Kyle Busch wins NASCAR truck race at Bristol

BRISTOL, Tenn. — There’s no stopping Kyle Busch.

Busch earned his third win in the Craftsman Truck Series by dominating the O’Reilly 200 Wednesday night at Bristol Motor Speedway.

The 23-year-old led the final 130 laps, endured four cautions and a red flag over the final 21 laps and finally iced the victory by holding off the field on a green-white-checker finish.

“This feels pretty good,” Busch said. “We just had a great race tonight.”

Busch extended his record for combined victories in NASCAR’s three top series to 17. He also joined Mark Martin and Carl Edwards as the only drivers to win at the .533-mile banked oval in all three series.

“It’s fun to win anywhere, but to be able to do it in all three series at various race tracks, it means a lot,” Busch said.

Busch, driving a Toyota, took the lead for good on the 71st lap after a lengthy door-to-door battle with Jimmie Johnson. Todd Bodine finished second, followed by pole winner Scott Speed and Johnny Benson. The top four finishers were all driving Toyotas.

“Kyle is a hell of a shoe,” Bodine said. “He’s an incredibly talented race car driver.”

Benson started second and seized the lead on the first lap. He stayed out front until Busch passed him 29 laps later.

When the leaders pitted after a caution on Lap 42 — the second caution of the night — Johnson stayed out and took the lead. Once Johnson got out front, he took off on the restart, building his lead to more than three seconds before Tayler Malsam hit the wall and caused another caution.

After the restart, Johnson and Busch raced side by side for nine laps before Busch slid in front to regain the lead. Johnson, the defending Sprint Cup champion, fell out of contention after a crash just past the midway point. He began to spin coming out of the second turn and almost saved his truck before Dennis Setzer clipped his rear end, causing major damage.

“I just got loose and lost it,” said Johnson, who was making his Truck Series debut, “I saved it three times before it looped. I ran out of talent in the end.”

Benson was bidding to become the first driver to win four truck races in a row in the series’ 13-year history, but the series points leader wasn’t a factor as Busch continued to pull away. He increased his lead over Ron Hornaday Jr. to 119 points with nine races to go.

Wednesday at Bristol Motor Speedway

Bristol, Tenn.

Lap length: .533 miles

(Start position in parentheses)

1. (3) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 203 laps, 150 rating, 195 points, $50,075.

2. (4) Todd Bodine, Toyota, 203, 119.7, 170, $32,000.

3. (1) Scott Speed, Toyota, 203, 117.2, 165, $25,270.

4. (2) Johnny Benson, Toyota, 203, 116.3, 165, $16,285.

5. (24) Rick Crawford, Ford, 203, 99.6, 155, $15,610.

6. (10) T.J. Bell Jr., Chevrolet, 203, 88.7, 150, $11,510.

7. (14) Mike Skinner, Toyota, 203, 90.9, 146, $11,360.

8. (8) Dennis Setzer, Dodge, 203, 88.5, 142, $11,310.

9. (30) David Stremme, Toyota, 203, 77.6, 138, $9,010.

10. (28) Ted Musgrave, Toyota, 203, 72.7, 134, $12,660.

11. (31) Chad McCumbee, Chevrolet, 203, 63.6, 130, $11,760.

12. (15) Donny Lia, Chevrolet, 203, 78.7, 127, $11,010.

13. (16) Brendan Gaughan, Ford, 203, 79.8, 124, $11,260.

14. (12) Jack Sprague, Chevrolet, 203, 92.7, 121, $10,910.

15. (23) Erik Darnell, Ford, 203, 61.6, 118, $11,785.

16. (34) Jon Wood, Ford, 203, 47.1, 115, $10,760.

17. (26) Sean Murphy, Chevrolet, 203, 56.2, 112, $10,105.

18. (21) Jason White, Dodge, 202, 60.2, 109, $10,635.

19. (22) Brian Scott, Chevrolet, 200, 48, 106, $10,585.

20. (36) Chris Jones, Chevrolet, 199, 36.7, 103, $8,985.

21. (29) Matt Crafton, Chevrolet, 198, 42.3, 100, $10,485.

22. (5) Justin Marks, Toyota, 189, 35.8, 97, $9,210.

23. (17) Terry Cook, Toyota, 186, 52.9, 94, $9,185.

24. (6) Ron Hornaday Jr., Chevrolet, 183, 95.4, 91, $9,160.

25. (25) Patrick Carpentier, Dodge, accident, 180, 47.7, 88, $8,110.

26. (13) Shelby Howard, Chevrolet, accident, 176, 55.9, 85, $8,060.

27. (32) Jeff Green, Chevrolet, 169, 32.2, 82, $8,035.

28. (35) Bryan Silas, Chevrolet, accident, 165, 29.8, 79, $8,010.

29. (20) David Starr, Toyota, accident, 141, 59.2, 76, $7,960.

30. (7) Timothy Peters, Dodge, accident, 123, 79.5, 73, $7,935.

31. (19) Stacy Compton, Dodge, accident, 123, 62.4, 70, $7,500.

32. (11) Colin Braun, Ford, 107, 57.8, 67, $7,435.

33. (27) Ken Schrader, Toyota, accident, 106, 42.7, 64, $7,410.

34. (9) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, accident, 101, 82.9, 66, $7,385.

35. (18) John Wes Townley, Ford, accident, 78, 44, 58, $7,360.

36. (33) Tayler Malsam, Dodge, accident, 53, 34.1, 55, $7,324.

Race Statistics

Winner’s Average Speed: 65.388 mph.

Time of Race: 1 hour, 39 minutes, 17 seconds.

Margin of Victory: 0.386 seconds.

Caution Flags: 12 for 69 laps.

Lead Changes: 4 among 3 drivers.

Lap Leaders: J.Benson 1-29. K.Busch 30-41. J.Johnson 42-70. K.Busch 71-203.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Led, Laps Led): K.Busch, 2 times for 145 laps. J.Benson, 1 time for 29 laps. J.Johnson, 1 time for 29 laps.

Top 10 in Points

1. J.Benson 2,426. 2. R.Hornaday Jr. 2,307. 3. M.Crafton 2,270. 4. T.Bodine 2,187. 5. M.Skinner 2,172. 6. R.Crawford 2,165. 7. E.Darnell 2,139. 8. J.Sprague 2,073. 9. T.Cook 2,046. 10. D.Setzer 1,990.

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.