Trackin’ Trucks: Kyle Busch Wins at Pocono

Kyle Busch celebrates his win at Pocono Raceway with a burnout.

Credit: Chris Trotman

by Courtney Horn

Kyle Busch earned his second Camping World Truck Series win of 2018 at Pocono Raceway on Saturday afternoon, holding off teammate Erik Jones by 1.469 seconds for his 51st victory in the series.

The win ties Busch with NASCAR Hall of Famer Ron Hornaday Jr. for the lead on the all-time series win list.

“They (Jones) had a better truck,” Busch acknowledged. “I tried and tried to work on this thing to make it better and probably made it slower with all the things I changed on it, rather than making it faster.

“I knew Erik was going to be fast in that truck—I knew Noah was going to be fast in that truck. They were the ones that we had to beat. I wish we were a tick faster, but obviously, being a bit slower, we put on a better show. Erik was able to run me down, and I did everything I could to hold him off.”

Busch led three times during the Gander Outdoors 150 for a total of 43 laps, passing Jones in the closing laps after a battle through lapped traffic.

Jones finished second in his first CWTS event in two years. The Kyle Busch Motorsports driver replaced an ill Noah Gragson, who was sidelined by NASCAR because of a stomach virus.

“I saw the lapped trucks, and they gave me the opportunity to get there,” Jones said, “I was like, ‘This is going to be my shot, probably my only shot to get the lead, and if we can get the lead, I think we can hold him off.’

“We came within about six inches of doing it, and I had to kind of check up. There were four lapped trucks. We passed three of them on the straightaway, and there was one more in the Tunnel Turn, and I had to check up on the bottom or run him over, which I wasn’t going to do.

Dalton Sargeant had his strongest race of the year, finishing third and earning the first top-five finish of his career. Stage 2 winner Stewart Friesen and Justin Haley rounded out the top five.

Grant Enfinger finished sixth, Stage 1 winner Todd Gilliland finished seventh, while Johnny Sauter, Matt Crafton, and Joe Nemechek completed the top 10.

A Look Ahead

The Camping World Truck Series takes a two-week hiatus before returning on August 11, 2018, at Michigan International Speedway.

Sauter remains the series points leader, now 65 points ahead of Gragson, who has been granted a playoff waiver by NASCAR because of his illness at Pocono.

Myatt Snider is in the cutoff position, 85 points behind Ben Rhodes in eighth. Cody Coughlin and Sargeant are ninth and 10th, respectively.

All three drivers are in must-win situations with only two races remaining in the regular season.

Who will win at Michigan? Find out on Saturday, August 11th at 1 p.m ET on Fox Sports 1.