Byron holds off Nemechek, Hemric for record Camping World Truck Series win
July 7, 2016
By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service
SPARTA,
KY. – William Byron didn’t have the fastest truck at the end of
Thursday night’s Buckle Up In Your Truck 225 at Kentucky Speedway.
But
Byron had the most important ingredient in the NASCAR Camping World
Truck Series race at the newly repaved and reconfigured 1.5-mile track.
Byron held the top spot for all
42 laps after the final restart of the event on lap 108 of 150.
It
was no cakewalk. Byron had to stave off assaults from both runner-up
John Hunter Nemechek and third-place finisher Daniel Hemric, who dogged
the race winner – and each other
– for the entire closing green-flag run.
At
the end, after surviving a last-ditch effort from Nemechek, Byron’s No.
9 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota crossed the finish line .190 seconds
ahead of Nemechek’s family-owned
No. 8 Chevrolet. Hemric was .291 seconds behind the winner at the
finish.
The
victory was the fourth in 10 starts this season for the 18-year-old
Sunoco Rookie of the Year frontrunner, and it was the 51st win for KBM,
most all-time for a NASCAR Camping
World Truck Series team.
“It’s a dream come true to get a fourth win like this,” Byron said. “I can’t thank the team enough.”
With
Christopher Bell finishing fourth, KBM grabbed two of the top four
spots, but team owner Kyle Busch had to watch the last 93 laps from the
sidelines after Spencer Gallagher
checked his Chevrolet up in front of him and triggered a wreck that
sent Busch’s Toyota spinning into the outside wall on Lap 57.
Busch
expressed frustration in the aftermath of the crash, but was more
upbeat after the race when reflecting on the meteoric rise of the team
he launched in 2010.
“This
is a special moment,” said Busch, whose drivers have won the last four
series races. “It’s been really cool. What to me makes it most special, I
think, is how we’ve done
it in such a short period of time.
“From
2010 through 2016, we’ve gotten 51 wins, and many of the teams that we
excelled ahead of have been around a lot longer than we have. That’s
pretty awesome.”
Byron felt a vibration in his truck in the closing laps but stayed on the throttle.
“It
was tough,” he acknowledged. “I honestly felt like I had a right rear
tire going down. With the new surface, it’s hard to get a tire to last
that long. I had quite the vibration
the last three or four laps.
“I
was just hoping and praying that there would be no cautions. Just a
great run for us. Our Liberty University Tundra was really good tonight,
and we were able to stay out front
that last run and that was the key.”
Though
they had faster trucks in the closing laps, Nemechek and Hemric
couldn’t focus solely on Byron because they were battling each other.
Hemric lost momentum into Turn 1
on Lap 146 when he closed quickly on Byron’s bumper, and he and
Nemechek ran side-by-side for the better part of two laps before
Nemechek took the second spot on Lap 147.
Though
Nemechek was clearly stronger than Byron through high-speed Turns 1 and
2, he wasn’t able to get to Byron’s rear bumper on the final lap.
“The
19 (Hemric) got down on my right rear a couple of times and got me
loose, but that’s just racing, I guess,” Nemechek said. “It sucks to be
disappointed with second, but
I guess that’s a good thing.”
Hemric gave a tip of the hat to Byron, who had to work extremely hard to stay out front.
“The
9 (Byron) was put in a position where he had to run perfectly for the
last 40-45 laps, or else he wouldn’t have won,” Hemric said. “So
congratulations to him.”
Byron,
locked into the inaugural NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Chase,
extended his series lead to 13 points over second-place Matt Crafton,
who ran eighth, and 17 points
over Hemric and Timothy Peters (ninth Thursday), who are tied for
third.
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Race - Buckle Up in Your Truck 225
Kentucky Speedway
Sparta, Kentucky
Thursday, July 07, 2016
1. (3) William Byron #, Toyota, 150.
2. (16) John H Nemechek, Chevrolet, 150.
3. (4) Daniel Hemric, Ford, 150.
4. (10) Christopher Bell #, Toyota, 150.
5. (15) Johnny Sauter, Chevrolet, 150.
6. (11) Cameron Hayley, Toyota, 150.
7. (22) Brandon Jones(i), Chevrolet, 150.
8. (8) Matt Crafton, Toyota, 150.
9. (14) Timothy Peters, Toyota, 150.
10. (5) Tyler Reddick, Ford, 150.
11. (1) Daniel Suarez(i), Toyota, 150.
12. (17) Grant Enfinger #, Chevrolet, 150.
13. (9) Ben Rhodes #, Toyota, 150.
14. (12) Cole Custer #, Chevrolet, 150.
15. (21) Rico Abreu #, Toyota, 150.
16. (13) Spencer Gallagher, Chevrolet, 150.
17. (20) Jordan Anderson, Chevrolet, 150.
18. (19) Austin Hill, Ford, 150.
19. (6) Parker Kligerman, Chevrolet, 149.
20. (25) Brandon Brown, Chevrolet, 149.
21. (26) Garrett Smithley(i), Chevrolet, 148.
22. (18) Ben Kennedy, Chevrolet, 147.
23. (27) Timmy Hill, Chevrolet, 145.
24. (29) Jennifer Jo Cobb, Chevrolet, 143.
25. (28) Travis Kvapil, Chevrolet, 136.
26. (24) Tommy Joe Martins, Chevrolet, Overheating, 107.
27. (23) Austin Wayne Self #, Toyota, Transmission, 98.
28. (30) Norm Benning, Chevrolet, Vibration, 95.
29. (32) Mike Harmon(i), Chevrolet, Vibration, 62.
30. (7) Kyle Busch(i), Toyota, Accident, 56.
31. (2) Brett Moffitt, Toyota, Engine, 26.
32. (31) Caleb Roark, Chevrolet, Electrical, 0.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 116.698 mph.
Time of Race: 01 Hrs, 55 Mins, 41 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.190 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 5 for 32 laps.
Lead Changes: 9 among 6 drivers.
Lap
Leaders: D. Suarez(i) 1-32; T. Martins 33; D. Suarez(i) 34-35; W.
Byron # 36; D. Suarez(i) 37-61; T. Peters 62-64; T. Reddick 65; J.
Sauter 66-79; T. Peters 80-81; W. Byron
# 82-150.
Leaders
Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): W. Byron # 2 times for 70
laps; D. Suarez(i) 3 times for 59 laps; J. Sauter 1 time for 14 laps; T.
Peters 2 times for 5 laps;
T. Reddick 1 time for 1 lap; T. Martins 1 time for 1 lap.
Top
10 in Points: W. Byron # - 263; M. Crafton - 250; D. Hemric - 246; T.
Peters - 246; J. Sauter - 233; J. Nemechek - 223; T. Reddick - 215; C.
Bell # - 214; B. Kennedy - 203;
B. Rhodes # - 201.
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