Trackin' Trucks: Kyle Busch earns Truck Series victory at Bristol

Kyle Busch celebrates in Victory Lane at Bristol.

Credit: Brian Lawdermilk

 By Courtney Horn 

Kyle Busch overcame a late-race speeding penalty for his third Camping World Truck Series victory this season Wednesday night at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Busch and his teammate, Noah Gragson, started in the rear of the field after each received a speeding penalty at the end of Stage 2. Busch took advantage of the top of the racetrack and was back into the top 10 within 20 laps.

"I knew once I got that penalty that I had to go somewhere, other than where everyone else was," said Busch. "I just started grooming the top and it took about 15 laps for it to come in and then it started going, it was pretty fast."

Busch regained the lead with 33 laps to go and held it until a caution for Austin Wayne Self and Justin Haley allowed for one final restart.

No one was able to get around Busch and he earned his fifth NCWTS victory at the half-mile oval.

Matt Crafton finished second after leading 90 of the 203 laps. Crafton made contact with the No. 19 of Austin Cindric early in the race, but was able to take the lead until Busch made a pass around the ThorSport Racing driver just before the end of Stage 1.

Busch also took Stage 2 of the UNOH 200 ahead of Crafton, Cindric, Ben Rhodes and Christopher Bell.

Bell remained out of contention most of the night, but quietly earned a seventh-place finish for his 13th top-10 this season.

A look ahead

The Camping World Truck Series takes a one-week break before heading to the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Ontario, Canada, where John Hunter Nemechek earned his second career win in a wild finish.

Nemechek sits eighth in the points standings after finishing third at Bristol. Nemechek has two wins this season to secure his way into this year’s playoffs. Will he defend his 2016 victory or will someone else punch their ticket with just two races to go in the regular season?

Rhodes sits in fifth place in the standings and has been close to his first career NCWTS victory many times. A crash took the young star out of contention a year ago. Rhodes needs to avoid trouble to better his chances of securing his way into the playoffs for the first time in his career.

Don’t miss Nemechek, Rhodes and the rest of the CWTS stars on Sunday, Sept. 3, at 2:30 p.m ET on Fox Sports 1.