HAMPTON, Ga. – Kyle Busch dominated when it mattered to collect his milestone 60th NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory on Saturday afternoon at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Though his young protégé, John Hunter Nemechek, swept the first two stages of the Fr8Auctions 200 at the 1.54-mile quad-oval, Busch’s No. 51 Toyota Tundra was flawless down the home stretch.
The two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion led 102 of 130 laps, including the final 25, for his sixth career Atlanta Truck Series victory and second in the last three years.
Busch beat runner-up Austin Hill to the finish line by 4.133 seconds in a commanding performance.
“It’s a great opportunity to race in great equipment,” said Busch in victory lane. “This Toyota Tundra was awesome. I can’t say enough about my guys. Everyone at Kyle Busch Motorsports has put in a lot of hard work, and without all their preparation and dedication, we wouldn’t be as successful as we’ve been.
“It’s really neat to get back to victory lane in the Truck Series, especially in (former team owner) Billy Ballew’s backyard.”
Busch’s win gave crew chief Mardy Lindley his first victory since the reigning ARCA Menards Series East champion crew chief moved from GMS Racing to Kyle Busch Motorsports during the offseason.
“It’s a product of having good people,” said Busch of the team’s success. “Coach (Joe Gibbs) always says you have to have good people to have success, and we’ve had a lot of great people at KBM through the years. It’s just a matter of evolving. The sport is ever-changing, and six months from now it’ll be different again.
“It’s cool to have fresh ideas, different concepts and things that we can work on and try,” Busch added. “It’s good to see John Hunter (Nemechek) get another top-three (finish) today; with him running for a championship this year, that’s really important as well. A great day all around for us.”
Saturday’s Truck Series event was only interrupted three times by the yellow flag, and none of those were cautions for incident.
A lap-15 competition caution was followed by the two stage breaks at laps 30 and 60. Once the final stage kicked off at lap 68, the race ran uninterrupted to its conclusion.
Hattori Racing Enterprises’ Hill chased down Las Vegas winner Nemechek over the long run to the checkered flag, leapfrogging Nemechek during the final round of green-flag pit stops and ending up second in the No. 16 Toyota Tundra at his home track.
The Winston, Ga., native was bested at Atlanta on a late restart last season, and lamented coming up just short of a victory for the second year in a row.
“The last restart we had, I was trying to save my tires a little bit; I didn’t want to kill them right off the bat,” Hill noted. “Whenever it was go time, I started matching Kyle’s lap times … and we had the green-flag stops and I just could never close the gap. I was even with him, but I needed to be a little quicker.
“Our United Rentals Toyota Tundra was really fast all day. We had to fight a little adversity just with the restarts and some things that happened on track, but all in all, it was solid,” Hill added. “I wish we were racing here again. I love my home track and all the fans here. It was awesome to have them back. Wish we could have gotten the job done for them but we’ll move on to the next one.”
Nemechek crossed the line third, followed by ThorSport Racing’s Johnny Sauter as Toyota drivers swept the top four finishing positions. Sheldon Creed, in a GMS Racing Chevrolet, filled out the top five.
Sixth through 10th were Zane Smith, Ross Chastain, Matt Crafton, Brett Moffitt and Stewart Friesen, who rallied back from an uncontrolled tire penalty on pit road for a 10th-place finish.
Busch’s torrid pace left just 12 of the 40 starters on the lead lap at the end of Saturday’s race.
Making his first Truck Series start since 2007, Bill Lester – who previously raced full time in the division – ended up seven laps down in 36th for David Gilliland Racing.
The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season continues March 27 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway with the Pinty’s Truck Race on Dirt.
Friesen is the most recent Truck Series winner on a dirt surface, topping the action at Ohio’s Eldora Speedway in 2019.