Kyle Busch provides both challenges and opportunities to young drivers

On Saturday at Iowa Speedway, Ryan Preece won in a Rowdy-less field. But don’t think for a moment when he raced against Busch in equal Joe Gibbs Racing equipment at New Hampshire and finished second, that he didn’t learn lessons from the master.  

In the truck race at Pocono Raceway earlier that day, Busch won the first two stages. When the third segment began, Justin Haley lost control of his truck and careened into the No. 51 Kyle Busch Motorsports Tundra. The truck was destroyed.

But at that moment, it was as if the seas parted and opportunity abounded for a field of hungry young drivers looking to capitalize on a less competitive field. KBM’s Christopher Bell captured the trophy for the Overton’s 250, but the odds for the runner-ups improved dramatically with Busch on the sidelines.

“He was definitely running away with it in the beginning — opening up to a huge lead and completely breaking the draft from Bell,” said Ben Rhodes, who finished second. “He had a super-fast truck. He knows how to work the air. He was putting it to me in the first corner of the first lap. Then going into the Tunnel Turn, I was like, ‘I don’t want to be two-wide, you can have it. I’ll just see if I can follow you and learn something.’” 

Rhodes adopted that same mentality at Kansas Speedway earlier this season. He actually had a better truck than the one Busch was driving and looked to absorb all the knowledge he could while shadowing the veteran on the track.

The Toyota drivers traded the lead six times before Rhodes got out front on an 18-lap run. Then his engine failed with eight laps remaining in the race. Busch passed the No. 27 truck as Rhodes retired to the garage. 

On Saturday at Pocono, it was a different story. Busch’s early exit removed an obstacle for Rhodes.

“It was hard enough just to stay with him,” Rhodes said. “He was fast. When I saw him wipe out, I told my guys, ‘That’s unfortunate.’ He was probably the fastest Tundra here. 

“But it gives us an opportunity to win. I learn from him at the same time. So, I’m good. It gave us a chance to keep going. I’m sure he was upset. It sucks. No one wants to tear a truck up. But yeah, the thought crossed through my head.”

Ryan Truex didn’t hesitate with his reply.

“Yeah, I felt the same way,” Truex said as Rhodes laughed in unison. “But you don’t want to be the guy that wins and people say it’s because Kyle Busch wrecked. He was fast. The 4 (Bell) was fast. Like I said before, the leader, whoever got the lead, could run away with it, I felt like.” 

Truex also had the opportunity to race alongside Busch. Throughout all 30 laps in Stage 2, he ran second behind the No. 51 KBM truck. At the completion of the segment, Busch’s advantage over Truex’s No. 16 Hattori Racing Enterprises truck was .897-seconds

“The restart I had next to Kyle, I did the opposite of him,” Truex said. “I drove in the Tunnel Turn underneath him and about wrecked it. I knew once he got the lead, he would drive away so I tried my hardest to stay side-by-side with him and hoped he’d make a mistake — which he doesn’t really do. That’s the biggest thing. He’s fast, but he doesn’t really make mistakes when he’s out front and on restarts and things like that. 

The deal that happened with him was completely out of his control. He just got caught up in someone else’s mess trying to make it back through the field. I would have liked to have raced him, to beat him and to say that we beat Kyle Busch so there was no ‘but’ or ‘if’ or ‘what if this happened?’ You know that you beat the best.”