Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)
By Aaron Bearden
Post-race review and analysis from the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series opener at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
(Note: Writer not present at the track. Observations are from afar.)
Who Won?
Kyle Busch. He dominated to add to his record Truck Series win total.
Who Won the Stages?
Busch… Both times.
Top Stories
The Kyle Busch show continues
It was only fitting that the 600th NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series race was claimed by the tour’s all-time winningest driver.
Kyle Busch put on the sort of display he’s become known for in NASCAR’s third series on Friday night, leading 108 of 134 laps in a dominant victory for his own Kyle Busch Motorsports team. It was Busch’s 57th triumph in the tour, and seventh win in as many starts dating back to 2018 – a series record.
By all accounts, it was a successful night for the Nevadan at his home track. But as NASCAR’s resident perfectionist, Busch still noticed faults that could be bettered within his No. 51 Toyota.
“I don’t know why but we just couldn’t fire off on the restarts,” Busch said of his run. “We just didn’t have any speed. Once we got about 10 laps in, we started to check away from everybody. This Tundra was awesome — it really had great long-run speed.”
Such is Busch’s style when he steps down to NASCAR’s lower levels, and particularly when he’s competing for his own organization in the Truck Series. Along with the obvious sponsorship and victory opportunities, Busch uses his five allotted Truck stars to gauge his company’s performance and see where it can be improved.
Winning is an expectation for Busch at this point. His standard burnout and bow are performed with almost surgical precision, leaving only little differences and moments to observe and note. Such was the case on Friday, when he pleaded with the FOX Sports cameraman on the straightaway to give him a proper angle for a photo just as the broadcast cut to commercial.
Busch’s talent means he can likely will himself to victory, or at minimum be in the battle as the laps wind down. Trophies still motivate him, but improving his team seems to take greater precedence.
That was his aim on Friday. Busch praised new crew chief Danny Stockman – a transplant from Richard Childress Racing’s NASCAR Cup Series operation – and the No. 51 team’s efforts to improve his truck.
“It was the first win for Danny Stockman at KBM, and it’s cool to have him on board,” Busch said. “My guys worked their butts off. We unloaded and we really weren’t that close. We worked on it a lot with this new tire, and we got it a lot better.
“We kind of showed that with the (last) long run.”
He’ll get four more chances to do the same before his Truck Series season draws to a close. Then it’ll be up to series regulars like Christian Eckes and Raphael Lessard to pave the way for KBM’s success.
Championship pedigree
Friday’s race was a complicated one for those keen to track the Truck Series regulars. Behind Busch’s dominant run came a battle with multiple contenders ebbing and flowing throughout the evening.
No one challenged Busch like 2018 ARCA Menards Series champion Sheldon Creed. He battled Busch twice on the night, leading laps and requiring the Nevadan to display patience and precision in a pair of multi-lap battles before conceding the lead each time.
Yet when the end of the race came, Creed was far removed from the lead. In the latter battle with Busch he got loose and washed up the track, losing multiple positions. Creed never recovered, slotting in 10th after what had once been a promising night.
Just ahead of him was a driver in the opposite situation. Stewart Friesen was essentially a non-factor throughout the night, spending much of the race’s 134 laps outside of the top-15 as Halmar Friesen Racing attempted to sort out their truck in the team’s second race with Toyota. The Canadian made the most of a difficult run to steal a ninth-place result.
Friesen was far from the only traditional contender to rally in the closing laps. Johnny Sauter, Austin Hill and Matt Crafton were all running fifth or worse at the end of Stage 2, but the veterans surged in the lengthy final stage to finish second, third and fourth.
They replaced former front-runners like Christian Eckes, Ross Chastain and Todd Gilliland, who all faded deeper in the field. Gilliland played a role in the final restarts as a pusher but dropped to seventh as the checkered flag flew. Eckes and teammate Raphael Lessard both crashed after promising starts to the race, and late issues dropped Chastain outside of the top-10.
Any among the group could have been penciled in as a potential runner-up to Busch at one point in the night, but when the time came to secure a finish it was the veterans and strong championship contenders from 2019 that found a way to the front.
Thanks to Busch that didn’t affect the championship standings too much in Las Vegas. But when he’s gone the ability to rise in the closing stages will be pivotal for wins and the playoff points that come with them.
Other Notes
- Teams struggled with tire wear and cording due to a change in tire selection from Goodyear heading into Friday’s race – a move that a few competitors criticized afterward. “This tire that we brought just wasn’t what we needed,” Hill said. “I’ve always went by the philosophy that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. They came with a different tire compound and we just struggled all night finding grip.”
- Former NHRA Pro Stock competitor Tanner Gray put together the best performance of his young NASCAR career on Friday, piecing together an issue-free run in eighth place and learning along the way. “I’m pretty happy with tonight,” he told FOX Sports. “Obviously it was good to get up front and race there, be behind Kyle (Busch). I learned some odds and ends. But I’m also kind of disappointed, I felt like I had them over-adjust on the last stop and ended up too free.”
- One week removed from a fourth-place run at Daytona International Speedway, Derek Kraus showed his inexperience with an early crash in Las Vegas. “Made a mistake and caught the wall,” he later tweeted after a 22nd-place result.
- Grant Enfinger’s locked into the playoffs with his win at Daytona, but he’ll have to make up some ground to repeat last year’s regular-season championship run. He was running outside of Lessard when the Canadian got loose, knocking Enfinger into the wall and ultimately ruining his night. He came home 31st.
- It’s only small progress, but Natalie Decker has now made it to the end of six-consecutive Truck starts after falling out during nine of her first 15 races. The consistency shows marked improvement – now the onus is on the Wisconsinite to find pace.
