Busch Wins Las Vegas Truck Race for the Fourth Time

Photo Credit to Meg Oliphant/Getty Images for NASCAR

NASCAR

Kyle Busch Takes Fourth Truck Series Victory in Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS, Nev. – To the hometown driver go the spoils of victory once again. In his first Truck Series appearance of 2023, Kyle Busch was nearly unstoppable at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The all-time winningest Trucker extended his record to 63 victories, now with a quartet from his backyard track. The only question remaining now is can Rowdy sweep the weekend?

Starting from pole, Busch had the lead from the start and hardly looked back. Short-pitting Stage 1 under a late caution set the 51 back, with a loose wheel forcing a second stop. Despite losing all track position, Busch rallied to finish just shy of the top 10 in Stage 1, within eyesight of winner Zane Smith.

With Busch out of the picture for the Stage 1 win, several hungry drivers put it all on the line. One driver flirted with disaster up front, as Christian Eckes went sliding sideways while fighting three-wide for the lead. Amazingly, Eckes was able to save his No. 19 Chevrolet and continue onward.

Stage 2 saw Carson Hocevar hold off Busch on a late restart, picking up his first Playoff point of the year. This Stage ended prematurely, with a crash on the backstretch taking out John Hunter Nemechek and Hailie Deegan.

The final Stage saw Busch quickly retake command and hardly look back. Busch only relinquished the lead for a final pit stop under green. With no cautions in this run, Busch extended his lead to several seconds. At the checkered flag, the 51 led Zane Smith by five seconds.

“Thank all you fans for coming out tonight, Rowdy Nation is getting loud,” Busch said. “It’s a lot of fun to just race in the Truck Series and I appreciate that. It’s an honor to come out here with KBM, have some fun, and work on our stuff. They always make sure that we have good stuff. Just can’t thank all my guys enough, everyone at Kyle Busch Motorsports and Rowdy Manufacturing.”

“There were a couple almost dicey moments in traffic, not too bad though. I would have loved to have raced with Zane (Smith) but they got off strategy where we cycled up and had clean air for most of the start of that last run. He came through the field, got to second, and then we maintained. If we would have been able to race it out, it would have been a hell of a show. All in all, just a great night here to win in Las Vegas again. You gotta win the first one to be able to win all three, right?”

Busch is still going for a weekend sweep, as he starts from the rear in tomorrow’s Xfinity race in the Kaulig Racing No. 10 Chevrolet.

Behind Busch, top finishers were: Zane Smith, Ben Rhodes, Corey Heim, Ty Majeski, Christian Eckes, Carson Hocevar, Chase Purdy, Grant Enfinger, and Jake Garcia.

Thanks to this victory by the boss man, KBM now sits at 99 wins in Truck Series competition. The century mark looms large on the very near horizon. Which driver can earn this monumental team achievement?

The next race for the Truck Series will be Atlanta Motor Speedway on March 18. Another drafting track in Atlanta means a great chance for an upset winner. Can a Playoff berth be secured in the Peach State? The Fr8 208 will go green at 2:00 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

Written by Peter Stratta

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Photo Credit to Meg Oliphant/Getty Images for NASCAR