SPARTA, Ky. - Kyle Busch was in rare form on Thursday, capping a controversial night with a victory in the Camping World Truck Series UNOH 225 at Kentucky Speedway.
Camping World Trucks: Kyle Busch Starts Last but Finishes First at Kentucky
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The day was a long one for Busch, who was in a race car for most of the 95 degree day for Sprint Cup testing, Nationwide practice, and Truck Series action.
He was among the fastest teams in all three series and won the night’s main event but the day wasn’t without controversy.
Busch missed the Truck Series drivers meeting because he was undergoing a test session with his Cup team - a test that was open at the same time as the mandatory meeting. Busch arrived to the meeting just moments after it started but NASCAR penalized the Las Vegas native to the back of the field anyways.
Seemingly in response, Busch missed Thursday’s driver introductions, instead opting to relax and hydrate.
“I was just trying to cool off,” Busch said.
It took Busch just 60 laps to take to the point and overall led a total of 61 laps, including a green-white-checkered finish to capture his fifth Truck Series victory of 2011.
“We ended up having a really good truck that ended up getting us through the first half of the field and we just kept working on it,” Busch said. “Late in the going at the end of the race, the truck tightened up and the other guys were really running me down and were a lot faster than I was.”
Eric Phillips, Busch’s crew chief, battled changing track conditions all night but the car wasn’t as fast in the final stages as some of their rivals.
Busch put the race away on the final two restarts when Jason White, Parker Klingerman, and Brendan Gaughan each spun tires opposite Busch. Busch pulled away each time en route to victory.
“The cautions came out perfect. We had two really good restarts with guys who were a little anxious and spun their tires. We just needed to make sure we didn’t spin ours,” Busch said. “It worked out well for us.”
Klingerman finished second and Gaughan completed the podium.
Johnny Sauter leads the Trucks Series championship standings by 23 over Cole Whitt. The top five in points entering Kentucky all had problems on Thursday.
The top nine are now separated by just 55 markers.
Matt Weaver is the senior writer and content editor for NASCAR Ranting and Raving and will be tweeting from Kentucky Speedway all weekend. Follow him @MattWeaverSBN
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