Rowdy Kyle Busch stormed his stomping grounds and won Stage 1 of the NCTS Weather Guard Truck Race at Bristol. The #7 Spire Motorsports driver took his career stage win tally at “the Last Great Colosseum” with 31 active stage sweeps in his last 171 races in the Truck Series. Busch had qualified fourth behind pole-winner Christian Eckes, Daytona race winner Nick Sanchez, and Tricon Garage’s #17 Taylor Gray, respectively.

Kyle Busch: Bristol’s very own active record-breaker

In stage 1, he turned the tables of Eckes and Sanchez, who finished P2 and P3 behind Rowdy, in that very order. This year marks Kyle Busch’s 21st year in the Truck Series. He is also the first NASCAR champion to sweep all three National Series races at this iconic 0.533-mile oval. His most recent of this exclusive feat took place last in 2017.

Furthermore, Busch swept Stage 2 as well, in what looked set to be his 2nd victory in 2024 after the Fr8 208 in Atlanta a few weeks prior. Eckes and Sanchez owned the 2 and 3 spots one more time and Rowdy now holds 101 consecutive stage wins at Bristol in the Cup Series, Xfinity Series, and Truck Series.

Kyle Busch winning awards is only natural at Bristol, as he is also the winningest active driver at the Bristol Motor Speedway. KFB boasts eight Cup wins and four Truck Series victories on this short track. The accolades, however, did not result in his fifth victory in Saturday’s battle, as McAnally Hilgemann Racing’s #19 Christian Eckes won his first career victory at Bristol and his 6th in the Craftsman Truck Series.

The 23-year-old beat KFB by only 0.191 seconds, going from pole position to prime podium finish by leading a race-high 144 laps. Busch followed behind with 105.

Christian Eckes Claims First Truck Series Win of the Season

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As Eckes himself said in post-race interviews, “To come back and redeem ourselves was our number one goal… but the first three races… We had a lot of issues, and to come back and run really good just shows the resilience of the team.”

Rounding out the Top 5 were Trucks’ veteran P5 Matt Crafton, P4 Zane Smith, and 2019 ARCA Series East champion Tyler Ankrum, who came in at third. This also marks Eckes and MHR’s first season victory, taking Silverado’s unbeaten tally to 4. Missing out on last year’s Championship 4, while winning 4 races and registering 10 top-5s last season, the #19 has shown strong somewhat consistent speeds, four races into the 2024 CTS season.

Nevertheless, Kyle Busch was almost the strongest contender throughout the 250 laps at Bristol. A restart after the final caution of the race saw Busch making contact with Eckes’ #19 Silverado, making him cover up more than a second’s distance with just a few laps to go. This season will see him man the #7 Silverado two more times, once at Texas and the next at the Buckle Up South Carolina 200 at the infamous Darlington Raceway in May.

Will he add to his tally of also being the winningest driver in the history of the Truck Series in either of those races? We will find out soon, but only after he challenges for the Food City 500 tomorrow, in his bid for a 9th Bristol win, equalling Dale Earnhardt Sr’s record at the “Last Great Colosseum”.

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