Written by Greg Atkins
RIDGEWAY, V.A. –– On the eve of his 1000th career NASCAR national series start, Kyle Busch emerged victorious in the TruNorth Global 250 at Martinsville Speedway on Saturday afternoon. The win is Busch’s 54th in NASCAR Gander Outdoors Trucks Series competition. Busch was unquestionably the class of the field as he led 174 laps en route to his second career truck victory at the half-mile paperclip-shaped oval.
After the race, Busch said, “We had a pretty good truck, everything we did to improve on it yesterday was beneficial. We [made] good, smart changes overnight.”
Busch’s fiercest competitor throughout the middle stages of the race was Ross Chastain. Chastain led 53 laps and, arguably, had a better short-run truck than Busch. Chastain won Stage 2 and maintained the track position throughout the remainder of the race to bring home a fourth-place finish.
Ben Rhodes was fairly quiet but tremendously steady throughout the afternoon. He methodically drove through the field and implementing excellent strategy to earn a second place finish in Stage2. Rhodes backed up his Stage 2 performance and ran well throughout the final stage to finish in the runner-up position.
Stewart Friesen piloted his No. 52 Halmar International Chevrolet to the top of the speed charts in qualifying early Saturday morning for his third career pole. Friesen and Busch had a spirited side-by-side battle for the lead for the first eight laps until Busch ultimately cleared the No. 52 Chevrolet and drove away. Friesen finished second in Stage 1 and fourth in Stage 2 before bringing home a solid fifth-place finish.
Johnny Sauter showed considerable speed early in the going and drove from his eighth-place starting spot up to second before ultimately finishing third in stage 1. He fell back during Stage 2 after a lengthy pit stop before rebounding to make his way into the top five during the final stage. Ultimately, a tire issue took him out of contention for the win and relegated him to a ninth-place result.
All in all, much in the same fashion as the previous two truck races he entered this year, Kyle Busch was the man to beat and successfully backed that claim up. Today was no exception and he’ll look to complete his second weekend sweep of the season in the STP 500 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Race.
(Image Credit: Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images)
