In his third full-time season in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Parker Kligerman is primed to achieve a milestone start. By competing in this weekend’s Xfinity event at Darlington Raceway, the driver of the No. 48 Big Machine Racing Chevrolet Camaro will make his 100th career start in the Xfinity circuit.
A native of Westport, Connecticut, Kligerman made his inaugural presence in the Xfinity Series at Kansas Speedway in October 2009. By then, he was competing on a full-time basis in the ARCA Racing Series for Cunningham Motorsports, where he would achieve nine victories and a runner-up result in the final standings, and was a development competitor for Team Penske. Driving the No. 22 Penske Dodge, Kligerman notched his first career pole position after posting a pole-winning lap at 172.778 mph in 31.254 seconds and would lead the first seven laps before settling in 16th place in the final running order. He returned for the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November, where he piloted the No. 42 Team 42 Racing Dodge to a 25th-place finish.
In 2010, Kligerman made a total of 12 starts in the Xfinity Series between Team Penske and Team 42, with his first start occurring at Auto Club Speedway in February and finishing 22nd despite failing to qualify for the season opener at Daytona International Speedway. After notching his first career top-10 result at Bristol Motor Speedway in August by finishing ninth, the Connecticut native then notched a season-best eighth-place result at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal during the following event. Ultimately, he recorded a total of six top-15 results between his two part-time rides. He would make a total of four Xfinity starts for Team Penske between 2011 and 2012, where he would notch three top-10 results and finish as high as seventh, which occurred at Chicagoland Speedway in July 2012.
In 2013, Kligerman, who had scored his first Craftsman Truck Series victory at Talladega in October 2012 while driving for Red Horse Racing, joined Kyle Busch Motorsports to pilot the No. 77 Toyota Camry on a full-time basis. Commencing the season by finishing fifth at Daytona while dodging a harrowing multi-car wreck on the frontstretch, Kligerman would record a total of three top-five results, 13 top-10 results, 45 laps led and an average-finishing result of 14.1 throughout the 33-race schedule before settling in ninth place in the final standings. By then, he notched a career-best third-place result at Road America in June and a fourth-place finish at Auto Club Speedway in March. At Michigan International Speedway in June, Kligerman led 13 laps and was in the position of achieving his first career victory amid a late pit strategy and gamble before pitting for fuel with 14 laps remaining and ending up in 25th place while two laps down.
With Kyle Busch Motorsports ceasing its Xfinity Series program after the 2013 season, Kligerman would move up to the NASCAR Cup Series to compete for Swan Racing and contend for the 2014 Rookie-of-the-Year title. The driver, however, would be released by Swan Racing after the team sold its operations to Xxxtreme Motorsport following the first eight scheduled events. A year later and after he joined NBC Sports Network as an analyst, he made a single Xfinity start for Obaika Racing at Darlington Raceway, where he finished 21st. Another two years later, he competed at Road America for Precision Performance Motorsports, where he finished 10th.
In 2022, Kligerman made a total of three starts in the Xfinity Series, with his first start occurring at Circuit of the Americas for Emerling-Gase Motorsports, where he finished 12th. He remained with the team as he competed at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course, where he ended up 37th after being eliminated in an early incident. His third and final start of the season occurred at Talladega Superspeedway during the Xfinity Series Playoffs, where he piloted the No. 48 Big Machine Racing Chevrolet Camaro to a sixth-place finish.
In late October 2022, Big Machine Racing announced that Kligerman will be driving the team’s No. 48 Chevrolet Camaro on a full-time basis for the 2023 Xfinity season. He commenced the season with a 23rd-place finish at Daytona after being involved in a final lap wreck amid an overtime shootout. After finishing 10th, 11th and 15th, respectively, during his next three starts, Kligerman was in contention of achieving his first victory at Atlanta Motor Speedway until he got turned approaching the finish line and wrecked, but managing a fourth-place finish. Kligerman and the No. 48 Big Machine Racing team would proceed to notch six top-five results and 12 top-10 results during the remaining 21 regular-season events, with their best result being a runner-up finish at Road America in late July.
By virtue of the results and the consistency, including a seven-race consecutive streak of top-nine results between July and August and a fourth-place finish during the regular-season finale at Kansas Speedway in September, Kligerman managed to claim the 12th and final berth to the 2023 Xfinity Series Playoffs over Stewart-Haas Racing’s Riley Herbst.
Commencing the 2023 Playoffs with a 31st-place result at Bristol Motor Speedway, Kligerman rallied during the following two events at Texas Motor Speedway and at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course by finishing second and sixth, respectively. The results, however, were enough for the Connecticut native to not transfer into the Round of 8 by four points. Nabbing two top-10 results during the final four events on the schedule, Kligerman settled in a career-best 10th place in the final driver’s standings. By then, he had achieved career-high stats in top fives (8), top 10s (18) and an average-finishing result of 13.2 as a full-time competitor.
Remaining at Big Machine Racing for the 2024 season, Kligerman has achieved three top-10 results through the first 10 events on the schedule. He is currently ranked in ninth place in the current 2024 driver’s standings and trails the series points lead by 133 points.
Through 99 previous starts in the Xfinity Series, Kligerman has achieved one pole, 12 top-five results, 41 top-10 results, 107 laps led and an average-finishing result of 14.9 as he continues his pursuit for both his first Xfinity race victory and championship.
Parker Kligerman is scheduled to make his 100th Xfinity Series career start at Darlington Raceway for the Crown Royal Purple Bag Project 200 on Saturday, May 11, with the event’s broadcast time to commence at 1 p.m. ET on FS1.
In his fourth full-time campaign in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, Christian Eckes is poised to achieve a milestone start of his own. By taking the green flag in this weekend’s Buckle Up South Carolina 200 at Darlington Raceway, the driver of the No. 19 McAnally-Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet Silverado RST will reach 100 career starts in the Truck circuit.
A native of Greenville, New York, Eckes, winner of the 2016 Snowball Derby and Myrtle Beach 400, made his Truck Series debut at Iowa Speedway in June 2018. By then, he was competing on a part-time basis in the ARCA Menards Series for Venturini Motorsports and was coming off his first career victory at Salem Speedway. Driving the No. 46 Toyota Tundra for Kyle Busch Motorsports, Eckes started ninth and finished eighth in his series debut. In the following event at World Wide Technology Raceway, he led 34 laps and won the second stage before ending up in 28th place following a late wreck after he got bumped and turned by Stewart Friesen into the outside wall entering the backstretch. Eckes would return for his third Truck career start at Martinsville Speedway in October, where he finished ninth, before finishing ninth for the third time in his career at Phoenix Raceway in November.
The following season, Eckes, who contended for the ARCA Menards Series championship for Venturini Motorsports, made a total of eight Truck Series starts in the No. 51 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota entry. His first start occurred during the season-opening event at Daytona International Speedway, where he started on pole position for the first time in his career. Despite leading the first lap, Eckes ended up 22nd after being involved in two late incidents. His next start occurred at World Wide Technology Raceway in June, where he started on pole, led a race-high 57 laps and was contending for the victory until he got turned by Friesen on the final lap and dropped to 14th place in the final running order.
He would then finish fourth, sixth, and 15th during his next three starts at Pocono Raceway, Eldora Speedway and Michigan International Speedway, respectively, before finishing third at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in September and 17th at Martinsville in October, both of which he started on pole position. During the season-finale event at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the New York native started on the front row and led 26 laps before settling in third place on the track and delivering the seventh Truck Series owner’s championship for Kyle Busch Motorsports. By then, Eckes, who had notched three top-five results, four top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 10.8 through eight Truck starts, had also claimed the 2019 ARCA championship.
Following two strong part-time seasons, Eckes moved up to the Truck Series on a full-time basis in 2020 behind the wheel of the No. 18 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota Tundra, where he contended for the Rookie-of-the-Year title. After commencing the season by finishing no higher than 14th during the first three scheduled events, he notched his first top-five result of the season by finishing third at Atlanta. He then claimed two top-10 results during his next three starts before posting a career-best runner-up result behind team owner Kyle Busch at Texas Motor Speedway in July. Eckes then claimed back-to-back runner results at Kansas Speedway and at Michigan International Speedway, respectively, before posting a single top-five result within the final five regular-season events.
By then, Eckes managed to qualify for the 2020 Truck Series Playoffs based on points. His Playoff run, however, came to an early end following respective finishes of 17th, eighth and 18th during the Round of 10. Managing three top-six finishes during the final four-scheduled events, including back-to-back fourth-place runs at Martinsville and Phoenix, Eckes settled in eighth place in the final driver’s standings and in the runner-up spot behind Zane Smith for the rookie title.
After being released by Kyle Busch Motorsports following the 2020 season, Eckes joined ThorSport Racing and competed on a part-time basis in the 2021 Truck Series season while sharing the No. 98 Toyota Tundra with Grant Enfinger. His first start occurred at the Daytona International Speedway Road Course in February, where he finished 10th. He then finished ninth and fourth, respectively, during his next two events at Las Vegas and Kansas before managing three top-15 results during his next five starts. Then at Las Vegas in September, Eckes capitalized on a four-lap shootout to capture his first Truck Series career victory in his 44th series start and amid a historic 1-2-3-4 finish for ThorSport Racing. Eckes would conclude the 2021 season in sixth place during the season-finale at Phoenix as ThorSport Racing’s No. 98 entry ended up in ninth place in the final owner’s standings.
Achieving a full-time ride in ThorSport Racing’s No. 98 entry for the 2022 Truck season, Eckes commenced the season on a high note by finishing third at Daytona. He then recorded two top-six results during the following six events on the schedule before posting four consecutive top-five results, including two runner-up finishes, during his next four starts. With three additional top-10 results occurring during the final five regular-season events, Eckes made his second career appearance in the Truck Series Playoffs as a title contender. Following respective finishes of 16th, eighth and 10th throughout the Round of 10, he transferred into the Round of 8. Despite finishing no lower than eighth during the Round of 8, Eckes did not transfer into the Championship 4 round and would conclude the season in eighth place in the final standings. By then, Eckes claimed a career-high stat in top 10s (15) and posted a career-best average-finishing result of 10.9 as a full-time competitor.
The 2023 season presented another new beginning for Eckes, who departed ThorSport and joined McAnally-Hilgemann Racing to drive the No. 19 Chevrolet Silverado RST on a full-time basis, where he replaced the 2019 ARCA Menards Series West champion, Derek Kraus. After settling in third place during the season-opening event at Daytona followed by a sixth-place finish at Las Vegas amid a wild save while being sideways, the New York native capitalized on an overtime shootout to edge rookie Nick Sanchez on the final lap and at the moment of caution to grab his second Truck Series career victory at Atlanta in March. Amid respective finishes of 30th, 15th, 30th, 15th and 30th during his next five starts, Eckes capitalized on two overtime shootouts to grab his second Truck victory of the season at Darlington Raceway in May. He would then notch four top-seven results, including two top-three results, during his next six events before officially qualifying for the Playoffs.
Commencing the 2023 Playoffs by finishing second at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway followed by a third-place finish at the Milwaukee Mile and winning the Round of 10 finale at Kansas, Eckes raced his way into the Round of 8. Despite achieving a runner-up result during the Round of 8 opener at Bristol Motor Speedway in September, he finished 19th and 20th during the next two Round of 8 events, which were not enough for him to make the Championship 4 round by a mere margin. Despite falling short of contending for his first Truck Series championship, Eckes capped off the 2023 season by scoring a career-high fourth victory of the season at Phoenix, which was enough to settle in a career-high fifth place in the final standings. By then, he achieved a career-high 10 top-five results, three poles, a career-high 351 laps led and an average-finishing result of 11.1.
This season, Eckes has achieved dominant victories at two short track venues: Bristol in March and Martinsville Speedway in early April. To go along with a total of four top-five results and top-10 finishes in all but one of the first eight events on the 2024 schedule, Eckes is currently ranked in second place in the driver’s standings and trails points leader Corey Heim by seven points.
Through 99 previous Truck starts, Eckes has achieved seven victories, seven poles, 34 top-five results, 58 top-10 results, 1,119 laps led and an average-finishing result of 11.4 as he continues his pursuit for his first Truck Series championship.
Christian Eckes is scheduled to make his 100th Craftsman Truck Series career start at Darlington Raceway for the Buckle Up South Carolina 200. The event is set to occur this upcoming Friday, May 10, and air at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1.
The upcoming NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series’ Buckle Up South Carolina 200 at Darlington Raceway is set to mark Kyle Busch’s fifth and final Truck Series start of the 2024 season, with the driver campaigning in his four previous events behind the wheel of Spire Motorsports’ No. 7 Chevrolet Silverado RST. The event is also set to mark a unique milestone start for Busch, who is in his 22nd season with at least one start in the Truck circuit. By competing this weekend at Darington, the two-time Cup Series champion will make his 175th career start in the Truck circuit.
A native of Las Vegas, Nevada, Busch made his inaugural presence in the Truck Series at Indianapolis Raceway Park in 2001, where he replaced Nathan Haseleu in Roush Racing’s No. 99 Ford midway into the season. By then, the Truck event at Indiana marked Busch’s inaugural presence within NASCAR’s top three national touring series after spending the previous three seasons competing and winning in legends cars and late models in Las Vegas. Starting 23rd in his Truck debut, Busch notched a top-10 result after finishing ninth. He would proceed to finish 17th at Chicago Motor Speedway, 22nd at Richmond Raceway, 33rd at South Boston Speedway, 25th at Texas Motor Speedway and ninth at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, respectively. Then at California Speedway in November, Busch, who was the fastest in practice, was not allowed to compete in the event due to being 16 years of age and not meeting the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement that prohibited individuals under 18 years of age from participating in events sponsored by Marlboro cigarettes. Ultimately, Busch would be replaced by Tim Woods for the main event.
After being absent from the series in 2002 and 2003 amid NASCAR’s new age restrictions with an imposed minimum age of 18 years for competitors to be granted to compete in NASCAR, Busch, who competed in the American Speed Association and the ARCA Racing Series in 2002 before reigniting his NASCAR career in the Xfinity Series with Hendrick Motorsports the following season, made a single Truck Series start with Morgan-Dollar Motorsports at Indianapolis Raceway Park in 2004. During the event, he finished 11th after starting 16th.
