Kyle Busch wins NASCAR trucks race at Bristol

Published 8:09 pm Wednesday, August 19, 2009

BRISTOL, Tenn. — Kyle Busch pulled away from Matt Crafton in the closing laps to easily win the O’Reilly 200 truck series race Wednesday night at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Rookie Tayler Malsam of Mill Creek finished 31st and many laps down after getting collected in Todd Bodine’s spin early in the race, bringing out the first caution.

It was Malsam’s worst finish of the season in the series, and he dropped two places in the standings to No. 9. He started 30th after a tough draw put him on a green racetrack — rain showers swept the area earlier — as one of the first drivers to make a qualifying attempt.

Busch passed Jason White for the lead on lap 124 and then steadily pulled away from Crafton after the race’s final caution period on lap 175.

Driving the No. 51 Toyota for Billy Ballew, it was Busch’s second straight win at the .533-mile short track and his third victory of the season. He has 12 victories overall in the three NASCAR national touring series this season.

“It’s a fun place to race,” Busch said. “For some reason, I’ve really taken to this track. We knew we had a fast truck. It was great to be able to capitalize tonight.”

Busch wasn’t confident he had the truck to win during practice leading up to the race. He credited being able to go to the high groove as a reason for his charge from sixth to the lead over the first 32 laps.

“We just came forward the first of the race by working the top,” he said. “We were the first ones to go up there and take advantage of it.”

Ron Hornaday Jr. finished third to end his series-record winning streak at five. His five wins coming into the race were the most in one of NASCAR’s three national series since Bobby Allison and Richard Petty each won five consecutive Sprint Cup races in 1971.

“Bristol is the toughest one,” said Hornaday, the defending series champion. “I was pretty conservative. We finished in the top five, which is what we needed for the points.”

The 51-year-old Hornaday increased his lead to 211 points over Crafton in the series standings. His winning streak started on June 20 at Milwaukee with the last win coming on August 1 at Nashville.

“I’m sort of glad it’s over so I can quit talking about it and go racing again,” Hornaday said. “It’s been a great ride. It’s been a lot of fun and we hope to start a new one. We’re not done yet.”

Ryan Newman, who is running four NASCAR-sanctioned events at BMS this week, started on the pole with a speed of 122.217 mph. The 2008 Daytona 500 winner finished fourth, just hours after finishing 37th in a race for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Series.

Busch led two times for 82 laps to score his 12th career Truck Series victory. White, who finished 14th after a late pit stop, led for 86 laps.

Wednesday at Bristol Motor Speedway

(Start position in parentheses)

1. (6) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 200 laps, 142.2 rating, 190 points.

2. (18) Matt Crafton, Chevrolet, 200, 108.9, 170.

3. (3) Ron Hornaday Jr., Chevrolet, 200, 117.8, 165.

4. (1) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 200, 110.7, 165.

5. (5) Brian Scott, Toyota, 200, 113.9, 155.

6. (7) Aric Almirola, Toyota, 200, 85, 150.

7. (14) David Starr, Toyota, 200, 89.2, 146.

8. (15) T.J. Bell, Toyota, 200, 93.2, 142.

9. (23) Stacy Compton, Toyota, 200, 86.6, 138.

10. (8) Timothy Peters, Toyota, 200, 103.2, 134.

11. (27) J.R. Fitzpatrick, Chevrolet, 200, 80.2, 130.

12. (4) Colin Braun, Ford, 200, 83.8, 127.

13. (22) James Buescher, Ford, 200, 68.3, 124.

14. (10) Jason White, Dodge, 200, 109.3, 131.

15. (21) Terry Cook, Toyota, 200, 69.3, 118.

16. (11) Ken Schrader, Chevrolet, 199, 58.1, 115.

17. (13) Hermie Sadler, Chevrolet, 199, 60.9, 112.

18. (25) Johnny Sauter, Chevrolet, 199, 57.6, 109.

19. (9) Rick Crawford, Ford, 198, 80.3, 106.

20. (2) Mike Skinner, Toyota, 198, 87.6, 108.

21. (17) Dennis Setzer, Chevrolet, 198, 66.6, 100.

22. (12) Chris Jones, Chevrolet, 198, 65.7, 97.

23. (28) Chris Fontaine, Chevrolet, 197, 41.9, 94.

24. (31) Brett Butler, Chevrolet, 196, 40.9, 0.

25. (36) Brent Raymer, Ford, 190, 35.8, 88.

26. (20) Nate Monteith, Toyota, 181, 42.4, 85.

27. (19) Chad McCumbee, Chevrolet, rear end, 172, 63.3, 82.

28. (29) Max Papis, Toyota, 168, 41.5, 79.

29. (33) Norm Benning, Chevrolet, transmission, 164, 29.8, 76.

30. (24) Brad Keselowski, Chevrolet, engine, 156, 52.2, 73.

31. (30) Tayler Malsam, Toyota, 142, 37.7, 70.

32. (26) Todd Bodine, Toyota, 137, 40.6, 67.

33. (16) Rob Fuller, Chevrolet, engine, 74, 46.1, 64.

34. (34) Nick Tucker, Dodge, brakes, 16, 33.4, 61.

35. (32) Butch Miller, Chevrolet, handling, 13, 26.9, 58.

36. (35) Wayne Edwards, Chevrolet, overheating, 7, 28, 55.

Race Statistics

Average Speed of Race Winner: 85.968 mph.

Time of Race: 1 hour, 14 minutes, 24 seconds.

Margin of Victory: 2.721 seconds.

Caution Flags: 5 for 32 laps.

Lead Changes: 5 among 4 drivers.

Lap Leaders: M.Skinner 1-31; K.Busch 32-36; R.Newman 37; J.White 38-123; K.Busch 124-200.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Led, Laps Led): J.White, 1 time for 86 laps; K.Busch, 2 times for 82 laps; M.Skinner, 1 time for 31 laps; R.Newman, 1 time for 1 lap.

Top 10 in Points

1. R.Hornaday Jr., 2,458; 2. M.Crafton, 2,247; 3. M.Skinner, 2,153; 4. B.Scott, 2,075; 5. D.Starr, 2,013; 6. T.Bodine, 1,994; 7. C.Braun, 1,931; 8. D.Setzer, 1,915; 9. T.Malsam, 1,901; 10. R.Crawford, 1,891.

NASCAR Driver Rating Formula

A maximum of 150 points can be attained in a race.

The formula combines the following categories: Wins, Finishes, Top-15 Finishes, Average Running Position While on Lead Lap, Average Speed Under Green, Fastest Lap, Led Most Laps, Lead-Lap Finish.