Kyle Busch stretches fuel to claim 69th NASCAR Truck win at Dover

Kyle Busch found himself in a familiar spot in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series on Friday, taking the checkered flag for the 69th time in his career.

He now has five Truck Series wins at Dover, beating Ty Majeski and Layne Riggs in the end. Kaden Honeycutt finished fourth, Christopher Bell fifth, Brandon Jones sixth, Christian Eckes seventh, Corey LaJoie eighth, Jake Garcia, and Justin Haley tenth.

Asked about why this win is important, Busch told NASCAR on FOX: "Because you never know when the last one is. I know that all too well, unfortunately, with the Cup stuff, but the Truck stuff right now is awesome, just to be part of Spire Motorsports ... love coming to Dover, always one of my favorite places to race. Definitely some managing of the fuel and the tires (at the end). It was an interesting strategic battle."

“Always one of my favorite places to race.”

Kyle Busch speaks with @AmandaBusick after his win at Dover. pic.twitter.com/bAEf6kEkut

— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) May 15, 2026

Stage 1

Busch controlled the race from the start, as Honeycutt moved up into second, hoping to go back-to-back after his first career win at Watkins Glen.

Daniel Hemric went behind the wall early with a fuel pump issue, later returning to the race over 20 laps down. The first crash was for Dystany Spurlock, who crashed down the backstretch, ending her Truck Series debut.

Early trouble for Dystany Spurlock at Dover. She is done for the day. https://t.co/PuU6qPamJg pic.twitter.com/uC9yyU6He2

— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) May 15, 2026

This set up a one-lap dash to end the stage, with only two trucks staying out -- Butcher and Queen. Off pit road, both Honeycutt and Rhodes got hit with speeding penalties, sending them to the back of the field.

The restart was chaotic with lots of pushing and shoving as the field scrambled for whatever stage points they could get.

Busch got back to the lead, winning Stage 1 over Majeski, Butcher, Chastain, Hocevar, Ruggiero, Garcia, Bell, Riggs, and Enfinger. Unlike Butcher, the gamble did not pay off for Queen, who fell back to 12th after a run-in with Riggs.

Stage 2

Busch led the way at the start of the second stage with Chastain moving up to second.

Perez had to pit with a flat tire under green, and got into the outside wall. Elsewhere in the pack, Natalie Decker was black-flagged for not meeting minimum speed.

Butcher also got into the wall and sustained damage, but made it into the pits under green.

Making his first NASCAR Truck start in several years, Clint Bowyer got into it with Luke Baldwin, and the two drivers traded some paint in the closing laps of the stage. They also had a close call in the first stage of the race.

Busch won Stage 2 over a rapidly closing Chastain, then Majeski, Ruggiero, Bell, Hocevar, Riggs, Jones, Honeycutt, and Jones.

"We need to have a little better restart here, bud. I don't know if your vision is bad or not ..." 😂 @KevinHarvick has found his way to the spotter's stand and jumps on the @ClintBowyer team radio. pic.twitter.com/jPjvnRpnpO

— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) May 15, 2026

Stage 3

Chastain and Majeski beat Busch off pit road as the field got ready for the final 100 laps of racing. Chastain held the lead over Busch on the restart, while Riggs moved up to third.

Also on the restart, there was contact between Hocevar and Bowyer, but Bowyer managed to hang onto it. Soon after, Smith and Hocevar made contact in a heated battle, continuing an eventful day for the driver of the No. 77 Chevrolet. He had to pit with a flat tire soon after.

The next caution came right as the pit window opened, with Baldwin slamming the wall. He got loose under Queen and then spun into the inside wall at the exit of Turn 4.

Chastain stayed out while most of the field pitted, taking their final set of tires. Only his teammate Parker Eatmon stayed out with him. 

Impressively, Chastain held the lead, and the next yellow flew for Mini Tyrrell spinning into the frontstretch wall. He was battling side-by-side with his teammate, Bowyer, as they both tried to pass Eatmon.

CAUTION! Trouble for Mini Tyrrell late at Dover. pic.twitter.com/EL5QFfQ2CH

— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) May 15, 2026

During the caution, Ruggiero pitted to repair damage from the previous restart, as he made contact with Eatmon.

Bowyer got a tire rub on the restart after contact from C. Smith, but carried on. 

Busch finally took the lead from Chastain with 57 laps to go. Hocevar had to make another unscheduled pit stop with 40 laps to go.

Chastain finally pitted with just over 20 laps to go as Niece Motorsports' high-risk strategy did not pay off, putting him multiple laps down. He only managed to get back to 18th by the time the checkered flag flew.

