Tag: kyle busch

NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Bristol

Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

1. Kyle Busch: Busch outpaced big brother Kurt on the final restart at Bristol and took the win in the Food City 500.

“We both gambled by staying out on the final caution,” Busch said. “We’re from Las Vegas, so gambling is in our blood. By the way, I’m their ‘favorite son.’ And when I say ‘their,’ I’m referring to Las Vegas, and our parents.”

2. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin finished fifth at Bristol as Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch won for the third time this season.

“Between Kyle and me,” Hamlin said, “we’ve got five wins this year. So, for JGR, Kyle and I are carrying our weight. Our teammates, Erik Jones and Daniel Suarez, they’re carrying our jock straps.”

3. Joey Logano: Logano and Penske teammate Brad Keselowski were set to battle for the win at Bristol until a late caution changed their fortunes. Both opted to pit for tires, while Kyle Busch and Kurt Busch stayed out. Kyle Busch won the race; Logano finished third.

“It sucks to lose,” Logano. “And trust me, I hate losing to the Busch brothers, but not nearly as much as I hate being outsmarted by them.”

4. Kevin Harvick: Harvick had to start at the back of the field after failing inspection three times, but salvaged a 13th at Bristol. He is third in the Monster Energy Cup points standings, 33 out of first.

“I finished 13th in qualifying,” Harvick said. “And three failed inspections say I finished first in ‘dis-qualifying.’”

5. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski was penalized late at Bristol for failing to line up properly on a restart, and finished 18th, spoiling what easily could have been a top five finish.

“That’s what NASCAR calls ‘putting me in my place,’” Keselowski said.

6. Martin Truex Jr.: Truex finished 17th at Bristol, one lap down, and is now seventh in the Monster Energy Cup points standings.

“We didn’t have a car capable of winning,” Truex said. “Of course, I wasn’t too pleased with the car and its setup. At the ‘Bull Ring,’ it was a case of ‘running of the b.s.‘”

7. Kurt Busch: Busch finished second to younger brother Kyle at Bristol after Kyle nailed the final restart.

“I should have wrecked Kyle and taken the win,” Busch said. “But Kyle got a great jump on the restart and I couldn’t catch him. In other words, he beat me to the punch, as opposed to some other drivers, who have beaten me with a punch.”

8. Chase Elliott: Elliott started on the pole at Bristol and posted an 11th-place finish.

“I received a free pass midway through the race,” Elliott said, “despite the fact that I was involved in the spin that caused the caution. That clearly goes against what’s written in the NASCAR rule book. At this point, who knowswhat’s written in the NASCAR rule book? What is known is that it’s written in pencil.”

9. Ryan Blaney: Blaney led a race-high 158 laps at Bristol and finished fourth, his fourth top five of the season.

“I had a spirited battle with Ryan Newman late in the race,” Blaney said. “There was a lot of contact. Luckily, we were able to laugh about it afterwards. Which is amazing in itself, because Newman is hardly ever in ‘good humor.’”

10. Clint Bowyer: Bowyer finished seventh in the Food City 500.

“Darrell Waltrip is retiring from the FOX broadcast booth at the end of the season,” Bowyer said. “It’s gonna be sad to see DW go, and we all plan to send him off with a show of respect. So, Boogity! Boogity! Let’s go embracing boys!”

April 8, 2019

Busch captures his eighth win at Bristol

Kyle Busch continued his hot streak at Bristol Motor Speedway in the Food City 500 on Sunday. Busch captured his eighth win at the track and his 54th career Monster Energy Cup Series win.

Although Busch won the race, he did not dominate the race. Busch was spun out by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. on the second lap of the race. A late caution flag with 22 laps remaining and the right decision by the crew to stay out, gave him the lead for his third victory of the season and the eighth top-10 finish in 2019.

“It’s pretty awesome to be able to snooker those guys, get our win today here at Bristol,” Busch said. “I love this place.

“It was fun to battle (with) the brother there at the end. I know we didn’t quite get the side-by-side racing it out; I saw him looking at the top. I’m like, ‘I better go.’ I got up there, was able to make some ground.”

This win also continues Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) and Team Penske drivers dominating this season. Busch and teammate Denny Hamlin have combined to win five races for JGR while Keselowski and teammate Logano have won the other three.

Busch held off brother Kurt Busch in the final laps. Older brother Kurt, wanted the win but he finished second and posted his 19th top-10 finish in 37 races at Bristol.

“I really wanted to beat him. I was going to wreck him. I wanted to stay close enough so that when we took the white I was going to just drive straight into [turn 3 and 4]. He’s already won, I figured he could give a little love to his brother,” Kurt Busch said.

