Busch Dominates Camping World Truck Series Race At Fontana

 

Kyle Busch didn’t need any last-lap heroics this time. The NASCAR star simply stayed out front in Saturday’s truck race.

Busch led 95 of 100 laps in capturing his second straight win on the 2-mile Auto Club Speedway oval. It was his 10th series victory.

Last week at Daytona, Busch failed to make late-race passes pay off at the Camping World Truck Series and Nationwide races, but there was nothing to be disappointed about Saturday.

“It was just flawless,” Busch said of his Toyota truck. “This one’s for Doug George. It’s his first win as crew chief. It’s a lot of these guys first win, as a matter of fact.”

Busch, scheduled to race again later Saturday in the Nationwide race, finished second to Todd Bodine in the Daytona truck race after trying unsuccessfully to bump his way past the leader on the final lap. He tried the same move on Tony Stewart in the Nationwide event, and wound up fourth after Stewart fended off the move and broke Busch’s momentum.

But the 23-year-old Busch, who had 21 overall victories last year—three in trucks, 10 in Nationwide and eight in Cup—was just too strong at the Southern California track.

Bodine stayed with him for a while, but eventually slipped out of contention, finishing more than 9 seconds—more than the distance of the front straightaway—behind.

“It’s a little disappointing to have a Tundra that’s that good and finish second,” Bodine said. “That tells you how good Kyle was.

“As the tires got hot and slick, he just was able to get through the corners a little better, and that was probably the difference,” added Bodine, who had won two straight races, including last year’s finale at Homestead.

The former series champion, driving for Germain Racing, is going race-to-race without sponsorship.

“I guess we’ll be going to Atlanta (for the next race),” he said. “Hopefully, somebody’s out there watching, paying attention. A first and a second so far, that’s pretty good.”

Chad McCumbee finished second, followed by David Starr, T.J. Bell, Ron Hornaday Jr., Matt Crafton and former bike racing star Ricky Carmichael, the top finishing rookie.

Defending series champion Johnny Benson was never in contention and finished 12th.

  2009 San Bernardino County 200 Final Results

Finish	Start	Truck #	Driver	Make	Lap	Points
1	1	51	Kyle Busch	Toyota	100	195
2	7	30	Todd Bodine	Toyota	100	170
3	12	07	Chad McCumbee	Chevrolet	100	170
4	19	24	David Starr	Toyota	100	160
5	21	11	T J Bell	Toyota	100	155
6	4	33	Ron Hornaday	Chevrolet	100	150
7	8	88	Matt Crafton	Chevrolet	100	146
8	3	4	Ricky Carmichael	Chevrolet	100	142
9	20	17	Timothy Peters	Toyota	100	138
10	10	9	Max Papis	Toyota	100	134
11	5	5	Mike Skinner	Toyota	100	130
12	2	1	Johnny Benson	Toyota	100	127
13	16	10	James Buescher	Ford	100	124
14	9	14	Rick Crawford	Ford	99	121
15	17	60	Stacy Compton	Toyota	99	118
16	25	15	Shane Sieg	Toyota	99	115
17	18	13	Johnny Sauter	Chevrolet	99	112
18	14	40	Mike Bliss	Chevrolet	99	109
19	23	90	Gabi Dicarlo	Toyota	99	106
20	6	6	Colin Braun	Ford	99	108
21	31	61	Brett Thompson	Dodge	98	100
22	22	7	J R Fitzpatrick	Chevrolet	98	97
23	24	32	Chase Austin	Chevrolet	97	94
24	11	81	Tayler Malsam	Toyota	97	91
25	15	25	Terry Cook	Toyota	91	88
26	27	48	Dennis Setzer	Chevrolet	40	85
27	29	23	Jason White	Dodge	34	82
28	36	57	Norm Benning	Chevrolet	31	79
29	13	16	Brian Scott	Toyota	26	76
30	32	21	Marc Mitchell	Dodge	20	73
31	33	08	Butch Miller	Chevrolet	13	70
32	35	47	Brandon Knupp	Chevrolet	10	67
33	28	06	Johnny Chapman	Toyota	9	64
34	34	22	Wayne Edwards	Dodge	6	61
35	26	77	J C Stout	Toyota	4	58
36	30	44	Lance Hooper	Chevrolet	2	55

Average Speed: 145.821 MPH
Time of Race: 01 Hrs, 22 Mins, 23 Secs.
Margin of Victory: 9.023 Seconds

Lead Changes: 4 among 3 drivers Cautions: 2 for 8 laps
Attendance: 10,000

Bodine Captures Truck Victory At Daytona

Todd Bodine held off Kyle Busch to win the opening NASCAR truck race of the season at Daytona International Speedway on Friday.

