GLADEVILLE, Tenn. — Kyle Busch raced to his
first NASCAR victory as a team owner, dominating the Nashville 200 on
Friday night at Nashville Superspeedway for his 17th career Camping
World Trucks Series win.
"It's a big deal," Busch said. "It's always
nice to win anytime you're in anybody's stuff, but especially your own.
It seems to set a lot better within yourself."
The Sprint Cup star led 131 of 150 laps on the
1.333-mile concrete oval. Kevin Harvick, the winner of his previous four
Trucks starts, was second, followed by Ron Hornaday Jr., Timothy Peters
and Todd Bodine.
Busch won the pole at nearly 1.5 mph faster
than second-place starter Peters and used that speed to lead the first
76 laps. On lap 77, Peters passed Busch at the finish line and led the
next 15 laps before Busch used traffic to get by Peters on lap 93.
The last time Busch ran at Nashville
Superspeedway he made headlines for smashing the trophy, a hand-painted
custom Gibson guitar, last June in a Nationwide Series race. This time,
he didn't destroy the guitar.
"I gave the guitar to Sam [Bass, the painter]
and said if he wants to do any damage to my truck he could have at it,"
Busch said. "But he didn't feel like it. It's as good as it can be to
come back to Nashville and win a race and put on great show in front of
the fans."
On lap 120, Harvick pulled alongside Busch on
the front stretch, but couldn't complete the pass. It was as close
Harvick would get for the rest of the race.
"I just slid the truck several times there,"
Harvick said. "I got a big slide there at the end and I couldn't make up
for it."
Busch was happy with the victory, but said it
doesn't make him want to drive the truck more than he's already
committed to.
"I might get behind the wheel a little less,
to be honest with you," he said.