Kyle Busch leads the series point standings by 27 points over Hamlin.

Joey Logano finished third, Ryan Blaney fourth and Hamlin finished fifth.

Blaney led three times for 158 laps (the most laps) and captured his fourth top-five finish in the last five races.

“I need to get better as the track rubbers out. Joey (Logano) is really good at it. I thought he had the best car. The track rubbers in and I just need to do something different there,” Blaney said.

Brad Keselowski finished 18th after being black flagged for not being in the right starting position when the race restarted with 14 laps to go. Keselowski was running second behind teammate Logano when the final caution came out on lap 479. NASCAR officials ruled that Keselowski lined up incorrectly and issued a pass-thru penalty.

“Nobody could figure out the lineup. There wasn’t enough communication and it was just a tough deal.” Keselowski said.

Monster Energy Cup Series Race Number 8
Race Results for the 59th Annual Food City 500 – Sunday, April 7, 2019
Bristol Motor Speedway – Bristol, TN – 0.533 – Mile Concrete
Total Race Length – 500 Laps – 266.5 Miles

Fin	Str	No	Driver	Team	Laps	S1Pos	S2Pos	Pts	Status
1	17	18	Kyle Busch	Skittles Toyota	500	6	5	51	Running
2	27	1	Kurt Busch	Monster Energy Chevrolet	500	0	6	40	Running
3	7	22	Joey Logano	Autotrader Ford	500	4	1	51	Running
4	3	12	Ryan Blaney	PPG Ford	500	7	2	46	Running
5	5	11	Denny Hamlin	FedEx Freight Toyota	500	0	0	32	Running
6	9	21	Paul Menard	Menards/Sylvania Ford	500	8	0	34	Running
7	8	14	Clint Bowyer	Haas Automation Ford	500	2	8	42	Running
8	20	41	Daniel Suarez	Haas Automation Ford	500	0	10	30	Running
9	11	6	Ryan Newman	Wyndham Rewards Ford	500	0	3	36	Running
10	10	48	Jimmie Johnson	Ally Chevrolet	500	5	0	33	Running
11	1	9	Chase Elliott	NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet	500	10	0	27	Running
12	21	95	Matt DiBenedetto	LFR Pro League Toyota	500	0	0	25	Running
13	13	4	Kevin Harvick	Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford	500	0	0	24	Running
14	15	3	Austin Dillon	Symbicort Chevrolet	500	0	9	25	Running
15	24	13	Ty Dillon	GEICO Chevrolet	500	1	0	32	Running
16	2	24	William Byron	Axalta Chevrolet	500	0	0	21	Running
17	23	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Auto Owners Insurance Toyota	499	9	0	22	Running
18	12	2	Brad Keselowski	Discount Tire Ford	499	3	4	34	Running
19	16	42	Kyle Larson	Credit One Bank Chevrolet	499	0	0	18	Running
20	28	43	Bubba Wallace	Blue-Emu Chevrolet	499	0	0	17	Running
21	22	38	David Ragan	MDS Transport Ford	498	0	0	16	Running
22	25	37	Chris Buescher	Bush’s Beans Chevrolet	498	0	7	19	Running
23	14	88	Alex Bowman	Nationwide Chevrolet	497	0	0	14	Running
24	4	20	Erik Jones	CRAFTSMAN Racing for a Miracle Toyota	497	0	0	13	Running
25	30	47	Ryan Preece #	Kroger Chevrolet	496	0	0	12	Running
26	31	0	Landon Cassill	StarCom Fiber Chevrolet	495	0	0	11	Running
27	29	36	Matt Tifft #	Surface Sunscreen/Tunity Ford	494	0	0	10	Running
28	18	34	Michael McDowell	Love’s Travel Stops Ford	493	0	0	9	Running
29	37	15	Ross Chastain(i)	Rim Riderz Chevrolet	491	0	0	0	Running
30	26	8	Daniel Hemric #	Caterpillar/Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet	490	0	0	7	Running
31	34	52	Bayley Currey #	Belmont Classic Cars Chevrolet	488	0	0	0	Running
32	36	77	Quin Houff	FALCI Adaptve Motorsports Chevrolet	476	0	0	5	Running
33	19	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	SunnyD Ford	395	0	0	4	Running
34	32	32	Corey LaJoie	DUDE Wipes Ford	308	0	0	3	Accident
35	35	66	* Timmy Hill(i)	Toyota	239	0	0	0	Suspension
36	33	51	Gray Gaulding(i)	Jacob Companies Ford	142	0	0	0	Engine
37	6	10	Aric Almirola	SHAZAM!/Smithfield Ford	3	0	0	1	Accident

April 7, 2019

Four Takeaways from the Vankor 350 at Texas Motor Speedway
It was an action packed race for the truckers last Friday night.

