What happens when a 39-year-old Cup champion and a 41-year-old Truck Series veteran get together on a Saturday afternoon at Atlanta? A photo finish for the record books.
Kyle Busch was a dominant force during Saturday’s race, trying to defend his victory from one year ago and collect a record-extending 67th career win. All those who moved ahead of him were swiftly passed back, but the last to challenge his control of the race was no up-and-comer — it was one of the more experienced drivers in the field.
Stewart Friesen snatched the lead away at the white flag and Busch struggled to get clear as he tried to quickly retake the lead, running side-by-side throughout the final lap. Exiting Turn 4, Friesen had the advantage, but the power of the side draft was too much and Busch surged ahead in the final seconds of the race.
It was a sensational and refreshingly clean finish with Busch winning by just 0.017s at the line. The finish now stands as the 12th closest in NASCAR Truck Series history and the closest Truck finish at Atlanta since Ron Hornaday Jr. beat Bobby Labonte by 0.006s almost 20 years ago in 2005.
“Just trying to make sure I stayed as far forward as I possibly could,” said Busch, who now has eight Truck wins at Atlanta. “Those guys would kind of cycle to me and I’d get to the next one in front of me, next one in front of me, next one in front of me — and I kept trying to make sure that I battled back and I got back to that front so I could try and control it the best that I could. But that inside [line] was good. They were rolling forward so it made for heck of a race. Proud that we had a heck of a race there at the finish and it wasn’t single-file so there was some mixing it up for these fans out here to see a cool show.”
For Friesen, he was trying to end a winless streak that goes back nearly three years, but he could still hold his head high after the effort: “Just proud of my race team,” Friesen said. “We had a shot. This is my favorite truck and we’ll keep digging with it … I guess I got too far off my help there coming down the back on the last lap. I thought I could pack some more air on him [Busch] getting into [Turn] 3 and we surged ahead, but had the surge at the wrong time … and then [he] kind of came back.”
“Second to the best guy in the business isn’t a bad day, I guess… .”
Photos from Saturday of Atlanta:
In this article
Nick DeGroot
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Truck
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