In 2005, Busch competed in 11 Truck Series events while driving the No. 15 Chevrolet for Billy Ballew Motorsports. In his first series start of the season at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May, he led a race-high 77 laps en route to his first career victory. He would then notch his second consecutive victory during the series’ following event at Dover Motor Speedway before recording three top-five finishes during his next five starts. Busch then grabbed a dramatic final lap victory at Atlanta Motor Speedway in October after restarting ninth during a three-lap shootout to the finish and using four fresh tires amid a pit stop prior to the restart to overtake Jack Sprague on the final lap and final corner to win as a multi-truck wreck ensued entering the frontstretch. Busch would then cap off the 2005 Truck season by finishing third at Texas Motor Speedway and 11th at Phoenix Raceway, respectively. Ultimately, Busch achieved three victories, a pole, seven top-five results, nine top-10 results and 243 laps led during his 11-race Truck schedule.
Between the 2006 and 2007 seasons, Busch, who competed for Hendrick Motorsports in between the Cup and Xfinity Series, competed in a total of 18 Truck Series, all occurring with Billy Ballew Motorsports. In 2006, he achieved his lone victory of the season at Charlotte in May and finished in the top 10 in the seven events he entered. The following season, where he switched to BBM’s No. 51 entry, he won at Atlanta in October and at Phoenix in November as he also notched four top-five finishes in 11-entered events. Amid the victories, Busch accumulated a total of seven top-five results, 11 top-10 results and 547 laps led during the two-year stint, with Busch standing at six Truck career wins.
During the 2008 and 2009 seasons, Busch, who switched to Joe Gibbs Racing in the Cup Series but continued to compete in Billy Ballew Motorsports’ No. 51 entry on a part-time basis, made a total of 33 Truck starts. He commenced the 2008 season by finishing in the runner-up spot at Daytona International Speedway in February before notching back-to-back victories at Fontana and Atlanta. He then finished second at Texas in June and recorded five top-10 results during his next eight starts before grabbing his third victory of the season at Bristol Motor Speedway in August. Busch would proceed to finish second twice and no lower than eighth place during his final seven Truck events of the 2008 campaign, in which he competed in 18 of 25 scheduled events.
In 2009, Busch, who competed in 15 events, started the season by finishing second behind at Daytona before winning at Fontana and Atlanta, respectively, for a second consecutive time. After posting two runner-up results during his next five starts, he won in his next five consecutive starts at Bristol, Chicagoland, New Hampshire, Talladega and Texas, respectively, before concluding the season with a runner-up result at Phoenix and a 13th-place run at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Overall, Busch garnered a total of 12 victories, three poles, 21 top-five results, 29 top-10 results and 1,624 laps led, with Busch’s win column increasing to 16.
In 2010, Busch debuted his own-operated racing team, Kyle Busch Motorsports, into the NASCAR Truck Series after purchasing the remaining assets of Xpress Motorsports and Roush Fenway Racing. Driving the No. 18 KBM Toyota Tundra, Busch’s first Truck event as a driver/owner would be mired with a 22nd-place finish at Daytona after being involved in a multi-truck wreck on the first lap. He would rally by finishing second at Atlanta before securing his first victory both of the season and for KBM at Nashville Superspeedway in April after leading a race-high 131 laps. After finishing 16th at Dover amid a late fuel pump issue, Busch won at Charlotte in May after leading 69 laps before finishing third and second during his next two series starts.
He then notched back-to-back, dominant victories at Bristol and Chicagoland before finishing seventh at Kentucky, winning at New Hampshire and settling in second at Martinsville during his next three respective starts. At Talladega Superspeedway in October, Busch edged Aric Almirola by 0.002 seconds to win amid a last-lap pass before securing a dominant victory at Texas and another runner-up result at Phoenix during his next two-scheduled starts. He then concluded the 2010 season by scoring his eighth victory of the year at Homestead after leading a race-high 57 laps. With a total of eight victories, six poles, 13 top-five results, 14 top-10 results and a career-high 1,076 laps led in 16 scheduled starts, Busch also earned the 2010 Truck Series owner’s championship for his No. 18 KBM team. To this date, the eight victories earned throughout the 2010 season are the most by Busch in a Truck season as they also tallied Busch’s win column to 24.
The 2011 and 2012 Truck Series seasons generated mixed results for Busch, with the Las Vegas native piloting his No. 18 Toyota to six victories and tallying his wins total to 30 as he also garnered two poles, 11 top-five results and 13 top-10 results in 16 starts. Despite surpassing 100 career starts in the Truck Series, the low point of Busch’s career occurred at Texas in November after he intentionally turned and sent four-time champion Ron Hornaday Jr. head-on into the Turn 3 outside wall at full speed amid a caution period as a retaliatory act from an earlier incident where Hornaday slid up the track and caused Busch to scrape the outside wall while battling for the lead.
The incident not only resulted in Busch being parked by NASCAR for the remainder of the event, but it would carry forth with Busch being suspended from competing in the remaining scheduled events at Texas along with the remaining Truck and Xfinity events of the season. Returning for three Truck events in 2012, Busch finished in the top four in all of his starts but went winless for the first time in his career. The closest he came to winning was during the finale at Homestead, where he led during a two-lap shootout until he was rubbed against the outside wall and edged by a hard-charging Cale Gale at the finish line on the final lap.
Sporting the No. 51 alongside his KBM entry for the 2013 Truck Series season, Busch commenced the season by finishing in the runner-up spot behind Johnny Sauter at Daytona in February before ending up in 27th place at Kansas Speedway in April after being involved in a late accident. He would then snap a one-year winless drought by collecting his first victory of the season at Charlotte before doubling down with another victory at Dover. After finishing third and second during his next two starts at Kentucky and Michigan, respectively, Busch won in his next two consecutive starts at Bristol in August and at Chicagoland in September.
Despite being involved in a vicious final lap multi-truck wreck at Talladega on the final lap before settling in 10th before ending up in 28th place at Texas amid a late engine failure, a victory by Kyle Busch Motorsports’ newcomer Erik Jones at Phoenix followed by Busch notching a dominant victory in the finale at Homestead was enough for Busch to claim his second Truck Series’ owner’s championship and his first for the No. 51 KBM team in a tie-breaker over ThorSport Racing’s No. 88 entry piloted by Matt Crafton, who won the driver’s championship. With five victories, which tallied his wins total to 35, Busch capped off the 2013 Truck Series season with nine top-10 results in 11 starts and 356 laps led.
The 2014 Truck Series season was a breakout season for Busch both as a driver and as an owner. As a driver, Busch commenced the season by edging Timothy Peters by 0.016 seconds to claim his first elusive victory at Daytona in the series before proceeding to win seven races, finish in the top 10 in all but one of his 10 starts and lead 747 laps. As an owner, Busch’s Kyle Busch Motorsports team was victorious in 14 of 22 scheduled events, with sophomore competitor Bubba Wallace winning four races and finishing in third place in the final standings while Erik Jones won three races in 12 starts in KBM’s No. 51 Toyota. As a result, Busch and Jones contributed to Busch earning his third Truck Series owner’s championship.
From 2015 to 2017, Busch made a total of 15 Truck Series starts, all occurring in his Kyle Busch Motorsports equipment. In 2015, Busch, who was sidelined in February after suffering a compound fracture and broke both his right leg and left foot amid an Xfinity Series accident at Daytona before returning to competition in May, made four Truck starts and won two races: Pocono in July and Michigan in August. The following season, he made four series’ starts and won two races for a second consecutive season, this time at Martinsville Speedway in April and at Chicagoland in September.
Making seven starts in 2017, Busch emerged victorious in three events: Kansas and Charlotte in May followed by Bristol in September. With a total of seven Truck victories, Busch also accumulated two poles, 10 top-five results, 11 top-10 results and 807 laps led during the three-year stretch, which tallied Busch’s win column to 49. Amid his success as a Truck Series competitor, Busch was also successful as an owner as he notched his first championship as an owner with Erik Jones in 2015, the owner’s title with rookie William Byron in 2016 and his second championship with Christopher Bell in 2017.
Scaling to a five-race basis in the Truck Series, Busch commenced the 2018 season with a 21st-place finish at Atlanta in February after leaving pit road amid a late pit stop with the left-rear wheel not properly secured on his entry, which the tire rolled out of Busch’s truck upon exiting pit road and plummeting the Las Vegas native to 21st place in the final running order. He would rally during his next series start at Las Vegas in March by notching his first victory of the season and the 50th of his Truck career after leading 55 laps before finishing in the runner-up spot twice at Kansas and Charlotte, respectively, in May. Then at Pocono in July, Busch withstood a late challenge from teammate Erik Jones to score his 51st Truck Series career win in his 145th series start and tie Ron Hornaday Jr. for the most victories in the series.
In 2019, Busch won in all five of his Truck Series starts, starting at Atlanta in February as he became the all-time wins leader in the series with career win No. 52 amid a five-lap dash to the finish. He would then win at Las Vegas and Martinsville in March, where he led a combined 284 laps led, before winning at Texas in April after leading 97 laps. Busch then capped off his 2019 Truck season by winning for the eighth time at Charlotte after leading a race-high 102 laps. At the season’s conclusion, Busch would notch his seventh owner’s title for Kyle Busch Motorsports No. 51 team.
From 2020 to 2022, which marked his final seasons as a Toyota competitor, Busch scored six Truck Series victories while making five starts per season. In 2020, he won for the fourth time in his career at Las Vegas before finishing second at Charlotte in May and 21st at Atlanta in June, respectively. He then won for the third time in his career at Homestead in June after leading a race-high 82 laps before claiming his fifth series victory at Texas after leading a race-high 72 laps and fending off a late challenge from teammate Christian Eckes.
The following season, he finished in the top five in all five of his scheduled starts while collecting victories at Atlanta in March and at Kansas in May. Then in 2022, Busch finished no lower than seventh during his first four starts before claiming his first victory in his final series start of the season at Sonoma Raceway in June after leading a race-high 45 laps. In total, Busch notched six Truck Series victories, 13 top-five results, 14 top-10 results and 2,016 laps led in 15 starts during the three-year span, which tallied Busch’s win column to 62.
This past season, Busch, whose KBM team rebranded to Chevrolet after Busch departed from Joe Gibbs Racing to join Richard Childress Racing in the Cup Series, returned for a five-race stint in his own-operated No. 51 Chevrolet Silverado RST. He won in his first series start of the season at Las Vegas in March after leading a race-high 84 laps, which also marked the 99th Truck victory for KBM. Busch would proceed to finish second at Circuit of the Americas, second at Martinsville and seventh at Kansas, respectively, during his next three starts before notching a dramatic final lap victory over former KBM competitor Corey Heim to win in his fifth and final start of the season at Pocono in July. The Pocono victory not only marked Busch’s 64th Truck Series career win, but it would also mark the 100th and final NASCAR victory for KBM. Two months later, Busch announced that KBM would cease operations at the season’s conclusion after the team was purchased by Spire Motorsports.
In late February, Busch was announced as a driver of the No. 7 Chevrolet Silverado RST for Spire Motorsports for five Truck events for the 2024 season. His first start of the season occurred at Atlanta, where he won after he overtook Grant Enfinger with seven laps remaining before fending off Ty Majeski at the finish line. He then competed in the following scheduled events at Las Vegas, where he finished 15th amid a late pit road penalty, and at Bristol in mid-March, where he finished second behind Christian Eckes. During his latest series start at Texas in April, Busch, who briefly lost the lead at the start of a 10-lap shootout, reclaimed it from Eckes two laps later before he fended off a final lap charge from Corey Heim to notch his series-leading 66th career victory and his record-tying sixth at the Lone Star state.
Through 174 previous starts in the Truck Series, Busch has achieved 66 victories, which makes him the winningest competitor in the series. He has also notched up 23 poles, 118 top-five results, 141 top-10 results, 8,050 laps led and an average-finishing result of 6.4 as he strives to win for the first time in the Truck circuit at Darlington.
Kyle Busch is scheduled to make his 175th Craftsman Truck Series career start at Darlington Raceway for the Buckle Up South Carolina 200 on Friday, May 10, with the event’s broadcast time to occur at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1.
In a finale that came down to the survival of the fittest, Ben Rhodes withstood a series of late caution periods and on-track carnages that involved his three championship rivals, including himself during the next-to-last restart, to capture his second NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship in the Craftsman 150 at Phoenix Raceway on Friday, November 3, that was won by Christian Eckes.
The 2021 Truck Series champion from Louisville, Kentucky, rolled off the starting grid from sixth place and managed to remain within title contention as he achieved top-10 results during both stage break periods while rallying from a slow pit stop before the second stage. Restarting within the top 20 at the start of the final stage period, an opportunity for the title presented itself for Rhodes after title rivals Corey Heim and Carson Hocevar made contact that resulted in Hocevar spinning Heim as Heim plummeted below the leaderboard. During the ensuing restart with 26 laps remaining, Rhodes, who restarted ninth, muscled his way past Hocevar to assume the lead in the championship battle.
Amid more late caution periods that sent the field into four overtime attempts, among which involved title rival Grant Enfinger making a pit stop for fresh tires after making contact on the track during the first overtime attempt and Rhodes sustaining damage to his truck after hitting and sending the leader Zane Smith for a spin during the second overtime attempt, Rhodes managed to retain the lead in the championship battle and fend off a final lap charge from Enfinger to clinch his second series title by finishing in fifth place, one spot ahead of Enfinger, as Eckes concluded the season by winning the finale.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, championship contender Corey Heim started in the pole position after posting a lap at 136.654 mph in 26.344 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Ty Majeski, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 136.571 mph in 26.360 seconds. Heim’s title rivals, Ben Rhodes, Carson Hocevar and Grant Enfinger started sixth, 13th and 17th, respectively.
Prior to the event, Stefan Parsons dropped to the rear of the field in a backup truck after wrecking his primary truck during Thursday’s practice session.
When the green flag waved and the finale started, Heim and Majeski dueled for the lead as the field fanned out to three and four lanes through the dogleg and the frontstretch before navigating through Turns 1 and 2. With rookie Nick Sanchez trying to make a three-wide move for the lead, Majeski managed to muscle ahead from the outside lane as he proceeded to lead the first lap ahead of Heim.
During the second lap, Majeski retained the lead ahead of Heim while title contender Ben Rhodes muscled his way up to third place in front of Sanchez, Zane Smith and Chase Purdy while Christian Eckes and Jesse Love pursued. Amid the early on-track battles, Majeski was leading by half a second over Heim while third-place Rhodes trailed by more than a second.