Todd Bodine Celebrates In Victory Lane At Daytona

Bodine became the first repeat winner in the event’s 10-year history, fending off a pair of last-lap moves by Busch to take the 250-mile race by a few lengths. The victory was the fourth straight win by Bodine’s No. 30 Toyota in a restrictor-plate race.

Busch, who won three truck races while running a part-time schedule last year, tried to dip below Bodine on the final lap but couldn’t find any room to squeeze past.

Defending series champion Johnny Benson finished 26th after getting caught in a nine-truck pileup about halfway through. Ron Hornaday, a close second to Benson in the points race last year, was fifth.

Bodine came to Daytona hoping a good showing would help his financially strapped team. He celebrated afterward by shouting to his team: “we’re going to California” for the series’ next event on Feb. 21.

The race looked familiar to Busch, who tried—and failed—to slip past Bodine on the final lap in the same race a year ago.

“I guess I’m just an idiot on those last-lap passes,” Busch said. “I just can’t seem to time it right.”

Busch’s best chance came entering turn three. He got all the way to Bodine’s rear bumper in an effort to bump Bodine out of the way. All it did was give Bodine the boost he needed to win.

The crash-filled race featured six cautions for 30 laps and left nearly half the field watching the end from the garage.

The worst came near the race’s midway point when rookie James Buescher was challenging Hornaday for the lead heading into turn one.

Buescher—who won the ARCA race last Saturday—was trying to go wide when he seemed to get nudged from the side. The massive pileup that followed ended the nights of nine trucks, including Benson and former Motocross star Ricky Carmichael, who was making his truck debut for team owner Kevin Harvick.

“I thought I was in good shape and then (Carmichael) kind of came out of nowhere,” Benson said. “There was nothing I could do.”

KHI Driver Ricky Carmichael Limps Back To The Garage

Brent Raymer survived a nasty double-hit late in the race in which he smacked into the outside wall twice. He was awake and alert but remained in the track’s infield care center following the race for observation.

No Daytona winner has gone on to win the Trucks championship, with the best season finish thirds by Bodine last year and Joe Ruttman in 2001.

Bodine would love to break the streak, if he can finish the season. The future is a bit brighter after his win, but it came after the veteran became the first driver of the year to break one of the circuit’s new rules. Bodine was sent to the pits for a pass-through penalty after dipping below the double-yellow line to make a pass.

No matter. He quickly worked his way back through the field and took over late to collect his 16th career victory.

2009 NextERA Energy Resources 250 Results

Pos	Driver	Truck #	Make	St.	Laps	Led	Points
1	Todd Bodine	30	Toyota	3	100	25	195
2	Kyle Busch	51	Toyota	19	100	18	175
3	Terry Cook	25	Toyota	7	100	0	165
4	J.R. Fitzpatrick	7	Chevrolet	14	100	17	165
5	Ron Hornaday Jr.	33	Chevrolet	4	100	8	160
6	Timothy Peters	17	Toyota	18	100	0	150
7	Mike Skinner	5	Toyota	5	100	4	151
8	Matt Crafton	88	Chevrolet	2	100	1	147
9	Colin Braun	6	Ford	1	100	15	143
10	Tayler Malsam	81	Toyota	11	100	0	134
11	T.J. Bell Jr.	11	Toyota	17	100	0	130
12	Brian Scott	16	Toyota	12	100	4	132
13	Chase Austin	32	Chevrolet	22	100	0	124
14	Stacy Compton	60	Toyota	10	100	0	121
15	Shane Sieg	15	Toyota	16	100	0	118
16	Bryan Silas	48	Chevrolet	30	100	1	120
17	David Starr	24	Toyota	26	100	0	112
18	Dennis Setzer	21	Dodge	32	100	0	109
19	Chad McCumbee	07	Chevrolet	24	98	0	106
20	Larry Foyt	74	Dodge	34	85	0	103
21	Rick Crawford	14	Ford	15	79	0	100
22	Jason White	23	Dodge	8	79	0	97
23	Brent Raymer	85	Ford	20	67	3	99
24	Ricky Carmichael	4	Chevrolet	6	48	0	91
25	James Buescher	10	Ford	13	47	0	88
26	Johnny Benson	1	Toyota	21	47	1	90
27	Johnny Sauter	13	Chevrolet	9	47	3	87
28	Justin Hobgood	53	Chevrolet	28	47	0	79
29	Mario Gosselin	12	Chevrolet	31	14	0	76
30	Butch Miller	08	Chevrolet	35	13	0	73
31	Brandon Knupp	47	Chevrolet	25	12	0	70
32	Johnny Chapman	06	Toyota	23	9	0	67
33	Mike Bliss	40	Chevrolet	27	6	0	64
34	J.C. Stout	77	Toyota	36	2	0	61
35	Lance Hooper	44	Chevrolet	29	2	0	58
36	Wayne Edwards	22	Dodge	33	1	0	55