MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Kyle Busch held off John Hunter Nemechek in a two-lap overtime restart and won the NASCAR trucks race at Martinsville Speedway on Saturday, his first victory in 31 career starts on the 0.526-mile oval.
Busch, who was saving his last set of fresh tires for an opportune time inside the final 50 laps, never got one and won despite driving the last 115 laps on the same tires. Most of the rest of the field had tires that were at least 30 laps newer, but a series of late restarts worked in Busch's favor and he ended his Martinsville drought.
Nemecheck got second and Busch's teammate, William Byron was third, followed by Kyle Larson and Timothy Peters.
Busch won for the 45th time in one of NASCAR's truck series and became the third different winner in as many races this year.
(Corrects to show Busch's 45th trucks win.)
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.