Then on the fourth lap, the first caution of the finale flew after Stewart Friesen, who was running 16th, spun entering Turn 4 after getting hit by Derek Kraus, which resulted in Friesen sliding his sideways truck up the track as Hailie Deegan slammed on the brakes to avoid hitting Friesen.
When the race restarted on the ninth lap, Rhodes attempted to make a move in between Heim and Majeski for the lead as the field fanned out through the frontstretch’s dogleg and the first two turns. As the field jostled for early spots through the backstretch, Majeski managed to fend off Heim entering Turn 4 to retain the lead to sole possession and with both lanes under his control. With Majeski leading, Heim retained second ahead of Rhodes while Sanchez and Chase Purdy were in the top five. Shortly after, Taylor Gray moved into the top five over Purdy followed by Zane Smith while title contenders Carson Hocevar and Grant Enfinger were in eighth and 10th, respectively. Amid the battles, Majeski retained the lead by nine-tenths over Heim and less than two seconds over Rhodes by the Lap 15 mark.
Through the Lap 20 mark, Majeski was leading by more than a second over Heim while third-place Rhodes trailed by more than three seconds. Behind, Sanchez and Zane Smith were in the top five ahead of Purdy, Taylor Gray, Eckes, Hocevar and Enfinger while Rajah Caruth, Jack Wood, Jake Garcia, Jesse Love and Jake Drew were running in the top 15. Meanwhile, Tanner Gray occupied 16th place ahead of Matt Crafton, Daniel Dye, Dean Thompson and Bayley Currey while Friesen was up in 21st. In addition, Deegan was mired back in 32nd behind Marco Andretti while Tyler Ankrum was in 28th.
Ten laps later, Majeski increased his advantage to more than two seconds over runner-up Heim and by more than four seconds over third-place Rhodes while Hocevar and Enfinger were running eighth and ninth, respectively. Majeski would stabilize his advantage to more than a second over Heim by the Lap 35 mark. By then, Zane Smith overtook Rhodes for third place followed by Sanchez while Hocevar and Enfinger remained in eighth and ninth, respectively.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 45, Majeski claimed his seventh Truck stage victory of the 2023 season. Title contender Heim settled in second followed by Zane Smith, Rhodes and Sanchez while Purdy, Eckes, Hocevar, Enfinger and Taylor Gray were scored in the top 10.
Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Majeski pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Heim exited first and emerged with the lead while Majeski, Zane Smith, Hocevar, Taylor Gray and Eckes followed suit. Behind, Rhodes and Enfinger exited pit road 11th and 12th, respectively. Amid the pit stops, Tanner Gray was penalized for speeding on pit road. In addition, Sanchez would pit for a second time prior to the restart.
The second stage period started on Lap 53 as Heim and Majeski occupied the front row. At the start, Heim dueled with Majeski through the dogleg before muscling ahead entering Turn 1 from the outside lane as he led entering the backstretch. With Heim leading both the race and the championship battle, Majeski fell back to second followed by Zane Smith while Hocevar was in fourth followed by Taylor Gray and Eckes with Jake Garcia and Enfinger following suit. Two laps later, the caution returned after Chris Hacker and Marco Andretti, both of whom were running towards the rear of the field, wrecked in Turn 3.
Once the carnage was cleared amid an extensive caution period, the race restarted on Lap 64. At the start, Heim and Zane Smith dueled for the lead as the field fanned out through the dogleg before entering Turns 1 and 2. With the field still fanned out through the backstretch, Heim managed to muscle away from Smith and maintain the lead from the outside lane while Majeski tried to close in on Zane Smith for the runner-up spot. During the following lap, Majeski overtook Smith for the runner-up spot while Enfinger trailed in fourth place ahead of Garcia, Taylor Gray, Eckes and Hocevar as Rhodes, who endured a slow pit stop during the first stage break period, was mired back in 11th.
Just past the Lap 70 mark, Heim was leading by seven-tenths of a second over Majeski while third-place Zane Smith trailed by more than a second. Behind, title contender Enfinger retained fourth place ahead of Garcia, Taylor Gray and Eckes while Hocevar and Rhodes were mired back in eighth and 10th, respectively. Heim would retain the lead by a second over Majeski by the Lap 75 mark while his title rivals Enfinger, Hocevar and Rhodes continued to trail in fourth, eighth and 10th, respectively.
Shortly after, the caution flew after Tyler Hill spun and wrecked in Turn 2. During the caution period, a majority of the field led by Garcia pitted while the rest led by Heim and including Majeski, Zane Smith, Enfinger, Taylor Gray, Rhodes, Jesse Love and Stefan Parsons remained on the track.
With the race restarting on Lap 82, Heim fended off Majeski and Enfinger through the dogleg and entering the first two turns to retain the lead and maintain control of both lanes through the backstretch. With Heim still leading, Zane Smith moved back into second followed by Majeski, Taylor and Eckes while Enfinger fell back to sixth as he was battling Rhodes to maintain the spot. Amid the battles, Heim stabilized his advantage to two-tenths of a second over Zane just past the Lap 85 mark.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 90, title contender Heim captured his series-leading eighth Truck stage victory of the 2023 season. Zane Smith settled in a close second place followed by Majeski, Eckes and Taylor Gray while Rhodes, Purdy, Enfinger, Garcia and Hocevar were scored in the top 10.
During the stage break, some led by Heim and including Rhodes and Enfinger pitted while the rest led by Eckes and including Hocevar remained on the track.
With 51 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced under green as Eckes and Purdy occupied the front row. At the start, Eckes rocketed away from the outside lane as the field fanned out through the dogleg and the first two turns. With the field still fanned out through the backstretch and through Turns 3 and 4, Eckes retained the lead over teammate Garcia while Sanchez, Purdy and Friesen trailed in the top five. By then, Hocevar was trying to make his way into the top five from sixth while Heim, Enfinger and Rhodes trailed within the top 15.
Two laps later, the caution returned after Connor Jones and Jake Drew wrecked in Turn 3, with Jones colliding into Drew and sending both hard against the outside SAFER Barrier while battling for 15th place, as Deegan spun to avoid the carnage.
During the following restart with 41 laps remaining, Eckes and Sanchez dueled for the lead until Sanchez motored ahead through the backstretch. With Eckes fighting back on the outside lane, he managed to motor past Sanchez through Turns 3 and 4 and reassume the lead. With Eckes back out in front over Sanchez, Garcia was in third ahead of Zane Smith and Friesen while Hocevar was the highest-running title contender in sixth place. Meanwhile, Heim was in 10th in front of Enfinger while Rhodes was mired back within the top 15.
With 35 laps remaining, Eckes was leading by half a second over Sanchez followed by Garcia, Zane and Friesen while Hocevar retained sixth ahead of a hard-charging Heim. Meanwhile, Enfinger and Rhodes were in 11th and 12th while Purdy, Crafton and Majeski occupied the top 10.
Three laps later, Heim overtook Hocevar for sixth place on the track through Turns 1 and 2 and reassumed the lead in the championship battle. A lap later, however, Hocevar made contact with Heim and sent Heim’s No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro spinning into Friesen as the latter two wrecked in Turn 2, with Friesen damaging his rear bumper after hitting the wall. The incident left Hocevar frustrated and placing blame on himself over the contact while Heim managed to continue without hitting the wall as he pitted for fresh tires.
With the race restarting with 25 laps remaining, Sanchez fired off with the lead from the outside lane while Hocevar, who nearly got turned at the start, was being fanned out by Eckes and Majeski through the dogleg as the field behind fanned out entering the first two turns. Amid the restart and with the field still fanning out, Rhodes overtook Hocevar from the outside lane on the track as Sanchez and Zane Smith made contact against one another and towards the outside wall through the backstretch. Amid the chaos, Sanchez maintained the lead ahead of Zane Smith followed by Eckes, Majeski and Rhodes while Enfinger made his way into the top six. Meanwhile, Hocevar was plummeting in the leaderboard as Rhodes occupied the lead in the title fight while running in fourth place on the track. Then with 23 laps remaining, Zane Smith overtook Sanchez for the lead entering the frontstretch with Eckes following in second place. Behind, Rhodes was in fourth, one spot ahead of a hard-charging Enfinger, while Heim and Hocevar were mired back in 13th and 18th, respectively.
Then with 21 laps remaining, the caution flew for a multi-truck wreck that erupted in Turn 3 and involved Currey, Daniel Dye and Stefan Parsons. The carnage was enough to place the event in a red flag period during the following lap. By then, Rhodes was leading the title fight in third place, one spot ahead of Enfinger, while Heim and Hocevar were mired back in 11th and 18th, respectively, as Zane Smith was scored the race leader.
Nearly 12 minutes later, the red flag lifted and the field returned under a cautious pace. During the caution period, some including Hocevar pitted while the rest led by Zane Smith remained on the track.
As the race restarted with 15 laps remaining, Zane Smith and Eckes dueled for the lead through the dogleg as the field fanned out. Amid the battles, Smith fended off Eckes entering the backstretch to assume the lead. During the following lap, Smith was leading Eckes while Enfinger was in third place and leading Rhodes for the championship. Behind, Heim moved back up to seventh behind Purdy and Jesse Love while Hocevar was mired back in 19th.
Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Zane Smith was leading the race by a second over Eckes while Enfinger was running third, but leading the championship battle in front of Rhodes, as Heim climbed up to sixth. By then, Hocevar was mired back in 14th.
With five laps remaining, Zane Smith continued to lead the race by more than two seconds over Eckes while Enfinger, who retained third place, continued to lead the title fight ahead of Rhodes as Heim trailed in sixth place. Meanwhile, Hocevar climbed up to 10th place.
A lap later, the caution flew when Heim, who was running seventh and had Hocevar making a move to his outside for position, went up the track and sent Hocevar into the outside wall in Turn 2 in retaliation from their earlier on-track incident that sent Heim spinning. In this recent incident, Hocevar, who collided into the outside wall amid the contact with Heim, limped his damaged No. 42 Worldwide Express Chevrolet Silverado RST up against the wall while Heim was hit on the driver’s side by teammate Taylor Gray, thus leaving both championship contenders with wrecked trucks. By then and with the race sent into overtime, Zane Smith was still leading the overall race followed by Eckes while Enfinger and Rhodes, both of whom were running third and fourth, were the lone two title contenders left to battle for the title amongst one another.
At the start of the first overtime attempt, Eckes and Zane Smith dueled for the lead as Rhodes tried to thread the middle. With the field still fanning out through Turn 2, Rhodes overtook Enfinger on the track and boosted his way to second place as he challenged Zane Smith for the lead. Amid the field still fanned out through the backstretch, the caution returned and the event was sent into a second overtime attempt after Kraus wrecked in Turn 3 after getting hit by Sanchez. By then, Rhodes settled in second behind Zane while Enfinger, who made contact with Eckes entering the backstretch before he got hit by Love and sent up the track in Turn 3, fell back to ninth. During the caution period, Enfinger pitted his No. 23 Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet Silverado RST for fresh tires and repairs amid the contact as his title hopes were placed in jeopardy.
At the start of the second overtime attempt, Zane Smith briefly muscled ahead from Eckes through the dogleg until Smith, who missed a shift to fourth gear and quickly fell off the pace, was hit hard in the rear by an oncoming Rhodes as Rhodes turned Smith, who was T-boned by Crafton and Jack Wood through the frontstretch, while Rhodes escaped with front nose damage to his No. 99 Kubota Ford F-150 as he fell back to sixth place, but remained on the track. In the process, Eckes assumed the race lead followed by Purdy and Garcia while the event was sent into a third overtime attempt.
With the event restarting for a third overtime attempt, Chase Purdy muscled ahead of Eckes from the inside lane to assume the lead through the dogleg as the field fanned out through the frontstretch. Shortly after, the caution quickly returned and the event was sent into a fourth overtime attempt after Majeski, who was running towards the front, got turned by Jesse Love through the frontstretch. Amid Majeski’s spin, teammate Matt Crafton spun while trying to avoid carnage as Sean Hingorani, Zane Smith, Colby Howard and Tyler Hill wrecked in the process. At the moment of caution, Purdy was leading Eckes while Rhodes was in sixth. Meanwhile, Enfinger was mired in 17th as he remained within close distance of Rhodes for the title.
During the fourth overtime attempt, Eckes muscled his No. 19 NAPA Chevrolet Silverado RST ahead of Purdy’s No. 4 Bama Buggies Chevrolet Silverado RST from the outside lane as he reassumed the lead through the first two turns. With the field fanning out, Enfinger charged his way back into the top 10 and had his eyes on Rhodes, who was battling Kaden Honeycutt and Jesse Love for a spot within the top five.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Eckes remained as the leader over teammate Jake Garcia and Purdy while Rhodes retained the lead in the championship battle by three spots over a hard-charging Enfinger. Even as Tyler Ankrum wrecked entering Turns 3 and 4, the race remained under green flag conditions. Through the dogleg, Rhodes was battling Honeycutt for fifth place, though he remained ahead of Enfinger, who was trying to fend off Sanchez, Dean Thompson and Tanner Gray for spots. Then entering the backstretch, Enfinger, who was still trying to overtake Tanner Gray, had Rhodes in front of him for a final opportunity to snatch the title away from the former. As Enfinger stepped on the gas and tried to get to Rhodes’ No. 99 rear bumper to get Rhodes loose entering Turns 3 and 4, he was unable to make physical contact to get Rhodes loose. With Enfinger sliding up the track, Rhodes was able to step back on the gas and fend off Enfinger for a final turn to streak across the finish line in fifth place and win his second Truck Series championship.
With his accomplishment, Rhodes, who won his first title in 2021, joined Ron Hornaday Jr., Jack Sprague, Todd Bodine and Matt Crafton as the only competitors to achieve multiple Truck Series championships as he became the first competitor to repeat as a champion since teammate Crafton won his third title in 2019. He also delivered the fifth driver’s championship and the second owner’s title for ThorSport Racing while crew chief Rich Lushes, who reunited with Rhodes midway into the 2023 season and who won the 2021 title with Rhodes, captured his second title as a crew chief.
In total, Rhodes, who barely transferred through the Rounds of 10 and 8 to make this year’s Championship 4 by a narrow margin, capped off his second championship-winning season with a victory at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May, seven top-five results and 14 top-10 results throughout the 23-race schedule.
