Busch holds off Bodine for 20th Truck victory

JOLIET, Ill. -- What can slow Kyle Busch? Perhaps only the checkered flag.

Busch won his second consecutive Truck Series race and his fourth national NASCAR race in a row by dominating the EnjoyIllinois.com 225 on Friday night at Chicagoland Speedway.

EnjoyIllinois.com 225

Results

Pos.	Driver	Make
1.	Kyle Busch	Toyota
2.	Todd Bodine	Toyota
3.	Ron Hornaday	Chevrolet
4.	Johnny Sauter	Chevrolet
5.	Justin Lofton	Toyota

• Complete Results | Race Video

Busch swept all three NASCAR national series races at Bristol Motor Speedway last weekend and continued his winning ways at Chicagoland. He led three times for 121 laps for his fourth Truck Series win in nine starts in 2010 and becomes the fifth driver in Truck Series history to score 20 victories.

"It's great to win in your own equipment," Busch said. "It makes you feel a little bit better, with the hard work and blood, sweat and tears with all your guys and how much dedication they have for myself and this race team."

Busch has 17 wins this year across the Cup (three wins), Nationwide (10) and Truck series.

Series points leader Todd Bodine finished second .186 seconds back, with Ron Hornaday third, Johnny Sauter fourth and rookie Justin Lofton fifth. Aric Almirola, Matt Crafton, Rick Crawford, Austin Dillon and David Starr completed the top 10.

The only drama for Busch came on pit road during two separate caution flags. On Lap 81, Busch's gasman had trouble with the second gas can, and Busch lost four spots for the restart. But he charged to the lead on Lap 98 after another caution slowed the race.

Busch didn't let his emotions take over and drive like a madman after the slow stop. Instead, he took a calculated approach.

"I was just kind of playing it out, 'Alright, who's starting in front of me, where are they starting?' " Busch said. "I started on the inside, so I wanted to make sure I didn't get sucked around or somebody in front of me didn't spin or get loose. You're always worried about guys getting loose and then bottling up and getting hit from behind. There's always something that could happen."

On Lap 126, Busch changed four tires on his No. 18 Toyota, with several other drivers taking two. Busch restarted sixth but passed three cars on the first green-flag lap and got the lead on Lap 131.

"I was like, 'Hopefully, track position isn't that big a deal and tires will prevail for us,' " Busch said. "And they did."

Busch also survived a late-race thrust from Bodine, who made an inside move on Busch with six laps to go but slipped and lost ground. Busch then held off Bodine on a green-white-checkered finish after Timothy Peters blew an engine. The race went four laps beyond the scheduled 150 on the 1.5-mile track.

"Right there at that run, we were really good," Bodine said. "They adjusted tires and got it really good. One time I got up to the outside of Kyle and he pinched us up in the wall, and then I got under him going into [Turn] 3 and got loose. That's just a function of the way the aero package is.

"Second stinks, but we'll take it. Another good points night, another good run. Shows how solid this team is every week and what kind of trucks they bring to the race track."

Bodine extended his points lead to 236 on Almirola with eight races remaining. He said he hopes this race proves he's not "points racing."

"I actually had a guy outside say to me, 'It didn't look like you were points racing when you stuck it on the outside of Kyle,'" Bodine said. "And we're not. We're here to win."

The victory was Toyota's 75th in the Truck Series since 2004, when it entered NASCAR competition.