 |
Aaron Bearden is a Frontstretch alumnus who’s come back home as the site’s Short Track Editor. When he isn’t working with our grassroots writers, he can be found talking about racing on his Morning Warmup newsletter, pestering his wife/dog or convincing himself the Indiana Pacers can win an NBA title.