By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
For the fourth straight race in 2021, Kyle Busch Motorsports scored the win in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. This time, it occurred in Saturday’s Toyota Care 250 from Richmond Raceway.
And for shockingly the third time in that span, it wasn’t Cup Series champion and team owner Kyle Busch hoisting the trophy.
Breaking free of his No. 18 driver Chandler Smith in the closing laps, Busch had to track down his other driver John Hunter Nemechek if he wanted to hit career win No. 61.
Though a threat, Busch was unable to get close enough to make contact or maneuver a way around the No. 4. The veteran settled for second place in his No. 51 Toyota.
“Definitely not good enough in the long run,” Busch said on tracking down Nemechek. “I think the [No.] 4 was just overall better than us. It was fun to race up there with him and fun to race up there with the rest of the guys. I’m glad we could kind of get single-filed out at the end a little bit to where we could race amongst ourselves, but they were just better than us there.
“You know what the most discouraging thing about today is? KBM 1-2-4 with three entirely different setups. So, what do we come back here with? That’s what’s most confusing now to me is the next time back, what do we do?
Finishing runner-up to Nemechek for the second time in three starts in 2021, Busch, despite leaving disappointed, is happy to see his first-year driver racking up the wins.
“It’s awesome,” he said. “I joked with John Hunter at the beginning of the year that if you win one and then I win one and you win one and then I win one, it would be pretty good to go back and forth. I didn’t think he was serious, but so far that’s kind of the way it’s going so I guess I get Kansas.”