FONTANA, Calif. — It doesn’t matter what kind of car Kyle Busch is driving these days, he’s tough to beat.
The 23-year-old added a victory Saturday in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Auto Club Speedway to his runner-up finish in the truck race last week at Daytona. He also finished second in the Daytona Nationwide Series event and fourth in the Daytona 500.
But the youngster, whose nickname is Rowdy, isn’t satisfied.
“This is the start to, hopefully, a three-peat this weekend,” said Busch, who was scheduled to race Saturday night in the Nationwide race that was later postponed and rescheduled for today following the featured Auto Club 500 Sprint Car event on the 2-mile oval.
Busch was dominant in the 100-lap truck race, leading 51 laps.
He was out front going into a round of green flag pit stops late in the event and retook the lead for good on lap 91 with a lead of almost 3.5 seconds over Daytona winner Todd Bodine.
Bodine raced Saturday without crew chief Mike Hillman Jr., serving a four-race suspension after inspectors found an unauthorized device used to lower his truck in prequalifying inspection at Daytona. Bodine was docked 25 points and car owner Stephen Germain lost 25 points for the infraction.
None of that slowed down Bodine, though. The former series champion led 25 laps. But he couldn’t catch Busch’s Toyota Tundra at the end, cutting the margin to 1.415 seconds at the finish.
Johnny Benson was third, followed by Terry Cook, pole-winner and reigning series champion Ron Hornaday Jr. and Ted Musgrave, another former champion.
“Truck series is a great stepping stone,” said Busch, who won his seventh truck race. “This is just so much fun to run with these guys.”
Wilkerson in driver’s seat
CHANDLER, Ariz. — Tim Wilkerson raced to his second consecutive No. 1 qualifying position of the funny car season, topping qualifying for the Checker Schuck’s Kragen NHRA Nationals at Firebird International Raceway.
Brandon Bernstein (top fuel) and Allen Johnson (pro stock) also were the No. 1 qualifiers in their divisions.
