NASCAR TRUCKS: Last-lap pass gives Busch milestone win
Jul. 22—LONG POND — Nineteen times over the final 20 laps, Corey Heim repeatedly and impressively held off Kyle Busch for the lead.
But when he needed to do it one final time, he couldn't.
Busch made a daring last-lap pass of Heim to win the CRC Brakleen 150 on Saturday afternoon at Pocono Raceway.
It is the second win in five NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series starts this season for Busch and his third Trucks win at Pocono. It also is the milestone 100th victory for Kyle Busch Motorsports in the series.
"It's a monumental day. A century mark of being able to win 100 Truck races," said Busch, who is the all-time series wins leader with 64 — 48 of which have come with KBM. "Granted, we are a small team, just one that performs in the Truck Series. We ventured away once upon a time, didn't quite work out. But we found a home here in the Trucks. So it's cool to score a victory and another nice one here at Pocono."
Ironically, Heim contributed two of KBM's 100 wins last season when he drove for the organization.
"I've just got a lot of respect for Kyle," Heim said. "I raced for him for two years, and he was really good to me, and he raced me with respect today. Hard racer, he didn't wreck us to win. It just really sucks. I really thought we had it there."
Zane Smith, who started sixth, swept the first two stages but pitted during the break after Stage 2. That put Heim and Busch, who both pitted one lap before the end of the second stage, at the front of the field.
As the laps ticked down, Busch dogged Heim and tried to pass him only to have Heim thwart his efforts each time.
Finally, on the last lap, Busch dove his No. 51 Chevrolet underneath Heim's No. 11 Toyota entering Turn 2, a.k.a. the "Tunnel Turn," to make the pass and drive off to victory by 0.604 seconds.
"A great ride. This Silverado today was really, really fast," Busch said. "Just mired in traffic and I couldn't find a way to make a clean move. So I had to make a little bit of a racy one, a dicey one there at the end getting into (Turn) 2. Heim ran a great race, but we needed this 100th win to get it over with. This Silverado was just too fast to keep out of Victory Lane."
Naturally, Heim was disappointed.
"I just really didn't get the run I needed to out of the short chute out of Turn 1," Heim said. "He was really good on the straightaways and able to make a move and get everything he needed to get a run on me. He went into the Tunnel Turn and made it stick. Just unfortunate for me.
"It's gut-wrenching for sure. I work really hard on this stuff. I really thought we had it on the last lap. I had the track position, I had the momentum going into (Turn) 1 and then all of the sudden here he comes. It is what it is."
Heim, who has two victories this season, took some consolation out of extending his lead in the standings to 42 points over Smith heading into the regular-season finale next week at Richmond.
"Big-picture racing, it was a good points day for us," Heim said. "With Kyle on the last lap, we could have wrecked and that would have spoiled everything. Sometimes you have to play it smart. Unfortunate to come out with second, but in hindsight it was a good day for us."
Rookie Taylor Gray finished a season-best third. Cup Series regular Christopher Bell was fourth and Grant Enfinger rounded out the top five.
Ty Majeski, who started 34th when a flat tire curtailed his qualifying attempt Friday, finished sixth and clinched a playoff berth based on points.
"It feels good," Majeski said. "We felt like we were in good position all season from a points perspective. We just weren't getting the results. We've had the speed all season, but just haven't put the races together. Whether it's a wreck or mechanical failures we've just had a tough last six or seven races, so it feels good to get seventh last week and sixth this week. We can build on this going to the playoffs."
Tanner Gray's chances of making the Truck Series playoffs literally took a hit when he crashed on Lap 4. Gray spun in Turn 1 and slammed hard into the inside SAFER barrier.
He came into Pocono 24 points below the cutoff line to make the 10-driver playoff field. He is now 47 points back heading to Richmond.
"Just got the air taken off of me, got loose and couldn't catch it," Gray said. "I feel really bad for my guys, they brought a fast (Toyota) Tundra. I feel like we were pretty decent there to get going and get it sorted out, but honestly, I feel really stupid. I put us in a bad spot. We've got to go to Richmond and win, and it's not a place I'm very good at."
A big crash in Turn 1 on a Lap 52 restart took out several contenders and affected some playoff hopefuls. Trucks involved included Stewart Friesen, Lawless Alan, Kaz Grala, Stefan Parsons, Zane Smith, Ross Chastain, Austin Hill and Parker Kligerman. NASCAR red-flagged the race for 13 minutes, 46 seconds to clean up the crash.
Matt Crafton maneuvered his way through the wreckage. As a result, he finished 14th and is nine points ahead of Friesen for the 10th and final playoff spot.
Matt DiBenedetto, who finished 10th Saturday, is 31 points above the cutoff for the playoffs. Nick Sanchez, who started on pole and finished 19th, is 21 points above the cutoff.
Besides being involved in the Lap 52 incident, Sanchez also triggered a caution on Lap 46 when he got loose in Turn 1 and collected fellow rookie Jake Garcia, sending him into the wall and ending his day.
KYLE BUSCH MOTORSPORTS 100 TRUCK WINS
KYLE BUSCH MOTORSPORTS
100 Truck Series wins
Kyle Busch 48
Erik Jones 7
Christopher Bell 7
William Byron 7
John Hunter Nemechek 7
Bubba Wallace 5
Corey Heim 2
Denny Hamlin 2
Noah Gragson 2
Martin Truex Jr. 1
Kasey Kahne 1
Brian Scott 1
Daniel Suarez 1
Greg Biffle 1
Todd Gilliland 1
Brandon Jones 1
Raphael Lessard 1
Contact the writer: swalsh@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9100 ext. 5109; @swalshTT on Twitter
