Trucks - Busch Finds a Way to Win at Kentucky

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It didn't seem like Kyle Busch had the truck to win, but, after some great late restarts and some misfortune for most of the other contenders, he cruised to victory in Thursday night's University of Northwestern Ohio 225 at Kentucky Speedway.

Busch started in the rear of the field after missing the drivers' meeting, but quickly charged toward the front, finally taking the lead for the first time on Lap 61.  He led twice for 61 laps, including the last 18.  Toward the end, his was not the fastest truck, but most of the other contenders fell by the wayside.

Polesitter Johnny Sauter passed Busch for the lead on Lap 103, but broke a rear axle while trying to leave his pit on a green-flag stop on Lap 124.  About eight laps later, Austin Dillon challenged Busch for the lead, but his hood came loose and folded back over his windshield.  He had to pit to have it cut loose.

With ten laps to go, Charlie Vest spun.  He didn't hit anything, but NASCAR finally had to throw the caution because he was blocking the entrance to pit road and couldn't get the engine restarted.  About the time the caution waved, Steve Arpin spun straight toward Vest, but he finally had it running again and moved out of the way in time to avoid the collision.

That set up a restart with five laps to go.  Busch got a great restart, but Joey Coulter did not.  He dropped back and bunched the rest of the field up.  Nelson Piquet Jr., another contender, got pushed back in the middle of a three-wide pack.  He got into the rear of the other Brazilian in the race, Miguel Paludo, and they both went hard into the wall.

That set up the green-white-checkered finish.  Again, Busch got a great jump, but Jason White did not.  Busch cruised to victory.  Parker Klingerman, Brendan Gaughan and Todd Bodine got around White to finish second, third and fourth respectively.  White came home fifth.  (Race results)

It was Busch's first win at Kentucky Speedway, his fifth Camping World Truck Series win of the season and the 29th of his career.  It was his 98th national series win, third most all-time.  The race went 152 laps, two past the scheduled distance.

Ron Hornaday made the bonehead move of the race.  After a restart on Lap 76, he was challenging Cole Whitt for fourth place.  Hornaday got loose and came up into Whitt and they both went into the wall.  That would have been the end of it if Hornaday had stayed on the brakes, but he tried to straighten out his heavily damaged truck and keep moving.  He slammed Jack Smith into the wall, then slid down the track and took out John King and Josh Richards.

The series points standings were shuffled a bit.  Sauter stayed in first, and even gained three more points on Whitt (-23).  Dillon (-25) moved up a spot to third.  James Buescher (-32) and Klingerman (-35) each moved up three spots to fourth and fifth respectively as Hornaday (-37) dropped three spots to sixth.

Trucks -- Black Flag Gives Hornaday a Texas Win

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Ron Hornaday won the WinStar World Casino 400k at Texas Motor Speedway Friday night when Johnny Sauter was black-flagged for changing lanes on the final restart.

Sauter took the lead from Hornaday on Lap 130 (of a scheduled 167), but was penalized for moving down in front of Hornaday on a green-white-checkered restart before crossing the start/finish line.  Both Sauter and Hornaday spun their tires on the restart.  Sauter finished ahead of the field, but was shown the black flag at the stripe; he was scored with a 22nd-place finish, the last car on the lead lap.  Sauter later contended that he left Hornaday a lane to race in, but doesn't have much of a case.

It was Hornaday's 48th career Camping World Truck Series win, the first of the season, and his third at the track.  The race went one lap beyond the scheduled distance.

Since this week's Cup race is 1500 miles away in Pocono, this was a exclusively a Truck Series regular affair.  Rookie Parker Klingerman, making just his tenth career series start, finished second.  David Mayhew was third for a new career-best finish.  Brian Ickler recovered from a spin of Lap 50 that put him a lap down to finish fourth in his first start of the season.  Rookie Joey Coulter was fifth, matching his career-best finish set last week at Kansas.  (Race results)

Sauter still managed to increase his lead in the series points standings by eight points.  He now leads Cole Whitt, who finished 28th, by 20 points.  Hornaday (-33) jumped three spots into third, followed by Austin Dillon (-35) and Matt Crafton (-41).

NASCAR: NCWTS -- Martinsville: Kroger 200 Results

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Ron Hornaday passed Kyle Busch with three laps to go in regulation and held him off on a green-white-checkered restart to win Saturday's Camping World Truck Series race, the Kroger 200, at Martinsville.  It was Hornaday's first win ever at Martinsville, his second of the season, and the 47th of his career.

Hornaday passed Busch on Lap 197 (of 200) just before the 11th and final caution of the day came out for Cody Cambensy's spin.  NASCAR officials initially had Busch ahead for the final restart, but went to the television replays and reversed themselves.  The race went six laps past the scheduled distance.

Todd Bodine, who was racing just hours after the death of his mother, led much of the second half of the race.  He was passed by Busch with 25 laps to go and Hornaday soon followed.  Bodine hung on to finish third, followed by Jason White and Aric Almirola.  (Race results)

Bodine now leads Almirola by 282 points with just four races remaining.  If Almirola were to win all four of the remaining races, Bodine would need to average just a 12th-place finish to take home the championship trophy.  (Points standings)

Five drivers made their series debuts.  B. J. McLeod finished 17th, C. E. Falk 25th, Amber Cope 26th, Angela Cope 30th, and Cambensy 32nd.  The Cope twins were two of a record four women in the race with Johanna Long and Jennifer Jo Cobb.