'Rowdy' cashes in on sixth Charlotte 200 win

Kyle Busch and the No. 51 Hiring Our Heroes/ToyotaCare Racing team had the winning combination of numbers in Friday night's N.C. Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway. The team ended the day in victory lane after being fastest in the morning practice, capturing the pole in the afternoon knockout qualifying session and leading all but four laps of the 134-lap event en route to the dominant victory. The win was the second straight NASCAR Camping World Truck race that Busch won from the pole and posted a perfect Driver Rating this season, his sixth win across nine series starts in NASCAR's third division at Charlotte and the sixth straight series win for Toyota.

"This Hiring Our Heroes ToyotaCare Tundra was awesome tonight -- just on rails," said Busch, who has visited victory lane after each of his last four Truck Series starts, including all three this season. "It was in Kansas, it was here and I think we've got something for these guys here. I just can't say enough about all these guys -- everyone at KBM (Kyle Busch Motorsports), everyone at TRD (Toyota Racing Development), Monster Energy, ADP Careers and Joe Gibbs Racing engines -- this thing was stout under the hood today. It showed in qualifying and it showed in the race. I appreciate Camping World again having them coming back and sponsoring this series pretty good for the long term. Of course the fans, good turnout here in Charlotte. It was a fun race for us. We've got the whole KBM (Kyle Busch Motorsports) team up in the grandstands tonight -- of course many of them here that work on the deal."

After rain washed out both practices schedule for Thursday evening, Busch showed that he would have the truck to beat by pacing the lone practice session on Friday. The Las Vegas native was third fastest in round one of knockout qualifying (29.805 seconds at 181.178 mph) and followed that up with the sixth fastest time in the second session (29.870 seconds at 180.783 mph) to advance into the final round. KBM's owner-driver picked up his second consecutive series pole with a lap of 29.384 seconds at 183.773 mph in the final round.

Once the green flag dropped Friday evening, the No. 51 Hiring Our Heroes/ToyotaCare Tundra picked up right where it left off in practice and qualifying. By the time the first caution of the event occurred on lap 20, Busch had opened up over a four second lead on the field. When pit road opened, crew chief Eric Phillips summoned his driver to pit road, where the over-the-wall crew administered a four-tire and fuel stop and made a trackbar adjustment.

Busch remained on point when the field was slowed for a third time for fluid on the track on lap 69. Before hitting pit road, he communicated to his crew that the previous round of adjustments were "money." This time around Phillips ordered up a four-tire and fuel stop and once again the No. 51 Tundra returned to the track at the front of the pack.

As the race continued, the only laps led by another competitor where when Joe Nemecheck inherited the lead after the stayed out during a caution on lap 88, while Busch came for a fuel-only stop. The No. 51 Tundra was able to hold serve over the final three restarts and had a sizeable lead when the race ended under caution when an accident took place on the frontstretch after the white flag had waved, ending the race per NASCAR rules.

Busch collected his 38th career Truck Series victory in 118 starts and his 132nd career win across NASCAR's top three divisions. For the second consecutive week, fellow Toyota competitor Matt Crafton finished in the runner-up position. Brad Keselowski came home third, while John Wes Townley and Timothy Peters rounded out the top-five finishers. Busch's KBM teammate, Darrell Wallace Jr., got caught up in a lap-94 wreck and finished the race with a disappointing 26th-place finish.

The fourth race of the 2014 season featured nine cautions for a total of 47 laps. There were two lead changes among two drivers. The No. 51 team maintained the lead in the Owner's point standings with its third victory of the season and currently sits seven points ahead of the No. 88 team.

Busch will be back behind the wheel of the No. 51 ToyotaCare Tundra when the Truck Series resumes action at Dover (Del.) International Speedway on May 30. Live coverage of the Lucas Oil 200 on Fox Sports 1 begins with the Truck Series Setup Show at 5:00 p.m. ET.

Kyle Busch Motorsports