Chase Elliott wins the bounty and the race at Charlotte Motor Speedway

For the first time since February 21st of this year, the NASCAR Ganders RV & Outdoors Trucks Series resumed their season Tuesday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Joining the regular series drivers were Kyle Busch and Chase Elliot from the Cup Series. Chase Elliott had a lot on the line in this race in what has been labeled the “Busch Bounty.” If he were to beat Kyle Busch, both Kevin Harvick and CNBC and CEO of Gander Outdoors Marcus Lemonis were donating $50,000 each to the COVID-19 relief efforts.

Ben Rhodes and Tyler Ankrum were on the front row and led the field to the green flag to start the North Carolina Education Lottery 200. There was already trouble for the number three team as Jordan Anderson was off the pace.

Going 🆙 on a Tuesday! We're live at @CLTMotorSpdwy on FS1 and the FOX Sports app! pic.twitter.com/a6NcA1siof — NASCAR Gander Trucks (@NASCAR_Trucks) May 27, 2020

Ross Chastain gained on the leaders as he worked his way up from his starting position of 27th to eighth. The competition caution would come out at lap 16. Some of the lead lap cars pitted, including Kyle Busch, who needed to make changes. With the cars not having practice, many stopped to make adjustments. Austin Hill led the field back to the green flag on lap 21.

Either the nose is scraping or someone lost a contact. 🤷‍♂️#NCEL200 pic.twitter.com/uLVt38WYdz — NASCAR Gander Trucks (@NASCAR_Trucks) May 27, 2020

A couple of laps into the restart, Ross Chastain took over second place from Matt Crafton, then he would go on to pass Hill for the lead, and the stage one win.

Mama, there goes that Melon Man! 🍉@RossChastain is your Stage 1 winner at @CLTMotorSpdwy. pic.twitter.com/sFsXuztNzp — NASCAR Gander Trucks (@NASCAR_Trucks) May 27, 2020

Some of the lead lap trucks elected to stay out, including Zane Smith, Christian Eckes, Raphael Lessard, and Clay Greenfield, while others headed to pit road. There was plenty of action down on pit road as Kyle Busch continued to have his truck worked on. Matt Crafton almost hit Korbin Forrister leaving the box, and Tanner Grey was penalized for too many men over the wall. Greenfield did come to pit road a lap later.

Zane Smith led the field back to the green flag on lap 38 to start stage two and was quickly challenged by Matt Crafton for the lead. Crafton got by Smith a lap later to take the lead.

New race leader: Bounty-eligible @chaseelliott 🔥 The action is heating up on FS1 and the FOX Sports app! pic.twitter.com/7hiCrHS02V — NASCAR Gander Trucks (@NASCAR_Trucks) May 27, 2020

Not long after Crafton got the lead, Chase Elliott got by Crafton for the lead while Kyle Busch was moving up to ninth after starting 25th. Busch made it to sixth place as Elliot would go on to win stage two.

Coming for that bounty!! 👀@chaseelliott wins Stage 2 at @CLTMotorSpdwy .#NCEL200 pic.twitter.com/BjQ3ViOwOd — NASCAR Gander Trucks (@NASCAR_Trucks) May 27, 2020

All of the lead-lap trucks pitted, and Elliott raced everyone off of pit road to remain in the lead. He led the field back to the green flag along with Ben Rhodes to start the final stage on lap 69. Kyle Busch pushed Rhodes ahead of Elliott to take the lead. Shortly after, Todd Gilliland got into the wall and had a tire rub.

There was trouble on lap 80 when Stewart Friesen made contact with Jesse Iwuji and pushed him into Brennan Poole. At the same time, Tyler Ankrum made contact with Stewart Friesen to bring out the caution on lap 81.

T-R-O-U-B-L-E!@StewartFriesen and @Jesse_Iwuji make contact sending the No. 33 into the SAFER Barrier. pic.twitter.com/92oBveNuam — NASCAR Gander Trucks (@NASCAR_Trucks) May 27, 2020

After some of the lead lap trucks pitted, Kyle Busch led the field back to the green flag on lap 87. Brett Moffitt was able to get by both Hill and Busch to take the lead. Then another caution would quickly come back out when Natalie Decker and Brannan Poole were involved in an incident.

Kyle Busch would once again lead the field back to the green flag on lap 93, but Austin Hill would grab the lead from Busch. Busch would get the lead back; however, he was challenged by Zane Smith, who had fresher tires. Busch would catch a break when Garrett Smithley spun to bring out the caution on lap 96. Busch, Hill, Grey, Enfinger, Rohrbaugh, and Hill pitted for four tires except for Enfinger, who only took two tires.

Zane Smith led the field back to the green flag on lap 101 with Kyle Busch, who restarted 23rd, quickly moved up to 15th in one lap. Todd Gilliland continued to have problems and would get into the wall again after making contact with John Hunter Nemechek to bring out the seventh caution of the night.

More sparks than normal for a night race. 😳@ToddGilliland_ brings out the yellow at @CLTMotorSpdwy. pic.twitter.com/fzziaKIZun — NASCAR Gander Trucks (@NASCAR_Trucks) May 27, 2020

Zane Smith would once again lead the field back to the green flag with twenty-six laps to go. Zane was passed by Johnny Sauter, who then was passed by Chase Elliott, all in one lap. Kyle Busch was now sitting in third place. Smith was still in this race, getting second place from both Busch and Sauter. A couple of laps later, Busch would retake second place, and the race was now down to Busch and Elliott.

.@chaseelliott back to the lead with @KyleBusch chasing him down! If he holds on to beat Rowdy, he will win @KevinHarvick and @marcuslemonis' $100k bounty! Tune in on FS1 and the FOX Sports app. pic.twitter.com/JqKDpQGzNC — NASCAR Gander Trucks (@NASCAR_Trucks) May 27, 2020

Kyle Busch, at one point, caught up to Elliott. However, he would lose ground to Chase, and Elliott would go on to win the North Carolina Education Lottery 200. With the win, $100,000 will be donated to the COVID-19 relief effort.

RACE WINNER: @chaseelliott holds off @KyleBusch for the final 20 laps to win at @CLTMotorSpdwy! pic.twitter.com/i5Y4g89y47 — NASCAR Gander Trucks (@NASCAR_Trucks) May 27, 2020

After Elliott and Busch, Zane Smith finished third, Brett Moffitt fourth, Sheldon Creed fifth, John Hunter Nemechek sixth, Johnny Sauter seventh, Ty Majeski eighth, Austin Hill ninth, and Ben Rhodes to wrap up the top ten.

After the race, Kyle Busch was not happy about his truck. He said he was going to talk to the team back home. Whether you like Busch or not, he is a competitor and wants to win in all NASCAR series. There were 18 lead changes, ten leaders, and seven cautions for the night.

"There's going to be some (expletive) talking when I get home."- Kyle Busch after Charlotte pic.twitter.com/XFP7xxB5Z0 — FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) May 27, 2020

The truck series will return on June 6th from Atlanta Motor Speedway at 1 pm on FS1 for the Vet Tix/Camping World 200.

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