Busch Holds Off Bodine For Charlotte Win

Kyle Busch grabs the checkered flag to celebrate his win in the North Carolina Education Lottery 200

Streeter Lecka/Getty Images

Polesitter Kyle Busch survived a scrape with the wall and held off Todd Bodine in a two-lap dash to the finish to win Friday night's North Carolina Education Lottery 200 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Busch, who owns the No. 18 Toyota he drove to victory, crossed the finish line 0.228 seconds ahead of Bodine to give Toyota its first truck series victory at the 1.5-mile racetrack. Ron Hornaday Jr. was third, followed by James Buescher and Elliott Sadler.

The victory was Busch's second in five starts this season, his third at Charlotte and the 18th of his career. Busch has won three straight races in NASCAR's top three touring series, having triumphed in last weekend's Nationwide and Sprint Cup events at Dover.

On Lap 40 of 134, Busch's Toyota broke loose while leading and slammed the outside wall, damaging the front splitter. Initially, Busch slowed after the contact and lost three positions but began working his way back to the front.

As luck would have it, the brush with the wall helped correct a loose handling condition.

Kyle Busch pits his No. 18 Z-Line Designs Toyota

Streeter Lecka/Getty Images

"I made it where I could drive it," Busch said. "I knocked some 'tight' into it. This team did a great job in preparing this truck to come here, and I tried to screw it up. I guess the driver owes the car owner a little something today."

On Lap 65, Bodine passed Brad Keselowski for the second spot and regained the lead when Sadler made a green-flag pit stop on Lap 67. Busch stayed out front until Lap 80, when Brent Raymer's truck blew an engine and went up in a ball of fire in the tri-oval to cause the third caution of the race.

After a lengthy pit stop to repair the right front fender on his Tundra, Busch restarted ninth on Lap 90. He gained two spots on the restart lap before Ryan Sieg blew his right front tire and slammed the Turn 3 wall to bring out the fourth yellow flag.

Eleven laps after a restart on Lap 95, Busch passed Bodine for the second position and held it until Dennis Setzer's hard contact with the Turn 2 wall slowed the field for the fifth time. With an excellent restart on Lap 118, Busch took the lead from Hornaday but ran only three green-flag laps before Donny Lia spun off Turn 2 and crashed nose-first into the inside wall on the backstretch.

Bodine leads the series standings by two points over Aric Almirola, who finished seventh.

Results

* Denotes Rookie