Kyle Busch, Toyota Dominate California Truck Race

[PressRoom-GFN]

By Deb Williams

FONTANA, Calif. (Feb. 23, 2008) – Toyota dominated Saturday's San Bernardino County 200 with Kyle Busch leading three times for 51 laps, including the final 11, to claim a 1.415-second victory over Todd Bodine at Auto Club Speedway.

In gaining its second straight victory this season in NASCAR's Craftsman Truck Series, Toyota swept the first four positions and took seven of the top 10.

For Busch, it was his seventh truck series win, his first this season, and it came in his inaugural truck race at the 2-mile Southern California track. Saturday's victory ties Busch with Mark Martin for the most wins in the series by an active NASCAR Sprint Cup driver. It also means he has produced at least one truck victory in four consecutive seasons.

“This win probably means the absolute most because here, in 2001 in November, I got kicked out of this race track and I wasn't able to run in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series,” said Busch, who averaged 146.341 mph in the race that was slowed by three caution flags for nine laps. “I probably could have sat on the pole and won the race that weekend, too. This is pretty bittersweet.”

Busch, who was 16 in November 2001, was the victim of the federal government's settlement with a tobacco company. Marlboro was the sponsor of the CART race that was scheduled for two days after the Craftsman Truck Series event, and company officials said they didn't believe a 16 year old was allowed to participate in an event in which it was involved. Marlboro didn't have commercial ties to the truck race, but its signage was at the track. Under the Master Settlement Agreement, no one under 18 was allowed to drive in a Winston Cup race, but 16 was the minimum age for the truck and the Busch Series events. Busch, who had led practice, was pulled from his Roush Racing truck and replaced by Tim Woods.

Saturday, however, Busch said he had an “awesome” truck.

“We had to do our switch this winter [from Chevrolet to Toyota],” Busch said. “It was pretty tough, but the guys made it and gave me some awesome trucks. We had a great one in Daytona [where Busch finished second] and another great one here today. I can't wait to get to Atlanta.”

Despite 10 lead changes among eight drivers, Saturday's 100-lap race was basically a duel between Busch and Bodine, who together led a total of 76 laps.

“During the winter we put our heads together and tried to figure out where we missed it last year; what things we could improve on,” said Bodine, who led twice for 25 laps and has now finished first and second in the season's first two races. “I think we've got a pretty good handle on it. I'm not going to say it's perfect, but we've got a good handle on it.

“The truck was really good and the clouds came over, and it got tight. That played right into Kyle's hands. He was a little too free, so he got a lot better; came up and passed us before our pit stop. We freed it up a little bit on the pit stop, but we also put scuffed tires on. The combination of the two, I was really too loose at the end. I could run times faster than Kyle, but I would slip a little bit and he would pull back away, so it was kind of an even match. But the truck ran great.”

Rounding out the top five, respectively, were Johnny Benson and Terry Cook, both in Toyotas, and series champion Ron Hornaday in a Chevrolet. For Benson, it was his second straight third-place finish.

“We've had to come from the back two weeks in a row and that's made it pretty tough,” Benson said. “But all-in-all, the week has been pretty good for us. With our pit deal, I thought we would be in good shape, then I was too loose, then I got tight; I just wasn't as good as I needed to be. But to come from the back, I can't complain.”

Cook's fourth-place finish was a career best for him at the speedway that opened in 1997.

“I'm very, very pleased,” said Cook, who noted his truck was stout from the time it was unloaded. “We were a little bit off on the short run. It's very hard to pass here. Everyone is trying to run this place virtually wide open and you have to lift a little bit, so it's hard to pass. But once we got spread out, I seemed able to knock off some good lap times, run down the field and get where we needed to be. So I'm very, very happy.”

Colin Braun was the top rookie, placing a career-best ninth in a Ford. It also was the first top-10 finish by a rookie at the track since Todd Kluever accomplished the feat in 2004 when he placed fourth.

“We had a pretty quick truck,” Braun said. “It was just tough in traffic. When you got behind somebody, we’d get real tight. Once we kind of got in some clean air we did some pretty quick lap times, kind of catch the next pack. We struggled a little bit to get through the pack and that’s just my lack of inexperience.

“The last couple of laps with the 22 truck [rookie Phillip McGilton] were a lot of fun. I didn’t think I was going to get him there, and then right at the end he got a little bit tight, it looked like up in turn 4, and we got up under him and got by him. It was a lot of fun there the last couple of laps.”

The truck series now takes a weekend off before heading to Atlanta for the March 7 race.

###