Kyle Busch wins at Kansas in NASCAR Trucks - MotorSportsTalk

It’s not a Sprint Cup win, but after his well-documented problems at Kansas Speedway, Kyle Busch will gladly take a Camping World Truck Series victory there.

Busch took the lead with 21 laps to go and pulled away in the closing circuits to win a caution-marred SFP 250 for the Trucks tonight at Kansas.

Nine caution periods gave a disjointed feel to the evening, but Busch remained dominant and led 104 laps en route to his second Truck win of the season in as many starts.

After a wreck for Bryan Silas with 42 laps to go, Sprint Cup rookie Austin Dillon took the lead out of pit road under caution with a two-tire stop while Busch was second out after a four-tire stop.

But while Dillon held the point for some time after the restart, Busch slowly reeled him in and managed to make the race-winning pass on him in the tri-oval.

Dillon ultimately finished fourth behind winner Busch, runner-up Matt Crafton, and yet another Cup driver in Joey Logano, who had fallen back after making a green flag pit stop just three laps before the Silas incident took place. Tayler Malsam completed the Top 5.

Busch’s 37th Truck win marks the first time in 32 CWTS races that the pole sitter won the race. It also gave crew chief Eric Phillips his 29th career Truck win, making him the all-time wins leader among crew chiefs in the CWTS.

“Kansas! I’m a winner at Kansas,” Busch exclaimed with a touch of surprise in Victory Lane to Fox Sports. “I can’t say enough about everyone at [Kyle Busch Motorsports]. Everybody there, man, chassis shop, body guys, everybody there in the fab shop – they do such a great job for me whether it’s late models or whether its Trucks.

“They’re a lot of fun to work with and they’re a great group.”

Crafton’s runner-up enabled him to take the CWTS points lead by eight over Timothy Peters, who sustained damage in a Lap 1 incident that forced him to go to the garage for a time. He would come back to finish 14th, nine laps down.

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The NBC Sports IndyCar power rankings naturally were as jumbled as the action on the streets of St. Petersburg after a chaotic opener to the 2023 season.

Pato O’Ward, who finished second because of an engine blip that cost him the lead with a few laps remaining, moves into the top spot ahead of St. Pete winner Marcus Ericsson and Alexander Rossi, who finished fourth in his Arrow McLaren debut. Scott Dixon and St. Pete pole-sitter Romain Grosjean (who led 31 laps) rounded out the top five.

St. Pete pole-sitter Romain Grosjean (who started first at St. Pete after capturing his second career pole position) Callum Ilott (a career-best fifth) and Graham Rahal entered the power rankings entering the season’s second race.

Three drivers fell out of the preseason top 10 after the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg – including previously top-ranked Josef Newgarden, who finished 17^th after qualifying 14^th.

Heading into Sunday’s race at Texas Motor Speedway, here’s NBC Sports’ assessment of the current top 10 drivers through the first of 17 races this year (with previous preseason rankings in parenthesis):

NBC Sports’ IndyCar Power Rankings

1. Pato O’Ward (5) – If not for the dreaded “plenum event” in the No. 5 Chevrolet, the Arrow McLaren driver is opening the season with a victory capping a strong race weekend.

2. Marcus Ericsson (7) – He might be the most opportunistic driver in IndyCar, but that’s because the 2022 Indy 500 winner has become one of the series’ fastest and most consistent stars.

3. Alexander Rossi (10) – He overcame a frustrating Friday and mediocre qualifying to open his Arrow McLaren career with the sort of hard-earned top five missing in his last years at Andretti.

4. Scott Dixon (3) – Put aside his opening-lap skirmish with former teammate Felix Rosenqvist, and it was a typically stealthily good result for the six-time champion.

5. Romain Grosjean (NR) – The St. Petersburg pole-sitter consistently was fastest on the streets of St. Petersburg over the course of the race weekend, which he couldn’t say once last year.

6. Scott McLaughlin (6) – Easily the best of the Team Penske drivers before his crash with Grosjean, McLaughlin drove like a legitimate 2023 championship contender.

7. Callum Ilott (NR) – A quietly impressive top five for the confident Brit in Juncos Hollinger Racing’s first race as a two-car team. Texas will be a big oval litmus test.

8. Graham Rahal (NR) – Sixth at St. Pete, Rahal still has the goods on street courses, and Rahal Letterman Lanigan remains headed in the right direction.

9. Alex Palou (4) – He seemed a step behind Ericsson and Dixon in the race after just missing the Fast Six in qualifying, but this was a solid start for Palou.

10. Will Power (2) – An uncharacteristic mistake that crashed Colton Herta put a blemish on the type of steady weekend that helped him win the 2022 title.

Falling out (last week): Josef Newgarden (1), Colton Herta (8), Christian Lundgaard (9)