Kyle Busch earns his 60th career Truck Series win at Atlanta

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series returned after a two-week break to Atlanta Motor Speedway to start the NASCAR doubleheader. Kyle Busch Motorsports was on the front row with John Hunter Nemechek on the pole, and his boss, Kyle Busch, starting second. The “Choose Cone Rule” returned for this race. The rule allows the drivers to pick which lane they want before the race starts. Only two drivers who went to the back were Ross Chastain (driver change) and Brett Moffitt (engine change).

In the opening lap, Matt Crafton and John Hunter Nemechek were side-by-side for the lead. Crafton would take the lead from Nemechek. Not far behind was Kyle Busch, and within two laps, he took the lead away from Crafton on the fourth lap. Busch led eleven laps before the competition caution came out on lap fifteen.

Some teams headed to pit road during the caution. The race resumed on lap 21. Busch had led up until the last lap when he allowed Nemechek to use the bottom lane in turns three and four to take the lead and win stage one. Everyone went to pit road during the caution. Nemechek beat Jordan Anderson off pit road. Anderson only took fuel on the stop.

The race resumed on lap 38. Nemechek led an additional seven laps before Kyle Busch passed him for the lead on lap 46. Nemechek followed Busch through the heavy traffic. Then he used the traffic to get the lead on the last lap at turn four and win stage two.

All drivers came to pit road during the caution, with Busch beating Nemechek off pit road for the lead. Busch, Nemechek, and Austin Hill all chose the inside lane with Chastain outside to start the final stage on lap 68.

Kyle Busch was putting on a clinic on the last stage and had a 1.5 second lead over Nemechek. The last green-flag pit stops started on lap 96. The cycle lasted ten laps before Busch resumed the lead. Once he regained the lead, he was gone and would go on to win his 60th career Truck Series win by 4.133 seconds over Austin Hill.

The rest of the top ten finishers were John Hunter Nemechek third, Johnny Sauter fourth, Sheldon Creed fifth, Zane Smith sixth, Ross Chastain seventh, Matt Crafton eighth, Brett Moffitt ninth, and Stewart Friesen tenth. Kyle Busch led 102 laps, the most in the race. There were three cautions for sixteen laps.

The Truck Series now heads to Bristol Motor Speedway for a dirt race Saturday, March 27th, at 8 pm on FS1.

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