Christopher Bell started on the pole and stayed out in front for the first two laps then it was trouble for the pole sitter as he got loose and blew a tire on lap 3. This put his teammate, and car owner Kyle Busch in the #51 Beechcraft Toyota out in front, while Bell went a lap down as he came to the pits.
Our first caution of the night came out on lap 9 as Austin Hill in the #02 Whitetail Heave Outfitters Ford got loose in turn 2 and spun around. However, he was able to limit the damage by avoiding all the walls and avoiding contact with the rest of the trucks on the track.
The just over 20 laps later, on lap 33 Austin Cindric in the #19 LTi Printing Ford got loose in turn 3 and spun around. He was also able to avoid all walls and truck to keep his machine intact. 7 laps later it was Kyle Busch capturing the Stage 1 victory at lap 40.
As Stage two got underway, Christopher Bell had worked his way back up to the 26th place and the first truck a lap down. As we got back to green flag racing on the restart, it was Ross Chastain in the #66 USC Gamecocks Chevrolet out in front.
On lap 50 Parker Klingerman in the #75 Food Country USA Lopez Wealth Management Toyota made a move to take his first lead of the race. That would not last long. Five laps later it was Johnny Sauter taking over the lead. Then on lap 61 another caution came out as the #99 of Brandon Jones got loose and made contact with the #33 of Kaz Grala.
The caution allowed Christopher Bell to get back on the lead lap, as he continued recovering from his early flat tire. On lap 64 they got back to green flag racing.
It wasn’t even a full 6 laps later when we saw our next caution as Kaz Grala got loose in turn two and slammed into the wall. This left just 10 laps to go in stage 2.
As things got back to green on lap 74, Bell had worked his way back up to 10th place. Matt Crafton was out in front in the #88 Fisher Nuts Menards Toyota. Then Sauter quickly passed him on the next lap. “Rowdy” Busch got back into the mix, splitting two cars on his way to the lead on lap 77. Busch would then cruise to the stage two victory, while Bell moved up to 5th.
As stage 3 got under way, out in front was Austin Cindric in the #19 LTi Printing Ford. Just earlier in the day, Cindric was at his high school graduation. The lead for Cindric did not last long, and once again it was Kyle Busch making his way back out in front on lap 90.
Shortly thereafter, on lap 93, the right front tire on Norm Bennings #6 Chevrolet went out bringing out the 7th caution of the night. The 8th caution of the night came out on lap 102 as Austin Wayne Self in the #22 AccuTech Snap Track Don’t Mess With Texas Toyota got into Regan Smith in the #92 BTS Tire and Wheel Advanced Auto Parts Ford on the front stretch. Smith immediately took his machine behind the wall.
After the restart on lap 107, Kyle Busch pulled out to a 2.1-second lead. Then with 6 laps to go, the 9th caution of the day came out with Matt Mills in the #44 SparrowRanch.org Chevrolet spinning out in turn 2. This took the huge gap away from Busch.
With three laps to go, they got back to green flag racing, and it was Kyle Busch quickly jumping back out to a lead and keeping it on the way to his 7th truck race victory at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Johnny Sauter captured the 2nd place, while Busch’s teammate Bell finished 3rd. 4th place was Ryan Truex in the #16 Sea Watch Toyota. Rounding out the top 5 was Timothy Peters in the Red Horse Racing Toyota.
