Backstretch Motorsports

HAMPTON, Ga. (March 7, 2009) — Running without second and third gears for a restart with eight laps left in Saturday’s American Commercial Lines 200 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Kyle Busch visited victory lane in Saturday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) race at Atlanta Motor Speedway after leading 33 of 130 laps, starting from the pole in Billy Ballew Motorsports’ No. 51 Miccosukee Tundra. It was Busch’s second-consecutive NCWTS victory of 2009, also winning at California’s Auto Club Speedway

After dropping back on the restart, Busch needed fewer than four circuits to catch and pass Todd Bodine for the lead on Lap 126 of 130. Kevin Harvick recovered from a slow final pit stop to take second from Bodine in the closing laps and dogged Busch to the finish, crossing the stripe .122 seconds behind the winner.

Driving for team owner Billy Ballew, Busch scored his second NACAR Camping World Truck Series victory of the season and the 11th of his career to retain his series points lead by 25 over Bodine, who held on to third place in Saturday’s race.

Mike Skinner ran fourth and Terry Cook fifth. Chad McCumbee, Ron Hornaday Jr., Mike Bliss, Johnny Benson and Brian Scott completed the top 10.

With third gear already non-functional, Busch lost second gear on the Lap 123 restart.

“Second’s broke, too — we’re done,” he radioed to crew chief Doug George as his Tundra fell back.

But Busch shifted immediately to fourth gear and felt it start to pull. Soon under full power, he rocketed toward the front and overtook Bodine, whose truck was too loose to put up a fight.

“I had to go all the way to fourth and limp around there,” Busch said. “It felt like an eternity to get this thing up to speed.”

“There was a restart with maybe 50 (laps) to go – that’s when third-gear broke. I went from second (gear) into third (gear) and it started grinding itself and then I went to fourth (gear) real quick. That was when third (gear) broke. On that second- to-last restart, I restarted in second (gear) and it made it through second (gear) okay and then I had to go to fourth (gear) and it just lugged and that’s when the 25 (Terry Cook) got by me and the 6 (Colin Braun) wrecked off of turn two. Then on the last restart I stepped on it to go in second (gear) again and second gear broke just as soon as I stepped on it so I had to put it in fourth (gear) and pray that there was even a fourth gear and lug it as much as we could to get it up to speed through (turns) one and two – that was when we fell back to eighth or 10th- place and drove back up through the guys.”

Busch, who had been saving fuel, took the lead by staying on the track on Lap 117, when Harvick and other contenders pitted for fuel. A slow pit stop cost Harvick dearly. He had been leading the race when NASCAR called a caution for debris in Turn 2 on Lap 114; on Lap 119, he restarted 10th.

The fifth and final caution of the race came right after that restart, when Colin Braun’s No. 6 Ford nosed hard into the inside backstretch wall, the result of a chain reaction collision that also involved Skinner and Scott.

In the final eight laps, Harvick didn’t have time to catch and pass Busch for the win.

“The thing was fast,” Harvick said, “but it doesn’t matter if you can’t do a pit stop.”

Notes: The victory was Busch’s fourth in five truck series starts at Atlanta . . . Though he’s second in the standings, Bodine said he would not race in the series’ next event (March 28 at Martinsville) unless his Germain Racing team finds a sponsor. Germain signed the growing restaurant chain, Tilted Kilt, to a one-race deal for Atlanta and hopes to extend that sponsorship to Martinsville, Bodine said.

Race Fast Facts
Atlanta Motor Speedway
American Commercial Lines 200

Race Winner: Kyle Busch
Age: 23
Team : No. 51 - Miccosukee Resort Toyota
Owner: Billy Ballew
Crew Chief: Doug George
Kyle Busch won the American Commercial Lines 200, his 11th victory in 57 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races.
This is his second victory in 2009. Busch finished second in the season-opener at Daytona and then won two in a row (Auto Club and Atlanta) ? both from the pole. Those are his only victories from the pole. This is his second straight year to win back-to-back races at Auto Club and Atlanta.
This is his fourth victory and fifth top-10 finish in five races at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Kevin Harvick (second) posted a top-10 finish in his first series reace at Atlanta Motor Speedway. It is also his first series race in 2009.
Todd Bodine (third) posted his sixth top-10 finish in nine races at Atlanta, including five top-fives.
Tayler Malsam (13th) was the highest finishing rookie.
Kyle Busch leads the point standings by 25 points over Todd Bodine.

NASCAR Race Number 3
Unofficial Race Results for the American Commercial Lines 200 - Saturday, March 7, 2009
Atlanta Motor Speedway - Hampton, GA - 1.54 Mile Paved
Total Race Length - 130 Laps - 200.2 Miles - Purse: $530,402

