The smile on her face in the picture above the passenger side door of Kyle Busch’s Toyota shined brighter than the Tundra’s neon green-and-yellow NOS Charged Citrus paint scheme. It was Zahra Baker’s spirit that helped lift the No. 18 to a third-consecutive win in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.
Busch paid remembrance to Baker, a 10-year-old Hickory, N.C., who was found slain last year, by winning the N.C. Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Friday night. After Busch collected the checkered flag, he immediately walked to Zahra’s picture on the side of his truck and was “kissed by an angel.”
“I had an angel riding with me in that last run of the race with Zahra Baker,” said Busch. “We didn’t have the truck to beat tonight – Clint Bowyer did. Somehow I found some more out of it and I’m going to say that I had some help tonight. It’s weird how things work. When you believe in it, you trust in it, and you have faith in it – it will repay you. I can’t say enough about NOS Energy Drink and this Kyle Busch Motorsports team. Toyota, M&M’s, Flexco, and Dollar General. It was a great night for all of us. To come out here with a win and with a special name on the side of the truck – it means a lot to Kyle Busch Motorsports, Speedway Children’s Charities and the North Carolina community. Especially the people from Hickory – who knew and loved Zahra. It means the world to me to be able to pay remembrance to her with a win tonight.”
Friday night’s win was monumental for the 26-year-old driver. Busch, who drove into victory lane for the 97th time in NASCAR’s top three series, moved into a tie with NASCAR legends Dale Earnhardt and Darrell Waltrip for third on the all-time combined national touring series wins list. The victory was the Las Vegas native’s 28th career NCWTS Series win, moving him into a tie for second all-time with series legends Mike Skinner and Jack Sprague.
Busch, who an hour before the start of the truck race captured the pole for the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race, started the N.C. Education Lottery 200 from the fifth position. In the early stages of the race the defending race champion communicated to crew chief Eric Phillips that the No. 18 NOS Energy Charged Citrus Toyota was extremely loose.
On lap 53, the extremely loose became uncontrollably loose as the back end of the Las Vegas native’s Toyota snapped around coming off turn four. The rear end of the No. 18 slid up the banking, nearly collecting the outside wall then slid back down the banking and just before the nose of the truck was about to make contact with the inside retaining wall Busch got the truck back headed in the right direction to complete the miraculous save.
When pit road opened, Busch brought his No. 18 to the attention of his team for four fresh tires, a full tank of fuel and wholesale adjustments to try and tighten the truck. He was scored in the ninth position when the race restarted on lap 59.
As the race progressed, the man who had led the most laps en route to dominant victories in the last two NCWTS races seem destined to run just inside the top five. He was running in the fourth position when a three-car crash on the backstretch brought out the seventh caution of the race on lap 77. Crew Chief Eric Phillips made the decision to come for a fuel-only pit stop when pit road opened.
When the race restarted on lap 82, the No. 18 NOS Charged Citrus Tundra was scored in the fifth position. The race continued to be slowed by numerous cautions as the laps wound down. Busch tried to force his way to the front of the field at times making things three and four wide on the numerous restarts.
On lap 107 David Starr brought out a record-breaking 10th and final caution of the race after spinning off Turn Four. Although he had the dominant truck in Friday’s race, Bowyer knew that Busch was lurking in the third spot. Bowyer chose the outside lane for the final restart of the race to try and get a jump on the inside lane where the No. 18 was lurking.
Bowyer’s decision appeared to have paid off as Busch fell to the fourth position when the race restarted on lap 112. NASCAR’s winningest active driver dove to the inside of Ron Hornaday Jr. and James Buescher going into turn three with 22 laps remaining and moved into the second position.
The No. 18 NOS Charged Citrus Toyota slowly chipped away at Bowyer’s lead as the race headed into the final 10 laps. On lap 127, Busch made a big run on Bowyer off the top side of turn two. As Bowyer’s No. 2 moved up the track to try and slow Busch’s momentum, the No. 18 quickly dove to the inside making it a side-by-side challenge for the lead down the backstretch. The 26-year-old was able to complete the pass off of turn four and hold off Bowyer for the last seven laps en route to his fourth NCWTS victory in seven races at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Rookie Cole Whitt finished third followed by Buescher and Hornaday Jr. Rounding out the top 10 were Johnny Sauter, Austin Dillon, Parker Klingerman, Justin Marks and Brad Sweet.
Kyle Busch Motorsports PR
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