Kyle Busch added another chapter to his dominance in the Fr8 Racing 208 on Saturday afternoon at EchoPark Speedway.
A cloudy day that began with heavy rain in the morning ended with a race against the clock as Busch drove the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet to victory in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series for the third consecutive year at EchoPark Speedway.
It was Busch’s 68th career Truck Series victory in 181 starts, and his first win of the 2026 Truck Series season.
Persistent morning showers soaked the speedway and forced a delay to the start. With the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race to be held at 5 p.m., NASCAR established a hard stop time of 4:20 p.m. ET before the race began, adding urgency to make it to the finish.
Corey Heim claimed Stage 1, leading Ben Rhodes and Busch to the green-and-white checkered flag. The defending series champion showed good speed in his No. 1 Tricon Garage Toyota, but the complexion of the race would soon change.
With only two laps left in the second stage, Rhodes looked like he would cruise to the stage victory until his No. 99 ThorSport Ford ran out of fuel going into Turn 2. As Rhodes slowed from the lead and was forced to pit road, a charging pack of trucks swept past. Stewart Friesen edged Ricky Stenhouse Jr. at the line to win the stage, with Carson Hocevar also in contention during the frantic run to the stage finish.
The first significant incident occurred on Lap 100 when Cole Butcher’s No. 13 truck made contact with the outside wall. Dawson Sutton, attempting to avoid the accident, spun up the racetrack and hit the wall head-on along the frontstretch, bringing out a caution and tightening the field once again with the clock continuing to click down towards 4:20 p.m.
As the laps wound down and the cutoff time approached, Busch sliced his way back to the front of the pack with assistance from his Spire Motorsports teammate. Hocevar, driving the No. 77 Chevrolet, provided critical support in the closing laps, allowing Busch to maintain control of the lead en-route to a one-two finish for the organization.
“Huge help from behind,” Kyle Busch said following the victory. “Carson Hocevar was a great teammate today—early on in the race I was like, ‘wait a second, same ol’ Carson,’ but when it got towards the end we started working together and we started being able to maneuver our way through.”
Hocevar joined Busch on the front straightaway to celebrate the team victory.
“I thought it would be a good picture, good for the marketing team,” Hocevar said after the race. “I kept sputtering and the bottom kept surging, and I had no shot to win the race, so if I wasn’t going to have a shot, I was going to make sure the company had a shot—that was a business decision.
“Especially a year from here when he was hating my guts in the Cup race, I don’t think I would be excited to watch a Kyle Busch Truck win,” Hocevar continued. “But we’re teammates here. It worked out for us.”
Behind Busch and Hocevar, Gio Ruggiero delivered one of the drives of the afternoon. After starting at the rear of the field because of unapproved adjustments, Ruggiero advanced through the pack to finish third in his No. 17 Tricon Garage Toyota.
Rhodes recovered from his Stage 2 setback to finish fourth on his 29th birthday, salvaging a strong result after the fuel issue. Heim rounded out the top five.
With the result, Chandler Smith continues to lead the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series point standings by 28 points over Ruggiero.
Tickets for tomorrow’s AutoTrader 400 NASCAR Cup Series race are available at www.EchoParkSpeedway.com.
Full Results:
- Kyle Busch
- Carson Hocevar
- Giovanni Ruggiero
- Ben Rhodes
- Corey Heim
- Chandler Smith
- Jake Garcia
- John Hunter Nemechek
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Justin Haley
- Ty Dillon
- Adam Andretti
- Daniel Dye
- Tyler Ankrum
- Andres Perez De Lara
- Brenden Queen
- Tyler Reif
- Kris Wright
- Mini Tyrrell
- Stewart Friesen
- Kaden Honeycutt
- Grant Enfinger
- Clayton Green
- Josh Reaume
- Frankie Muniz
- Spencer Boyd
- Layne Riggs
- Ty Majeski
- Tyler Tomassi
- Tanner Gray
- Cole Butcher
- Dawson Sutton
- Caleb Costner
- Daniel Hemric
- Justin Carroll
- Christian Eckes
