Kyle Busch Earns KBM's 100th Win in Pocono Truck Race
Photo: Evan McNelia
Kyle Busch drove the No. 51 Kyle Busch Motorsports Chevrolet to the 100th win in KBM team history, at Pocono Raceway in the CRC Brakleen 150. It’s Busch’s 64th career win in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and his second win of the 2023 season.
TRICON Garage No. 11 driver Corey Heim led a race-high 27 laps but was passed in the closing moments of the final lap by Busch, who made a big run off a straightaway to get in position to move Heim and take the lead. Busch only led seven laps and he led just one in the final stage.
Front Row Motorsports No. 38 driver Zane Smith won Stage 1 and 2, closing the gap on Heim in the race for the regular season championship. He took a risk staying out to win Stage 2 and he ended up back in the pack to start the Final Stage. He struggled to make up track position and he ended up being collected in ‘The Big One’ on the Lap 52 restart. He finished 34th after having one of the strongest trucks early in the race.
Eight cars were involved in the wreck which led to a red flag with eight laps to go. Niece Motorsports No. 42 driver Carson Hocevar got up the track and into the TRICON No. 1 which was driven by full-time NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Kaz Grala who DNFed as a result, finishing 31st. Grala got into fellow Xfinity driver Parker Kligerman who was in the Henderson Motorsports No. 75 and Kligerman was sent into the wall leading to a pile-up. Austin Hill, another full-time Xfinity representative, was also caught up in the incident as he drove the Spire Motorsports No. 7 in the race and ended his day in 33rd after qualifying 5th.
Halmar Friesen Racing No. 52 driver Stewart Friesen came into the race one point outside of the playoffs and finished 32nd after being collected in the big wreck. He now sits nine points back from ThorSport Racing No. 88 driver Matt Crafton for the 10th and final spot in the Truck Series playoffs. He will have to make that up in the final race of the regular season next week at Richmond Raceway.
Rev Racing No. 2 driver Nick Sanchez and McAnally Hilgemann Racing No. 35 driver Jake Garcia were the two trucks involved in the incident which preluded and led to the caution and restart which created the big eight truck crash. Sanchez got loose underneath Garcia and both were swept up into the wall and Garcia’s truck suffered terminal damage on impact.
Aside from the late wrecks and an early Stage 1 caution brought out by TRICON No. 15 driver Tanner Gray, the race was really clean. Gray got loose and spun in Turn 1 while running underneath Grala and Gray hit the inside wall hard and finished last out of 36 trucks.
Gray entered the race as the second driver out of the playoffs, 24 points back from Crafton. He’s now in a must-win situation entering next week. \
Tanner’s brother Taylor drives the No. 17 TRICON Toyota and recorded the best finish of his Truck Series career, placing 3rd. His previous best was a 6th-place run at Richmond. Taylor is much farther out of the playoff bubble and also will need a win to clinch a playoff spot.
Full-time NASCAR Cup Series driver Christopher Bell placed 4th in the Hattori Racing Enterprises No. 61 in his second truck appearance of the season. GMS Racing No. 23 driver Grant Enfinger scored a 5th-place finish after finishing back-to-back races outside of the top 10.
ThorSport No. 98 driver Ty Majeski clinched his playoff spot on points with a 6th place run. He is tied with his teammate Ben Rhodes with 10 top-10 finishes this season, 2nd-most in the Truck Series behind Heim who has 12. Rhodes finished 9th in the Pocono race.
Next week will be an intense race at Richmond as the Truck Series closes out its regular season with playoff spots still on the line. The WorldWide Express 250 is Saturday, July 29 at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1.