Photo by Ron Olds for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“I can’t even believe it. Let’s go!” Rhodes exclaimed on the frontstretch on FS1. “Man, I hate when people do that on TV, so I’m sorry, but hey, this is so awesome, man. To go 25 laps into overtime, you know what that feels like? Almost lose it three times? Look at the front of the truck. It’s crazy. I didn’t think we were going to make it. I thought we were going to pop a tire. I thought anything that could have gone wrong was going to go wrong. Grant [Enfinger] almost got me. Hats off to him. He ran a great race. I wouldn’t want to race against anybody else for the championship. He raced me clean, and I respect the hell out of him for it.”
“I saw [Enfinger],” Rhodes added. “I’m watching the replay right here. I saw him. He went for everything, but he ran me clean, and I thank him for that. That’s what these championships are all about. It’s unfortunate we had so many cautions, but we ran each other clean, all of us did tonight, and great show. I love you guys. Thanks for all the fans coming out. I love it. What a team. I don’t know how we pulled it off, but we got here and we did it.”
While Rhodes celebrated the series’ championship, Enfinger, who finished in sixth place behind Rhodes and achieved three victories this season, was left disappointed on pit road after coming up one spot short of winning his first NASCAR national touring series title and delivering one final championship for GMS Racing, which is set to cease operations at this season’s conclusion.
“It was just the original green-white-checkered [restart] there where we went four wide, Ben [Rhodes] gassed it up there on the bottom [lane], drove us in [Eckes] and tore up our truck and then, we had to restart from 22nd there,” Enfinger, whose racing plans for 2024 remain undetermined, said. “That’s kind of what ended our run. Obviously, we got close there at the end. I don’t know. Maybe if he didn’t have such a run down the back straightaway, but I needed to get under him to make that pass. It’s a shame that the championship came down to a race like that with 15 green-white-checkereds or whatever it was right there, 30 laps extra. I feel like we did everything we could to win this race and just kind of got used up right there. Championship racing, it’s just incredibly unfortunate to end GMS Racing like this. I really felt like we had that championship in grasp and to be honest with you, I don’t know if I’d have done anything different. Just wasn’t meant to be.”
Like Enfinger, Corey Heim, the 2023 Truck Series Regular Season champion who captured three victories this season, was left disappointed on pit road after ending up in 18th place on the track and in third place in the final standings following his pair of incidents with title rival Carson Hocevar.
“Ask [Hocevar] if he stands by the first one,” Heim, who will return to TRICON Garage for the 2024 season, said. “I mean, he wrecked me, then I got my right rear destroyed. From there, I had no side force and he put it on my door and I lost control. Just really got to hold our heads high for a great year. It was a phenomenal year for us. This was our worst finish in like six months. Really put together a good race and really hoped that the guys would race me clean. I’ve got a lot of respect for everybody in the field, but clearly not [Hocevar] anymore. It is what it is. It’s part of racing and unfortunately, that turned into a wreck fest, but I did all I could.”
Meanwhile, Hocevar, who was unable to finish following his second and latest on-track altercation with Heim, ended up in 29th place on the track and in fourth place in the final standings in a season where he notched his first four career victories. The wrecked result marked Hocevar’s final scheduled Truck Series start with Niece Motorsports as he will be moving up to the NASCAR Cup Series to drive for Spire Motorsports in 2024.
“I’m just more mad right now that I cost [TRICON Garage] a shot to win the championship,” Hocevar said. “I don’t care about my reputation right now. I just feel bad that I robbed [Heim]of that. I feel sorry for him. I can’t say that I was mad, I just messed up. I didn’t even want to run the rest of the laps. I wanted to crawl into a hole and I just feel bad. I’m trying so hard to be better and trying to stay with him. I wasn’t going to give up. I just didn’t know how to give up in that moment. I didn’t want to wreck him, I didn’t want to hit him that hard, I didn’t want to spin him. I was just trying to hold him up a little bit.”
Amid Rhodes’ championship celebration, Christian Eckes, who missed the cutline to this year’s Championship 4 by a narrow margin, celebrated in Victory Lane for the fourth time this season and the fifth in his career after leading 36 of 179 over-scheduled laps, including the final three laps during the fourth overtime attempt. The victory was enough for Eckes to conclude his first Truck Series season with McAnally-Hilgemann Racing in fifth place in the final standings as he will remain with McAnally-Hilgemann Racing for the 2024 Truck season. The victory, however, did little to ease Eckes’ disappointment over not contending for this year’s title.
Photo by Ron Olds for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“That one’s gonna sting,” Eckes said in Victory Lane. “It still stings. I mean, it’s awesome to win. It’s always awesome to win, especially with our great partners. To come short of the goal to win a championship and being able to come and win the final race kind of stinks for sure, so it is what it is now. We can always look back and Monday morning quarterback in it and say that we could be champions, but at the end of the day, we aren’t. At the end of the day, I’m also really proud of the whole No. 99 group. That was my team last year at ThorSport [Racing] for the most part with a few different pieces. Super proud of them and yeah, it is what it is.”
On the track, Jake Garcia notched a career-best runner-up result in his final Truck event with McAnally-Hilgemann Racing while Chase Purdy finished third in his final event driving for Kyle Busch Motorsports, the winningest team in the Truck Series that will cease operations at this season’s conclusion. Jesse Love finished fourth followed by the champion Rhodes and Enfinger while Dean Thompson, Kaden Honeycutt, Tanner Gray and Nick Sanchez, the 2023 Truck Series Rookie of the Year, completed the top 10 in the final running order.
Notably, Rajah Caruth finished 12th in his final event driving for the ceased GMS Racing while Hailie Deegan finished 15th in her final Truck Series start as she will be moving up to the Xfinity Series to drive for AM Racing. In addition, Zane Smith ended up in 25th place with a DNF in his final Truck Series event with Front Row Motorsports while Jack Wood and Daniel Dye ended up 27th and 32nd in their final events driving for Kyle Busch Motorsports and GMS Racing, respectively.
There were 10 lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured 12 cautions for 77 laps. In addition, 21 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.
Results.
1. Christian Eckes, 36 laps led
2. Jake Garcia
3. Chase Purdy, eight laps led
4. Jesse Love
5. Ben Rhodes
6. Grant Enfinger
7. Dean Thompson
8. Kaden Honeycutt
9. Tanner Gray
10. Nick Sanchez, five laps led
11. Matt Crafton
12. Rajah Caruth
13. Lawless Alan
14. Ty Majeski, 48 laps led, Stage 1 winner
15. Hailie Deegan
16. Christian Rose
17. Spencer Davis
18. Corey Heim, 47 laps led, Stage 2 winner
19. Nick Leitz
20. Tyler Hill
21. Colby Howard
22. Tyler Ankrum, one lap down
23. Taylor Gray, two laps down
24. Stewart Friesen, four laps down
25. Zane Smith – OUT, Accident, 35 laps led
26. Sean Hingorani – OUT, Accident
27. Jack Wood – OUT, Accident
28. Derek Kraus – OUT, Accident
29. Carson Hocevar – OUT, Accident
30. Stefan Parsons – OUT, Accident
31. Bayley Currey – OUT, Accident
32. Daniel Dye – OUT, Accident
33. Jake Drew – OUT, Accident
34. Connor Jones – OUT, Accident
35. Marco Andretti – OUT, Accident
36. Chris Hacker – OUT, Accident
*Bold indicates championship finalists
Final standings
1. Ben Rhodes
2. Grant Enfinger
3. Corey Heim
4. Carson Hocevar
5. Christian Eckes
6. Nick Sanchez
7. Zane Smith
8. Ty Majeski
9. Matt Crafton
10. Matt DiBenedetto
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series teams and competitors enter an off-season period before returning to action at Daytona International Speedway to commence the 2024 racing season. The season opener at Daytona is slated to occur on February 16 at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1.
NASCAR released its penalty report following an action-packed tripleheader weekend between Daytona International Speedway and the Milwaukee Mile, with all of the penalties stemming from the second Craftsman Truck Series Playoff event of this season at Milwaukee that occurred last Sunday, August 27.
The team that headlined the penalty report was ThorSport Racing’s No. 98 Ford F-150 team piloted by Playoff contender Ty Majeski, which was assessed L2-level penalties for infractions involving the wheel assembly, tires/wheels and valve stems per the NASCAR Rulebook. The issue was first discovered during the inspection process prior to Sunday’s event, where NASCAR officials confiscated the No. 98 Ford’s right-rear tire. This also resulted with Majeski starting at the rear of the field and serving a pass-through penalty on pit road once the main event started, where he was able to recover by finishing in seventh place.
As a result of the penalties prior to the event, Majeski and ThorSport were docked 75 points and five Playoff points from the standings. In addition, crew chief Joe Shear Jr., who was ejected prior to the event at Milwaukee, has now been issued a four-race suspension and a $25,000 fine. He will be eligible to return for the season-finale event at Phoenix Raceway in November.
The issue does not affect Majeski’s automatic transfer to the Playoff’s Round of 8, which he achieved after winning the previous Truck scheduled event at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park in August. Currently, he along with Grant Enfinger, Christian Eckes and Corey Heim have transferred to the Round of 8 by virtue of winning during the Round of 10 or by clinching through points.
Another team that was issued a big penalty was Kyle Busch Motorsports’ No. 51 Chevrolet Silverado RST entry that was recently piloted by Matt Mills. The organization was issued an L1-level penalty for infractions involving the team’s triangular filler panels. As a result, NASCAR deducted 10 driver/owner points from Mills and KBM. Mills, who was making his second and final start of the season with KBM, finished 25th after starting 26th.
In addition, two Niece Motorsports crew chiefs (Mike Hillman and Phil Gould) were each fined $2,500 for violating NASCAR’s lug nut check after both of their respective entries were found to have one unsecured lug nut during the post-race inspection process. Hillman is the crew chief for Niece’s No. 41 Chevrolet Silverado RST entry that was recently by Bayley Currey at Milwaukee, who finished 10th, while Gould is the crew chief for Niece’s No. 42 entry piloted by Playoff contender Carson Hocevar, who finished in the runner-up spot behind race winner Enfinger.
Lastly, Aaron Volf, a hauler driver for TRICON Garage’s No. 15 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro entry piloted by Tanner Gray, has been suspended indefinitely from NASCAR for a behavioral infraction.
With the NASCAR Xfinity and Cup Series preparing for their next scheduled events this upcoming weekend during Labor Day weekend at Darlington Raceway, the next Craftsman Truck Series event on the schedule is Kansas Speedway on September 8, which will determine the Playoff’s Round of 8 field. The event’s broadcast time is scheduled to occur at 9 p.m. ET on FS1.
After spending the majority of the late stages being schooled by a former Kyle Busch Motorsports competitor Corey Heim, the bossman Kyle Busch had an extra trick saved up his sleeves to execute a final lap pass on Heim and record a monumental NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory in the CRC Brakleen 150 at Pocono Raceway on Saturday, July 22.
The two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion from Las Vegas, Nevada, led twice for seven of 60 scheduled laps in an event marred with late chaos and battles amongst series regulars battling for the final handful of spots to make the 2023 Truck Series Playoffs. All that was on the mindset for Kyle Busch, though, was recording the 100th Truck Series victory for his organization, Kyle Busch Motorsports.
To accomplish the feat, Busch had to navigate his way around Heim for the lead. Heim, however, did not relinquish the lead to Busch without a fight as he retained the spot since Lap 33 and through a series of on-track battles. Then amid a five-lap dash to the finish and after appearing to settle in second behind Heim, Busch seized upon an opportunity on the final lap to gain a run on Heim and execute a final lap pass on him with two corners remaining to rocket away and record the elusive 100th victory for Kyle Busch Motorsports in the Truck Series.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, July 21, rookie Nick Sanchez notched his fourth Truck Series pole position of the 2023 season after posting a pole-winning speed at 168.966 mph in 53.265 seconds. Joining him on the front row was rookie Jake Garcia, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 168.306 mph in 53.474 seconds.
Prior to the event, the following names that included Ben Rhodes, Josh Reaume, Dean Thompson, Ty Majeski and Christian Eckes dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective trucks.
When the green flag waved and the race commenced amid a stacked start that caused some competitors running towards the rear of the field to fan out and sustain damage to their trucks, Sanchez received a push from Carson Hocevar on the outside lane to rocket ahead with the lead entering Turn 1. As Hocevar tried to make a move beneath Sanchez, the latter rocketed ahead through the first turn and entering Long Pond Straight while Hocevar moved in front of Garcia to retain second as Grant Enfinger joined the battle. As the field battled amid two lanes through the Tunnel Curve and entering Turn 3, Sanchez managed to retain the lead when he returned to the frontstretch and lead the first lap while Garcia and Hocevar battled for second.
Through the second lap, Zane Smith made a three-wide move on Garcia and Hocevar through the frontstretch to move his No. 38 Birch Gold Group Ford F-150 into the runner-up spot. Soon after, Matt DiBenedetto and Enfinger rocketed past Hocevar along with Austin Hill through Long Pond Straight as Chase Purdy and Corey Heim trailed closely behind in eighth and ninth. By then, however, Sanchez stretched his advantage to more than two seconds over Zane Smith.
On the third lap, the first caution of the event flew when Tanner Gray, who was running 15th, snapped sideways underneath teammate Kaz Grala and was barely clipped by Tyler Ankrum in the front end before he spun below the track and collided head-on into the inside wall in Turn 1. With the damage to his No. 15 Mobil 1 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro deemed terminal and leaking fluid, the wreck also took a significant hit towards Gray’s efforts to make the 2023 Truck Playoffs as he initially came into the event 24 points below the top-10 cutline.
During the caution period, select names that included Tyler Ankrum, Deegan, Lawless Alan, Cory Roper, Stephen Mallozzi, Josh Reaume and Kaden Honeycutt pitted while the rest led by Sanchez remained on the track. Among those who pitted included Crafton, who pitted for repairs to his No. 88 Menards Ford F-150 following the contact at the start of the race.
As the race restarted under green on the eighth lap, Zane Smith rocketed into the lead while running on the inside lane after receiving a push from DiBenedetto, who overtook Sanchez for the runner-up spot in the process. Through Turn 1 and across Long Pond Straight, Smith started to place a gap between himself and DiBenedetto as he retained the lead while the field behind jostled for positions.
Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Zane Smith was leading by nine-tenths of a second over DiBenedetto followed by Sanchez, Austin Hill and Garcia while Enfinger, Kyle Busch, Taylor Gray, Stewart Friesen and Hocevar were in the top 10. Behind, Corey Heim was in 11th ahead of a battle between Purdy, Christopher Bell, rookie Rajah Caruth and Christian Eckes while Dean Thompson, Parker Kligerman, Ross Chastain, Kaz Grala and Ben Rhodes were scored in the top 20.