While we saw a familiar name in victory lane at Texas Motor Speedway, there was also a news announcement regarding a former veteran returning to the series where he had a lot of success before moving up through the ranks.

Here are this week’s four takeaways.
1. Another Win For Kyle Busch – This shouldn’t have been a surprise to anyone when fans checked the finishing results for the NASCAR Gander Truck Series race Friday night. Kyle Busch won his fourth consecutive race of the 2019 Truck Series and led 97 of 147 laps, 65 percent of the race. There could be some joy found even if race fans are tired of seeing Busch winning all the time. He is not scheduled to compete at Dover and Kansas, and his final truck race of the season is at Charlotte which follows the Kansas race in May. Still, it’s an impressive feat winning four in a row, one that is rarely seen in today’s sport and era.
2. Action Packed Race/Month Off – When you look at the box score from Friday night’s race, you will see that there were a lot of cautions. In fact, there were nine cautions for 47 laps which equaled to 32 percent. With the number of cautions taking place and a red flag that lasted for about 15 minutes, the total time of the race lasted two hours and three minutes. After just having a few weeks off before Texas, the truckers will have to endure another off time but this time, it will be a month off before they return to action at Dover in May.
3. Sour Night For Kyle Busch Motorsports Drivers – While boss man Kyle Busch wound up in victory lane, it wasn’t quite the same for Todd Gilliland and Harrison Burton who needed good finishes. The first came with Burton who wrecked in Turn 2 and was out of the race early on Lap 12. Burton spent the rest of the night learning and spending time with Kyle Busch’s team. Todd Gilliland’s moment came eight laps earlier, as he was involved in an accident on Lap 4. Gilliland, who has been racing with a lot of pressure as of late, never could rebound and finished 14th. Not the night both KBM drivers needed.
4. Greg Biffle Back In The Truck Series – Yes, that Greg Biffle, who has had quite the career in the Truck Series winning 16 career races and winning the 2000 championship. Biffle even set the record for most wins in a season with nine in 1999, a record that has never been broken. It was announced on Thursday afternoon, that the former series champion will return in a one-off ride with Kyle Busch Motorsports at Texas in June, driving the No. 51. Biffle practiced the truck Thursday afternoon for Busch.
April 2, 2019
NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Texas

Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

1. Kyle Busch: After claiming Trucks and Xfinity series wins at Texas, Busch failed to complete the sweep, finishing a disappointing 10th. Busch still leads the Monster Energy Cup points standings, holding an eight point lead over Denny Hamlin.

“I didn’t ‘sweep’ the weekend,” Busch said, “but I did ‘brush’ the wall. Now, I’m ‘bristling’ at my failure to complete the sweep.”

2. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin overcame two penalties and stormed back to win the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas, scoring his second win of the season.

“Winning in Texas is always special,” Hamlin said. “That is, until you get to Victory Lane, where they hand you two guns, leaving you feeling just like everyone else in Texas.”

3. Kevin Harvick: Harvick finished eighth at Texas and now sits third in the points standings, 33 out of first.

“I’m still winless on the year,” Harvick said. “I’m desperate for a win. My sponsor obligations stipulate that I say the same thing with different words. Jimmy Johns says I’m ‘hungry’ for a win, while Busch Beer says I’m ‘thirsty’ for victory.”

4. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski suffered his worst result of the year with a 36th at Texas, his efforts ruined by a mechanical issue early in the race that sent his No. 2 Ford Mustang to the garage for lengthy repairs.

“Something in the back of the car just broke,” Keselowski said. “And that was it for my chances of winning. It’s a case of getting ‘rear-ended’ without another car being involved.”

5. Aric Almirola: Almirola finished seventh at Texas as Stewart-Haas Racing placed all four cars in the top 10.

“Stewart-Haas Racing placed all four cars in the top 10,” Almirola said. “That’s also known as going ‘4 for 4.’ It sounds great, until you shed light on our most glaring statistic: SHR is 0-7 in the wins department.”

6. Joey Logano: Logano finished 17th at Texas, while Penske Racing teammate Brad Keselowski finished 36th after suffering a mechanical failure.

“I won Stage 1,” Logano said, “then it was downhill from there. Brad had two back axles malfunction, and my car’s hood was loose and wavering in the wind. It could have easily blown completely off. It’s the least excited I’ve ever been to talk about ‘rear end’ and going ‘topless.’”

