Rowdy Busch pulled away from Camping World Truck Series Chase hopeful Cameron Hayley in overtime and won Friday night’s American Ethanol e15 225. The last regular season event was marred by numerous cautions. In fact, the ten yellow flags were a Chicago Speedway record.
Second place finisher Daniel Hemric, passed Cameron Hayley on the race’s final restart. Hemric and Timothy Peters, who finished eighth, nabbed the final two of places in the inaugural NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Chase. The playoffs start on September 24th at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Erik Jones drove the winning hot-rod in Thursday’s practices for Rowdy Busch. Busch then took over on Friday and led 95 of the 151 laps turned en route to winning for the second time in just four appearances this year. It was Busch’s fifth victory at Chicagoland Speedway and his 46th CWTS win overall.
ThorSport Racing’s Cameron Hayley finished third but failed to make the Chase. Hayley actually drove a truck that was built by Kyle Busch Motorsports. The determined racer was closing in on Rowdy Busch.
Unfortunately, there was contact between the machines of Tyler Reddick and John Wes Townley. As a result, the ninth caution was upheld on Lap 144 and pushed the race one lap past its designated distance.
Rowdy Busch chose the outside lane on the race’s final re-start. He jumped out to the lead and pulled away from Cameron Hayley and Daniel Hemric before the final caution was waved. Rico Abreu’s spun and froze the field, but Busch was already tabbed the contest’s winner.
“This has just been a really good place for us and for KBM over the years,” Rowdy Busch said. “We’ve been really fast here, so it was really nice to come out here and keep that speed going. I really appreciate Erik Jones being out here on Thursday and working it in for me and everything that he did.”
Two of Kyle Busch Motorsport’s new faces, William Byron and Christopher Bell, already had claimed their spot in the inaugural Camping World Truck Series Chase. Both speedsters won multiple events in the regular season.
William Byron is the top seed heading into the Chase. The phenom amassed five wins as a rookie, although he had a rough night on Friday. Byron got loose beside Ben Rhodes on the event’s third revolution and slammed into the outside wall in Turn 2.
The impressive rookie finished the night in 30th, but the result did not effect him in the Chase standings. All the accumulated points throughout the regular season will be re-set for the start of the post-season.
“It was really important, too, to see the #9 of Byron and the #4 of Bell make the Chase this year for KBM,” Rowdy Busch said. “They’ve got two opportunities there to go for the championship. And then the #13 of Hayley was there at the end. That’s a brand new truck out of our KBM stable. That thing was fast. It was hard to hold him off. He was right there at the end, and he was really quick.”
Furthermore, Cameron Hayley thought he had the quickest hot-rod but couldn’t make up the distance and fell victim to Kyle Busch’s CWTS experience.
“We definitely had the faster track there at the end, but he blocked my every move,” said Hayley, who missed the playoff by one position in the standings. “But overall, it was all I could do. Unfortunately, we’re not in the Chase, but you can’t say we didn’t try.”
The eight Chase drivers in order from first to last are Rookie William Byron, and two-time CWTS champion Matt Crafton. John Hunter Nemechek finished the season in third. He is followed by KBM’s Christopher Bell, Johnny Sauter, Ben Kennedy, Daniel Hemric and finally, Timothy Peters.
Final Results for the American Ethanol E15 225 at Chicagoland Speedway:
1. (8) Rowdy Busch, Toyota, 151 laps, 0 rating, 0 points.
2. (10) Daniel Hemric, Ford, 151, 0, 31.
3. (20) Cameron Hayley, Toyota, 151, 0, 30.
4. (12) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 151, 0, 29.
5. (16) Johnny Sauter, Chevrolet, 151, 0, 28.
6. (14) Grant Enfinger, Chevrolet, 151, 0, 27.
7. (1) Spencer Gallagher, Chevrolet, 151, 0, 27.
8. (5) Timothy Peters, Toyota, 151, 0, 25.
9. (17) Cole Custer, Chevrolet, 151, 0, 24.
10. (4) Tyler Reddick, Ford, 151, 0, 23.
11. (3) Daniel Suarez, Toyota, 151, 0, 0.
12. (11) Matt Tifft, Toyota, 151, 0, 21.
13. (22) Josh Berry, Chevrolet, 151, 0, 0.
14. (18) John Hunter Nemechek, Chevrolet, 151, 0, 19.
15. (21) Ryan Truex, Toyota, 151, 0, 18.
16. (19) Tyler Young, Chevrolet, 151, 0, 17.
17. (26) Austin Wayne Self, Toyota, 151, 0, 16.
18. (25) Ray Black Jr, Chevrolet, 151, 0, 0.
19. (15) Rico Abreu, Toyota, 150, 0, 14.
20. (2) John Wes Townley, Toyota, 149, 0, 13.
21. (30) Travis Kvapil, Chevrolet, engine, 147, 0, 12.
22. (27) Jennifer Jo Cobb, Chevrolet, 147, 0, 11.
23. (23) Jordan Anderson, Chevrolet, engine, 138, 0, 10.
24. (24) Tommy Joe Martins, Chevrolet, accident, 137, 0, 10.
25. (7) Ben Rhodes, Toyota, accident, 125, 0, 8.
26. (6) Ben Kennedy, Chevrolet, accident, 111, 0, 8.
27. (13) Matt Crafton, Toyota, accident, 111, 0, 6.
28. (29) Reed Sorenson, Chevrolet, clutch, 91, 0, 0.
29. (28) Jesse Little, Chevrolet, engine, 79, 0, 4.
30. (9) William Byron, Toyota, accident, 40, 0, 3.
31. (32) Norm Benning, Chevrolet, suspension, 14, 0, 2.
32. (31) Caleb Roark, Chevrolet, electrical, 11, 0, 1.
Race Statistics:
Average Speed of Race Winner: 108.646 mph.
Time of Race: 2 hours, 5 minutes, 5 seconds.
Margin of Victory: seconds.
Caution Flags: 10 for 41 laps.
Lead Changes: 10 among 5 drivers.