Bowyer's NASCAR return ended with around 15 laps to go, as he came down pit road and shut the truck off with a loose wheel.

At the very end, some trucks began to run out, including William Sawalich and Ben Rhodes. However, the leaders made it without issue, and Busch had plenty of fuel to do some post-race burnouts.

Dover NASCAR Truck Results

cla	#	driver	manufacturer	laps	time	gap	int	pits	laps led	retirement	pts	best time	best lap
1	7	Kyle Busch	Chevrolet	200	1:50'58.727			7	147			23.149	4
2	88	Ty Majeski	Ford	200	1:51'01.766	3.039	3.039	8				23.265	3
3	34	Layne Riggs	Ford	200	1:51'06.118	7.391	4.352	8				23.524	138
4	11	Kaden Honeycutt	Toyota	200	1:51'06.134	7.407	0.016	8	1			23.250	5
5	62	Christopher Bell	Toyota	200	1:51'09.150	10.423	3.016	8				23.373	5
6	1	Brandon Jones	Toyota	200	1:51'13.338	14.611	4.188	8				23.397	6
7	91	Christian Eckes	Chevrolet	200	1:51'13.978	15.251	0.640	8				23.750	106
8	10	Corey LaJoie	RAM	200	1:51'14.324	15.597	0.346	8				23.970	143
9	98	Jake Garcia	Ford	200	1:51'16.429	17.702	2.105	8				23.626	5
10	16	Justin Haley	RAM	200	1:51'20.791	22.064	4.362	8				23.945	127
11	52	Stewart Friesen	Toyota	200	1:51'22.043	23.316	1.252	8				23.881	13
12	38	Chandler Smith	Ford	200	1:51'22.498	23.771	0.455	9				23.738	111
13	12	Brenden Queen	RAM	200	1:51'23.161	24.434	0.663	8				23.967	6
14	5	William Sawalich	Toyota	199	1:50'55.430	1 Lap	1 Lap	9				23.755	138
15	9	Grant Enfinger	Chevrolet	199	1:50'58.907	1 Lap	3.477	7				23.802	5
16	15	Tanner Gray	Toyota	199	1:51'04.025	1 Lap	5.118	10				23.960	68
17	81	Kris Wright	Chevrolet	199	1:51'13.769	1 Lap	9.744	9				24.103	71
18	45	Ross Chastain	Chevrolet	199	1:51'17.586	1 Lap	3.817	8	49			23.382	126
19	99	Ben Rhodes	Ford	198	1:50'28.953	2 Laps	1 Lap	8				23.400	5
20	17	Gio Ruggiero	Toyota	197	1:51'12.117	3 Laps	1 Lap	11				23.326	4
21	42	Parker Eatmon	Chevrolet	197	1:51'21.185	3 Laps	9.068	9				23.827	6
22	76	Spencer Boyd	Chevrolet	196	1:51'18.169	4 Laps	1 Lap	11				24.368	4
23	26	Dawson Sutton	Chevrolet	196	1:51'20.042	4 Laps	1.873	13				24.081	187
24	33	Frankie Muniz	Ford	195	1:51'01.521	5 Laps	1 Lap	9				24.232	4
25	18	Tyler Ankrum	Chevrolet	195	1:51'05.944	5 Laps	4.423	14				24.082	12
26	27	Toni Breidinger	Chevrolet	194	1:50'59.997	6 Laps	1 Lap	8				24.441	4
27	14	Mini Tyrrell	RAM	194	1:51'05.448	6 Laps	5.451	11				23.991	5
28	44	Andres Perez de Lara	Chevrolet	189	1:51'16.615	11 Laps	5 Laps	12				23.679	7
29	25	Clint Bowyer	RAM	181	1:43'41.270	19 Laps	8 Laps	8				24.056	110
30	19	Daniel Hemric	Chevrolet	177	1:51'17.421	23 Laps	4 Laps	10				23.621	34
31	77	Carson Hocevar	Chevrolet	167	1:40'08.707	33 Laps	10 Laps	12				23.631	56
32	2	Luke Baldwin	Ford	116	1:06'16.127	84 Laps	51 Laps	6				24.105	10
33	13	Cole Butcher	Ford	84	50'08.298	116 Laps	32 Laps	7	3			23.756	13
34	22	Natalie Decker	Ford	81	50'27.690	119 Laps	3 Laps	9				24.587	3
35	93	Caleb Costner	Chevrolet	53	35'58.771	147 Laps	28 Laps	7				24.583	10
36	69	Dystany Spurlock	Ford	36	15'20.489	164 Laps	17 Laps	4				24.487	5

 

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments