Kyle Busch Dashes to 62nd Career Truck Series Win at Sonoma Raceway

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Owner-driver Kyle Busch made his fifth and final start of the 2022 Camping World Truck Series season in the Door Dash 250 at Sonoma Raceway on Saturday evening. ‘Rowdy’ came into the race looking to score his first win of the season after tallying three podium finishes in his first four starts.
 
After qualifying third in Saturday morning’s two-round qualifying session, Busch went on to lead a race high 45-laps in route to his 62nd career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series win. The 37-year-old driver has now won 37.5% of Truck Series races he has entered and has won at least one race in 10 consecutive seasons. 
 
 
Stage One Recap
 
·        Busch lined up for Saturday’s 75-lap event at Sonoma Raceway in third after putting down a lap time of 79.223 seconds at 90.428 mph.
·        With the No. 42 of Carson Hocevar being forced to drop to the rear on the opening pace laps, Busch moved up to start the Door Dash 250 on the front row next to fellow Cup Series regular Ross Chastain.
·        ‘Rowdy’ was running in second for a majority of the opening stanza before Chastain elected to short pit the stage on Lap 16, forfeiting the lead to Busch.
·        One lap later, Busch elected to forgo stage points in turn for track position later in the race and brought his No. 51 Tundra down pit road for four tires and fuel.
·        Following the pit stop, Busch went back out on track and finished Stage One scored in 19th.
 
 
Stage Two Recap:
 
·        With differing pit strategies throughout the field, Busch once again lined up on the front row to restart the middle stanza in second.
·        It took the 37-year-old veteran just three laps to take over the lead from Chastain on lap 26.
·        As the stage went on, Busch extended his lead to over three seconds and communicated that his Yahoo! Tundra was “really good.”
·        With the laps winding down in Stage Two, crew chief Mardy Lindley once again called his driver down road from the lead where the No. 51 team executed a four tire and fuel stop.
·        Busch took the green-and-white checkered flag in 12th to end Stage Two. 
 
 
Final Stage Recap:
 
·        As pit stop strategies cycled through at the stage break, ‘Rowdy’ lined up at the front of the field to begin the Final Stage.
·        Busch cleared the No. 41 of Chastain as the field entered Turn 1 and went on to lead the next 15 laps of the race.
·        Busch had extended his lead to over two seconds on the field when the fourth caution of the race came out on lap 62.
·        Lindley called up one last four tire and fuel stop during the caution and would send Busch back out onto the track in fourth with the top three drivers electing to stay out.
·        The veteran driver quickly took over the lead once again and looked as if he was going to cruise to win until the sixth and final caution came out with just three laps remaining.
·        Busch restarted the ensuing restart on the front row next to KBM teammate Chandler Smith. Busch was once again able to clear the field as they made the climb into Turn 1 and would drive away to his 62nd career Camping World Truck Series victory.
 
 
 
Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 51 Yahoo Tundra TRD Pro
 
What does it mean for you to get a win here in Sonoma? 
“It means a lot. You look back at the history of the sport and the Truck Series growing up in California, these were their parts. It basically started in Bakersfield and Sonoma on a yearly basis there, so now that its back, it was good to come out and knock the rust off a little bit with the road racing and stuff. I didn’t want to run sim this week, so I thought the road course would knock that off. Certainly, it feels good to get our Yahoo! Toyota Tundra TRD Pro here in victory lane. Being a part of Kyle Busch Motorsports, and us being in the sport this long, it means a lot to get more diverse tracks on the schedule and get some wins at those places. Our Rowdy Manufacturing chassis was awesome today, and these guys did a really good job working their butts off.”
 
 
How important was it for you to keep the win streak going?
“I look back on the missed year of 2012, where I didn’t get a win. I think we finished second like six times that year or something stupid. That was frustrating. That’s more bitter than this one not winning, but it’s good to be able to score a win. We were in position a few times this year. We had a couple really, really fast race trucks. Vegas comes to mind, COTA (Circuit of the Americas) comes to mind, so we didn’t miss by very much, just circumstances, but proud to get one today. Everything kind of went our way, and we had a fast truck.”
 
 
 
DoorDash 250 Recap
 
  • Kyle Busch earned his first win of 2022 and 62nd career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory. Zane Smith, Ty Majeski, Ross Chastain and Chandler Smith rounded out the top-five finishers.
  • There were six cautions for 17 laps and 10 lead changes among five drivers, including Busch who led four times for a race-high 45 laps.
 
 
 
 
How Kyle Busch’s KBM Teammates Fared:
 
·        Chandler Smith, driver of the No. 18 Toyota, finished fifth.
·        John Hunter Nemechek, driver of the No. 4 Toyota, finished eighth.
 
 
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Owner Standings
 
The No. 51 team gained one spot and now sits seventh in the Owner’s Championship standings. They are 54 points behind the No. 99 ThorSport Racing team in first.
 
 
Next Race
 
Toyota Racing Development dirt standout Buddy Kofoid will make his second career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series start behind the wheel of the No. 51 Mobil 1 Tundra TRD Pro next weekend at Knoxville (Iowa) Raceway. Live coverage of the Clean Harbors 150 will be on FS1, Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM at 9 p.m. ET.
 

KBM PR

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