When the first stage concluded on Lap 15, Zane Smith claimed his third stage victory of the 2023 Truck season. Sanchez settled in second after navigating his way around DiBenedetto the lap prior, with DiBenedetto settled in third as Kyle Busch, Austin Hill, Garcia, Heim, Enfinger, Friesen and Taylor Gray were scored in the top 10.
Under the stage break, select names that included Rhodes, Chastain, Grala, Kaden Honeycutt, DiBenedetto, Enfinger, Taylor Gray, Colby Howard, Grala, Stefan Parsons, Ankrum, Hocevar, Kligerman and Austin Hill pitted while the rest led by Zane Smith remained on the track.
The second stage started on Lap 20 as Zane Smith and Kyle Busch occupied the front row. At the start, Busch received a strong push from Heim on the inside lane to rocket ahead of Smith with the lead exiting the frontstretch. Heim then ducked his No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro beneath Busch’s No. 51 Zariz Transport Chevrolet Silverado RST in a bid to take the lead entering Turn 1. Though Heim succeeded through Turn 1 and entering Long Pond Straight, Busch responded back through the Long Pond Straight by rocketing past Heim to assume the lead as Friesen tried to overtake Heim for second, with the latter retaining the spot. As the field behind continued to fan out and jostle for spots, Busch started to stretch his advantage as he was leading by more than six-tenths of a second when he returned to the frontstretch.
By Lap 22, Busch was leading by more than eight-tenths of a second over Heim followed by Friesen, Zane Smith and Garcia while Eckes, Sanchez, Bell, Purdy and Hocevar were in the top 10.
Three laps later, Kyle Busch continued to lead by nine-tenths of a second over Heim while Friesen, Zane Smith and Eckes remained in the top five. As Garcia, Sanchez, Bell, Purdy and Hocevar remained in the top 10, Ty Majeski was in 11th followed by Taylor Gray, Dean Thompson, DiBenedetto and Kligerman while Enfinger, Rhodes, Ankrum, Chastain and Austin Hill occupied the top 20 with Crafton running in 21st ahead of Caruth, Grala, Colby Howard and Stefan Parsons trailing behind.
Then on Lap 27, a bevy of names that included race leader Kyle Busch, Heim, Eckes, Garcia, Hocevar, Purdy, Taylor Gray, Majeski, Thompson, Kligerman, Grala, Chastain, Bell and Austin Hill pitted under green. Amid the pit stops, Zane Smith reassumed the lead while Friesen, who missed the opportunity to pit with the front-runners, and Sanchez were in second and third.
When the second stage concluded on Lap 30, Zane Smith collected his second stage victory of the season and the fourth of this year’s Truck season. Friesen settled in second while Sanchez, DiBenedetto, Enfinger, Rhodes, Ankrum, Rajah Caruth, Colby Howard and Crafton were scored in the top 10.
Under the stage break, a majority of lead lap competitors led by Zane Smith and including Rhodes, Friesen, Sanchez, DiBenedetto, Enfinger, Ankrum, rookie Daniel Dye, Stefan Parsons, Tyler Hill, Lawless Alan, Caruth, Cory Roper, Spencer Boyd, Crafton, Kaden Honeycutt, Bret Holmes and Hailie Deegan pitted while the rest led by Heim remained on the track.
With 25 laps remaining, the final stage started under green as Heim and Kyle Busch occupied the front row. At the start, Heim and Busch dueled for the lead exiting the frontstretch until Heim managed to rocket ahead from the outside lane and with a push from teammate Taylor Gray to lead Busch and the field through the first turn. As the field fanned out through the Long Pond Straight, Heim was out in front of the pack with Busch trailing by two-tenths of a second.
The following lap, the battle for the lead intensified as Busch tried to gain a run beneath Heim entering Turn 1. Heim, however, was quick to rocket ahead and move back in front of Busch entering Long Pond Straight to retain the lead. As Taylor Gray tried to close in on the two leaders amid the draft in his No. 17 JBL Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, Busch tried to gain another run beneath Heim entering the first turn during the following lap, but history repeated itself as Heim rocketed ahead from the outside lane and with the lead within his grasp. Behind, Chastain briefly lost his momentum after making contact with Eckes that caused him to slip out of the top 10 through Turn 1.
With less than 20 laps remaining, Heim was leading by more than two-tenths of a second over Kyle Busch, who closed in and started to intimidate Heim for the top spot once again, while third-place Taylor Gray trailed by more than a second. As both continued to battle fiercely for the lead amid the draft, Heim continued to retain the top spot by a narrow margin over Busch, who could not execute his runs to overtake his former Kyle Busch Motorsports driver.
Then with 15 laps remaining, the caution flew for a two-truck incident involving the front row starters after Sanchez, the pole-sitter, slid underneath Garcia in Turn 1 and sent Garcia into the outside wall and with significant damage to the No. 35 Adaptive One Calipers Chevrolet Silverado RST, thus terminating Garcia’s race, while Sanchez spun sideways below the track and amid a cloud of smoke as he emerged with right-side damage to his No. 2 Gainbridge Chevrolet Silverado RST. At the time of the caution period, Heim was still leading by three-tenths of a second over Kyle Busch.
During the caution period, some that included Crafton, Deegan, Colby Howard, Ankrum, Lawless Alan, Tyler Hill, Roper, Reaume, Spencer Boyd, Chastain and Honeycutt pitted while the rest led by Heim remained on the track.
Down to the final nine laps of the event, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Heim received another shove from teammate Taylor Gray on the outside lane to rocket ahead and retain the lead entering the first turn with Kyle Busch following pursuit through the first turn as Bell and Majeski were in the top five. As the field fanned out through the first turn and entering Long Pond Straight, the caution quickly returned when Hocevar slid up the track and made contact with Grala while battling for seventh. The contact caused Grala to slide sideways as he clipped and sent Kligerman’s No. 75 Tide Chevrolet Silverado RST scraping into the outside wall through Long Pond Straight while Friesen collided into Grala before he was T-boned by Austin Hill’s No. 7 ARCO Chevrolet Silverado RST as more competitors that included Stefan Parsons, Chastain, Lawless Alan and Zane Smith, whose truck erupted in flames, were all collected.
The incident proved costly for Friesen, who was unable to continue with a damaged No. 52 Halmar Toyota Tundra TRD Pro and was scored above the Playoff cutline prior to the incident, while Crafton, who pitted during the previous caution period and was below the cutline, was able to methodically navigate his way through the incident without any damage. The incident was also enough for the event to be placed in a red flag period.
When the red flag lifted amid a 13-minute delay period, the race restarted under green with five laps remaining as Heim and Kyle Busch retained the front row. At the start, Heim, who received another push from teammate Taylor Gray on the outside lane, retained the lead over Kyle Busch, who was receiving a shove from Christopher Bell, entering Turn 1. As the field returned to the frontstretch with four laps remaining, Heim was leading by three-tenths of a second over Busch while Taylor Gray, Bell and Enfinger followed pursuit in the top five.
With three laps remaining, Heim continued to lead by three-tenths of a second over Kyle Busch, who nearly executed a move and pass on Heim for the lead before relenting and settling in second. By then, however, Taylor Gray started to close in on the two leaders as he was trailing by only six-tenths of a second. Heim would retain the lead by four-tenths of a second over runner-up Busch and seven-tenths of a second over third-place Taylor Gray with two laps remaining.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Heim remained as the leader by four-tenths of a second over Kyle Busch and seven-tenths of a second over Taylor Gray. Then after trailing Heim through the first turn, Busch executed a final lap charge and got to Heim’s rear bumper through the Long Pond Straight. He then made his move beneath Heim through the Tunnel Turn and rocketed away with the lead without making contact with Heim. With Busch pulling away and Heim unable to return the favor, Busch was able to cycle his way back to the frontstretch and record both his second Truck victory of the 2023 season and the 100th victory for Kyle Busch Motorsports.
With the victory, Busch, who was making his fifth and final Truck Series start of the 2023 season and whose latest series victory occurred at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March, notched his series-leading 64th Craftsman Truck Series career victory as a driver, his second of the season piloting a Chevrolet Silverado RST and with veteran crew chief Brian Pattie and his third in the series at Pocono.
Overall, Kyle Busch Motorsports, which first won at Nashville Superspeedway in 2010 with Busch and is the winningest team in the Craftsman Truck Series, has now accumulated 100 Truck victories between 18 different competitors, with Busch achieving 48 for his organization. The Pocono victory also marked KBM’s eighth overall victory in nine seasons at the Tricky Triangle.
Photo by Kirk Schroll for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“Yeah, I mean [the win]’s pretty cool,” Busch said on FS1. “We’ve been around for a long time. Not as long as others [teams], obviously. They’ve withstood a little bit longer, but it’s been fun. A great ride. This Silverado today was really, really fast. [I was] Just mired in traffic. Couldn’t find a way to make a clean move, so had to make little bit of a dicey one there at the end getting into [Turn] 2. Heim ran a great race. We needed this 100th win to get it over with.”
“It’s a monumental day,” Busch added. “It’s a century mark of being able to win 100 Truck races. We’re, granted, a small team and just one that performs in the Truck Series. We ventured away once upon a time and didn’t quite work, but we found a home in the Trucks. It’s cool to always score a victory and another nice one here at Pocono.”
Heim, coming off a victory at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course two weeks ago, was left disappointed on pit road after falling one lap shy of notching his third victory of the season at the Tricky Triangle. Despite the disappointment, Heim, who extended his lead in the regular-season standings to 42 points over Zane Smith, commended the battle and final overtake from Busch, whom Heim competed for, won two Truck races and claimed the Rookie-of-the-Year title a year ago.
“Just unreal,” Heim said. “I felt like I did everything right. It seemed like we had about five laps in the truck before it started tightening up really bad on me. [I] Didn’t really get the run I wanted out of [Turn] 1 and I knew [Busch]’s straightaway speed was really good. I was a little upset initially, but realistically, I would’ve done the exact same thing. A heat of the moment deal there, but looking back on it, I’ve just got a lot of respect for Kyle. I’ve raced for him for two years. He was really good to me, and he raced me with respect today. Hard racer. He didn’t wreck us to win, and I would’ve probably done the same thing. Just really sucks. I really thought we had it there, especially with seeming that he couldn’t really form up a run good enough to pass me and he sends it in on the last lap. All the blame goes on me for not doing what I should’ve done.”
Rookie Taylor Gray notched a career-best third-place result after crossing the finish line nine-tenths of a behind Kyle Busch while Christopher Bell and Enfinger finished in the top five.
Ty Majeski, Eckes, Dean Thompson, Ben Rhodes and DiBenedetto completed the top 10. Notably, Hocevar ended up 11th in front of Ankrum, Crafton came home 14th behind Hailie Deegan, Caruth ended up 16th in front of teammate Daniel Dye and Sanchez ended up 19th behind Chase Purdy.
There were five lead changes for four different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 20 laps. In addition, 29 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.
With one regular-season event remaining on the schedule, Corey Heim continues to lead the regular-season standings by 42 points over Zane Smith and 59 over Grant Enfinger, Ben Rhodes and Ty Majeski.
Currently, Corey Heim, Zane Smith, Grant Enfinger, Ben Rhodes, Christian Eckes and Carson Hocevar are guaranteed spots for the 2023 Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs based on winning at least once throughout the regular-season stretch. In addition, Ty Majeski, who finished sixth at Pocono, has clinched a Playoff spot despite being winless through 15 regular-season events. That leaves Matt DiBenedetto, rookie Nick Sanchez and Matt Crafton holding sole possessions of the final three transfer spots to make the 2023 Truck Series Playoffs entering next weekend’s regular-season finale at Richmond Raceway that will set the 10-truck Playoff field. Crafton holds the 10th and final transfer spot by nine points over Stewart Friesen, 47 over Tanner Gray, 54 over Chase Purdy, 71 over Tyler Ankrum and 94 over rookie Jake Garcia.
Results.
1. Kyle Busch, seven laps led
2. Corey Heim, 27 laps led
3. Taylor Gray
4. Christopher Bell
5. Grant Enfinger
6. Ty Majeski
7. Christian Eckes
8. Dean Thompson
9. Ben Rhodes
10. Matt DiBenedetto
11. Carson Hocevar
12. Tyler Ankrum
13. Hailie Deegan
14. Matt Crafton
15. Colby Howard
16. Rajah Caruth
17. Daniel Dye
18. Chase Purdy
19. Nick Sanchez, seven laps led
20. Kaden Honeycutt
21. Tyler Hill
22. Parker Kligerman
23. Cory Roper
24. Stephen Mallozzi
25. Spencer Boyd
26. Josh Reaume
27. Lawless Alan
28. Stefan Parsons
29. Bret Holmes
30. Ross Chastain – OUT, Accident
31. Kaz Grala – OUT, Accident
32. Stewart Friesen – OUT, Accident
33. Austin Hill – OUT, Accident
34. Zane Smith – OUT, Accident, 19 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner
35. Jake Garcia – OUT, Accident
36. Tanner Gray – OUT, Accident
The 2023 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series regular-season stretch is set to conclude next Saturday, July 29, at Richmond Raceway, where the 2023 Truck Series Playoff field will be determined. The event’s coverage is set to commence at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1.
Corey Heim has been named the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Sunoco Rookie of the Year following the season-finale Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix Raceway on Friday, November 4.
The news comes as the 20-year-old Heim from Marietta, Georgia, has completed a successful part-time campaign in this year’s Truck circuit, where he competed in 16 of 23-scheduled events in the No. 51 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro for Kyle Busch Motorsports.
Sharing the ride with team owner Kyle Busch and dirt racer Buddy Kofoid, Heim commenced his rookie campaign with a 32nd-place result at Daytona International Speedway. He rallied during his next scheduled start at Atlanta Motor Speedway in March by achieving his first career win after overtaking teammate Chandler Smith on the final lap. The victory made Heim as the 13th different competitor to achieve a first Truck career victory while driving for KBM and the 18th overall to win with KBM with the victory occurring at his home track.
Despite finishing no higher than seventh during his next three scheduled starts, Heim achieved his second career victory in the Truck circuit at the World Wide Technology Raceway in June after fending off the field during an overtime shootout. Heim’s pair of victories served as pivotal moments that enabled the No. 51 KBM team to secure a postseason spot in the owners’ standings as the Georgian competed for the 2022 Truck owners’ title. Despite recording five top-10 results in six starts throughout the 2022 Truck Series Playoffs, the No. 51 KBM team was eliminated from competing for the owners’ title at the conclusion of the Round of 8. Nonethless, Heim proceeded to finish seventh during the finale at Phoenix, which marked his 10th top-10 result overall this season.
