NASCAR
Rowdy Reigns Supreme in Final Truck Start of 2022 at Sonoma
SONOMA, Calif. – “Yesterday was ugly, I wasn’t sure about it,” Kyle Busch said after dominating the Truck Series’ return to Sonoma. In the first trip to northern California since 1998, the all-time series win leader was the class of the field, leading 45 of 75 laps. Making his fifth and final start of 2022, Sonoma marks the first win for Busch. However, it was far from a cruise for the 51, as he had to outlast a restart with two laps left.
Even with a very stacked field in this race, all attention coming into the day was on Carson Hocevar. A week ago at Gateway, the 42 was involved in a nasty wreck where he broke his right tibia. Cleared to qualify and race after surgery, Hocevar managed to put his Niece Motorsports Chevrolet on the pole. However the celebrations were very short-lived; moments after setting quick time the 42 crashed. This would send Hocevar to the rear for the start, as he only ran 10 laps before handing it over to substitute driver Daniel Suarez.
While Hocevar’s teammate Ross Chastain led most of the opening laps, Stage 1 went to ThorSport’s Ty Majeski. Stage 2 would likewise see Kyle Busch take command, only to short pit before the end. This second Stage win went to another ThorSport driver: Ben Rhodes.
After calling his truck “really good” early on, Kyle Busch was almost unchallenged in the final run. Even restarting fourth behind drivers on old tires, the 51 retook the lead in less than a lap.
A hard crash by Josh Bilicki, Stewart Friesen, and Alex Bowman gave the field one more shot to steal the win away from Busch. Due to wall damage in turn one, this crash did trigger a brief red flag for repairs.
Multiple trucks involved in a big crash at Sonoma Raceway. We are under a red flag as they work to reset the wall in Turn 1.
Here's what happened: https://t.co/FDDtNXvcDn pic.twitter.com/KCwnUHNKYu
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) June 12, 2022
With hungry drivers all around him, Busch nailed the restart and drove off into the sunset. The first Truck Series event at Sonoma Raceway in 24 years marks career win number 62 for Busch. After rallying on the late restart, Zane Smith was a close runner-up to the 51.
“Just continuing to work on the truck and make it better,” Busch described his day. “Appreciate Yahoo and everybody that has made this partnership possible, Toyota and TRD. This Tundra TRD Pro was awesome today. Really proud to drive it. We had a struggle at Charlotte a couple weeks ago, but today was really good. Awesome adjustments by Mardy (Lindley, crew chief) and all the guys here to get us in position to win today.”
“Yeah it’s important,” Busch said of continuing his Truck Series win streak in 2022. “Certainly would love to have gotten a win in 2012, I look back at that as a miss. Just being able to continue that tradition, we wanted to do that at some of the new tracks this year, like COTA or here, so I’m proud of that and all the guys. Super effort here today, ready to go celebrate.”
Behind Busch and Zane Smith were Ty Majeski, Ross Chastain, and Chandler Smith in the top five. Daniel Suarez (subbing for Hocevar), Parker Kligerman, John Hunter Nemechek, Tyler Ankrum, and Matt DiBenedetto rounded out the top 10.
While Cup and Xfinity are both off next week, the Truckers continue onward. Saturday marks the second annual Corn Belt 150, from Iowa’s famed Knoxville Raceway. With the regular season quickly winding down, can we see an upset winner on the dirt? The feature event will go green at 9:00 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credit to Chris Graythen/Getty Images for NASCAR
