NGROTS: Kyle Busch Wins Baptist Health 200 at Homestead

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In: NASCAR Truck Series News

Kyle Busch ended the night victorious at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Saturday piloting the No. 51 Toyota Tundra for his own team. The series veteran led the field for 82 of the 134 completed circuits after starting the event at the rear of the field and serving a pass-through penalty at the start of the race. It marked Busch’s 58th career win in the series.

“You’re always concerned about tires being better and having the opportunity to out-show you,” said Busch. “Felt like six laps was just the right amount and anymore than that, it probably would have been a different outcome. Can’t say enough about this Cessna Beechcraft Toyota Tundra, it was awesome tonight.”

Tyler Ankrum started 11th and ended the night 2.847 seconds behind race winner Kyle Busch. The driver of the No. 26 Liuna! Chevrolet finished 12th in stage one and sat 20th at the conclusion of stage two. Ankrum leaves Homestead sitting 10th in points while earning his first top 10 of the 2020 season.

Kyle Busch had an L1 penalty discovered during pre-race inspection involving the rear sub-frame assembly and will lose 10 Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series owner points because of the infraction. The penalty forced the No. 51 Toyota to the rear of the field for the start and a pass-through penalty following the initial green flag.

Rule:

20.3.2.3 Rear Sub-Frame Assembly I-4 Track Bar Supports a. A maximum of one track bar mount frame support and a maximum of one track bar mount lateral support must be used.

“I guess some rules were changed over the off-season and the truck we ran tonight I think ran here at Homestead last year and they just put it off to the side knowing that I would be in it in March,” explained Busch regarding the penalty. “It’s now June, but still it never made it’s way to the fab shop for some updates or for some bars that needed to be cut out due to NASCAR changing the rules. We missed it and came down here with that bar in there and I guess they wanted to prove a point. We had a big penalty, probably bigger than it would have been if there had been another driver in the truck. We’ll take it and move on.”

The Las Vegas native, winner of stage two, finished stage one sitting 33rd.

Florida native Ross Chastain, winner of stage one, rounded out the top three finishers on Saturday. Chastain started 15th on the leaderboard and went on to finish runner-up in stage two. The driver of the No. 44 Chevrolet leaves the 1.5-mile oval with his first top five of the year.

Chase Elliott and Johnny Sauter rounded out the top five.

Todd Gilliland, Austin Hill, Christian Eckes, Matt Crafton and Ty Majeski rounded out the top 10.

Chase Elliott overcame an issue early on as he and three other trucks tangled in turn four on lap 21. The four-truck incident also included drivers Brett Moffitt, Zane Smith and Brennan Poole. Moffitt and Smith did not continue while Poole went on to finish 19th. The fourth-place finish will mark Elliott’s second top 10 of the year in the series.

The race had a 15-minute red flag period after Sheldon Creed made contact with the sand barrels at the entrance of pit road. The incident did not end the night for the team as Creed captured a 20th-place finish.

Brennan Poole was involved in a single-truck incident on lap 71. The No. 7 of Korbin Forrister and the No. 3 of Jordan Anderson were also involved in single-truck incidents throughout the remainder of the race.

The next race for the Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series will take place at Pocono Raceway on June 27th. The event will air live on FS1 at 12:30 p.m. ET.

Brett Winningham
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