Busch trifecta begins with second-place finish

[June 07, 2008]  FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) -- Kyle Busch arrived at Texas Motor Speedway, got in his truck and started driving through the field.

Busch finished second Friday night in the Craftsman Trucks Series race, the first of a planned cross-country trifecta to become the first driver to race in all three of NASCAR's national series at three different tracks on the same weekend.

Ron Hornaday Jr. held off Busch for the final two laps after a green-white-checkered finish for his 35th career victory, his first at the 1 1/2-mile, high-banked Texas track.

On the previous restart with 11 laps to go, Busch moved from fourth to second in less than one lap, getting past Johnny Benson and Jack Sprague to get behind Hornaday. But Busch never could push in front for the lead.

Because Busch didn't drive the truck during qualifying Thursday, and also missed the drivers' meeting, he had to start at the back of the 35-truck field. He was up to 16th after only 30 laps, and was in the top 10 within 53 laps.

"We fixed it and made the most of it," Busch said of his Toyota, which he wasn't happy with all night. "It wasn't for me. We made so many adjustments to it all night. We're lucky we made it home in second. ... That's all we could do."

Busch was going for his third Craftsman Trucks victory in seven starts this season. He is the Sprint Cup points leader and is second in Nationwide points, with four victories in each of those series.

Busch arrived at the track about an hour before the start of the truck race, after a nearly three-hour flight from Pocono Raceway in Pennsylvania, where he had earlier qualified 10th for the Sprint Cup race Sunday.

Busch was headed back to Pocono late Friday night, and his itinerary said that he was scheduled to arrive at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport "really late." There will be more Cup practice Saturday before Busch goes to Nashville for the Nationwide Series race.

Asked how he felt, Busch said he wasn't tired.

"Tonight was a hot night, that's for sure," he said. "I'm not tired. No, just hot."

The final restart was set up when Scott Speed, the ARCA rookie who traveled with Busch from Pocono, slammed into the wall with two laps to go in the scheduled 167-lap race.

That set up the fifth straight green-white finish at Texas, extending the race to 172 laps. But Busch, more than a half-second behind Hornaday when the caution flag came out, couldn't take advantage of the extra restart.

"I spun my tires a little too much and wasn't able to get alongside Ron," Busch said. "When he went, I went and I went too hard, and spun the tires. So I missed out on a good run."

Hornaday led a record 140 laps and finished 0.283 seconds ahead of Busch, taking over the season points lead.

"You have no idea what was going through my mind," Hornaday said about the final restart. "I'm going for a championship ... He had nothing to lose at this race but to try to win all three races in three different starts. But that shows what kind of driver Kyle is. He raced me clean."

When Hornaday crossed the finish line, he excitedly yelled in his radio about finally winning at Texas. He had led at least 78 laps three other times, but had late-race accidents and even ran out of gas while running up front.

"Things happened and it wasn't meant to be," Hornaday said. "I wanted this race so bad. When Kyle got up there, I knew I had my hands full."

Benson was third and Sprague was fourth. Todd Bodine, a four-time winner at Texas, finished fifth. Rookie driver Justin Marks, who felt ill during the race, finished 14th.

Busch gave up most of his gained track position on the first pit stop, during a caution 34 laps into the race. As planned, there was an extended stop to make adjustments on the truck, and he restarted 28th.

After the second stop, on a caution brought out by Aric Almirola's accident on the backstretch on the 61st lap, Busch came out of the pits 10th.

In seven starts for owner Billy Ballew, Busch has five top-10 finishes.

Speed, who will run an ARCA race at Pocono on Saturday, also had to start at the back of the field a week after getting his first Craftsman Trucks victory.

On the 128th lap, Speed made contact along the frontstretch with series points leader Rick Crawford on the 128th lap when both were around the top 10.

Speed slid through the grassy infield, though somehow managed to avoid slamming into the inside pit wall. But Crawford blew a tire, then had to make almost a full lap around the track, causing serious damage to his Ford.

But Speed couldn't avoid the wall at the end.

Mike Skinner, who started on the front row at Texas for the eighth straight time, finished ninth. He still hasn't won at Texas.

[Associated Press; By STEPHEN HAWKINS]

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.