7. Martin Truex Jr.: Truex finished 12th in Texas as Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin captured the win.

“Let’s give it up for Jimmie Johnson,” Truex said. “He won the pole at Texas, and finished fifth. Jimmie’s either rounding into his old championship form, or he’s just an old former champion.”

8. Kurt Busch: Busch took ninth in the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500, posting his fifth top 10 of the season.

“NASCAR legend Rusty Wallace gave the command to ‘Start your engines,’” Busch said. “As you would expect, Ryan Newman refused to start his engine, because he absolutely refuses to take any commands from Wallace.”

9. Ryan Blaney: Blaney led 45 early laps before mechanical issues sent him to the garage. He finished 37th, 109 off the lead lap.

“A part broke,” Blaney said, “causing all the water to leak out of the car. It left me feeling drained.”

10. Clint Bowyer: Bowyer scored the runner-up spot in the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500,

“And that was after starting 25th,” Bowyer said. “Which just proves that qualifying means absolutely nothing in NASCAR. As you saw at Fontana, sometimes we do absolutely nothing in qualifying.”

April 1, 2019

Kyle Busch scores 95th Xfinity Series win at Texas

Kyle Busch continues to stretch his record with the most Xfinity Series wins as he raced to victory in the My Bariatrics Solutions 300 at Texas Motor Speedway. The win was his 95th in the series and 203rd national event win overall. Busch also won the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Vankor 350 the night before.

“Not taking any tires certainly [helped us],” said Busch, from Victory Lane. “We jumped the field there and I was worried about the restart because I didn’t think there was gonna be enough room.

“This car certainly had the grip…it was really fast in the long run, just couldn’t get people away from me on the front side of the run to settle into my rhythm and go, and every time I got up to the outside people would drive by me on the bottom.”

Tyler Reddick took second-place ahead of Busch’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Christopher Bell, who dominated the event, winning the pole and leading 128 laps.

“He (Busch) wasn’t better than us anywhere,” said Bell. “He just had track position there. We were starting to struggle and when they said we were going to put two tires on I was all for it, but I didn’t get any better and those guys didn’t slow down.

“We’re in the Dash 4 Cash and that’s pretty cool, our goal was to make sure we were in the top four Xfinity guys. It’s extremely frustrating to lose one like that, but I’m proud of this team and this Supra was pretty fast and the class of the field.”

Chase Briscoe was the highest finishing Ford in fourth, while Jeb Burton finished fifth in his first XFINITY start of the season. Michael Annett finished sixth, and Justin Haley, Jeffrey Earnhardt, John Hunter Nemechek, and Stage 2 winner Ryan Sieg rounded out the top-10.

The next race will be April 6, 2019 at Bristol Motor Speedway as the Alsco 300 will be the first Dash 4 Cash event of 2019.

Xfinity Series Race Number 6
Race Results for the 23rd Annual My Bariatric Solutions 300 – Saturday, March 30, 2019
Texas Motor Speedway – Fort Worth, TX – 1.5 – Mile Paved
Total Race Length – 200 Laps – 300. Miles

