New manufacturer, same dominance for Kyle Busch. Busch rocketed past the field to win the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series pole at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Friday (March 3).
Driving his No. 51 Chevrolet, Busch, the series’ most winningest driver, won his 23rd career pole in his 166th career start.
Busch also won in his last Truck Series start at Sonoma Raceway in 2022. This is the team’s first pole as a new member of Chevrolet and Busch’s second pole with Chevrolet, the first since 2005. Jack Wood piloted the No. 51 last race to 27th at Daytona International Speedway.
Nick Sanchez and Chase Purdy qualified second and third, respectfully, with the same speed of 177.608 mph. Sanchez, who races for Rev Racing which has a technical alliance with KBM, and Purdy, Busch’s KBM teammate, were speedy in practice and qualifying and look poised to dominate the field in tonight’s race. Sanchez finished 26th last race while Purdy finished 17th.
ThorSport Racing teammates Ty Majeski and Hailie Deegan round off the top five in fourth and fifth, respectively. Majeski topped the practice session before qualifying but couldn’t replicate that success into the pole in qualifying. Deegan will make her career-best start on a paved track as well. Deegan wrecked out after The Big One at Daytona last race and looks to have a better result than 35th today.
Bret Holmes, last race’s winner Zane Smith, Carson Hocevar, Ben Rhodes and Kaz Grala round off the top ten in sixth through 10th, respectively. Driving the No. 1 for TRICON Garage, Grala qualified as the fastest Toyota.
Because only 35 drivers were entered for the second race of the 2023 season, all drivers will compete in the race later this evening.
Busch will lead the field to the green flag for the Victoria’s Voice Foundation 200 at Las Vegas tonight at 9 p.m. ET with the TV broadcast on FOX Sports 1.
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