RacingNation.com

Busch Dominates EnjoyIllinois.com 225 Truck Race

Joliet, Ill., Aug. 27 – It took him 154 laps to do it, but nevertheless, Kyle Busch took the victory in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series EnjoyIllinois.com 225 at Chicagoland Speedway Friday night.

Busch dominated the race, leading 121 laps of the 150-lap event. But a late race caution due to Timothy Peter’s blown engine, brought out the yellow, forcing the race to go into overtime and a green, white, checkered finish.

Polesitter Todd Bodine took the lead at the start of the race but relinquished the lead to series rookie Austin Dillon on the seventh lap. Busch, who started third, also got by Bodine to move into second.

Dillon led until the lap 15, when he and Busch came up behind Jennifer Jo Cobb. While lapping her, Busch went high and Dillon went low, with Busch nabbing the lead as they lapped her.

On lap 18, Busch held a .738 second lead over Dillon. Bodine held third, while Aric Almirola was fourth and James Buescher was fifth.

Busch started to widen his lead to 1.143 seconds on lap 21.

The top five remained the same until lap 23, when Buescher started dropping back moving Almirola up to fourth and Shelby Howard to fifth.

The first yellow came out on lap 29 when Howard, who was running fifth, blew the engine, oiling the track.

The field took advantage of the yellow to make the first round of pit stops.

Going into the pits, the top five were Busch, Dillon, Bodine, Almirola and Ron Hornaday Jr.

Dillon had a long pit stop as his car was just on the pit line and had to be pushed back into his pit before the team could service the car.

When the green came back out on lap 34, the top five were Busch, Bodine, Almirola Hornaday and Buescher.

The next lap Hornaday jumped up two spots to move into second.

The top five of Busch, Hornaday, Bodine, Almirola and Dillon remained the same until lap 54 when Buescher took the fifth spot away from Dillon.

As the laps ticked off, the order remained the same until Buescher passed Almirola on lap 59 to claim fourth and move Almirola back to fifth.

Almirola started to fade back into the field and at lap 67 the top five were Busch, Hornaday, Bodine Buescher and Dillon.

At the halfway point of the race, the top five remained the same, with Busch holding a 1.446 second lead over Hornaday with 15 cars on the lead lap.

The second yellow came out on lap 79 when the engine in Lance Fenton’s car blew.

Once again, the field took advantage of the yellow to head to the pits.

Coming out of the pits, Bodine edged Hornaday to be the first back out on the track. Busch lost four spots on the pit stops as the fueler had trouble getting the first can of fuel into the car.

Coming to the green, the top five were Bodine, Hornaday, Buescher, Timothy Peters and Busch.

On the restart Hornaday, considered the master of the restart, took the lead from Bodine.

The yellow came back out just one lap later when Ricky Carmichael lost the engine in his truck, putting fluid on the track.

On lap 85, under the yellow, the running order was Hornaday, Bodine, Buescher, Peters and Busch.

As the green came back out on lap 88, Hornaday chose the inside line for the restart. As they went into the first turn, Hornaday got loose and Bodine got by to take the lead.

On lap 91, Busch passed Peters for third and continued to move up, taking second from Hornaday on lap 95 and taking the lead from Bodine in Turn 3 on lap 98. The top five at that point were Busch, Bodine, Hornaday, Peters and Buescher.

As Busch and Bodine pulled away from the rest of the field, a battle for the third through sixth positions was shaping up as Hornaday, Peters, Buescher and Dillon were less than one second apart.

The caution came out again on lap 125 when Buescher and Dillon, who were battling for fifth, tangled, sending Buescher into a spin and into the outside wall. He continued across the track and spun into the infield.

Once again, the timing of the caution enabled the field to head to the pits.

With 16 cars on the lead lap, as the field headed back to the green on lap 129, the top five were Hornaday, Johnny Sauter, Dillon, Bodine and Justin Lofton. During the pit stops, Busch slid back to sixth.

Hornaday elected to take the outside line for the restart. As the field took the green on lap 129, Bodine and Sauter were side-by-side for second. As Sauter rapidly dropped back, Busch was already up to third.

On lap 131, Busch dropped to the inside of the track and passed both Bodine and Hornaday to re-assume the lead.

By lap 141, Busch and Bodine had pulled away from the rest of the field.

Bodine continued in hot pursuit of Busch. The closest Bodine came to Busch was on lap 144 when he went inside of Busch and pulled up beside him. However, Bodine got loose and Busch again pulled away from him.

At lap 145, Busch continued to lead Bodine while Sauter and Hornaday were engaged in a spirited battle for third and Aric Almirola was fifth.

Timothy Peters engine blew on lap 148, bringing out the yellow and setting up a green, white, checkered finish.

The green came back out on lap 152. Busch had selected the outside line for the restart and jumped out in front of Bodine as Hornaday and Sauter ran side-by-side in a battle for third.

Bodine was no longer able to challenge Busch and Busch took the victory .186 seconds ahead of Bodine as Hornaday edged out Sauter for third and Lofton rounded out the top five.

After the race, Busch, who has totally dominated NASCAR in the last two weeks, took the flag from the starter and did his customary bow to the fans, as some booed, but most cheered his victory.

After the race, Busch had praise for his crew despite the fuel problem on the second pit stop.

“We had problems getting the fuel in but the guys did a good job,” he said, indicating the win was boost for the team, now sitting second in owner points.

He continued his interview talking about the finish. ” The Toyota Tundra was awesome. Todd ran me down but I think he slipped a little and I got him.”

Next Friday night, the series runs at Kentucky Speedway, concluding nine straight weeks of races before having two weeks off.

Share Button