NASCAR
Kyle Busch Makes Final-Corner Comeback to Edge Ahead in Atlanta
HAMPTON, Ga. – In shades of last year’s Atlanta Cup race, Kyle Busch was in the midst of a door-to-door run down to the line. Unlike 12 months ago, however, the Truck race went in Busch’s favor, beating out Stewart Friesen by 0.017 seconds. For the 67th time in his career, Rowdy reigns supreme in the Truck Series.
After starting ninth, one of few times Busch was not out front was Stage 1. This opening sprint win went to polesitter Connor Mosack, while Busch took over early in Stage 2. Amazingly both stages went caution-free, setting a torrent pace early on.
The only major incident of the afternoon involved Rajah Caruth, when he spun from the lead pack out of turn four. This lap 75 moment saw Caruth and a few others’ days come to an abrupt end.
Once racing resumed after a brief red flag, the field remained largely organized behind Busch. Grant Enfinger and a few others did keep Busch on his toes, but nobody could keep the 7 down. The white flag saw Stewart Friesen out front, only for Busch to cut to his inside in turn one. Across 15 career Atlanta Truck starts, this marks win number eight for Rowdy.
“Thanks to everyone for being out here today, we appreciate you guys,” Busch said. “I know it’s not 70 and sunny, but it’s 50 and cloudy so y’all are troopers. Awesome run for this Spire Chevrolet and everybody at Gainbridge, Brian Pattie, all the guys and girls that do a great job at Spire for building us some really good trucks to come out here with.”
“Just trying to make sure I stayed as far forward as I possibly could. When those guys would cycle up to me and get to the next one in front of me, I just kept trying to make sure that I battled back and got back to that front so I could try to control it as best as I could. But that inside was good, they were rolling forward, so it made for a heck of a race. Glad to have a great race to the finish and that it wasn’t single-file. There was some mixing it up for these fans out here to see a cool show.”
“These things are a lot different than the Cup cars are. Probably more similar than the Xfinity cars, though. All in all, just going out here, getting laps, and speedway racing is speedway racing. There’s a lot of luck involved, some skill today, and some things that guys could learn from what I was doing if they go back and watch. The overall bang of it was just to be able to get some laps and come out here tomorrow and try to win again.”
Behind Busch and Friesen at the checkers, Tyler Ankrum, Bayley Currey, and Chandler Smith were the top-five. Other top finishers included: Kaden Honeycutt, Ben Rhodes, Ty Majeski, Jake Garcia, and Grant Enfinger. Hear from some of these drivers below.
Trucks will be back on track from Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Friday, March 14. The Ecosave 200 was a maiden career win for Rajah Caruth a year ago, who can get it done this time? The green flag will fly at 9 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credits to Peter Stratta/TSJSports
