Not even a pit road speeding penalty could keep Kyle Busch from his appointed rounds on Saturday at Michigan International Speedway.
With drafting help from Kyle Busch Motorsports teammate Erik Jones entering turn one, Busch regained the lead from Ryan Blaney on lap 97 of 100 in the Careers for Veterans 200 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race and held on to win by 0.157 seconds.
Blaney held the second spot, and Jones finished third, followed by Johnny Sauter and Austin Dillon. Two-time defending series champion Matt Crafton battled a buckling windshield, a penalty for pitting too soon to correct it and a late spin after contact from John Wes Townley’s Chevrolet to finish sixth.
Crafton gained three points on series leader Tyler Reddick, who ran ninth, and now trails by eight. Jones is third in the standings, nine points back.
The victory was Busch’s first at Michigan after four runner-up finishes in the series, and it was his second in two starts since returning from an injury that sidelined the driver of the No. 51 Toyota from all racing activity from February 21 through mid-May.
“First win for me, first win for KBM here,” said Busch, who won for the 44th time in the Truck Series. “I loved racing with those guys up there—Jones, Blaney and Dillon. It was pretty hectic on how all that was going to shape up and play out…
“Just cool to finally get that monkey off my back here in the Truck Series and notch another race track where I’ve won in all three divisions here at Michigan.”
Under caution on lap 27, Busch earned a speeding penalty while entering pit road and restarted at the back of the field on lap 31. By lap 51, Busch had worked his way back to fifth in the running order, and after an exchange of green-flag pit stops, he regained the lead on lap 69.
“We were trying something new with our tach settings, and it didn’t really work,” Busch said of the speeding infraction.
Drivers gauge pit road speeds with their tachometers and a series of lights on the dashboard. In essence, Busch was seeing two sets of lights at the same time, calibrated to different settings, and that led directly to the speeding penalty.
Once Busch passed Blaney with fewer than four laps left, Blaney—without a teammate to help—was resigned to a second-place finish.
“When we got the lead (after a lap 95 restart), I knew it was going to be hard to keep him behind us, because he can lay back to the 4 (Jones) and just get a big run and get by you,” Blaney said. “There’s nothing, as the leader, that you can do about it.
“You’re wide open. You can break the draft all you want, but when he’s got a partner, it’s just like speedway racing—he can go by you.”
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
Careers for Veterans 200
Presented by Cooper Standard and
Brad Keselowski’s Checkered Flag Foundation
Michigan International Speedway
1. (10) Kyle Busch(i), Toyota, 100, $43447.
2. (12) Ryan Blaney(i), Ford, 100, $36614.
3. (7) Erik Jones #, Toyota, 100, $26735.
4. (9) Johnny Sauter, Toyota, 100, $20254.
5. (3) Austin Dillon(i), Chevrolet, 100, $15653.
6. (1) Matt Crafton, Toyota, 100, $19792.
7. (2) Daniel Hemric #, Chevrolet, 100, $16325.
8. (5) Timothy Peters, Toyota, 100, $16241.
9. (11) Tyler Reddick, Ford, 100, $16185.
10. (6) Cameron Hayley #, Toyota, 100, $17107.
11. (16) Alex Bowman(i), Chevrolet, 100, $13852.
12. (17) John H. Nemechek #, Chevrolet, 100, $15934.
13. (23) Jordan Anderson, Chevrolet, 100, $15850.
14. (19) Garrett Smithley, Chevrolet, 100, $15795.
15. (13) Tyler Young, Chevrolet, 100, $16138.
16. (14) Spencer Gallagher #, Chevrolet, Accident, 99, $15711.
17. (8) John Wes Townley, Chevrolet, 99, $15799.
18. (20) Travis Kvapil, Chevrolet, 98, $15572.
19. (28) Jennifer Jo Cobb, Chevrolet, 98, $15515.
20. (18) Cody Coughlin, Toyota, 96, $15988.
21. (15) Chad Finley, Ford, 96, $13210.
22. (27) Korbin Forrister #, Chevrolet, 95, $15404.
23. (30) Wendell Chavous #, Chevrolet, 95, $15376.
24. (22) Mason Mingus, Chevrolet, Accident, 87, $14099.
25. (4) Ben Kennedy, Toyota, Accident, 82, $14220.
26. (21) Ray Black Jr. #, Chevrolet, 66, $13042.
27. (31) Norm Benning, Chevrolet, Rear Gear, 40, $12987.
28. (25) Caleb Roark, Chevrolet, Vibration, 19, $12747.
29. (32) Tyler Tanner, Chevrolet, Clutch, 16, $12692.
30. (26) BJ McLeod, Chevrolet, Electrical, 15, $12192.
31. (29) Todd Peck, Chevrolet, Rear Gear, 12, $10692.
32. (24) Justin Jennings, Chevrolet, Handling, 6, $9692.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 128.94 mph.
Time of Race: 01 Hrs, 33 Mins, 04 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.157 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 6 for 26 laps.
Lead Changes: 15 among 6 drivers.
Lap Leaders: 0; D. Hemric # 1-4; A. Dillon(i) 5-6; K. Busch(i) 7-26; A. Dillon(i) 27; E. Jones # 28-34; R. Blaney(i) 35; E. Jones # 36-44; J. Sauter 45-68; K. Busch(i) 69-76; R. Blaney(i) 77-81; K. Busch(i) 82-89; A. Dillon(i) 90; K. Busch(i) 91-94; R. Blaney(i) 95-96; K. Busch(i) 97-100.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): K. Busch(i) 5 times for 44 laps; J. Sauter 1 time for 24 laps; E. Jones # 2 times for 16 laps; R. Blaney(i) 3 times for 8 laps; A. Dillon(i) 3 times for 4 laps; D. Hemric # 1 time for 4 laps.
Top-Ten in Points: T. Reddick – 514; M. Crafton – 506; E. Jones # – 505; J. Sauter – 461; C. Hayley # – 425; D. Hemric # – 420; T. Peters – 416; J. Townley – 414; S. Gallagher # – 394; B. Kennedy – 381.
By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service