Kyle Busch Dominates NCWTS Race, Wins under Caution

Kyle Busch, driver of the #51 Hiring Our Heroes/Toyota Care Toyota, celebrates with a burnout after winning the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 16, 2014 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images
Kyle Busch, driver of the #51 Hiring Our Heroes/Toyota Care Toyota, celebrates with a burnout after winning the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 16, 2014 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

It was a wild night in Concord, North Carolina for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series’ (NCWTS) North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

It was a no-brainer for Kyle Busch who had the pole for Friday night’s race and stayed out front for almost the entire race. Joe Nemecheck did not pit after a caution and restarted in the lead on lap 98 and led four laps. The rest was all Kyle Busch as he wins his third race in three starts in 2014 for Kyle Busch Motorsports.

While Busch was busy leading, there was some tough racing going on behind him. Former NCWTS Champion Austin Dillon put the moves on early. He started 25th and raced his way to the fifth spot by lap 28. He made it up to the second spot before he started to fight a tight condition in his truck and slid out of the top ten. He would bounce back to the seventh spot by the yellow and checkered flags flew.

…about that.

Just prior to taking the white flag, an incident involving Jeb Burton caused the caution to come out. German Quiroga was racing on the bottom of the track and Burton attempted to squeeze in between Quiroga and Norm Benning but couldn’t quite make it work off of turn four. The three were collected and Burton’s truck was aflame as it skidding across the grass. He was able to get out of the truck safely.

Several drivers took hard hits during Friday’s race. Justin Jennings brought out the first caution after a right rear tire went down and his truck hit the wall. Ryan Ellis went for a ride after it appeared that Jake Crum intentionally hooked Ellis’ truck and sent Ellis into the wall.

After having some battery issues, Darrell (Bubba) Wallace, Jr. elected to pit and fix the problem which would prove to put him in the wrong place at the wrong time. On lap 92, it appeared Scott Riggs wasn’t clear and got in front of Tayler Malsam which got him out of sorts. Riggs collected Wallace and slammed Wallace into the outer wall. Malsam went sailing off backwards into an inner SAFER barrier and ended the drivability of his truck. Once Wallace got out of his truck on pit road, he was woozy and had to make a trip into the infield care center. He told reporters on FoxSports1 that the fumes were bothering him and he was a bit jarred after the incident. He later tweeted to his fans that he was okay.

Ryan Blaney was having a good night for Brad Keselowski Racing and even had driven past his boss, Brad Keselowski, for position at one point in the race. However, on lap 106 both Townley and Blaney were racing in the top ten when John Wes Townley came down the track where Blaney was attempting to pass and sent Blaney into the grass. Blaney’s truck was torn up once he hit the grass and caused him to go airborne. He slipped up the track and caught Brian Ickler. Ickler’s truck would catch fire but everyone involved were checked out of the infield care center without any major issues.

Ron Hornaday, Jr. was racing pretty well at points in the race but that good luck turned around when his truck did just that on lap 73 just after the field had gone green after a few caution laps. His night would later end when his truck got loose again and collected Jake Crum and Mason Mingus on lap 115.

Points leader Matt Crafton had a solid night with a finish in the second spot. He now has an 11-point lead on Timothy Peters. John Wes Townley had one of the best finishes of his career. He would finish fourth.

The top ten: Kyle Busch, Matt Crafton, Brad Keselowski, John Wes Townley, Timothy Peters,
Johnny Sauter, Austin Dillon, Ben Kennedy, German Quiroga and Justin Lofton.

The next NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race will be the Lucas Oil 200 on Friday, May 30 at 5:30 p.m. ET at Dover International Speedway.