Kyle Busch wins Trucks race at Kansas

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Kyle Busch picked up right where he left off in the Truck Series at Kansas Speedway.

Only three years had passed.

Busch hopped into the No. 51 Toyota of his own Kyle Busch Motorsports and roared to the front early Friday night, winning the first two stages before taking advantage of leader Ben Rhodes's engine trouble in the closing laps to take the checkered flag.

It was Busch's fifth victory in his last 10 starts in the series going back to 2015, and came after a victory at Kansas in May 2014 — the last time he drove a truck at the venue.

"It was really fast out there," said Busch, who will try to defend his Cup Series win at Kansas on Saturday night. "We tried to pick and choose whether we wanted to be fast in a straight line or have better handling, and we chose more downforce and it worked out for us."

Rhodes, who crashed jockeying for the lead on the final lap a year ago, opened a big lead on Busch during the final stage when the Cup Series regular ran into lapped traffic. But when a puff of white smoke came out of his truck with seven laps left, Rhodes had to pull down pit lane.

MORE FROM KANSAS:

NASCAR says no when driver shows up with pot sponsor at Kansas Speedway

Failed inspections dominate Cup qualifying at Kansas

Kyle Busch heads to Kansas with new sense of optimism

Clint Bowyer hopes to end dubious NASCAR streak at his home track in Kansas

Still in search of his first win, Rhodes slammed his steering wheel in frustration.

"We ran with the best tonight," said Rhodes, who blamed a piece of debris that went through his radiator for the engine blowing up. "We did everything right but Ben Rhodes has a curse on his back or something because something always goes wrong.

"If I don't make it in this game it won't be from lack of effort. It'll be from bad luck."

Busch, who won the spring Cup race a year ago, cruised the final few laps to win once again at the track that once game him so much trouble. He stopped at the start-finish line and got the checkered flag tossed down to him, then paraded briefly along the front stretch.

Johnny Sauter avoided trouble all night to finish second and John Hunter Nemecheck was third, while Busch's teammate, Christopher Bell, rallied from a badly timed caution to finish fourth. Chase Briscoe rounded out the top five for Brad Keselowski Racing.

The win was the 47th for Busch in the Truck Series, leaving him four back of the record set by Ron Hornaday, and one he thought belonged to Rhodes in the final laps.

"That's one of the worst ones to swallow right there," Busch said. "Ben had that race won. That one was his. I was trying everything I could to chase him back down, but I just didn't have enough speed. He was just a little bit faster."

YELLOW COLORS STAGE 1: There were five caution flags during the first 40-lap stage, including one that came out when Wendell Chavous hit the wall hard coming out of the fourth turn. All the yellows turned the stage into a six-lap sprint with Busch, who started 10th, quickly taking theead.

Bell chased him to the line in second and Sauter was third.

BELL, BUSCH DOMINATE STAGE 2: The series points leader, Bell continued to jockey with Busch throughout the second stage with Rhodes giving chase. Busch moved to the front during a long green-flag run to sweep the intermediate stages with Bell and Rhodes finishing second and third.

*****

FULL RESULTS: Toyota Tundra 250

1. (10) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 167.
2. (3) Johnny Sauter, Chevrolet, 167.
3. (14) John H. Nemechek, Chevrolet, 167.
4. (1) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 167.
5. (11) Chase Briscoe, Ford, 167.
6. (5) Ryan Truex, Toyota, 167.
7. (7) Brett Moffitt, Toyota, 167.
8. (6) Kaz Grala, Chevrolet, 167.
9. (12) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 167.
10. (16) Austin Cindric, Ford, 167.
11. (15) Grant Enfinger, Toyota, 167.
12. (18) Regan Smith, Ford, 167.
13. (9) Timothy Peters, Toyota, 167.
14. (19) Tyler Young, Chevrolet, 167.
15. (21) Austin Self, Chevrolet, 166.
16. (2) Matt Crafton, Toyota, 166.
17. (25) Matt Mills, Chevrolet, 165.
18. (20) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 164.
19. (24) Jordan Anderson, Chevrolet, 163.
20. (30) Spencer Boyd, Chevrolet, 163.
21. (23) Kevin Donahue, Chevrolet, 163.
22. (32) Cody Ware, Chevrolet, 162.
23. (8) Ben Rhodes, Toyota, Engine, 160.
24. (27) Norm Benning, Chevrolet, 160.
25. (17) Travis Miller, Chevrolet, Vibration, 109.
26. (13) Cody Coughlin, Toyota, Transmission, 84.
27. (28) Jennifer Cobb, Chevrolet, Brakes, 82.
28. (4) Noah Gragson, Toyota, Clutch, 68.
29. (31) Todd Peck, Chevrolet, Brakes, 29.
30. (26) Camden Murphy, Chevrolet, Electrical, 27.
31. (29) Wendell Chavous, Chevrolet, Accident, 21.
32. (22) Stewart Friesen, Chevrolet, Accident, 16.

RACE STATISTICS:

Average speed of winner: 108.468 mph.
Time of race: 2 hours, 18 minutes, 34 seconds
Margin of victory: 2.622 seconds.
Caution flags: 11 for 46 laps.
Lead changes: 15 among 4 drivers.

Lap leaders: C. Bell 1-22; K. Busch 23-42; C. Bell 43; G. Enfinger 44-57; C. Bell 58-70; K. Busch 71-82; C. Bell 83; K. Busch 84-87; B. Rhodes 88-90; K. Busch 91-93; B. Rhodes 94; K. Busch 95-125; B. Rhodes 126-128; K. Busch 129-141; B. Rhodes 142-159; K. Busch 160-167.

Leaders summary (driver, times lead, laps led): K. Busch 7 times for 91 laps; C. Bell 4 times for 37 laps; B. Rhodes 4 times for 25 laps; G. Enfinger 1 time for 14 laps.