BUSCH: Blown Engine at Texas Denies Back to Back
A blown motor breaks back to back wins for Billy Ballew Motorsports and Kyle Busch Friday night in the running of the Silverado 350k at the Texas Motor Speedway sending Kyle Busch home with a 29th place finish.
The NASCAR NEXTEL Cup driver and Craftsman Truck Series moonlighter Kyle Busch and Billy Ballew Motorsports are fresh off of their first win of the 2007 NASCRAR Craftsman Truck Series season at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. This is Kyle Busch's fifth win for the team with Billy Ballew Motorsports having six wins in their tenure in the series.
Kyle Busch qualified the No 51 Flanders Beef Patties Chevrolet Silverado in the fifth place position with a time of 29.403 seconds and a speed of 183.655 mph and accelerated to the third place position within the first lap of the green flag dropping for the 146 lap, 219 mile race on the 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway.
The first of seven caution periods came quickly finding Kyle Busch in the second place position for the restart on lap eight. Kyle Busch juggled positions and was in the third place on lap 14 with a run on the inside for the second position when he got loose going sideways making an incredible save.
Kyle Busch regained the two spots he had lost during the close call and was leading for the first time of the night on lap 38. Kyle Busch lost the lead and called into his crew that the truck was tight/loose into and through the center of the corners and was both tight and loose off of the corner.
When the caution flag came out again, Kyle Busch came down pit road on lap 40 to tighten up the race truck. Kyle Busch asked for air pressure the same but wanted tires, wedge and track bar adjustments. The Goodyear tires couldn't have come any sooner since the right rear that was changed was worn down to the cords of the tire.
Kyle Busch restarted second and was on the outside of the leader when with a little push from behind; he was able to take the lead again on lap 45 holding the point position for 25 laps.
Kyle Busch reported during the long green flag run that the truck was free everywhere on the track with crew chief Richie Wauters reminding him that he needed to take care of his tires during these long green flag laps. Kyle Busch, by lap 65, had long pulled away from the field with the DEI engine under the hood putting the No. 51 Flanders Beef Patties Silverado 1.495 seconds ahead of the second place position.
Kyle Busch began to encounter lapped traffic where he maneuvered his way through still keeping a fast pace ahead of the second and third place positions. On lap 69, just as the caution came out on the track, the truck began to sputter down the back straightaway. Kyle Busch switched over the auxiliary electrical system hoping it was a simple fix but the motor expired giving the Billy Ballew Motorsports team a disappointing finish instead of a trip to victory lane. Kyle Busch lead a total of 27 laps of the 70 laps he ran before the engine expired.
"We had such a great truck today," Kyle Busch said. "I hate it for these guys; they work so hard. I've had my share of good luck. I've had a big share of bad luck too like leading the race and pulling away from the field and we blow up. That's never any fun."
Billy Ballew Motorsports will again be fielding two trucks at the Phoenix International Raceway on Friday, November 9. Kyle Busch will be back in the No. 51 NASCAR Craftsman Truck with NASCAR Grand National Division, West Series driver Andrew Myers piloting the No. 15 Chevrolet Silverado in the Casino Arizona 150.
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