Kyle Busch wins Truck Series race at Chicagoland as inaugural Chase field is set
Kyle Busch scored his second victory of the NASCAR Camping World Trucks Series season in the American Ethanol E15 225, but that wasn’t the biggest story of the night.
After Friday night’s race at Chicagoland Speedway, the eight-driver field is now set for the inaugural Truck Series Chase for the championship.
William Byron is the top seed in the Chase with five wins. Matt Crafton, John Hunter Nemechek, Christopher Bell, Johnny Sauter, Ben Kennedy, Daniel Hemric and Timothy Peter make up the rest of the Chase grid.
In a must-win race for many drivers to get it the the inaugural playoffs, Busch led 95 of the 151 laps on his way to victory.
"This has been a really good place for KBM (Kyle Busch Motorsports) over the years," said Busch in Victory Lane. "We've been really fast here, so it was nice to come out here again and keep that speed going with this Sirius XM Tundra. It was really good. I appreciate Erik Jones being here yesterday and working it in for me and everything that he did.
"It's also really important to see the No. 9 (Byron) and the No. 4 (Bell) make the Chase this year for KBM. We've got two opportunities there to go after a championship."
Daniel Hemric finished a close second after giving Busch a run for his money following the overtime restart.
Cameron Hayley, one of the drivers who needed to win to advance to the Chase, came up just short, finishing third.
"The No. 13 (driven by Hayley) is a brand-new KBM truck out of our stables. That thing was fast," Busch added. "It was hard to hold him off. He was right there at the end and he was really quick. Good job to those guys and finding some speed in our stuff, too."
Christopher Bell and Johnny Sauter rounded out the top five.
For those already locked into the Chase, though, it wasn't a very good night.
Byron found trouble early when his No. 9 Kyle Busch Motorsports truck broke loose after blowing a right-front tire, hitting the Turn 3 wall hard on Lap 5.
After spending some time behind the wall for repairs, Byron blew a right-front tire once again and slammed the wall even harder on Lap 82.
"It just wasn't our night," said Byron after finishing 30th. "I just put myself in a position that I should have probably known better, but you get those things out of the way before the Chase and you try things. I was just going for it.
"Thankfully, we can now go into next week and get our trucks ready for New Hampshire. I think we're going to have a really good Chase and hopefully can bring some speed there."
Ben Kennedy also found trouble after getting hit from behind by teammate Johnny Sauter with 40 laps to go. Ben Rhodes and Matt Crafton received minor damage after making contact with Kennedy. Following the incident, the red flag was displayed for a lengthy period of time for repairs to the SAFER barrier at the exit of Turn 2.
JR Motorsports driver Cole Custer, another driver who needed to win to get in the Chase, also had an eventful night. After being forced to make his way up through the field due to an early pit-road speeding penalty, Custer made contact with Grant Enfinger following a restart with 33 laps remaining.
The contact created a left-rear tire rub for Custer. Despite the damage, he and the No. 00 team elected not to pit, but was forced to do so shortly after following a caution flag for Rhodes.
In his first NASCAR event after recovery from brain surgery to remove a tumor, Matt Tifft made an unscheduled pit stop on Lap 20 for a vibration, but rebounded for a solid 12th-place finish.
