Kyle Busch Motorsports phenom William Byron captured his fourth victory of the 2016 season and the record setting 51st Camping world Truck Series win at Kentucky Speedway Thursday night. As a result, the win was Byron’s third in the last four races and cemented his place atop the point standings. Byron held off hard-charging Joe Nemechek and Daniel Hemric to take the checkered flag .190 seconds in front.
Nobody wanted to capture the record setting 51st win more than Kyle Busch Motorsports owner and part-time driver Kyle Busch. It was not to be when Busch was sanctioned by NASCAR officials for too many crew members over the wall for a stop in the pits. The penalty placed “Rowdy” in the middle of the field where he was caught up in on track fiascoes.
On lap 58 of the Buck Up your Truck 255, Busch was spun by the #23 of Spencer Gallagher. Gallagher was the center of controversy a few weeks ago for his on-track fisticuffs with fellow racer John Wes Townley. The contact slammed his #18 Toyota in to outside wall and straight into garage for the remainder of the event. The defending Sprint Cup champion would finish in 30th. Busch had some interesting post race comments about the event.
“I now know how John Wes Townley feels,” said Busch. “We were going down the backstretch and Spencer checked up because he saw a hole in the bottom and went to the bottom, because he thought he could get there,” Busch said. “Yeah, Jordan Anderson kept his foot in the gas and didn’t check up but if you’re going to do that, you’ve got to stick to your original plan and do what you planned on doing.
Kyle Busch Motorsports still had plenty of dogs left in the fight after the team’s owner was off the board. Fellow teammates Christopher Bell, Daniel Suarez and eventual race winner William Byron all were running up front when the wreck occurred.
Daniel Suarez looked to be the truck to beat at he mid-way point of the race. He already had guided his #51 Arris Toyota to the front for 59 laps when Kyle Busch’s race ending caution flag was waved. The full-time Xfinity driver sat on the pole for the Buck up your Truck 225. He used that starting position to race his truck out in front for half of the race.
One sub-par pit stop in the middle of the affair, placed him in the middle of the field for the race’s re-start. Without the clean air that he had running out in front he was never able to reclaim the speed the kept him in the lead. To and insult to injury, he also was penalized late in the race for speeding on pit row and finished in 11th.
Christopher Bell, another Kyle Busch Motorsports rookie finished the race with a stellar fourth place tally. Although Bell didn’t lead a lap he was strong throughout the race and kept inside the top ten for most of the evening.
John Hunter Nemechek finished in the runner-up position at Kentucky speedway Thursday night. He also didn’t lead a lap during the Buck Up Your Truck 225 but found his way up front when it mattered most. The second place result kept him in sixth in the Camping World Truck Series point standings.
Daniel Hemric led his #19 Oakmont Management Ford to a third place finish behind John Hunter Nemechek. His green, white and orange sherbet inspired truck was speedy from the start to the finish of the event. He also never found his way up front but his third place finish was good enough to vault him into third in the point grid.
The Buck Up Your Truck 225 at Kentucky Speedway took one hour and 55 minutes to complete. The race had five cautions for a total of 32 laps. The average speed of the field was 116.698 miles per hour and there were nine lead changes among six different drivers. William Byron also took home the Mobil 1 Driver of the Race Award for Kyle Busch Motorsports. Joe Gibbs Engines received the Mahle Clevite Engine Builder of the Race honors. Kyle Busch Motorsports set a Camping World Truck Series record with it’s 51st all-time victory.
Final Running Order for the Buck up your Truck 225 at Kentucky Speedway:
1 3 9 William Byron # Liberty University Toyota 150 37 5 144.5 Running 2 70
2 16 8 John H Nemechek Chevrolet 150 31 121.0 Running
3 4 19 Daniel Hemric Oakmont Management Group Ford 150 30 115.0 Running
4 10 4 Christopher Bell # JBL Toyota 150 29 108.1 Running
5 15 21 Johnny Sauter Water Pulse Chevrolet 150 29 1 106.8 Running 1 14
6 11 13 Cameron Hayley Cabinets by Hayley/Carolina Nut Co Toyota 150 27 94.0 Running
7 22 71 Brandon Jones(i) Jeld-Wen/Menards Chevrolet 150 0 85.3 Running
8 8 88 Matt Crafton Great Lakes Flooring/Menards Toyota 150 25 85.3 Running
9 14 17 Timothy Peters Red Horse Racing Toyota 150 25 1 93.7 Running 2 5
10 5 29 Tyler Reddick Cooper Standard Ford 150 24 1 96.0 Running 1 1
11 1 51 Daniel Suarez(i) ARRIS Toyota 150 0 89.1 Running 3 59
12 17 24 Grant Enfinger # Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet 150 21 66.8 Running
13 9 41 Ben Rhodes # Alpha Energy Solutions Toyota 150 20 71.1 Running
14 12 00 Cole Custer # Haas Automation Chevrolet 150 19 72.0 Running
15 21 98 Rico Abreu # Safelite Auto Glass/Curb Records Toyota 150 18 61.5 Running
16 13 23 Spencer Gallagher Allegiant Chevrolet 150 17 65.0 Running
17 20 66 Jordan Anderson Bolen Motorsports Chevrolet 150 16 57.3 Running
18 19 02 Austin Hill Ford 150 15 53.5 Running
19 6 05 Parker Kligerman Jive Communications/Zaxby’s Chevrolet 149 14 61.5 Running
20 25 86 Brandon Brown Coastal Carolina University Chevrolet 149 13 47.6 Running
21 26 07 Garrett Smithley(i) Mubea Chevrolet 148 0 44.7 Running
22 18 33 Ben Kennedy Jacob Chevrolet 147 11 72.3 Running
23 27 49 Timmy Hill Speed Stick Chevrolet 145 10 39.5 Running
24 29 10 Jennifer Jo Cobb Driven2Honor.org Chevrolet 143 9 36.7 Running
25 28 50 Travis Kvapil CorvetteParts.net Chevrolet 136 8 36.2 Running
26 24 44 Tommy Joe Martins Diamond Gusset Jeans Chevrolet 107 8 1 44.2 Overheating 1 1
27 23 22 Austin Wayne Self # AM Technical Solutions Toyota 98 6 44.5 Transmission
28 30 63 Norm Benning Mittler Bros Machine & Tool/Ski Soda Chevrolet 95 5 30.8 Vibration
29 32 74 Mike Harmon(i) SMD Chevrolet 62 PE 26.7 Vibration
30 7 18 Kyle Busch(i) Toyota Toyota 56 0 63.9 Accident
31 2 11 Brett Moffitt Surface Sunscreen Toyota 26 2 50.0 Engine
32 31 1 Caleb Roark Driven2Honor.org Chevrolet 0 1 26.0 Electrical
