February 24, 2024 | By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service

Kyle Busch continues Truck Series mastery with win at Atlanta

HAMPTON, Ga. — When Kyle Busch sold his NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series team to Spire Motorsports, he didn’t surrender his prowess behind the wheel.

Driving the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet in his first start of 2024, Busch inherited the lead from Grant Enfinger on Lap 129 of 135 and held off Ty Majeski and Corey Heim over the final five laps to win his seventh race at Atlanta Motor Speedway and the 65th of his career, extending his own series record.

Enfinger was out front for 21 consecutive laps before one of his tires began losing pressure, forcing him to the pits after Busch, Majeski, Heim, Taylor Gray and Nick Sanchez, last week’s winner at Daytona, sped past.

Busch crossed the finish line 0.187 seconds ahead of Majeski, who edged Heim for the runner-up position by 0.009 seconds. Gray and Sanchez came home fourth and fifth, respectively.

“I actually got a run on the 9 truck (Enfinger) down the backstretch,” Busch said of the pass for the win. “He must have been going flat down the backstretch and slowing down because it gave me—it sucked me up right to him. Then he got loose in the corner. I got loose in the corner. We all checked up trying not to crash.

“Thankfully, we didn’t. I thought that was a big moment. But then we got the lead right there, and after that, it was about trying to protect it. Majeski was a bit of a wing man today. Appreciate him—and the history we’ve had together growing up racing late models with him a lot in Wisconsin and around those parts.

“That was a lot of fun. Great to get Chevrolet to Victory Lane.”

The race was the first of five events Busch will run for Spire Motorsports this year, after selling Kyle Busch Motorsports to the organization late in the 2023 season. Busch now has 230 victories across all three of NASCAR’s national series (63 NASCAR Cup, 102 Xfinity and 65 CRAFTSMAN Truck).

Coming through the final corner Busch effectively blocked Majeski’s only potential path to victory.

“I had a run, and I got to Kyle’s bumper,” Majeski said. “I knew he was going to cover the bottom. My only shot was to try and fade right, get to his quarter panel. That was the only shot that I had.

“Overall, super proud of the day. The truck was a little ill-handling in the beginning. (Crew chief) Joe Shear made some great calls, tightened me up a little bit so we could go racing.”

Tyler Ankrum led a race-high 46 laps but got shuffled back in the bottom lane after Enfinger passed him for the top spot in Lap 108. Busch, who won Stage 2, was out front for 33 laps and Enfinger 23. Ankrum finished seventh behind Kaden Honeycutt in sixth.

Christian Eckes led 20 laps and won the first stage but suffered brake issues that prevented him from stopping in his pit box during the Stage 1 break. Eckes retired after 50 laps in 33rd place.

There were 20 lead changes among seven drivers and seven cautions for 37 laps.


NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Race Number 2
Race Results for the Fr8 208 - Saturday, February 24, 2024
Atlanta Motor Speedway - Hampton, GA - 1.54 - Mile Paved

Total Race Length - 135 Laps - 207.9 Miles

Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Saturday, 2/24/2024 @ 04:26 PM Eastern

Fin Str Trk Driver Team Laps Stage 1 Pos Stage 2 Pos Pts Status Tms Laps Playoff Pts
1 7 7 Kyle Busch(i) Group 1001 Chevrolet 135 8 1 0 Running 4 33
2 3 98 Ty Majeski Farm Paint/Curb Records Ford 135 5 7 45 Running 2 3
3 19 11 Corey Heim Safelite Toyota 135  5 40 Running  
4 31 17 Taylor Gray JBL Toyota 135  9 35 Running  
5 18 2 Nick Sanchez Gainbridge Chevrolet 135  6 37 Running  
6 25 45 Kaden Honeycutt GeorgiaGovernorsOfficeofHighwaySafety Chev 135   31 Running  
7 2 18 Tyler Ankrum LiUNA! Chevrolet 135 2 2 48 Running 7 46
8 12 71 Rajah Caruth HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 135  8 32 Running  
9 1 43 Daniel Dye Champion Container Chevrolet 135 10  29 Running  
10 23 5 Dean Thompson Thompson Pipe Group Toyota 135   27 Running 1 4
11 24 32 Bret Holmes Precision Garage Door Chevrolet 135   26 Running  
12 29 33 Lawless Alan AUTOParkit Ford 135   25 Running  
13 8 88 Matt Crafton Slim Jim/Menards Ford 135   24 Running  
14 17 25 Ty Dillon Rackley Roofing Chevrolet 135   23 Running  
15 9 77 Chase Purdy Bama Buggies Chevrolet 135   22 Running  
16 11 13 Jake Garcia Quanta Services Ford 135 7  25 Running  
17 15 1 Colby Howard Project HOPE Foundation Toyota 135   20 Running  
18 27 56 Timmy Hill Coble Enterprises/UNITS Toyota 135   19 Running  
19 22 15 Tanner Gray Dead On Tools Toyota 135  4 25 Running  
20 30 02 Mason Massey Anderson Power Services Chevrolet 135   17 Running  
21 32 22 Keith McGee More Core Ford 134   16 Running  
22 33 76 Spencer Boyd Latitude Aero Chevrolet 134   15 Running  
23 16 52 Stewart Friesen Halmar International Toyota 133   14 Running  
24 13 38 Layne Riggs # Northside Hospital Ford 133 3  21 Running  
25 26 21 Mason Maggio S I Yachts Ford 133   12 Running  
26 6 9 Grant Enfinger Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet 133 4 3 26 Running 3 23
27 28 46 Thad Moffitt # Petty's Garage Chevrolet 132   10 Running  
28 21 42 Matt Mills J.F. Electric/Utilitra Chevrolet 132   9 Running 1 6
29 14 99 Ben Rhodes Campers Inn RV Ford 130 6  13 Running  
30 10 66 Conner Jones # Cincinnati Ford 129   7 Running  
31 20 41 Bayley Currey AutoVentive/DealBadger Chevrolet 96  10 7 Damage  
32 4 91 Jack Wood Klotz Synthetics Chevrolet 57 9  7 Accident  
33 5 19 Christian Eckes NAPA Auto Care Chevrolet 50 1  14 Brakes 2 20 1

Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 51 Mins, 57 Secs. Average Speed: 111.425 MPH Margin of Victory: 0.187 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 19, 18, 38, 9, 98, 99, 13, 7, 91, 43
Stage 2 Top 10: 7, 18, 9, 15, 11, 2, 98, 71, 17, 41

Caution Flags: 7 for 37 laps; Laps: 17-21 (#22 Spin Turn 3 [None]); 32-36 (Stage 1 Conclusion [22]); 50-54 (#13, 38, 43, 46 Incident Turn 3 [22]); 60-66 (#32, 91 Incident Frontstretch / Stage 2 Conclusion [25]); 80-85 (Debris Frontstretch [25]); 95-99 (Debris Turn 4 [1]); 101-104 (Debris Frontstretch [99]).

Lead Changes: 20 among 7 drivers; D. Dye 0; T. Majeski 1; T. Ankrum 2; K. Busch(i) 3-4; T. Ankrum 5-6; K. Busch(i) 7-10; C. Eckes 11-21; T. Majeski 22-23; C. Eckes 24-32; T. Ankrum 33-42; K. Busch(i) 43-62; M. Mills 63-68; T. Ankrum 69; G. Enfinger 70; T. Ankrum 71-99; D. Thompson 100-103; T. Ankrum 104-105; G. Enfinger 106; T. Ankrum 107; G. Enfinger 108-128; K. Busch(i) 129-135.

(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series

Next Race: March 1, 2024 - Las Vegas Motor Speedway

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