Kyle Busch captured his first Camping World Truck Series win at Martinsville Speedway on Saturday. Busch, making his first Camping World Truck Series start of 2016, started the race in the runner-up spot. The Las Vegas native will score his 45th victory in the series since making his debut in 2001. The win total for Busch, combined through all three national series in 2016, currently sits at four.
“This is just a day we’ve been looking for for a long, long time,” Busch said after the race. “We’ve never necessarily had all the pieces go together like we should have. And I didn’t know the pieces were going to go together today, the way the cautions (11 of them) played out, the way the tire strategy was playing out — when to pit, when not to pit, how to do all that.”
John Hunter Nemechek took his No. 8 Chevrolet to a second-place finish. Nemechek, who won the last Camping World Truck Series event at Atlanta Motor Speedway on February 27, stayed upfront for most of the afternoon to contend for the race lead. The North Carolina native holds two victories, 11 top five and 18 top 10 finishes in 33 starts.
William Byron had a quiet day despite a third-place finish at the 0.526-mile oval in Virginia. Byron started seventh in his No. 9 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota and stayed inside the top 10 for most of the afternoon. The 18-year old driver captured his best career finish in only four starts. His previous best came in the season opener at Daytona where Byron finished 13th.
Season opening winner Johnny Sauter had some problems out of the gate on lap 41. Sauter blew a tire and made heavy impact into the wall that would end their day. After starting in third, Sauter will leave Martinsville with a 32nd-place finish in his No. 21 Chevrolet.
Parker Kligerman had some work to do when the Alpha Energy Solutions 250 got underway. Kligerman, the series points leader coming into the weekend, started the 250-lap event in 25th. The 25-year old took his No. 92 BTS Tire Ford to an eighth-place finish. He now holds one top five and three top 10 finishes through three races in 2016.
Ben Rhodes captured his first Camping World Truck Series pole earlier in the day. He would finish 16th after leading two different times for 43 laps. The young driver holds one top five and five top 10 finishes through seven starts.
John Hunter Nemechek will take over the standings lead by three points over Kligerman. Timothy Peters will go into Kansas Speedway next month sitting third in the series standings by six points. Tyler Young and Cameron Hayley will round out the top five.
The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will take another month off. They will not return until May 6th for the Toyota Tundra 250 at Kansas Speedway. Coverage will begin at 8:30 p.m. ET. on FOX Sports 1. Radio coverage will be provided by the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR radio.
About Me: Brett has been following the sport of NASCAR since the beginning of the 2006 NASCAR Sprint Cup season. Since Brett was 13, he has had a passion of chasing a job in sports that not many get the opportunity of doing. He has been in the NASCAR media since the middle of the 2010 season. Since then, he has been a part of many racing podcast shows to improve his talents. He has written for racingonfuel.com and theracingwheel.com. Currently, Brett writes for motorsportsnat.com and TracksideChatter.com. You can find him on twitter @NASCAR_Brett.
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