Team work made the dream work.
Kyle Busch won his ninth NASCAR Truck Series race at EchoPark Speedway (formerly: Atlanta Motor Speedway) on Saturday driving for Spire Motorsports.
The start of the race was postponed due to weather, the race itself saw some delays for additional track drying and it was ultimately called short for time in order to fit in the day’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race later in the evening. It ultimately went 125 of the 135 planned laps, but everyone got their money’s worth with the finish.
Busch and Stewart Friesen were battling it out for a few laps in replay of the finish to last year’s race until Friesen fell off the pace to leave Gio Ruggiero, Ben Rhodes, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Corey Heim and Busch’s Spire Motorsports teammate Carson Hocevar to challenge Busch for the win.
Busch took the white flag with Hocevar looking ready to pounce, but he ended up laying back to hold up Ruggiero and let Busch take the win. Afterwards, Hocevar joined Busch at the start/finish line to join into his burnout celebration.
Hocevar later said his engine was overheating and he didn’t think he could win, so he thought he’d do what’s best for the team. That’s also true for the celebration, which was a “business decision” he figured would play well on social media. Busch, who has been critical of Hocevar’s racing in the past, appreciated the help.
“Carson Hocevar was a great teammate today. Early on in the race I was like, ‘Wait a second, OK, same old Carson,’ but as we got towards the end we started working together … there at the end, he was my wingman.”
Busch is set to drive eight Truck Series races for Spire Motorsports this season thanks to a rule change this year that increased the number of Truck Series races that Cup Series drivers can enter.
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