Kyle Busch won the Fr8 208 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Saturday (Feb. 24), emerging victorious in his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series start of 2024. Busch passed Grant Enfinger late after the No. 9 Chevrolet experienced a flat tire from the lead, eventually beating ThorSport Racing’s Ty Majeski by .187 seconds. The win extended Busch’s record for most wins in the series to 65.
“You’re relying on help,” Busch said in his FOX Sports 1 interview. “You got to have help from guys behind you that are willing to work with you, and Majeski was that guy today for me.”
Majeski was nearly passed by third-place Corey Heim at the line.
“Obviously, you want to win the race,” Majeski said. “I just felt like if I was going to back up to the [No.] 11, I knew he had a teammate behind him. I felt like they were going to hang me. I was trying to get a run, formulate a run and I had a run. I got to Kyle’s bumper, I knew he was going to cover the bottom. My only shot was to try to fade right and get to his quarter panel, and when I did that, the [No.] 11 went with him, and that was the only shot that I had.”
Heim crossed the line third, side by side with Majeski. Heim’s TRICON Garage teammate Taylor Gray finished fourth after flipping last weekend at Daytona International Speedway, while the winner of that race, Nick Sanchez, rounded out the top five.
Dye and Ankrum lined up the front row to start the race, and Ankrum took early control of the top while the NASCAR Cup Series veteran Busch kept pace on the bottom. The two traded the lead for the first 10 laps until Christian Eckes took the lead on lap 11.
The first caution of the race flew on lap 16 when the first lapped truck the leaders encountered, Keith McGee, spun while three-wide with Busch.
Majeski put up a fight on the restart, but Eckes maintained the lead and won stage one over teammate Ankrum and the No. 38 of Layne Riggs. Unfortunately for Eckes, during the caution, he experienced problems with his brakes. He ended up going the garage, finishing last in 33rd.
To start stage two, Ankrum took control on the high side, continuing to battle with Busch. Busch got the better of Ankrum on lap 43 to take the lead. Shortly after, the second caution for a wreck flew on lap 48. The incident involved Thad Moffitt, Jake Garcia and Riggs, splitting pit strategy.
Busch maintained the lead on the restart, and stage two finished prematurely after Jack Wood went sliding in the infield, damaging his splitter and involving the No. 32 of Bret Holmes. Busch won stage two ahead of Ankrum and Enfinger.
Matt Mills stayed out and held the lead briefly for his first career laps led in the Truck Series, but on the drop of the green flag, the aggressiveness ramped up, and Ankrum found his way back to the lead by lap 71.
The caution came out once again on lap 79 for debris, which occurred after contact between Stewart Friesen and Taylor Gray on the backstretch. That incident happened around the same time that Rajah Caruth blew a tire.
The caution allowed Busch to line up on the front row with Ankrum once more on lap 86, and the No. 18 was able to stay in the lead.
Bayley Currey would bring out the next caution in a strange way after his roof hatch to his No. 41 Chevrolet Silverado blew off after hitting debris.
“I can feel it getting colder in the truck,” Currey said. “Then it got so bright. I just sucks because I felt like we could have won the race. I was trying to think of any way to justify staying out there. I get it, it’s safety.”
Another debris caution would follow on the lap 100 restart, and Thompson edged ahead of Ankrum on the bottom before the caution flew.
However, Thompson got loose on the restart and surrendered the lead to Ankrum briefly until Enfinger charged on the bottom to take the lead on lap 106. Ankrum tried to make a move to retake the lead, but fell behind and out of contention for the win.
The field mostly settled into single-file racing until there were seven to go, when Enfinger suffered a flat tire. From there, Busch took the lead and held on for the win.
Kaden Honeycutt finished a career-best sixth in the No. 45 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet. Tyler Ankrum crossed the line seventh after leading the most laps of the race, at 46, while Rajah Caruth, Daniel Dye and Dean Thompson completed the top 10.
Riggs, who finished 24th, was disqualified after his No. 38 Front Row Motorsports truck had issues with windshield fasteners.
Fr8 208 Results
The Truck Series’ next stop will be out west at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Friday, Mar. 1 at 9 p.m. ET. Coverage will be provided by FOX Sports 1.
About the author
Wyatt Watson has followed NASCAR closely since 2007. He joined Frontstretchas a journalist in February 2023 after serving in the United States Navy for five years as an Electronic Technician Navigation working on submarines. Wyatt writes breaking NASCAR news and contributes to columns such as Friday Faceoff and 2-Headed Monster. Wyatt also contributes to Frontstretch's social media and serves as an at-track reporter, collecting exclusive content for Frontstretch.
Wyatt Watson can be found on Twitter @WyattGametime
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