Toyota & Kyle Busch grabs another win
The scheduled 200-lap race was extended three laps after Erik Darnell spun off of Turn 2 on Lap 199 to bring out the last of a record 12 cautions and set up a green-white-checker finish. Busch’s No. 51 Toyota struggled with vapor locking under previous restarts, but his final and most important restart on Lap 201 was flawless and he easily beat Todd Bodine.
“The last restart, it did it coming to the white (flag). Fortunately we were able to get it there," Busch said of the vapor locking issues. His ninth series win was the first on a short track bettering a pair of fifths.
Busch led 145 laps and now has won in all three series – Sprint Cup, Nationwide and NCTS – at the .533-mile track. Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle previously captured Bristol's national series "hat trick."
Johnny Benson, who was trying to become the first driver to win four consecutive truck races, finished fourth behind polesitter Scott Speed. Rick Crawford was fifth.
T.J. Bell, Mike Skinner, Dennis Setzer, David Stremme and Ted Musgrave rounded out the top 10.
Two-time and reigning Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson made his truck debut and led for a bit before ending the night in the garage. During a caution, Johnson stayed out and inherited the lead on Lap 42. He led 29 laps before Busch, with fresher tires, drove by on the inside of Johnson’s Randy Moss Motorsports Chevrolet to reclaim the lead.
Johnson’s night ended on Lap 102 when he lost control of his truck, spinning in the middle of the track. Jeff Green, with nowhere to go, slammed Johnson’s parked Chevrolet. Johnson finished 34th.
The night also had a red flag that stopped the race for 10 minutes, 30 seconds. On Lap 177, Shelby Howard and Bryan Silas got together in Turn 2, blocking the track. Kevin Harvick Inc. teammates Jack Sprague and Ron Hornaday Jr. were collected when Sprague got into the rear of Hornaday as both cars tried to avoid the accident.
Hornaday remained second in the points standings behind Benson, but his 24th-place finish dropped him from 45 points back to 119 with nine races left in the season.
Results
|
FIN |
ST | CAR | DRIVER | MAKE | SPONSOR | LAPS | STATUS |
| 1 | 3 | 51 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | Miccosukee Resort & Gaming / NOS Energy Drink | 203 | Running |
| 2 | 4 | 30 | Todd Bodine | Toyota | Lumber Liquidators | 203 | Running |
| 3 | 1 | 22 | Scott Speed * | Toyota | Red Bull | 203 | Running |
| 4 | 2 | 23 | Johnny Benson | Toyota | Exide Batteries | 203 | Running |
| 5 | 24 | 14 | Rick Crawford | Ford | Circle Bar Truck Corral / Power Stroke Diesel | 203 | Running |
| 6 | 10 | 7 | T.J. Bell | Chevrolet | Heathcliff's Cat Litter "Home 4 the Holidays.org" | 203 | Running |
| 7 | 14 | 5 | Mike Skinner | Toyota | Toyota Tundra | 203 | Running |
| 8 | 8 | 18 | Dennis Setzer | Dodge | Tahoe Smokeless | 203 | Running |
| 9 | 30 | 15 | David Stremme | Toyota | Ergon Hyprene | 203 | Running |
| 10 | 28 | 59 | Ted Musgrave | Toyota | Team ASE / Harris Trucking | 203 | Running |
| 11 | 31 | 8 | Chad McCumbee | Chevrolet | Malcolmson Construction | 203 | Running |
| 12 | 15 | 71 | Donny Lia * | Chevrolet | NationRides.com | 203 | Running |
| 13 | 16 | 10 | Brendan Gaughan | Ford | International Maxx Force Diesel | 203 | Running |
| 14 | 12 | 2 | Jack Sprague | Chevrolet | American Commercial Lines | 203 | Running |
| 15 | 23 | 99 | Erik Darnell | Ford | Northern Tool + Equipment | 203 | Running |
| 16 | 34 | 21 | Jon Wood | Ford | The Barnhill Group | 203 | Running |
| 17 | 26 | 07 | Sean Murphy | Chevrolet | ASI Limited | 203 | Running |
| 18 | 21 | 08 | Jason White | Dodge | Gunbroker.com | 202 | Running |
| 19 | 22 | 16 | Brian Scott * | Chevrolet | Albertson's | 200 | Running |
| 20 | 36 | 187 | Chris Jones | Chevrolet | Copy Wizard | 199 | Running |
| 21 | 29 | 88 | Matt Crafton | Chevrolet | Ideal Door / Menards | 198 | Running |
| 22 | 5 | 9 | Justin Marks * | Toyota | Crocs | 189 | Running |
| 23 | 17 | 60 | Terry Cook | Toyota | wyler.com | 186 | Running |
| 24 | 6 | 33 | Ron Hornaday | Chevrolet | Camping World/ RVs.com | 183 | Running |
| 25 | 25 | 104 | Patrick Carpentier | Dodge | Tow Truck in a Box / SMS Equipment / Komatsu | 180 | Running |
| 26 | 13 | 13 | Shelby Howard | Chevrolet | FarmPaint.com | 176 | Running |
| 27 | 32 | 40 | Jeff Green | Chevrolet | Key Motorsports | 169 | Running |
| 28 | 35 | 148 | Bryan Silas | Chevrolet | RockinghamSpeedway.com | 165 | Running |
| 29 | 20 | 11 | David Starr | Toyota | Red Horse Racing | 141 | Running |
| 30 | 7 | 117 | Timothy Peters | Dodge | Dickey's Barbeque Pit | 123 | Running |
| 31 | 19 | 4 | Stacy Compton | Dodge | CGJohnsonCity.com | 123 | Running |
| 32 | 11 | 6 | Colin Braun * | Ford | Con-way Freight | 107 | Running |
| 33 | 27 | 52 | Ken Schrader | Toyota | Federated Auto Parts | 106 | Running |
| 34 | 9 | 81 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | Lowe's / Kobalt Tools | 101 | Running |
| 35 | 18 | 09 | John Wes Townley | Ford | Zaxby's | 78 | Running |
| 36 | 33 | 41 | Tayler Malsam | Dodge | ThunderBoats.org | 53 | Running |