Kyle Busch (who else?) wins Truck race from pole at Dover

By Jerry BonkowskiMay 30, 2014, 7:54 PM EDT
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This is getting redundant:

Kyle Busch started from the pole, Kyle Busch dominated throughout the race and, who else, Kyle Busch went on to win Friday’s Lucas Oil 200 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Dover International Speedway.

Busch led 150 of the 200 laps on the one-mile, all-concrete track, averaging just under 150 mph per lap.

It was Busch’s fourth win in as many starts for him in the NCWTS’ first five races of 2014. It was also his 39th career win in a truck (in 119 starts) and his 133rd overall win across all three of NASCAR’s national series.

Busch had some good news for his rivals when he climbed out of his truck in victory lane: It will be a while before he is back on the Truck circuit.

“Hey, my little buddy, it’s Eric Jones’ (who also races for Kyle Busch Motorsports) birthday today, so happy 18th birthday to Eric Jones,” Busch said with a smile. “(Jones will drive Busch’s truck) for five of the next six, I think, so everybody can get rid of Kyle Busch.”

Ryan Blaney made a late rally to finish second, followed by Johnny Sauter, Brandon Jones and Joey Coulter.

Sixth through 10th were John Hunter Nemechek, Ben Kennedy, Tyler Reddick, German Quiroga Jr. and Timothy Peters.

With 44 laps to go, points leader Matt Crafton was running second to Kyle Busch before wrecking hard coming out of Turn 2.

“Something in the right front went down, didn’t give me any warning,” Crafton said. “All of a sudden, boom, it was done. It’s a shame.”

This marks the first time Crafton has not finished a NCWTS in 47 starts.

With the wreck, Crafton dropped out of the points lead. Timothy Peters is now atop the standings, but Crafton is close by, tied with Johnny Sauter for second, just one point behind Peters. Quiroga is in fourth, six points back, while four-time NCWTS champ Ron Hornaday is in fifth place in the rankings, 15 points back.

Here’s the final results of Friday’s Lucas Oil 200 at Dover International Speedway:

  1. Kyle Busch
  2. Ryan Blaney
  3. Johnny Sauter
  4. Brandon Jones
  5. Joey Coulter
  6. John Hunter Nemechek
  7. Ben Kennedy
  8. Tyler Reddick
  9. German Quiroga Jr.
  10. Timothy Peters
  11. Ron Hornaday Jr.
  12. John Wes Townley
  13. Scott Riggs
  14. Cole Custer
  15. T.J. Bell
  16. Darrell Wallace Jr.
  17. Tyler Young
  18. Jeb Burton
  19. Justin Jennings
  20. Jennifer Jo Cobb
  21. Gray Gaulding
  22. Ben Rhodes
  23. Matt Crafton
  24. Ryan Sieg
  25. Bryan Silas
  26. Mason Mingus
  27. Brennan Newberry
  28. Norm Benning
  29. Jake Crum
  30. Jimmy Weller III
  31. Raymond Terczak Jr.
  32. Charles Lewandoski
  33. Todd Peck
  34. Ryan Ellis
  35. Blake Koch

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Attention NASCAR teams: IMSA drivers available for Daytona!

Ker Robertson/Getty Images
By Nate RyanJul 9, 2020, 7:00 AM EDT
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NASCAR will be making its debut on the Daytona International Speedway road course next month, and there’s a big fan who’d like to join the historic weekend.

This fan actually has impressive credentials, too — a few thousand laps around the 12-turn, 3.56-mile layout that annually plays host to the Rolex 24 at Daytona in January.

In 2014, the winning GTLM team in the sports car endurance classic included IMSA Porsche driver Nick Tandy, who rabidly has followed NASCAR for more than 30 years since growing up in England.

So why not try racing NASCAR? Especially because Tandy has the weekend of Aug. 14-16 free.

He’s not picky, either — offering up his services on Twitter (as well as those of Porsche teammate Earl Bamber) for an ARCA, Xfinity, trucks or Cup ride.

Tandy’s affinity for American stock-car racing runs deep.

His first trip to the World Center of Racing was as a fan attending the 50th running of the Daytona 500 on Feb. 17, 2008. During Rolex testing in January, Tandy, 35, said he hadn’t missed a Cup race on TV in 15 years.

Among his favorite NASCAR drivers: the Earnhardts, Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch. When IMSA ran the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course in 2014, Tandy stayed a few extra days at the Brickyard and bought Kyle Busch gear for himself and his children.

He briefly took the stage during a NASCAR weekend last October. After IMSA’s season finale at Road Atlanta, Tandy made a few demonstration laps and a burnout in his No. 911 Porsche before the Cup race at Talladega Superspeedway.

He also has some experience in stock cars, having raced Modified-type grass-roots series on England’s quarter-mile short tracks.

Couple that with a Daytona road course record that includes two consecutive podium class finishes (including last Saturday) and a sports car resume with 13 IMSA victories and an overall win in the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans … and maybe a NASCAR team should take a look.

And Tandy isn’t the only IMSA driver who likely would be available.

Corvette driver Jordan Taylor, who won the 2017 Rolex 24 overall title with Jeff Gordon as a teammate (and the inspiration for his Rodney Sandstrom persona), also tweeted his availability for the weekend on the high banks.

Sports car veteran Andy Lally, a GTD driver with multiple class wins in the Rolex 24 as well as 38 Cup starts (he was the 2011 rookie of the season in NASCAR’s premier series), also hung out his shingle.

There also is AIM Vasser Sullivan’s Jack Hawksworth (who just won at Daytona last Saturday), the Englishman who teamed with Kyle Busch at the Rolex 24 in January and made an Xfinity start at Mid-Ohio last year with Joe Gibbs Racing.

Many sports car drivers (such as Taylor) already live in Florida, and many are hunkering down in the Sunshine State with IMSA returning to action at Daytona last week and Sebring International Raceway next week. Because of COVID-19-related travel concerns and restrictions, several IMSA stars who live outside the country are riding out the pandemic within a few hours of Daytona with nothing to do.

Why not a weekend at the World Center of Racing?

Over the years, scads of “road-course ringers” (including some Formula One veterans) have tried their hands in stock cars at Sonoma Raceway and Watkins Glen International.

How about considering the many sports car drivers who already have reached victory lane at Daytona by making a few right-hand turns, too?