By claiming this year’s rookie title, Heim became the fourth different competitor competing under the KBM banner to be named Rookie of the Year. Ultimately, he capped off the season with two victories, two poles, six top-five results, 10 top-10 results, 71 laps led and an average-finishing result of 14.1 through 16-scheduled starts as he also ended up in 14th place in the final drivers’ standings.
Heim’s rivals for this year’s Truck rookie title included Lawless Alan, Jack Wood, Dean Thompson and Blaine Perkins.
The 2023 season is set to mark a new beginning for Heim, who is set to compete on a full-time basis in the Truck Series for TRICON Garage, rebranded from David Gilliland Racing, and in the No. 11 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro in pursuit of his first drivers’ championship.
The Truck Series competitors and teams enter an off-season period before returning to action at Daytona International Speedway on February 17, 2023, to commence a new season of competition.
After losing the lead to Ryan Preece with less than 20 laps remaining, Chandler Smith executed a restart with 14 laps remaining and a draft from teammate Corey Heim to his advantage as he reassumed the lead and fended off Preece to win the CRC Brakleen 150 at Pocono Raceway on Saturday, July 23.
The 20-year-old Smith from Talking Rock, Georgia, led three times for a race-high 49 of 60-scheduled laps as he capped off the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series regular season stretch with his second victory of the season and added momentum in his pursuit for his first NASCAR national touring series championship.
With on-track qualifying that was set for Friday canceled due to rain, the starting lineup was determined through a qualifying metric from NASCAR’s rulebook. As a result, Zane Smith, the regular-season points leader, started on pole position while Chandler Smith joined Smith on the front row.
Prior to the event, Josh Reaume dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to his truck.
When the green flag waved and the race started, Zane Smith and Chandler Smith dueled for the top spot entering the first turn as Chandler Smith used the inside lane to rocket his No. 18 Charge Me Toyota Tundra TRD Pro to the lead. Through the Long Pond straightaway, Zane Smith settled in the runner-up spot behind Chandler Smith while Carson Hocevar was in third ahead of Stewart Friesen, Christian Eckes, Derek Kraus, John Hunter Nemechek and Ty Majeski.
Just as Zane Smith started to challenge Chandler Smith for the lead, the first caution flew when rookie Jack Wood got loose entering the second turn and spun his No. 24 GMS Racing Chevrolet Silverado RST, though he was dodged by the oncoming field.
As the event restarted on the fourth lap, the field fanned out to multiple lanes entering the first turn as Chandler Smith retained the lead ahead of Zane Smith’s No. 38 Fr8 Auctions Ford F-150 while Hocevar and Eckes battled for third ahead of Kraus, Friesen and Nemechek.
Two laps later, the caution returned when Dean Thompson spun his No. 40 Worldwide Express Chevrolet Silverado RST in Turn 1. During the caution period, some like Ty Majeski and Grant Enfinger, who was encountering radio issues to his No. 23 Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet Silverado RSt, pitted while the rest led by Chandler Smith remained on the track.
With five laps remaining in the first stage, the event proceeded under green. At the start, Chandler Smith took off with the lead on the outside lane while Eckes rocketed his No. 98 Cub Records Toyota Tundra TRD Pro into the runner-up spot. Behind, Hocevar fended off Nemechek for third place before Zane Smith and Friesen took Nemechek three-wide past the Tunnel Curve for spots in the top five.
As the on-track battles continued through the frontstretch and around the Tricky Triangle, the caution returned during the following lap when Todd Bodine, who was making his 800th NASCAR national touring series career start, got pinched in between Hailie Deegan and Blaine Perkins entering the first turn. The contact sent Bodine’s No. 62 Camping World Toyota Tundra TRD Pro around and into the outside wall as Jack Wood and Tyler Hill piled into Bodine’s Toyota. The wreck and damage were enough to conclude Bodine’s historic NASCAR career in the garage.
The wreck involving Bodine was enough for the first stage scheduled for Lap 15 to conclude under caution as Chandler Smith captured his second stage victory of the season. Eckes settled in second followed by Hocevar, Friesen, Derek Kraus, Zane Smith, Nemechek, Tyler Ankrum, Matt Crafton and rookie Corey Heim. With his sixth-place result, Zane Smith clinched the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series regular season championship.
Under the stage break, some led by Kraus and Zane Smith pitted while the rest led by Chandler Smith remained on the track.
The second stage started on Lap 18 as Chandler Smith and Hocevar occupied the front row. At the start and with the field fanning out, Smith retained the lead on the outside lane followed by Eckes and Friesen while Hocevar was being overtaken by Heim, Ankrum, Crafton, Ryan Preece, Matt DiBenedetto and Nemechek, all of whom were running on the outside lane through the Pocono turns.
Through the first 20 scheduled laps, Chandler Smith was leading by eight-tenths of a second over Eckes followed by Friesen, Heim and Ankrum while Preece, Crafton, DiBenedetto, Nemechek and Hocevar were in the top 10. Derek Kraus was back in 11th ahead of Tanner Gray, Majeski, Jesse Little and Grant Enfinger while Colby Howard, Austin Hill, Timmy Hill, Chase Purdy and Blaine Perkins were in the top 20. Meanwhile, names like Zane Smith, Ben Rhodes and Hailie Deegan were mired outside of the top 20.
By Lap 25, Chandler Smith extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Eckes. Meanwhile, Heim moved his No. 51 JBL Toyota Tundra TRD Pro into third place while Friesen and Preece were scored in the top five. Crafton and Enfinger, both of whom occupied the final two spots to the Playoffs, were in seventh and 19th while Ankrum and Kraus, the first two competitors scored outside of the top-10 cutline, were in sixth and 11th.
A few laps later, names like Heim, Friesen, Preece, Hocevar, Kraus, Austin Hill, DiBenedetto and Tanner Gray pitted under green. By Lap 28, Chandler Smith surrendered the lead to pit for four fresh tires and fuel while Eckes cycled to the lead.
When the second stage concluded on Lap 30, Eckes captured his first stage victory of the season. Ankrum settled in second following a side-by-side battle between Crafton and Nemechek. Majeski, Colby Howard, Chase Purdy, Zane Smith, Jesse Little and Enfinger were scored in the top 10.
Under the stage break, some led by Eckes pitted while the rest led by Chandler Smith remained on the track.
With 25 laps remaining, the final stage started under green as Chandler Smith and Ryan Preece occupied the front row. At the start, Chandler Smith retained the lead on the outside lane followed by Preece, Heim, Hocevar, Hill and Kraus as the field fanned out through the Long Pond straightaway.
Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Chandler Smith was leading by four-tenths of a second over Preece while Heim, Hocevar and Austin Hill retained their spots in the top five. Kraus was in sixth ahead of Nemechek, DiBenedetto, Eckes and Ankrum while Crafton and Enfinger were in 13th and 17th.
Shortly after, the battle for the lead ignited as Preece, who was dealing with a left-rear tire rub, dueled and overtook Chandler Smith for the top spot in Turn 1. Just as the battle between Preece and Smith continued, the caution returned with 18 laps remaining when Spencer Boyd spun from Turn 3 to the frontstretch as he also dropped debris on the frontstretch. During the caution period, Zane Smith pitted to fix a throttle issue along with Rhodes, who opted for fresh tires, while the rest led by Preece remained on the track.
With 14 laps remaining, the event proceeded under green. At the start, Heim pushed teammate Chandler Smith back to the lead while Preece fell back to second. Meanwhile, Hocevar overtook Heim for third place as Nemechek joined the battle followed by Austin Hill, Kraus and Majeski.
Two laps later, Kraus, who was running in seventh place, started to have smoke come out of the left-front fender of his No. 19 NAPA Chevrolet Silverado RST as he reported a power steering failure to his truck. Despite the issue, he continued on the track and the event remained under green.
Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Chandler Smith continued to lead by half a second over Preece’s No. 17 RaceChoice.com Ford F-150 followed by Heim, Hocevar and Nemechek while Austin Hill, Eckes, Kraus, Majeski and Tanner Gray were in the top 10. By then, Crafton was in 13th, Zane Smith recovered to 15th ahead of Ankrum and Enfinger was back in 18th behind Colby Howard.
With five laps remaining, the top-six competitors were separated by less than two seconds as Chandler Smith remained as the leader by four-tenths of a second over Preece and seven-tenths of a second over teammate Heim. Behind, Hocevar, Nemechek and Hill engaged in a three-truck battle for fourth place while Kraus, Tanner Gray, DiBenedetto, Zane Smith, Crafton, Ankrum and Enfinger were in ninth, 10th, 12th, 13th, 15th, 16th and 17th, respectively.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Chandler Smith was leading by two-tenths of a second over Preece. While Preece kept Smith close to his front windshield, he could not gain any late momentum through the Trick Triangle’s turns as Smith managed to cycle his way back to the frontstretch and claim his second checkered flag of the season by more than two-tenths of a second.
With the victory, Smith recorded his fourth Camping World Truck Series career victory, his first at Pocono and his first win since winning at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March. He also recorded the seventh Pocono victory for Kyle Busch Motorsports. By collecting his second checkered flag of the season along with two stage victories throughout the regular season stretch, Smith and his No. 18 KBM Toyota team led by former championship-winning crew chief Danny Stockman Jr. will commence the 2022 Playoffs in second place in the Playoff standings with 2,022 behind Zane Smith, who holds 2,037 with his regular-season title.
Photo by Jeff Clemons for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“God’s good,” Smith said on FOX. “We’ve been going through a little bit of a struggle here recently, but just when we needed to shine, we started shining. I can’t thank [Kyle Busch Motorsports]. This Charge Me Toyota Tundra was fast today. It was really good. It was a little tight. [I] Had problems getting through the gears. Also, thank you to the No. 51 team. Just can’t thank the good Lord. This is awesome! [The victory is] Big because we didn’t have a lot of Playoff points going into the Playoffs and today, we got one stage win, won the race, so I think we’re gonna be looking pretty sharp going to [Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park].”
Preece, who made his seventh Truck start of the season and won in his latest series start at Nashville Superspeedway in June, settled in the runner-up spot while Nemechek, Heim and Hocevar finished in the top five. Completing the top 10 were Austin Hill, Majeski, Eckes, Kraus and Tanner Gray.
With their finishes of 15th and 17th, Matt Crafton and Grant Enfinger secured the final two spots to the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Playoffs. Kraus, who finished ninth, was the first competitor to miss the top-10 cutline to the Playoffs by 17 points.
“After a day like today, it’s a little bit frustrating,” Enfinger said. “First and foremost, got to say thank you to everybody that stuck behind us. Everybody at GMS Fabrication. They built a brand new truck for here. We never were able to see what it did, so everything that happened to us today was on us. We’re gonna take it back, we’re gonna learn from it. We’re not gonna get down. The good thing about this regular season is it’s over and we made it to the off-season. We’ve learned a lot throughout this year. We’re getting transitioned again. [Crew chief] Jeff Hensley did a great job on the [pit] box, battling through the stuff that was self-inflicted. I’m frustrated right now, but we’re not gonna get down. We’re gonna work hard and be ready for [Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park].”
“We had a very, very good truck,” Crafton said. “It was really good on short run. We had a way better truck than where we finished, but you need to be aggressive on the starts and I couldn’t put myself in any bad situations. You have to put yourself in bad situations on restarts to be able to get the spots. I would have to wait for everything to settle down and then, pass people, earn it instead of being a wild man on restarts. We just had to keep [Kraus] in grasp right there and hopefully, we didn’t get a new winner. [The team] worked really hard.”
“[There were] A couple races that we could’ve improved on where we were better,” Kraus said. “Overall, it’s what happened. I don’t know what happened when the power steering went away. Just parts failure. Just move on, hang our heads high and we’ll go on to the next 10 [Playoff] races.”
Zane Smith, Ben Rhodes, John Hunter Nemechek, Chandler Smith, Stewart Friesen, Ty Majeski, Carson Hocevar, Christian Eckes, Grant Enfinger and Matt Crafton have made the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Playoffs. All 10 competitors will embark on a seven-race postseason stretch and contend for this year’s Truck title.
Derek Kraus, Tyler Ankrum, Matt DiBenedetto, Tanner Gray, Colby Howard, Timmy Hill, Chase Purdy, Lawless Alan, Hailie Deegan, Dean Thompson, Jack Wood, Spencer Boyd, Kris Wright, Blaine Perkins were among the remaining competitors whom did not make the Playoffs.
There were five lead changes for three different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 20 laps.
Results.
1. Chandler Smith, 49 laps led, Stage 1 winner
2. Ryan Preece, six laps led
3. John Hunter Nemechek
4. Corey Heim
5. Carson Hocevar
6. Austin Hill
7. Ty Majeski
8. Christian Eckes, five laps led, Stage 2 winner
9. Derek Kraus
10. Tanner Gray
11. Chase Purdy
12. Matt DiBenedetto
13. Zane Smith
14. Stewart Friesen
15. Matt Crafton
16. Tyler Ankrum
17. Grant Enfinger
18. Colby Howard
19. Ben Rhodes
20. Tate Folgeman
21. Max Gutierrez
22. Lawless Alan
23. Kaz Grala
24. Dean Thompson
25. Kaden Honeycutt
26. Jesse Little
27. Kris Wright
28. Timmy Hill
29. Blaine Perkins
30. Tyler Hill
31. Armani Williams, one lap down
32. Spencer Boyd, one lap down
33. Hailie Deegan – OUT, Brakes
34. Josh Reaume, five laps down
35. Jack Wood – OUT, Accident
36. Todd Bodine – OUT, Accident
The 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Playoffs is set to commence next Friday, July 29, at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, which marks the series’ return to the venue since 2011. The event is scheduled to commence at 9 p.m. ET on FS1.
With the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series regular season stretch reaching its conclusion, Kyle Busch Motorsports is set to surpass a milestone start in the team’s 13th season in Truck competition. When KBM drivers Corey Heim, John Hunter Nemechek and Chandler Smith compete in this weekend’s inaugural event at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, KBM will surpass a combined 750 career starts in the Truck Series.
Kyle Busch Motorsports debuted in the NASCAR Truck Series in 2010 with trucks purchased from Roush Fenway Racing and assets acquired from Xpress Motorsports as the team headquartered in Mooresville, North Carolina. By then, Busch had campaigned in seven part-time seasons in the series while accumulating 16 victories, all occurring with Billy Ballew Motorsports.
