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Race report

With new team, Kyle Busch wins Atlanta Truck race

A new team did little to deter Kyle Busch’s dominance in the NASCAR Truck Series as his debut with Spire Motorsports ended with victory at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Busch, with drafting help from Ty Majeski, made it to the front with six of 135 laps remaining just as race-leader Grant Enfinger fell off the pace with a flat tire.

From there, Busch went high and low to hold off Majeski by 0.187 seconds to earn his series-leading 65th career win.

 

Busch is running five Truck races with Spire this season after selling his Kyle Busch Motorsports Truck organization in the offseason.

“You’re relying on help, right? So, you got to have guys behind you that are willing to work with you and Majeski was that guy for me today,” Busch said.

“We had a bunch of Spire teammates that were good out there, too. I wanted to get us all on the bottom (lane) that time and we did, we drove right up to the front and I was going to try to pull both lanes but as soon as I pulled out to the front, the bottom went away.

“So, I was like, ‘Well, sorry.’ ”

Corey Heim ended up third, Taylor Gray was fourth and last weekend’s winner at Daytona, Nick Sanchez, rounded out the top five.

Completing the top 10 were Kaden Honeycutt, Tyler Ankrum, Rajah Caruth, Daniel Dye and Dean Thompson.

Stage 1

Christian Eckes grabbed the lead on restart from a caution then held off Ankrum by 0.194 seconds to take the Stages 1 win. Layne Riggs was third. Enfinger fourth and Majeski rounded out the top five.

Eckes, however, had brake issues on his No. 19 Chevrolet and missed his pit box during his stop during the stage break.

Stage 2

Busch claimed the Stage 2 win under caution when Jack Wood got wrecked on the last of the 30 laps. Ankrum was second and Enfinger was third.

Thad Moffitt, Riggs and Dye got together in Turn 3 on lap 49 which sent Moffitt in a big spin.

 

During the caution, Eckes took his No. 19 truck to the garage and NASCAR asked the driver and crew chief to report to the hauler after the race to discuss their brake issue.

Stage 3

Following the break between Stages 2 and 3, most of the trucks elected to pit but Matt Mills remained on the track and in the lead on the restart with 69 laps to go.

NASCAR was forced to put the race under caution on lap 80 for a large piece of debris on the frontstretch. Just prior to that, Caruth was forced to pit road with a flat tire.

All the trucks hit pit road for new tires and fuel to make it to the finish of the race with Ankrum first off pit road. He led Heim and Busch when the race resumed on lap 86.

Another caution for a debris set up a restart with 36 laps to go and Ankrum still out front of Heim and Busch.

Thompson moved into the lead on the restart with help from Majeski before another caution for debris set up a restart with 31 laps remaining.

With 20 laps to go, Enfinger had taken control of the race but was followed closely by Busch and Majeski.

Ben Rhodes hit the Turn 3 wall with nine laps remaining but was able to make it to pit road as Enfinger continued to lead.

Enfinger fell off the pace due to a flat tire with six laps remaining as Busch moved into the lead with Majeski close behind him.

CLA DRIVER # MANUFACTURER LAPS TIME INTERVAL PITS POINTS
1 K. BuschSPIRE MOTORSPORTS 7 Chevrolet 135

1:51'56.369

  4  
2 T. MajeskiTHORSPORT RACING 98 Ford 135

+0.187

1:51'56.556

0.187 6  
3
C. HeimTRICON GARAGE
11 Toyota 135

+0.196

1:51'56.565

0.009 6  
4
T. GrayTRICON GARAGE
17 Toyota 135

+0.273

1:51'56.642

0.077 6  
5
N. SanchezREV RACING
2 Chevrolet 135

+0.649

1:51'57.018

0.376 6  
6
K. HoneycuttNIECE MOTORSPORTS
45 Chevrolet 135

+0.892

1:51'57.261

0.243 7  
7 T. AnkrumMCANALLY HILGEMANN RACING 18 Chevrolet 135

+0.896

1:51'57.265

0.004 5  
8
R. CaruthSPIRE MOTORSPORTS
71 Chevrolet 135

+0.990

1:51'57.359

0.094 6  
9
D. DyeMCANALLY HILGEMANN RACING
43 Chevrolet 135

+1.174

1:51'57.543

0.184 6  
10
D. ThompsonTRICON GARAGE
5 Toyota 135

+2.983

1:51'59.352

1.809 7  
11
B. HolmesBRET HOLMES RACING
32 Chevrolet 135

+5.503

1:52'01.872

2.520 9  
12
A. LawlessREAUME BROTHERS RACING
33 Ford 135

+5.735

1:52'02.104

0.232 10  
13 M. CraftonTHORSPORT RACING 88 Ford 135

+6.042

1:52'02.411

0.307 6  
14 T. DillonRACKLEY W.A.R. 25 Chevrolet 135

+6.088

1:52'02.457

0.046 10  
15 C. PurdySPIRE MOTORSPORTS 77 Chevrolet 135

+6.117

1:52'02.486

0.029 7  
16
J. GarciaTHORSPORT RACING
13 Ford 135

+6.287

1:52'02.656

0.170 24  
17
C. HowardTRICON GARAGE
1 Toyota 135

+6.335

1:52'02.704

0.048 9  
18 T. HillHILL MOTORSPORTS 56 Toyota 135

+6.726

1:52'03.095

0.391 10  
19 T. GrayTRICON GARAGE 15 Toyota 135

+6.945

1:52'03.314

0.219 7  
20
M. MasseyYOUNG'S MOTORSPORTS
02 Chevrolet 135

+8.598

1:52'04.967

1.653 10  
21
K. McGeeREAUME BROTHERS RACING
22 Ford 134

+1 Lap

1:52'12.514

1 Lap 9  
22 S. BoydFREEDOM RACING ENTERPRISES 76 Chevrolet 134

+1 Lap

1:52'13.842

1.328 9  
23 S. FriesenHALMAR FRIESEN RACING 52 Toyota 133

+2 Laps

1:52'01.722

1 Lap 8  
24
L. RiggsFRONT ROW MOTORSPORTS
38 Ford 133

+2 Laps

1:52'02.567

0.845 9  
25
M. Maggio
21 Ford 133

+2 Laps

1:52'17.946

15.379 8 12
26 G. EnfingerCR7 MOTORSPORTS 9 Chevrolet 133

+2 Laps

1:52'28.551

10.605 6  
27 T. MoffittFACTION MOTORSPORTS 46 Chevrolet 132

+3 Laps

1:52'13.417

1 Lap 9  
28 M. MillsNIECE MOTORSPORTS 42 Chevrolet 132

+3 Laps

1:52'18.698

5.281 10  
29 B. RhodesTHORSPORT RACING 99 Ford 130

+5 Laps

1:52'39.165

2 Laps 11  
30
C. JonesTHORSPORT RACING
66 Ford 129

+6 Laps

1:52'03.616

1 Lap 11  
31 B. CurreyNIECE MOTORSPORTS 41 Chevrolet 96

+39 Laps

1:23'49.706

33 Laps 6  
32
J. WoodMCANALLY HILGEMANN RACING
91 Chevrolet 57

+78 Laps

46'54.518

39 Laps 5  
33 C. EckesMCANALLY HILGEMANN RACING 19 Chevrolet 50

+85 Laps

41'18.882

7 Laps 6

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