Busch outruns Bowyer for Phoenix truck win
Avondale, AZ (Sports Network) - Kyle Busch easily won Friday's Lucas Oil 150
Camping World Truck Series race with a dominating performance at Phoenix
International Raceway.
Clint Bowyer, the pole sitter, led the first 43 laps, but during a round of
pit stops under the first caution, Busch beat Bowyer out of the pits and then
ran in front for the remaining 107 laps.
Busch notched his 25th victory in just his 87th truck start. He has now won 87
times in NASCAR national series competition, tying him with four-time Cup
Series champion Jeff Gordon for sixth all-time.
"All in all, it was a good day and a good night," Busch said. "We were good in
practice, qualified decent and we ran real well, so that's all you can ask
for."
He also won at Phoenix in 2007.
Prior to the 150-lap race, Busch already had a busy day at the flat one-mile
track, running more than 150 laps combined in the practices for the Sprint
Cup, Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series.
Bowyer, who won the last truck race at Phoenix in November, came about ten
truck lengths short of defending his title.
"I knew in practice that Kyle was going to be the one I had to beat," said
Bowyer, who drove the No.2 Chevrolet for Kevin Harvick Inc.
KHI had won the last three truck races at Phoenix, as Harvick earned
consecutive victories here in 2008-09.
Ron Hornaday Jr., who also drives for KHI, finished third, while Johnny Sauter
and Austin Dillon rounded out the top-five.
Cole Whitt, Matt Crafton, Justin Johnson, Joey Coulter and Jason White
finished sixth through 10th, respectively.
The race featured a rash of accidents during the final 50 laps, with defending
truck champion Todd Bodine being caught up in one of them. Dillon tapped
Bodine's left rear and spun him around. David Starr and newcomer Dusty Davis
were also involved in the accident.
Bodine managed to finish on the lead lap, but wound up with a 14th-place run.
Last week at Daytona, he was involved in a multi-truck pileup late in the
race, finishing 23rd.
Travis Kvapil, the 2003 series champion, wrecked twice at Phoenix and ended up
finishing last in the 36-truck field.
Ricky Carmichael and Parker Kligerman got together and slammed hard into the
wall for the eighth and final caution with 18 laps remaining.
02/25 23:35:11 ET
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