Leader
Fin Str Trk Driver Team Laps Pts Bns Winnings Status Times Laps Rating
1 1 51 Kyle Busch Miccosukee Resort Toyota 130 190 5 $56,300 Running 4 33 128.6
2 3 2 Kevin Harvick Charter Chevrolet 130 180 10 $25,820 Running 4 68 144.5
3 4 30 Todd Bodine Tilted Kilt Toyota 130 170 5 $27,204 Running 3 18 113.0
4 8 5 Mike Skinner Exide Batteries Toyota 130 160 $14,155 Running 99.1
5 17 25 Terry Cook Harris Trucking/Toyota Tundra Toyota 130 160 5 $16,980 Running 1 4 101.2
6 11 07 Chad McCumbee ASI Limited Chevrolet 130 150 $12,982 Running 88.4
7 5 33 Ron Hornaday Jr. VFW Chevrolet 130 151 5 $14,462 Running 1 3 113.0
8 23 40 Mike Bliss Oakland Metal Buildings Chevrolet 130 142 $10,060 Running 80.3
9 18 1 Johnny Benson Red Horse Racing Toyota 130 138 $10,930 Running 96.0
10 24 16 Brian Scott Albertsons Toyota 130 139 5 $13,482 Running 1 1 80.0
11 12 88 Matt Crafton Tide/Menards Chevrolet 130 130 $11,707 Running 110.4
12 19 11 T J Bell Jr. Red Horse Racing Toyota 130 127 $11,507 Running 90.0
13 29 81 Tayler Malsam # One Eighty Toyota 130 124 $12,407 Running 69.6
14 13 10 James Buescher # International Maxx Force Diesel Ford 130 121 $11,307 Running 71.5
15 21 17 Timothy Peters Strutmasters.com-Hayes Iron & Metals Toyota 129 118 $10,255 Running 70.5
16 2 14 Rick Crawford Circle Bar International Truck Engine Ford 129 115 $11,107 Running 70.5
17 22 24 David Starr Zachry/Toyota Tundra Toyota 128 112 $11,057 Running 62.2
18 16 13 Johnny Sauter # Fun Sand-R. Atkins-Curb Records Chevrolet 128 109 $10,932 Running 59.9
19 20 60 Stacy Compton Wyler.com/Melling Engine Parts Toyota 127 106 $10,882 Running 54.4
20 10 9 Max Papis GEICO Toyota 127 103 $11,532 Running 46.9
21 15 4 Ricky Carmichael # Monster Energy Chevrolet 126 100 $10,782 Running 61.6
22 7 7 J R Fitzpatrick # Mammoet Chevrolet 126 97 $10,732 Running 71.4
23 26 15 Shane Sieg Phoenix Construction Toyota 126 94 $10,682 Running 48.4
24 32 90 Gabi Dicarlo Great Clips Toyota 125 91 $8,355 Running 40.2
25 25 48 Bryan Silas Rockingham Speedway Chevrolet 123 88 $8,330 Running 39.7
26 9 6 Colin Braun Con-Way Freight Ford 118 90 5 $10,582 Accident 1 3 83.3
27 14 23 Jason White GunBroker.com Dodge 103 82 $8,255 Engine 56.3
28 6 8 Dennis Setzer Malcolmson Construction Chevrolet 73 79 $10,532 Accident 70.1
29 30 85 Brent Raymer # buygeorgiacabins.com Ford 44 76 $8,205 Vibration 43.0
30 36 57 Norm Benning D3Outdoor.com-Artic Cat/Shodeen Chevrolet 31 73 $8,680 Vibration 28.6
31 34 47 Brandon Knupp FT 11 Multi-Purpose Degreaser Chevrolet 27 70 $8,155 Vibration 31.0
32 31 12 Mario Gosselin James Carter, Attorney at Law Chevrolet 17 67 $8,130 Ignition 40.0
33 35 87 Chris Jones # Copy Wizard Chevrolet 15 64 $8,105 Engine 28.6
34 33 08 Butch Miller ASI Limited Chevrolet 13 61 $9,107 Brakes 36.4
35 27 21 Johnny Chapman GunBroker.com Dodge 11 58 $8,025 Rear End 34.0
36 28 72 Clay Rogers Chevrolet 10 55 $7,990 Drive 34.7
Race Comments: Before an estimated crowd of 40,000 - Kyle Busch won the American Commercial Lines 200, his 11th NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory and his second in 2009. No one dropped to the rear.
Failed to Qualify: N/A
Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 32 Mins, 16 Secs. Average Speed: 130.188 MPH Margin of Victory: 0.122 Seconds
Caution Flags: 5 for 19 laps: Laps: 30-33 (Debris [40]); 68-71 (Debris [14]); 75-78 (#4,8 accident turn 1 [10]); 115-118 (Debris [81]); 120-122 (#6 accident backstretch [10]).
Lead Changes: 15 among 7 drivers: K. Busch 0; K. Harvick 1; K. Busch 2-22; K. Harvick 23-31; C. Braun 32-34; T. Bodine 35-41; K. Harvick 42-68; R. Hornaday Jr. 69-71; T. Bodine 72-80; K. Busch 81-84; K. Harvick 85-115; K. Busch 116-118; T. Cook 119-122; B. Scott 123; T. Bodine 124-125; K. Busch 126-130.
Top 10 Driver Points: 1) Kyle Busch 560; 2) T. Bodine 535; 3) M. Skinner 441; 4) R. Hornaday Jr. 436; 5) C. McCumbee 426; 6) M. Crafton 423; 7) T. Cook 413; T. Bell Jr. 412; 9) T. Peters 406; 10) D. Starr 384
Featherlite “Most Improved Driver” Award : Terry Cook, #25 (20 Places) Keystone Light Pole Award : Kyle Busch, #51 (176.403 mph)
Mahle Clevite Engine Builder of the Race : Kyle Busch, #51 Mobil1 Command Performance Driver of the Race : Todd Bodine, #30
O’Reilly People, Service and Performance Award : Terry Cook, #25 Raybestos Rookie of the Race Award : Tayler Malsam, #81
Sunoco Diamond Performance : Kyle Busch, #51 WIX Lap Leader Award : Ron Hornday Jr., #33 (3 Laps)
Next Race: Mar. 28, 2009 - Martinsville Speedway