For the 2010 season, Kyle Busch Motorsports planned on fielding three trucks: one that would be split between Busch and Brian Ickler, another that would be driven on a full-time basis by Taylor Malsam and a third that would be piloted by former champion Johnny Benson Jr. pending additional sponsorships. Prior to the start of the season, however, Miccosukee Resorts, one of Busch’s key Truck sponsors that initially followed him to KBM from Billy Ballew Motorsports, terminated its partnership with NASCAR and left Busch without a full-time sponsor throughout his part-time campaign. In addition, Benson’s role was limited to a part-time status as he shared the No. 18 Toyota Tundra entry with Busch, Ickler and Kasey Kahne while the second KBM entry, the No. 56 Toyota Tundra that was piloted by Malsam, was terminated following the first seven events. Despite the rocky start, it only took the first four events of the season for Kyle Busch to record the first victory for KBM at Nashville Superspeedway in April 2010. Busch went on to achieve victories at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May, Bristol Motor Speedway and Chicagoland Speedway in August, New Hampshire Motor Speedway in September, Talladega Superspeedway in October and at Texas Motor Speedway in November, all occurring in the No. 18 entry. After winning the season-finale event at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November following a four-lap shootout, Busch captured the 2010 Truck Series owners’ championship on the strength of eight victories in 16 starts throughout the 25-race schedule. In total, KBM achieved eight victories, six poles, 16 top-five results and 21 top-10 results in its first season in NASCAR competition.
For the team’s second season in 2011, Busch fielded the No. 18 Toyota Tundra as the primary, “all-star” entry that was split between himself, Kasey Kahne, Brian Ickler, Josh Richards and Denny Hamlin. Busch also fielded the Nos. 15 and 51 entries that both campaigned in limited events and was shared between Kimi Räikkönen, German Quiroga and Richards. Throughout the 2011 Truck season, Busch notched six victories in 16 starts, Kahne won at Darlington Raceway in March and Hamlin notched his first Truck victory at Martinsville Speedway in October, all occurring in KBM’s No. 18 entry. Despite accumulating a total of eight victories, two poles, 16 top-five results and 18 top-10 results throughout the 25-race schedule, the No. 18 entry settled in second place in the final owners’ standings behind the No. 2 Kevin Harvick Inc. entry.
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The 2012 Truck season was a difficult season for Kyle Busch Motorsports despite the team fielding the No. 18 Toyota Tundra on a full-time basis for a third consecutive season while the No. 51 Toyota Tundra competed the final five scheduled events with Quiroga and Hamlin behind the wheel. At the start of the season, veteran Jason Leffler piloted the No. 18 Toyota as the team’s primary competitor, but was released in August after only recording six top-10 results through the first 10 events. For the remainder of the season, the No. 18 entry was split between Busch, Hamlin, Brian Scott, Kurt Busch, Drew Herring and David Mayhew. After going winless for the majority of the season, Hamlin recorded the first victory of 2012 for KBM when he piloted the No. 51 Toyota to a win at Martinsville in October. Two races later, Scott overtook rookie Kyle Larson during a two-lap shootout to wheel the No. 18 Toyota to a late victory at Phoenix Raceway in November. In the end, KBM capped off the season with Busch being edged by Cale Gale in a photo finish at Homestead as Busch concluded a Truck season winless for the first time since 2004.
In 2013, Kyle Busch Motorsports fielded three full-time entries for the first time in the team’s history with the No. 51 Toyota Tundra entry becoming the team’s “all-star” entry that was piloted between Busch, Erik Jones, Chad Hackenbracht, Scott Bloomquist and Hamlin throughout the 22-race schedule. For the new season, the No. 18 Toyota Tundra entry was taken sole possession by full-time competitor Joey Coulter while KBM’s No. 54 Toyota Tundra entry debuted for newcomer Bubba Wallace. Through the first 20 events, the No. 51 entry visited Victory Lane four times, all with Busch. At Phoenix in November, Jones became the youngest winner in the series at age 17 years, five months and nine days after recording his first career victory in KBM’s No. 51 truck. During the following weekend at Homestead, Busch survived three late-race restarts to capture his fifth win of the 2013 season and clinch the owners’ title for his No. 51 entry in a tie-breaker against ThorSport Racing’s No. 88 entry piloted by the 2013 drivers’ champion Matt Crafton. Meanwhile, the No. 18 entry that was piloted by Coulter achieved a total of five top-10 results and a 15th-place result in the final drivers’ standings while the No. 54 entry managed to earn a trip to Victory Lane at Martinsville in October as Wallace became the first African-American competitor to win in the Truck Series. To go along with his first Truck career victory, Wallace capped off his first full-time campaign in the series with a pole, five top-five results, 12 top-10 results and an eighth-place result in the drivers’ standings.
Photo by Kala Perkins for SpeedwayMedia.com.Photo by Gary Buchanan for SpeedwayMedia.com.
The 2014 season was a breakout year for Kyle Busch Motorsports, which featured Busch and Erik Jones splitting driving responsibilities of the No. 51 Toyota Tundra while Bubba Wallace returned as the driver of the No. 54 Toyota Tundra. In total, KBM won 14 of the 22 races to the schedule as Busch and Jones, both of whom earned a combined 10 victories, guided the No. 51 entry to the team’s third owners’ championship. Wallace piloted the No. 54 truck to four victories, two poles, nine top-five results and 14 top-10 results as he finished in third place in the final drivers’ standings.
A month following the conclusion of the 2014 season, Kyle Busch Motorsports unveiled its driver lineup for the 2015 season with Erik Jones headlining the lineup as he was promoted to a full-time Truck Series campaign in the No. 4 Toyota Tundra while newcomer Justin Boston replaced Bubba Wallace, who graduated to the Xfinity Series with Roush Fenway Racing, in the No. 54 Toyota Tundra. Meanwhile, KBM’s No. 51 Toyota Tundra team remained as an “all-star” entry that was split between Busch, Daniel Suarez, Matt Tifft and Christopher Bell. Early in the season, Suarez and Tifft served as the primary competitors of the No. 51 entry with Busch recovering from injuries sustained in a late multi-car wreck during the Xfinity season-opening event at Daytona in February. Boston, however, was released by KBM nine races into the new season due to a breech of contract involving the driver and his sponsor Zloop. With Boston out, the No. 54 entry was split between Tifft, Cody Coughlin, Gray Gaulding, Bell and Busch, who returned to full-time competition in May. Despite the early season drama for KBM, Bell captured his first career victory at Eldora Speedway in July following a two-lap shootout while Busch piloted the No. 51 truck to two victories at Pocono Raceway and at Michigan International Speedway between July and August. Meanwhile, Jones earned victories at Iowa Speedway in June, Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in August and at Texas Motor Speedway in November. To go along with five poles, 11 top-five results and 20 top-10 results, Jones claimed the 2015 Truck Series championship following a sixth-place result at Homestead and by 15 points over Tyler Reddick and 22 over Matt Crafton. With Jones’ accomplishment, Kyle Busch Motorsports achieved its first drivers’ championship along with its fourth owners’ title in NASCAR.
Photo by Don Dunn for SpeedwayMedia.com.
The 2016 Truck Series season featured another new driver lineup for Kyle Busch Motorsports as Bell, coming off his first career victory at Eldora, replaced Erik Jones, who moved up to the Xfinity Series with Joe Gibbs Racing, as the driver of the No. 4 Toyota Tundra while William Byron, the reigning ARCA Menards Series East champion who made his Truck debut with KBM at Phoenix in November during the previous season, piloted the No. 9 Toyota Tundra. The No. 51 Toyota Tundra entry was split between Daniel Suarez, Cody Coughlin, Jones and Gary Klutt throughout the season while the No. 18 KBM entry made a total of five starts between Busch, Coughlin and Harrison Burton. Throughout the season, Busch wheeled the No. 18 truck to victories at Martinsville in April and at Chicagoland Speedway in September while Suarez drove the No. 51 Toyota to his first Truck career victory at Phoenix in November. The No. 9 Toyota team piloted by Byron achieved great success throughout the season with the Charlotte native earning his first career victory at Kansas Speedway in May after dodging a final lap incident involving Johnny Sauter and Ben Rhodes. He went on to win at Texas and Iowa Speedway in June followed by Kentucky Speedway in July as KBM became the winningest team in the Truck Series with 51 victories. After Byron won at Pocono in July, he established a new record for achieving the most victories by a rookie Truck competitor with five. After qualifying for the inaugural 2016 Truck Playoffs, he won the first postseason event at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in September and utilized consistency to transfer all the way to the Playoff’s Round of 6. Byron’s title hopes, however, came to an end at Phoenix in November after his No. 9 entry suffered an engine failure with 10 laps remaining while he was leading, which prevented him from earning a ticket to the Championship Round at Homestead. Nonetheless, he went on to win the season-finale event at Homestead for his unprecedented seventh victory of the season as he wrapped up both the 2016 Rookie-of-the-Year title and the fifth career owners’ title for KBM. In comparison to Byron and the No. 9 team, Bell and the No. 4 team rallied from a rocky start to generate a consistent regular season run, including a victory at Gateway in June, to qualify for the Playoffs. Bell remained consistent throughout the Playoffs to make it all the way to the Championship Round at Homestead and contend for the drivers’ title. During the finale, however, Bell finished in eighth place on the track and in third place in the final drivers’ standings.
Photo by Simon Scoggins for SpeedwayMedia.com.
For the 2017 season, Kyle Busch Motorsports retained Bell as driver of the No. 4 Toyota Tundra while welcoming Noah Gragson as a full-time competitor of KBM’s No. 18 Toyota Tundra. Busch remained as a part-time competitor of his No. 51 Toyota Tundra as he split the ride with rookies Harrison Burton, Todd Gilliland and Myatt Snider while also debuting the No. 46 Toyota Tundra for a total of four events, with himself and Gilliland earning two events apiece. Busch earned a total of three victories throughout the 2017 Truck season: two in the No. 51 entry at Kansas and at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May and one in the No. 46 entry at Bristol Motor Speedway in August. In addition, the No. 51 team earned a total of nine top-10 results and settled in fourth place in the final owners’ standings. For the No. 18 entry, Gragson earned his first career victory at Martinsville in October following a late duel with former champions Matt Crafton and Johnny Sauter. To go along with three poles, four top-five results and 13 top-10 results, Gragson finished in 10th place in the final drivers’ standings and in his first full-time Truck campaign. For Bell, who entered the season as a potential title favorite, he achieved five victories along with five poles, 15 top-five results and 21 top-10 results as he made his second consecutive appearance both in the Playoffs and in the Championship Round at Homestead. During the finale, Bell finished in the runner-up spot on the track and captured the 2017 Truck Series drivers’ championship over Sauter, Austin Cindric and Crafton. With his first championship in NASCAR, Bell recorded the second drivers’ championship and the sixth owners’ title overall for KBM.
Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images.
During the following season, Busch retained Gragson in the No. 18 KBM Toyota Tundra while Todd Gilliland contended for the 2018 Truck Rookie-of-the-Year title in the No. 4 Toyota Tundra, thus replacing Bell as Bell became a full-time Xfinity competitor for Joe Gibbs Racing. Gilliland, however, missed four of the first six events due to age restrictions and spent the early portions of the season splitting the No. 4 Toyota with his father David, Busch and newcomer Spencer Davis while Davis, Busch, David Gilliland, Harrison Burton, Brandon Jones, Riley Herbst, Logan Seavey and Christopher Bell took turns piloting the No. 51 Toyota Tundra. The No. 46 KBM Toyota Tundra also returned for a total of six events that was split between Brandon Jones, Herbst and newcomer Christian Eckes. Throughout the season, the No. 46 entry’s best on-track result was third at Charlotte in May made by Jones while the No. 4 entry achieved a season-best result of second place at Gateway in June with Todd Gilliland, who finished in 10th place in the final drivers’ standings. The No. 51 entry went to Victory Lane twice during the season with Busch at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March and at Pocono in July while Gragson wheeled the No. 18 entry to a dominant win at Kansas in May. Despite being absent at Pocono due to illness, where he was replaced by Erik Jones, Gragson utilized consistency to qualify for the 2018 Truck Playoffs and transfer all the way to the Championship Round at Homestead, where he settled in the runner-up spot in the final drivers’ standings.
The 2019 season featured Harrison Burton replacing Noah Gragson, who graduated to the Xfinity Series, as the driver of Kyle Busch Motorsports’ No. 18 Toyota Tundra while Todd Gilliland remained as a full-time driver of the No. 4 Toyota Tundra. Meanwhile, the No. 51 Toyota Tundra entry returned as the “all-star” entry that was split between Busch, Eckes, Brandon Jones, Greg Biffle, Chandler Smith, Alex Tagliani and Riley Herbst. The No. 46 Toyota Tundra entry returned for a total of seven events that was split between Herbst, Smith and Raphaël Lessard. In comparison to recent seasons, KBM endured a difficult 2019 season as both Burton and Gilliland did not make the Playoffs. While Burton finished in 12th place in the final drivers’ standings with no victories and 11 top-10 results, Gilliland managed to record his first Truck career victory at Martinsville in October along with 14 top-10 results before settling in 11th place in the final standings. With the No. 46 entry finishing no higher than fourth at Gateway in June made by Chandler Smith, the No. 51 entry won six of the 23-scheduled events: five with Busch and one with Biffle. To go along with a total of 15 top-five results and 17 top-10 results throughout the 23-race schedule, the No. 51 entry managed to capture the 2019 Truck owners’ title as KBM achieved its seventh owners’ championship in NASCAR.
Photo by Brad Keppel for SpeedwayMedia.com.
For the following season, Kyle Busch Motorsports introduced new drivers to the Nos. 4 and 18 entries as Harrison Burton moved up to the Xfinity Series with Joe Gibbs Racing while Todd Gilliland moved over to Front Row Motorsports. The No. 18 Toyota was taken over by Christian Eckes while Raphaël Lessard took over the No. 4 Toyota. The No. 51 Toyota also returned as Busch, Brandon Jones, Chandler Smith, Riley Herbst and Alex Tagliani took turns to drive the truck throughout the season. In his first full-time campaign in the series, Eckes qualified for the 2020 Truck Playoffs, but was eliminated from title contention following the Round of 10 as he ended up in eighth place in the final drivers’ standings with no victories and 11 top-10 results. Lessard, on the other hand, did not make the Playoffs, but he managed to capture his first career victory at Talladega in October along with a total of seven top-10 results before finishing in 12th place in the final standings. Meanwhile, the No. 51 entry went to Victory Lane four times: three with Busch and once with Brandon Jones, who captured his first elusive series win at Pocono in June. To go along with a total of 10 results in the top five, the No. 51 entry settled in sixth place in the final owners’ standings.
