Busch Holds Off Truck Series’ Colts to Win UNOH 225

Kyle Busch held off late challenges from young driver’s Joey Coulter and Parker Kligerman to capture the UNOH 225 at Kentucky Speedway Thursday night in a green-white-checkered finish. The win was Busch’s fifth of 2011, 29th career in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) and 98th career in NASCAR’s top three divisions. The Las Vegas native now ranks second on the NCWTS All-Time Wins list and moves past NASCAR legends Dale Earnhardt and Darrell Waltrip into third place on the All-Time Combined Wins list.

“I can’t say enough about all the guys on this Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) team,” remarked Busch. “They gave me a fast Dollar General Tundra tonight. It might not have been the best truck. It was certainly fast enough at the end there when it mattered. We got some good restarts there and stayed out of the trouble behind us. It’s a big program and there are a lot of people and that’s why we’re able to come to the race track.”

Busch, NASCAR’s workhorse, put in a full day’s work on the 1.5-mile tri-oval participating in six hours of testing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, an hour of NASCAR Nationwide Series practice and qualifying for the NCWTS race before the UNOH 225 field took the track.

The No. 18 Dollar General Toyota qualified eighth, but was forced start from the rear of the field after NASCAR deemed him to have missed the driver’s meeting. After the conclusion of Sprint Cup Series practice at 6:00 p.m. ET, Busch immediately hopped out of his No. 18 M&M’s Camry and made his way to the meeting, scheduled to begin at 6:00 p.m. ET, being held at nearby Bluegrass Hall in the infield at Kentucky Speedway. Despite the tight schedule, NASCAR officials started the driver’s meeting on time and had already conducted roll call when Busch, the only driver who was entered in both the Cup Series and NCWTS, arrived. Per NASCAR rules if a driver is not present for roll call, that driver must move to the rear of the field before the start of the race.

Busch quickly galloped through the field and was scored in the 13th spot when a three-car accident brought out the second caution of the race on lap 19. Crew Chief Eric Phillips decided to bring the No. 18 Dollar General Tundra down pit road for a fuel-only stop and returned his driver to the track scored in 13th.

By lap 30, the 26-year-old had made his way into the top 10 for the first time. The race continued under green flag conditions and trucks that elected to not pit during the first two cautions of the race began making their way down pit road on lap 50. Busch was scored in the third position on lap 59 when a one-car spin brought out the third caution of the night. When pit road opened, he brought his Tundra in for four fresh tires, with an air pressure adjustment, and a full tank of fuel. Quick service by the Dollar General crew allowed Busch to win the race off pit road and assume the lead for the first time.

After the race restarted on lap 64, the No. 18 Dollar General Toyota took advantage of the clean air at the front of the field and slowly pulled away from the pack. Busch paced the field for the next 38 laps with pole-sitter Johnny Sauter in hot pursuit.

Sauter was able to race side-by-side with Busch through turns 1 and 2 on two restarts in the middle stages of the race, but Busch held serve each time and maintained the lead down the backstretch. During a long green flag run, Sauter finally made his way to the lead and appeared to have the fastest truck as he pulled away from the field. Busch faded to third place as he communicated to Phillips that he needed more rear stability from his truck.

The race proceeded without caution, forcing teams to make their final pit stops under green flag conditions. On lap 123, Busch brought the No. 18 Dollar General Toyota down pit road for four fresh tires and a full tank of fuel and returned to the track scored in the eighth spot.

As the race approached the final stages, it appeared to be a three-horse race between Sauter, Austin Dillon and Busch. Sauter fell out of contention when a rear axle broke during his final pit stop and forced him to the garage. Shortly after making his final stop, Dillon’s hood came unpinned and covered his windshield. With an obstructed view, the No. 3 was forced to return to pit road and ended up finishing 14th.

After pit stops cycled through, Busch retook the lead on lap 134. Rookie Joey Coulter was in second-place and charging fast when a one-car spin brought out the sixth caution of the race on lap 143. On the lap-146 restart, Coulter spun his tires allowing Busch to maintain the race lead and other competitors to make their way around the rookie.

A five-car wreck in turn 4 brought out the final caution of the race, setting up a green-white-checkered finish. Jason White had made his way into second place and lined up to Busch’s inside for the final restart. Rookie Parker Kligerman made his way past White into second on the restart but and pulled within a truck length of the No. 18 Dollar General Toyota but could not make his way around a resilient Busch.

“It was looking to be a (No.) 3 (Austin Dillon) truck night and then he had his problems,” reflected Busch. “I don’t even know what happened. Then the (No.) 22 (Joey Coulter) was coming on me and I said ‘Here comes another one.’ And the caution come out and saved us — he would have passed us. We never give up. That’s our mentality. We might not have the fastest truck tonight, but we certainly gave it our all.”

 

Kyle Busch Motorsports PR