Fin	Str	No	Driver	Team	Laps	S1Pos	S2Pos	Pts	Status
1	5	18	Kyle Busch(i)	iK9 Toyota	200	2	4	0	Running
2	3	2	Tyler Reddick	Nationwide Children’s Hospital Chevrolet	200	6	3	48	Running
3	1	20	Christopher Bell	Ruud Toyota	200	1	5	50	Running
4	15	98	Chase Briscoe #	Nutri Chomps Ford	200	0	0	33	Running
5	6	8	Jeb Burton	State Water Heaters Chevrolet	200	0	7	36	Running
6	13	1	Michael Annett	Pilot Flying J Chevrolet	200	0	0	31	Running
7	11	11	Justin Haley #	LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet	200	0	9	32	Running
8	14	81	Jeffrey Earnhardt	Xtreme Racing Toyota	200	0	0	29	Running
9	8	23	John Hunter Nemechek #	Romco Equipment Co. Chevrolet	200	9	0	30	Running
10	19	39	Ryan Sieg	CMR Construction & Roofing Chevrolet	200	0	1	37	Running
11	9	22	Austin Cindric #	MoneyLion Ford	200	7	0	30	Running
12	4	7	Justin Allgaier	Cessna Chevrolet	200	3	0	33	Running
13	16	9	Noah Gragson #	Switch Chevrolet	200	10	6	30	Running
14	22	36	Josh Williams	Simcraft Chevrolet	200	0	0	23	Running
15	23	90	Ronnie Bassett Jr	Bassett Gutters and More Chevrolet	199	0	0	22	Running
16	18	4	Ross Chastain	Swan/Perpetua Advisors Chevrolet	199	0	2	30	Running
17	21	86	Brandon Brown #	Brandonbilt Motorsports Chevrolet	199	0	0	20	Running
18	12	21	Kaz Grala	HotScream Chevrolet	198	0	0	19	Running
19	24	99	Tommy Joe Martins	Diamond Gusset Jeans Toyota	198	0	0	18	Running
20	31	52	David Starr	Whataburger Chevrolet	198	0	0	17	Running
21	20	8	Gray Gaulding(i)	GGPure.com/Flywheel Chevrolet	198	0	0	16	Running
22	30	1	Stephen Leicht	teamjdmotorsports.com Chevrolet	198	0	0	15	Running
23	35	42	Chad Finchum	Amana Toyota	197	0	0	14	Running
24	37	35	Joey Gase	Donate Life Louisiana Toyota	196	0	0	13	Running
25	34	78	Vinnie Miller	Koolbox Chevrolet	196	0	0	12	Running
26	17	51	Jeremy Clements	RepairableVehicles.com Chevrolet	196	0	0	11	Running
27	29	5	Matt Mills	J.F. Electric Chevrolet	194	0	0	10	Running
28	33	66	Tyler Hill(i)	Chris Kyle Memorial Benefit Toyota	191	0	0	0	Running
29	36	74	Mike Harmon	Woobies Shoes Chevrolet	189	0	0	8	Running
30	26	93	Josh Bilicki	The BOSS/Woodshed Chevrolet	184	0	0	7	Running
31	38	0	Garrett Smithley	Trophy Tractor Chevrolet	160	0	0	6	Engine
32	28	15	BJ McLeod	teamjdmotorsports.com Chevrolet	138	0	0	5	Running
33	2	19	Brandon Jones	jdgibbslegacy.com Toyota	133	5	10	11	Accident
34	7	0	Cole Custer	Jacob Companies Ford	132	4	8	13	Accident
35	25	7	Ray Black II	ISOKERN Scuba Life Chevrolet	79	0	0	2	Accident
36	10	12	Brad Keselowski(i)	Pirtek Ford	68	8	0	0	Accident
37	32	13	Timmy Hill	Chris Kyle Memorial Benefit Toyota	20	0	0	1	Brakes
38	27	38	Jeff Green	RSS Racing Chevrolet	16	0	0	1	Brakes

March 30, 2019

Kyle Busch fends off Friesen for fourth consecutive Truck Series win

Just when you think someone else in the Truck Series has a great shot to win, Kyle Busch comes through and wins again for the fourth consecutive time this season. It was his first win at Texas since 2014 and Busch didn’t miss a beat.

The three stages were 35/35/71 laps for the Vankor 350, making up the 147 total laps.

It was a wild race from the get go in the first stage that was 35 laps. Stage 1 saw four cautions and a thrilling finish at the end of all 35.

The night didn’t start out so well for the Kyle Busch Motorsports team. Todd Gilliland brought out the first caution on lap three after bouncing off the wall and teammate Harrison Burton wrecked in Turn 2 on lap 11 thus ending his night early due to extensive damage.

Turn 2 was the trouble spot again as Lap 18 saw Angela Ruch wreck off of Turn 2 and Gus Dean was involved to bring out the caution again. Dean was in an incident all by himself on the frontstretch, where he cut a right-rear tire down on Lap 26.

Kyle Busch pitted under the Lap 26 caution, falling behind the leaders. This saw Thorsport teammates Grant Enfinger and Ben Rhodes battle it out for the stage win. Enfinger barely edge Rhodes at the line to win Stage 1.

Unfortunately, issues arose for Enfinger and the No. 98 team, as their pit crew was over the wall too soon, which saw them get a penalty and lose any track position gained.

Since Kyle Busch made a pit stop in Stage 1, he was able to stay out during the stage caution and claim the lead.

Like Stage 1, Stage 2 was off to another wild start. On Lap 48, DGR-Crosley driver Anthony Alfredo, wrecked in Turn 2 after getting loose. When Alfredo hit the wall, his truck caught fire. However, he climbed out of his truck unscathed with no injuries.

The red flag was flown on Lap 52 in an attempt to let safety workers clean up the accident and fluid that was put down by Alfredo. The red flag lasted for 15 minutes.

Daytona winner Austin Hill started to have problems with his truck. Rising water temperatures were the issue as it rose to 270 degrees. The team came down pit road to pull the tape off, but went one lap down as a result.

Kyle Busch went on to win Stage 2. It was his sixth stage win of the season.

