A handful of late race cautions only made it more dramatic, but veteran Kyle Busch still managed to hold off a hard-charging field to claim a record-tying sixth NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race victory at Texas Motor Speedway, just bettering Corey Heim by a mere 0.112s to win Friday night’s SpeedyCash.com 250.
Maybe while competing in Texas Busch should consider changing his nickname from “Rowdy” to the popular Texas greeting “Howdy” because the two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion has absolutely created an unbelievable mark of excellence competing at the Fort Worth 1.5-miler.
Busch’s sixth win in a Texas Motor Speedway truck race ties him with Todd Bodine for most ever. Busch has won the last four truck races he’s entered at the track. And…it’s his 20th overall win at TMS – an unprecedented tally that also includes four NASCAR Cup Series victories and 10 Xfinity Series race wins.
He led a race best 112 of the 167 laps in the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Friday and won both stages.
What a duel at @TXMotorSpeedway ! @KyleBusch | @CoreyHeim_ pic.twitter.com/zzb4lxTmet
— NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Trucks (@NASCAR_Trucks) April 13, 2024
“Great team, everybody here at Spire ,” said Busch, who has won a record 66 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series races in his career – two this season.
“They definitely kept me honest, I’ll give them that,” said Busch, who compared the robust competition all night to another inspired win when he had to come from 15th place with two laps remaining to win a race.
“Corey kept us honest right there,” he continued. “He started to find that top over there and got some momentum over there with three to go. I chattered really bad, so my front just wasn’t working over there. … He made it and got to my rear bumper getting into and I just didn’t know which way to go, so I ran the middle, then to the bottom, and then he slipped up top and I guess we had enough of a gap after that.”
Heim’s runner-up finish in the No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota continues his perfect streak of top-10 finishes in every Truck race this season (seven). The margin of victory Friday was the second closest ever at the Texas track.