Kyle Busch Claims Truck Series Win at Kansas Speedway

It was an early birthday weekend present for the soon-to-be 36 year old Kyle Busch.

In a familiar sight, the closing laps of Friday’s (May 1) Wise Power 200 at Kansas Speedway saw the Kyle Busch Motorsports duo of Busch and John Hunter Nemechek contending for the win.

Then the caution came out.

After Jennifer Jo Cobb stalled on the racing surface with only seven laps to go, crew chiefs scrambled to decide on whether to pit or not.

Nemechek pitted, but was the only front-running truck to do so, which left Busch all alone to fend off fellow Cup Series driver Ross Chastain in the No. 44 Niece Motorsports entry in overtime.

When the green flag dropped, it looked like Chastain was going to steal the win from KBM and get his second career truck series victory at Kansas.

Then they wrecked again.

.@RossChastain to the lead, but they're crashing behind him! @StewartFriesen and @derek9kraus are among those involved! pic.twitter.com/VEoxAzFCvL

— NASCAR Camping World Trucks (@NASCAR_Trucks) May 2, 2021

From the outside of row two on the last restart, Busch lost ground while heading into the turn one. Thankfully, a tire rub for Chastain forced him up the race track and killed the momentum of the on-coming Todd Gilliland. Busch was able to muscle his way around Chastain and Austin Hill while taking the white flag, and it was lights out for the rest of the field.

ROWDY GETS IT DONE!

Watch @KyleBusch pass @RossChastain and @_AustinHill in NASCAR Overtime to capture the victory in Kansas! pic.twitter.com/z8lIWaToEB

— NASCAR Camping World Trucks (@NASCAR_Trucks) May 2, 2021

“We definitely missed something coming up through the gears (on restarts). It just would not go. Those guys would swarm us,”  Busch told FS1. “I was shocked.”

While there was the typical truck series late-race chaos, the 140-lap event was sprinkled with plenty of near spins and slides. The first was Nemechek when attempting to make a pass for the race lead early in stage one.

OH.
OH.
OHHHH. @JHNemechek pic.twitter.com/yez8rskpAu

— NASCAR Camping World Trucks (@NASCAR_Trucks) May 1, 2021

Then came Chase Purdy in stage two.

Hold on to that thing, @chasepurdy12!

We stay green in the second stage! (?: FS1) pic.twitter.com/ZwEzNSadY9

— NASCAR Camping World Trucks (@NASCAR_Trucks) May 2, 2021

It wasn’t until lap 71 the event saw its first on-track incident bringing out a yellow flag coming from Carson Hocevar, who kept his truck from looping around.

Okay … these saves tonight are insane …@NASCAR_Trucks | #NASCARonFS1 pic.twitter.com/MuBMXQSZFI

— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) May 2, 2021

From the beginning, Sheldon Creed appeared to be one of the few drivers that could compete with the KBM duo. After a bad restart from Busch, it looked as though Creed would compete with Nemechek for the victory. But with 18 laps to go, Creed smacked the outside wall, which forced the defending series champion to pit.

Contact for the 2️⃣! @sheldoncreed hits the outside wall and is forced to pit road for an unscheduled stop. pic.twitter.com/hPIDhpebfN

— NASCAR Camping World Trucks (@NASCAR_Trucks) May 2, 2021

 

Creed would finish 32nd.

At the same site as her first truck series start, Hailie Deegan finally claimed her first top 15 with a 13th place finish.

KANSAS TRUCK RESULTS

Next Friday will mark the Camping World Truck Series’ only visit to Darlington Raceway in 2021 with the LiftKitLess.com 200. Coverage for the first race of throwback weekend will begin Friday, May 7 at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1.