The race only got more wilder when the race restarted with 71 to go for the final stage.

Busch retook the lead with 66 to go after a fierce battle with Brett Moffitt. Moffitt was able to close in 10 laps later, but the battle was built by yet another caution with 45 to go. This saw Korbin Forrister spin off Turn 2.

Another incident and the caution flag was flown with 31 to go for Codie Rohrbaugh who wrecked in Turn 2.

The final restart of the night came with 25 to go. It saw Busch, Moffitt, Sauter, among others battling for the race win. However, with 20 to go, Moffitt cut a right-rear tire ending any chances at a shot to win. This saw Stewart Friesen go to second.

For the last 15 laps of the race, Friesen and Busch battled hard with each other for the race win. Unfortunately, with less than 10 to go, Friesen’s truck got loose and started to go away, and he began falling back. He ran out of time and was unable to catch Busch.

Busch was able to fend off Stewart Friesen for his fourth consecutive Truck Series win of the season.

“Yeah, it was a pretty good night for us,” Busch told MRN Radio. “Obviously, the Cessna Beechcraft Tundra was fast. I wish we were faster. I thought we were pretty good. Not as good as we wanted to be though when we stacked up against the field. The 24 (Brett Moffitt) was really fast, the 52 (Stewart Friesen) was really fast. They made me work for it. They certainly got my money’s worth tonight.”

“You know, I want to say thanks to TRD, Rowdy Manufacturing, all the fans, the Truck Series fans,” Busch continued to MRN Radio. “The Truck Series fans are the thorough bread of our sport. Coming out here on a Friday night to support the truck guys is what makes all this go round. I appreciate them. Gander Outdoors and Black Clover, DEX sunglasses, Adidas, Incredible Bank. It takes a lot of us to go get all of this to go, so it’s fun.”

Busch led seven times for 97 laps. There were six leaders among 16 lead changes and nine cautions for 47 laps.

Stewart Friesen continues to lead the standings by six points over Grant Enfinger.

The Truck Series takes a month off and will return to action at the Dover International Speedway on Friday, May 3.

March 30, 2019
NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Preview: Texas-Spring
The NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series heads to the Lone Star State this weekend, home to Texas Motor Speedway.

Texas Motor Speedway has played host to the Truck Series since 1997 and has had two races there since 1998.

Since the first race there in 1997, the list of drivers who know what it takes when it comes to winning at Texas, is impressive. It includes names like Kenny Irwin Jr, Tony Raines, Jay Sauter, Jack Sprague, Jeb Burton, Ty Dillon, Brendan Gaughan (who won four in a row), Todd Bodine, Clint Bowyer, Ron Hornaday, Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, Johnny Sauter, Matt Crafton, Erik Jones, William Byron, Christopher Bell, and Justin Haley just to name a few.

So who wins this time around? Here are five potential contenders that just might take home the trophy on Friday night.
1. Johnny Sauter – Sauter has had quite a bit of success at Texas Motor Speedway. A bit might be an understatement. In 21 starts dating back to his first start in 2005, his first start for Thorsport since 2015, Sauter has five wins here at Texas. Two of those came with ThorSport Racing in 2012, where Sauter swept both races that season. He would have to wait again until 2016 he would revisit victory lane. Since then, he has won back to back from fall of 2017 and spring of 2018. Sauter has four poles, 10 top fives and 16 top 10 finishes with 361 laps led and an average finish of 6.3. He has currently been on a small winless streak dating back to Martinsville last fall, the last time Sauter won, but he is currently adjusting after rejoining his old team. It will only be a matter of time before Sauter visits victory lane again.
2. Kyle Busch – Surprise, surprise! Busch has been on a roll lately in the Truck Series, winning three consecutive races and he does not look to slow down anytime soon. Texas Motor Speedway has been a so-so track for Busch. The last time he competed there was in 2014, where Busch won after leading 80 laps. Overall, he has three wins and four DNFs. He even won the fall 2009 race and the fall 2010 race to sweep the fall races. In total, Busch has led 356 laps and has eight top fives and eight top-10 finishes with an average finish of 10.9. It’s hard to stop someone who is on a roll, and it wouldn’t be surprising if Busch ends up in victory lane again on Friday night.
3. Grant Enfinger – After a quiet day at Martinsville last week and losing the points lead, Enfinger will be hungry and looks to heat things up again this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway. He only has four starts here, his first in 2017 where Enfinger finished third, his best finish since then. Despite finishing 12th last fall, he has had great finishes at the 1.5-mile track. In those four starts, Enfinger has two top fives and three top-10s to wind up with an average finish of 6.5. Look for him to be a contender this weekend.
4. Todd Gilliland – It’s easy to say Gilliland should have won here last November where he led 60 laps only to finish a disappointing fourth. In fact, he should have swept both races after finishing sixth last spring after starting second and leading 60 laps. With the pressure to perform well this year, Gilliland could use a much-needed win and he just might break through Friday night.
5. Stewart Friesen – Speaking of first-time race winners, Texas Motor Speedway could be the site of Friesen’s first career win if everything goes as planned. He has momentum after taking the points lead following Martinsville and even sitting on the pole there as well. So far this year, Friesen has two top fives and three top-10 finishes. Last year, he has five top fives and two top-10 finishes at mile and a half tracks with a best finish of second twice. In the summer race, Friesen finished second and eighth in the fall race with 25 laps led combined to raise his average finish to 11.6. Should be breakthrough, this weekend at Texas just might be the place.
To note, Joe Nemechek is back in the No. 8, Bubba Wallace remains in the No. 22 for AM Racing once again, Angela Ruch begins her stint with the No. 44 Niece Motorsports truck, and Anthony Alfredo is back in the No. 54.

