Kyle Busch looks to keep on Truckin' at Martinsville

He’s not alone. Bubba Wallace makes his truck return at Martinsville for the first time since winning consecutive fall races in 2013 and 2014. He leads all active drivers at Martinsville with an average qualifying effort of 1.8 and an average finish of 2.2. Also running double duty are Cup regulars Austin Dillon and Ross Chastain—both looking for their first wins at the paper clip. They’ll be among the 41 drivers vying for 32 starting spots. 

 

But Busch is batting .1000 in Truck Series competition this season. After winning races at Atlanta and Las Vegas, he’s looking to make it three-straight at the half-mile track. In Busch’s ninth and last attempt in a truck at Martinsville in 2016, he finally won his first grandfather clock. 

 

After reaching last week's milestone of 200 wins across NASCAR's top three tours, Busch will be racing for 201 come Saturday.

 

"We'll go out on Saturday at Martinsville and try to keep all the momentum we have going across all three series this year and try to knock 201 out of the way our first time out," Busch said. "We're two for two this year in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series with our No. 51 Cessna team led by Rudy Fugle and looking to make it three for three this weekend.

 

There are plenty of truck regulars that would relish the honor of stopping NASCAR’s winningest active driver. Here are five truckers that could give Busch a run for his money on Saturday:

 

1) Johnny Sauter—Sauter’s four wins, 579 laps led and average start of 9.1 top current truckers at the paper clip. His last Martinsville victory came in the fall, his second in the last five truck races at the track. Sauter beat Busch by nearly half of a second in the 2011 race and finished second to him in 2016. After three seasons with GMS, Sauter has returned to ThorSport Racing behind the wheel of the No. 13 Ford with crew chief Joe Shear Jr. He finished second to Busch at Atlanta this season and eighth at Las Vegas. He’s currently sixth in the standings.

 

2) Matt Crafton—Crafton has two wins, one pole, nine top fives and 19 top 10s at Martinsville. He has finished on the lead lap in 30 of 34 starts and has led the third most laps among active truck drivers. In his first three starts this season, Crafton has two top-five finishes. His average finish of 7.3 is second only to his Thorsport teammate Grant Enfinger.

 

3) Brett Moffitt—Defending truck champion, Brett Moffitt, has just three starts at Martinsville but holds the best average finish on the tour—3.7. His current crew chief, Jerry Baxter, was atop the pit box with Bubba Wallace for his two wins at the track. Since moving to GMS Racing at the start of the season, Moffitt has posted two top-five finishes in his first three starts. The Maury Gallagher-owned team has three victories at the half-mile track.

 

4) Grant Enfinger—The current truck points leader cut his teeth on short tracks. His career-best  Martinsville finish—fourth—came in this race last year. Enfinger has completed every lap on the half-mile track. He has two top-five finishes in the first three truck races of 2019. Enfinger barely lost the season opener at Daytona by .278-seconds to Austin Hill.

 

5) Ben Rhodes—After starting from the pole and winning the first two stages in this race last year, Rhodes led an event-high 134 laps before tire troubles dropped him to the middle of the pack. However, Rhodes came back in the fall to finish a career-high fourth. Matt Noyce is currently overseeing the No. 99 truck—Rhodes' third crew chief in four years. He’s currently, seventh in the truck standings with a season-best result of fifth at  Atlanta Motor Speedway.