Dover, DE – Kyle Busch saved his best for last to win Friday's Lucas Oil 200 Camping World Truck Series race at Dover International Speedway.
Busch, who is the only driver competing in all three of NASCAR's national touring series races at Dover this weekend, took the lead for the first time in the truck event on lap 142, following a round of green-flag pit stops. During a caution on lap 160, points leader Matt Crafton beat Busch out of the pits to take over the top spot.
But Busch chased down Crafton shortly after the restart and then passed him for the lead on lap 169. He ran in front for the final 32 laps around this one-mile, concrete-surfaced racetrack.
The sixth caution for an accident involving Tim George Jr. set up a four-lap shootout to the finish. After the final restart, Busch easily pulled away from Crafton and then beat him to the finish line by 1.5 seconds. It was the second straight truck win for Busch. He scored his first victory of the season two weeks ago at Charlotte.
"The truck was awesome today, but there were a lot of adjustments that had to happen throughout the race to keep up with the racetrack," said Busch, who started fifth. "It definitely got freer the more we went there."
Busch also claimed his third truck win at Dover. He is the only driver with multiple victories in the series at this track. Less than one hour before the start of this 200-mile event, Busch qualified third for Sunday's 400-mile race here. The Nationwide Series race and qualifying is scheduled for Saturday.
Busch is the first driver in NASCAR history to win the Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series races at the same track on the same week, doing so in August 2010 at Bristol. He is hoping to accomplish that feat again this weekend.
"I think we can," Busch admitted. "I'm the only one dumb enough to try. That's the problem ... It's going to be hot, and it's going to be long. But anything can happen here at Dover. This is just the start of the weekend though."
Crafton's second-place run allowed him to build a 30-point lead over rookie Jeb Burton, who finished ninth.
"All in all, not a terrible day," said Crafton, who made his 300th consecutive start in the series. "We just got beat by one of the guys who's not too bad here."
Darrell Wallace Jr., who drives the No. 54 truck for Kyle Busch Motorsports, started on the pole and dominated a majority of this race by leading the first 119 laps before relinquishing it during a round of pit stops. At age 19, Wallace became the youngest pole winner in series history. He faded in the late stages to finish 10th.
"We had a good first half of the race, and our (truck) was stout in the beginning," Wallace said. "Right when we put new tires on during that green- flag stop, all the truck rubber (on the track) just made it freer. I was just fighting to hang on."
Ryan Blaney took the third spot, while Chase Elliott, who is the 17-year-old son of 1988 Cup Series champion Bill Elliott, bounced back from two pit-road speeding penalties to place fourth. Brendan Gaughan completed the top-five.
"I don't speed on pit road, and I learned it the hard way, that's for sure," Elliott said. "I was really, really fast and kind of riding that first run, but I messed up coming out of the pits on the first stop. I did it again when we had the green-flag stop. You just can't afford to do that."
Timothy Peters finished sixth, followed by Johnny Sauter and Joey Coulter.
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