On-track action begins on Thursday afternoon for the truckers with two practice sessions. The first one is scheduled for 3:05 p.m. CT and final practice at 5:05 p.m CT, both sessions lasting an hour each with no live coverage.

Qualifying is slated for Friday afternoon at 4:10 p.m CT live on FOX Sports 1.

Race coverage begins at 7:30 p.m CT with the Vankor 350 falling shortly after 8:00 p.m. CT for 147 laps live on FOX Sports 1 and MRN Radio.
March 28, 2019
Four Takeaways from Martinsville-Spring 2019
The NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series had what some would call a home race this past weekend at Martinsville, where it’s just a little over a two-hour drive for most of the teams. So far this year, it was the largest entry list of the season and we saw six trucks not qualifying for the race. Three drivers withdrew from the race and two teams saw driver changes.

However, that didn’t phase Kyle Busch who completely dominated the race and won the 54th race of his Truck Series career on Saturday afternoon.

So, for the fourth time this season, here’s this week’s four takeaways from the TruNorth Global 250.
1. Kyle Busch Dominates – Busch went three for three this past weekend at Martinsville and put a whooping on the field. It was his second career Truck Series win at Martinsville and his first since 2016. He didn’t miss a step winning Stage 1 and finishing third in Stage 2. Oh yeah, he also led 174 laps of 250. Not bad for the 33-year-old who has amassed six wins in total this year already. Cue the song, “All I Do Is Win” by D.J. Khaled.
2. Clean Race For Martinsville – Normally, when the Truck Series comes to a track like Martinsville, you expect a lot of beating and banging. Not this time around, as the race was unexpectedly clean for the most part. There were only seven cautions for 50 laps and the race was run under green 28.6 percent, while the yellow was flown 20.0 percent. Last spring, the race saw 16.5 laps under green and 27.2 percent under yellow. This spring was pretty unusual for the trucks as we did not see many yellows.
3. Rough Day For Johnny Sauter – While the finishing results show Sauter ninth, he had to earn it. He finished third in Stage 1, but it all went downhill from there. During the stage caution, Sauter went down a cylinder and reported, “it’s a plug wire, I don’t know.” The ThorSport team got the Truck somewhat turned around and Sauter stayed in the top-10 for Stage 2 winding up seventh. Another issue arose, however, as he had a left-rear tire go flat late in the going. Fortunately, Sauter and company rebounded to a hard-fought ninth, but a disappointing ninth considering he won here last fall.
4. Raphael Lessard Solid In Truck Debut – Canadian Raphael Lessard made his first Truck Series debut this past weekend, driving the No. 46 Kyle Busch Motorsports entry. The young 17-year-old is labeled as “Canada’s Next Superstar” on his website. The Canadian finished 14th after starting seventh. Lessard is a breakout star on the late model circuit, winning four races in 2016 in the CARS Tour. He also made a couple of ARCA starts for Venturini Motorsports in 2017 and last year, he began his relationship with Kyle Busch as Lessard competed in Busch’s late model and, he still does. If the opportunities line up for Lessard, he’ll be a Truck Series regular in a couple of years. He was just the second Canadian in the field, the other being Stewart Friesen.
March 26, 2019
NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Martinsville

Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

1. Kyle Busch: Busch started 14th and finished third at Martinsville, posting his fifth top five of the season.

“I won the Trucks Series race on Saturday,” Busch said. “And speaking of the Trucks Series, a fellow named Myatt Snider’s truck is sponsored by Tax Slayer. Tax Slayer would have been better off with their name on a Cup car on Sunday, with a message to all race ticket holders that said, ‘You all deserve a refund.’”

2. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski dominated at Martinsville, leading 446 of 500 laps to win the STP 500.

“That’s three wins by the Ford Mustang this year,” Keselowski said, “all by Penske Racing. Toyota has won the other three races. Chevrolets are winless, and that’s sad, because Chevys are as American as apple pie. And, while you candrive one to the levee, you currently can’t drive one to Victory Lane.”

3. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin took fifth in the STP 500 at Martinsville, posting his third top five of the season.

“Martinsville has the best trophy in auto racing,” Hamlin said. “It’s a grandfather clock. In this age of cell phones, it’s nice to see a timepiece with a little antiquity. I think all fans should spend an afternoon watching a grandfather clock operate. Only then could they truly appreciate Sunday’s race.”

4. Joey Logano: Logano started on the pole at Martinsville and finished 19th.

“Brad Keselowski and Chase Elliott were the class of the field,” Logano said. “The other 34 drivers were relegated to spectators, which sucked, because this race was awful for spectators.”

5. Martin Truex Jr.: Truex finished eighth in the STP 500 and is seventh in the Monster Energy Cup points standings.

“We had SiriusXM sponsorship on our Toyota Camry at Martinsville,” Truex said. “That’s a partnership that had been in the works for quite some time. So, not only could you see it coming, you could hear it coming as well.”

6. Kevin Harvick: Harvick finished sixth at Martinsville.

“I’m winless so far this season,” Harvick said, “but I’ve got five top-10 finishes already. So I feel like I’m making progress in each race toward finally achieving victory. That’s why my nickname is Kevin ‘The Closer And Closer’ Harvick.”

7. Aric Almirola: Almirola started second and finished ninth at Martinsville.

“Danica Patrick will be a studio analyst for NBC during the Indianapolis 500 in May,” Almirola said. “Word is her chances of winning the race are just as good as when she was driving.”

8. Kurt Busch: Busch finished 12th at Martinsville.

“For those expecting to see bumping and banging at Martinsville,” Busch said, “well, they were sadly disappointed. The only paint being traded at Martinsville on Sunday was between unlicensed tattoo artists in the campground.”

9. Chase Elliott: Elliott led 49 laps, but was no match for Brad Keselowski, who routed the field at Martinsville. Elliott settled for the runner-up spot.

“That was Hendrick Motorsports’ first top five this year,” Elliott said. “It’s not the ideal result, but, at this point, we’ll gladly take any victory, even if it’s simply a moral one.”

10. Ryan Blaney: Blaney took fourth at Martinsville and is eighth in the Monster Energy Cup standings, 70 out of first.

“Brad Keselowski won the race easily,” Blaney said. “He dominated in a way not seen in a long time. He ate the field for lunch like it was a Martinsville hot dog. In other words, true to the Keselowski heritage, Brad ‘Polish-ed’ them off.”

March 25, 2019
Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin Emerge as 2019’s Big Three

Whether NASCAR fans like it or not, Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch are now the cream of the crop when it comes to the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. Not only is that evident by their respective number on wins in just six races this season, but also by their insane amount of consistency.

In fact, between the three drivers, they already hold five wins, 12 top-fives, 15 top 10s and all have guaranteed spots in the postseason due to their respective wins. Furthermore, the establishment of the new big three seems to show that Ford and Toyota will be battling it out for the title while Chevrolet struggles to keep up.

Of course, it is still relatively early in the season to say who exactly will nab the title at the end of the year, but the first six races have offered at least a road map to who it might be. With that being said, Keselowski, Hamlin and Busch seem right at the front of the conversation.

Think about it. Kyle Busch has two wins, five top fives and six top 10s in the first six races of the season, which has firmly established him as the points leader. Then there’s Brad Keselowski, who has two wins of his own this season and an average finish of 6.3.

Keselowski also has four top-fives and four top 10s which pretty much makes him the most consistent driver in the field so far next to Kyle Busch. Finally, there’s Denny Hamlin, a man that hasn’t been too competitive since his win at Daytona but has stuck around in the point standings thanks to a string of top 10 finishes.

If nothing else, these three drivers have set the tone for the rest of season and while other contenders may eventually show themselves , its obvious who are the men to beat. Its also obvious that they have the best handle on the new aero package, which could be very valuable as time goes on.

In the end, these three drivers share five wins among them, two of them winning twice this season and the kind of consistent finishes that look more like stats from a video game than real life. Its seriously just that unreal, but for one reason or another, these three men are just unbeatable right now.

March 25, 2019