The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series took centered stage on a double-header type day at Atlanta Motor Speedway today. Kyle Busch was looking for a second consecutive win of the day, while Christopher Bell was looking for his third career win.
Both Bell and Busch set the front row in qualifying that took place earlier in the day.
It was a wild first lap at Atlanta as Bell got a great start, but Noah Gragson spun again on the first lap in turn three. Gragson collected Brett Moffit in the process, though, no driver had major damage and was able to keep going.
The race went back to green on lap four, with Bell and Busch as the leaders. Bell was ready to dominate early as he led until the lap 25 caution for Chase Elliott, who cut down a right rear tire in turn four. Parker Kligerman also had troubles with his truck which stalled on the track. Kligerman's day would end early.
After the caution, Bell led the field back to green on lap 31. Bell pulled out as Busch spun his tires on the restart. Matt Crafton went by Busch for the second position. Busch and Crafton raced for second until lap 38, when Busch passed Crafton for second. Bell led all 40 laps in stage one to collect 10 championship points. Chase Briscoe had problems during his pit stop as he cut down a left rear tire.
Cody Coughlin stayed out and the race was back underway on lap 46. Just three laps later, Akinori Ogata blew an engine to bring out another caution. On lap 54, the race went back green with Bell and Crafton at the top of the leaderboard. The race was clean and green until two laps to go in stage two where John Hunter Nemechek blew a right front tire. There would be no caution and this let Christopher Bell take the stage two win.
With 44 laps to go, Busch set the pace as the leader on the restart. Busch then, remained in the lead as Bell slipped behind to fourth. Ben Rhodes started to challenge for the lead with 40 laps to go until a caution came out with 37 laps to go for Tommy Joe Martins. Grant Enfinger and Cody Coughlin tried to outsmart the field by making a pit stop under caution.
Busch and Rhodes had the top spot with 33 laps to go for the restart. Busch pulled in front of Rhodes as he got a bad restart. However, with 27 laps to go Jordan Anderson spun with contact from Korbin Forrister to bring out another caution.
The race restarted with 19 laps to go with Austin Dillon and Enfinger on the top spot. Crafton took the lead from both of them on the restart. Busch had troubles on the start as he cut down a right front tire to end his chances of winning. Bell and Crafton battled hard for the lead, but Bell cleared Crafton with 17 laps to go. Bell had the race all locked up until 6 laps to go, when Austin Cindric went spinning into turn 1 to bring out the last caution of the race.
Bell and Crafton restarted with three laps remaining. Both of them battled all the way down the backstretch until Bell cleared him off turn four. Bell held on for his third career win and his first at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
There were 4 leaders among 6 lead changes.
There were 8 cautions for 38 laps.
Bell led three times for 99 laps.
The next scheduled NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race is at Martinsville Speedway on April 1st.
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