This past season, Kyle Busch Motorsports welcomed John Hunter Nemechek as the driver of the No. 4 Toyota Tundra, where he replaced Lessard, while Chandler Smith replaced Christian Eckes as a full-time competitor of the No. 18 Toyota Tundra. The No. 51 Toyota Tundra remained as the “all-star” entry for a ninth consecutive season as the truck was piloted between Busch, Drew Dollar, Parker Chase, Martin Truex Jr., Corey Heim, Brian Brown, Derek Griffith and Dylan Lupton throughout the 22-race schedule. Three races into the new season, Nemechek recorded his first win with KBM at Las Vegas in March before the No. 51 entry visited Victory Lane during the following two events: the first with Busch at Atlanta and the second at the Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt Course with Truex, who claimed his first Truck career victory. Not long after, Nemechek fended off Busch to win at Richmond Raceway before Busch capitalized on a late restart to win at Kansas. Those five victories followed by three additional victories by Nemechek capped off a strong regular season stretch as Nemechek, who claimed the regular season championship, and Chandler Smith qualified for the 2021 Truck Playoffs. During the Playoffs, Smith claimed his first Truck career victory at Bristol in September to advance from the Round of 10 to 8 along with Nemechek. During the Round of 8, Smith’s title hopes evaporated while Nemechek was able to earn enough points through consistency to secure a spot in the Championship 4 finale at Phoenix Raceway. An early tire issued, however, derailed Nemechek’s title hopes as he ended up in third place in the final drivers’ standings while Smith won the finale and captured the 2021 Truck Rookie-of-the-Year title. Meanwhile, the No. 51 entry settled in 10th place in the owners’ standings.
This season, Kyle Busch Motorsports retained John Hunter Nemechek and Chandler Smith as drivers of the Nos. 4 and 18 entries, respectively. In addition, Corey Heim returned with an expanded part-time Truck schedule as he split the No. 51 entry with Kyle Busch and Buddy Kofoid. Through the first 14 scheduled events, all three KBM entries have visited Victory Lane at least once, with Smith winning at Las Vegas in March, Nemechek winning at Darlington in May, Busch winning at Sonoma Raceway in June and Heim recording his first two career victories in the series at Atlanta in March followed by Gateway in June. Heim is scheduled to take over the No. 51 entry for the remainder of the season as he contends for the 2022 Truck Rookie-of-the-Year title while Nemechek and Smith, both of whom are pursuing their first championship in NASCAR, are guaranteed spots for the 2022 Truck Playoffs.
Photo by Simon Scoggins for SpeedwayMedia.com.Photo by David Myers for SpeedwayMedia.com.
Through a combined 749 Truck starts, Kyle Busch Motorsports has achieved two drivers’ championships, a record seven owners’ championships, 95 victories, 63 poles, 276 top-five results, 439 top-10 results and 13,196 laps led with 51 different competitors making at least one start for the organization.
Kyle Busch Motorsports is primed to surpass 750 career starts in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on Saturday, July 9, with coverage to occur at 1:30 p.m. ET on FS1.
Rookie Corey Heim executed a bold final lap pass over teammate Chandler Smith and fended off the field to win the Fr8 208 at the newly reconfigured Atlanta Motor Speedway on Saturday, March 19, for his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series win in his fifth series start.
The 19-year-old Heim from Marietta, Georgia, who competes part-time in the ARCA Menards Series for Venturini Motorsports and in the Truck Series for Kyle Busch Motorsports, led four times for 22 of 150-scheduled laps as he received a boost from teammate John Hunter Nemechek, who was two laps behind, to overtake teammate Chandler Smith at the start of the final lap. Then for a single lap, Heim fended off a pack of storming trucks to notch his first career victory in his second series start of the season.
The starting lineup for the event was determined through the Performance Metrics formula based on four statistics: drivers’ results, owners’ race and points results and the fastest lap from the previous Cup event. With that, Chandler Smith, winner of the previous scheduled Truck event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, started on pole position. Joining him on the front row was Stewart Friesen.
The use of the Performance Metrics formula occurred after rain cancelled all on-track activities on Friday, which resulted with the Truck competitors receiving a single practice session earlier on Saturday in place of on-track qualifying.
Prior to the event, Jordan Anderson, John Hunter Nemechek, Thad Moffitt, Chase Purdy and Ty Majeski dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustment to their respective trucks.
When the green flag waved and the race started, Chandler Smith peaked ahead with an early advantage until Friesen received a strong push from Matt DiBenedetto to take the lead. Then in Turn 3, DiBenedetto got into the outside wall in Turn 3 as the field overtook DiBenedetto’s slow truck through the turn. Meanwhile, Friesen led the first lap ahead of the field as the race continued to run under green.
Through the first five scheduled laps, Friesen was leading followed by Grant Enfinger, Carson Hocevar, Derek Kraus and Matt Crafton while Chandler Smith, Tyler Ankrum, Christian Eckes, Austin Wayne Self and Tanner Gray were in the top 10.
By Lap 20, Friesen continued to lead ahead of the field with the competitors mired in a tight, side-by-side battle for positions.
When the first stage concluded on Lap 30, Friesen captured his first Truck stage victory of the season. Enfinger settled in second followed by Kraus, Eckes, Matt Crafton, Gray, Chandler Smith, Ross Chastain, John Hunter Nemechek and Ankrum. Meanwhile, Hailie Deegan pulled her No. 1 David Gilliland Racing Ford F-150 to pit road as her left-rear tire was on fire. The incident was enough to terminate her event on pit road.
Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Eckes emerged out in front with the lead. During the pit stops, Tyler Ankrum and Rhodes overshot their pit stalls. Chase Purdy and Brennan Poole were busted for speeding while Jesse Little and Chris Hacker were penalized for having a crew member over the pit wall too soon.
The second stage started on Lap 37 as Friesen and Eckes occupied the front row. At the start, the leaders battled dead even through the backstretch until Friesen stormed to the lead on the outside lane.
At the Lap 40 mark, Friesen was leading by a tenth of a second over Nemechek followed by Eckes, Crafton, Majeski, Kraus, Chandler Smith, Preece, Zane Smith and Enfinger.
Nearing the Lap 50 mark, the caution flew due to debris on the frontstretch that came off of the No. 20 Young’s Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado RST piloted by Matt Mills. Under caution, some led by Friesen pitted while the rest of the field led by Nemechek remained on the track.
With five laps remaining in the second stage, the race restarted under green. At the start, Nemechek received a push from Eckes on the outside lane to peak ahead of Majeski for the lead. A few laps later, Majeski received a push from Chandler Smith to move in front of Nemechek for the lead.
Then prior to the final lap of the second stage, Nemechek bolted to the inside lane to reassume the lead over Majeski followed by teammate Chandler Smith. Shortly after, the caution flew due to a tire tread that came off of Ross Chastain’s No. 41 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado RST. The caution was enough for the second stage scheduled for Lap 60 to conclude under caution as Nemechek captured the stage victory. Majeski settled in second followed by Chandler Smith, Eckes, Ankrum, Crafton, Dean Thompson, Gray, Hocevar and Preece were scored in the top 10.
Under the stage break, names like Friesen, Rhodes, Enfinger and Jack Wood remained on the track while the rest of the field remained on the track.
The third and final stage restarted under green on Lap 66. At the start, Grant Enfinger muscled his GMS Racing machine to the top spot over Friesen.
Then on Lap 68, the caution flew for a multi-truck wreck in Turn 3 that consumed Eckes, Jack Wood, Dean Thompson and Lawless Allen. Under caution, some including Preece remained on the track while the rest led by Enfinger pitted.
Seven laps later, the race restarted under green. At the start, Heim received a push from teammate Chandler Smith to retain the lead over Preece while the field jostled for positions.
The caution returned, however, on Lap 80 when Tate Fogleman spun on the frontstretch. Four laps later, the race proceeded under green as Heim moved into the lead over Preece. By then, Enfinger, who pitted, was penalized for running over his air hose on pit road.
Then on Lap 91, the caution once again flew when Jordan Anderson and Tanner Gray made contact entering Turn 1, which got Anderson loose as he came down across the track and hit Tate Fogleman, which then sent Fogleman hard against the Turn 1 outside wall.
With 38 laps remaining, the final stage started. At the start, Majeski shoved teammates Rhodes to the lead over Heim as the field fanned out to three lanes through the backstretch.
With the majority of the field settling in a long single file line, Rhodes was ahead of teammate Majeski, Heim, Preece and Zane Smith while Chandler Smith, Kraus, Nemechek, Chastain and Friesen were in the top 10.
Following an incident involving Kris Wright with 35 laps remaining, the race restarted under green six laps later. At the start, the field locked in a side-by-side battle for the top spot until Rhodes managed to retain the lead by a narrow margin. Shortly after, Heim challenged Rhodes for the lead as he led the following lap. With Heim and Rhodes running the outside lane along with Preece, Chandler Smith challenged on the inside lane followed by Kraus.
Not long after, the battle for the lead intensified between Heim and Chandler Smith, both of whom representing Kyle Busch Motorsports and as Georgia natives competing at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Meanwhile, teammate Nemechek, who was running near the top 10, was off the pace after making contact with Crafton through the backstretch.
Down to the final 20 laps of the event and with the battle for the lead fanning out to two lanes as the top-20 competitors were mired in a tight pack towards the front, Chandler Smith was ahead over teammate Heim followed by Tanner Gray, Friesen and Tyler Ankrum.
Five laps later, Chandler Smith settled with an advantage of more than a tenth of a second over teammate Heim while Friesen, Zane Smith and Rhodes were in the top five. Majeski was in sixth followed by Gray, Austin Wayne Self, Kraus and Ankrum.
With 10 laps remaining, Chandler Smith continued to lead followed by teammate Heim, Friesen, Zane Smith, Rhodes and the field.
Down to the final five laps of the event, the front-runners continued to run in a single file line with the top-11 trucks separated by more than a second as Chandler Smith remained in the lead ahead of teammate Heim, Zane Smith, Rhodes and Majeski. By then, Nemechek, who was two laps down, blended in with the leaders.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Heim made his move beneath teammate Chandler Smith followed by teammate Nemechek, Rhodes and the field while Chandler Smith was trapped on the outside lane. Through the backstretch and Turn 3, Heim continued to lead as Rhodes tried to make a final lap charge for the top spot. With the field fanning out approach the finish line, Heim managed to streak across the finish line in first place to claim his first checkered flag by 0.173 seconds over Rhodes.
With the victory, Heim became the 119th different competitor to achieve a Truck Series victory and the 12th to do so while competing for Kyle Busch Motorsports as KBM notched its fourth Truck victory at Atlanta. Heim is scheduled to compete in 13 of the remaining 21 Truck events in KBM’s No. 51 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro.
“That was awesome!” Heim said on FS1. “I can’t believe it. We just put ourselves in the right place at the right time. Our JBL Tundra TRD Pro was amazing today. Just can’t thank everyone enough back at the shop. Toyota Racing helped so much to get here and this truck looks awesome in Victory Lane. So glad to be here.”
“[There were] No team orders there [for the finish],” Heim added. “As long as one [Kyle Busch Motorsports] truck won, that’s all that matters. [Teammate Chandler Smith] did an awesome job defending for most of the race there and [teammate John Hunter Nemechek] stuck with me when it mattered the most. [I] Got to give all the credit to John Hunter Nemechek for helping out there. It’s surreal. Awesome.”
Rhodes settled in second place followed by Majeski while Chandler Smith fell back to fourth place in front of Zane Smith.
“I would’ve liked to duke it out with [Heim], just us and not have anyone else in the middle of it,” Chandler Smith said. “It is what it is. I’m happy for [the 51 team]. That’s their first win of the year and first win for Corey. That’s exciting, I remember how it was to get my first and it was a really cool moment. Happy for him and happy for that whole group. [Crew chief Danny] Stockman and everybody back at KBM. They give me a really fast Safelite/Charge Me/NGE Roofing Toyota Tundra TRD Pro today. It just sucks that it had to end like that. I wish we could’ve duked it out.
Friesen, Preece, Gray, Kraus and Austin Wayne Self came home in the top 10. Notably, Enfinger finished 14th, Eckes finished 17th, Nemechek and Crafton finished 24th and 25th and DiBenedetto settled in 30th.
There were 18 lead changes for 10 different leaders. The race featured seven cautions for 40 laps.
With his fourth-place result, Chandler Smith continues to lead the regular season standings by 13 points over Tanner Gray, 17 over Ty Majeski, 26 over Stewart Friesen and 27 over Ben Rhodes.
Results.
1. Corey Heim, 22 laps led,
2. Ben Rhodes, nine laps led
3. Ty Majeski, one lap led
4. Chandler Smith, 21 laps led
5. Zane Smith
6. Stewart Friesen, 49 laps led, Stage 1 winner
7. Ryan Preece, four laps led
8. Tanner Gray
9. Derek Kraus
10. Austin Wayne Self
11. Tyler Ankrum
12. Grant Enfinger, 14 laps led
13. Jack Wood
14. Chase Purdy
15. Jesse Little
16. Christian Eckes, three laps led
17. Chris Hacker
18. Jordan Anderson
19. Matt Jaskol
20. Spencer Boyd, one lap down
21. Kris Wright, one lap down
22. Timmy Hill, one lap down
23. Ross Chastain, two laps down
24. John Hunter Nemechek, two laps down, 11 laps led, Stage 2 winner
25. Matt Crafton, two laps down, one lap led
26. Colby Howard, two laps down
27. Carson Hocevar, three laps down
28. Brennan Poole, five laps down
29. Blaine Perkins, nine laps down
30. Matt DiBenedetto, 12 laps down
31. Tate Fogleman – OUT, Accident
32. Thad Moffitt – OUT, Engine
33. Lawless Alan – OUT, Accident
34. Dean Thompson – OUT, Accident
35. Matt Mills – OUT, Suspension
36. Hailie Deegan – OUT, Tire
Next on the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series schedule is the series’ second annual event at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, which will occur on Saturday, March 26, at 1 p.m. ET on FS1.
