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NASCAR Camping World Trucks Series
TRUCKS: Busch On Another Stellar Run
Kyle Busch won his fourth NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race of the year Friday night...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted August 29, 2009   Charlotte, NC
Busch's win Friday night was his fourth NASCAR Camping World Truck series win this season, and second consecutive following his victory nine days ago at Bristol Motor Speedway. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

In a season of streaks, Kyle Busch has once again found his form, and that’s always something his competitors dread, no matter what NASCAR series he’s racing in.

Busch won his fourth Truck Series race of the year and second in a row Friday night, passing Todd Bodine with 19 laps to go to capture the EnjoyIllinois.com 225 at Chicagoland Speedway. All told, Busch’s No. 51 Miccosukee Resorts Toyota Tundra led the race four times for 79 laps, as he clearly had the measure of the field. Colin Braun was third, followed by Rick Crawford and Johnny Sauter.

For the season, Busch now has 14 race victories in NASCAR’s top three divisions — four each in the Sprint Cup and Truck Series and six in the Nationwide Series, where he leads the points by a whopping 248 over Carl Edwards. He also still has a chance to best his own record of 21 NASCAR victories in a single season, which he set last year.

And in the last two weeks, Busch has been positively on fire. He won the Truck Series race at Bristol, was leading the Nationwide race when he was crashed out by the lapped car of Chase Austin and won the Bristol Cup race. Whatever problems he had earlier in the season seem to be a thing of the past.

Friday night’s victory also made Chicagoland Speedway the fifth track where Busch has won in all three of NASCAR’s top series. “It’s definitely an accomplishment,” said Busch. “I love being able to win races in anything, anywhere — and I don’t know if this is my fifth venue, or what that I’ve done it at. I’ve got Phoenix done. I’ve got California done. There are five — I can’t name them all. But, I’m trying for more. So, hopefully we can get some more in there. I‘d love to be able to get a sweep at every place that I’ve been to — time will tell that — hopefully down the road.”

Winning at Chicago was especially sweet for Busch, a Las Vegas native whose family hails from Illinois.

“It’s cool to win here in Chicago,” he said. “My parents are from just outside (Chicago) in the suburbs. They grew up around this area. My girlfriend is from around here — just across the border in Indiana. So, it’s really cool to sort of come to this second home in the Midwest and win in front of all the family and friends here.”

Busch’s triumph came in a new truck for owner Billy Ballew, who has managed to put together a powerhouse team with a fraction of the resources that some NASCAR teams have. Busch’s victory kept the No. 51 Toyota second in Truck Series owner points, 152 back of Ron Hornaday Jr.

Speaking of Hornaday, he struggled on the night, finishing 11th. It was just the third time in 16 races this season that the three-time Truck Series champion finished outside the top 10. Even so, he stretched his driver points lead to 220 over Matt Crafton, who finished 14th. Barring a nightmare scenario, Hornaday is clearly headed to his record fourth Truck Series championship.

But at Chicagoland Speedway, the night belonged to Busch.

“We had a strong truck,” he said. “We just had to make sure we kept the right tires on it and kept the right adjustments in it and got the thing up towards the front there. So, real proud of the way the thing drove out front. It was a little loose in traffic, but fortunately we were able to make it through the traffic okay.”

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. He is the author of ?Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED,? and has appeared on television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association. Jensen is the 1997 National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year and has won numerous national and state awards for news reporting, columns and feature writing. The Answer Man is back at SPEEDtv.com. Tom Jensen answers your questions during every race week and looks forward to hearing from you - please e-mail it to



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