Kyle Busch had the dominant NASCAR Craftsman Truck at the Lowe’s Motor Speedway from the moment the No. 51 Miccosukee Resorts Billy Ballew Motorsports Toyota Tundra was unloaded from the hauler. Not only was Busch fastest in practice but put the Toyota Tundra on the pole with a time of 30.160 seconds at a speed of 179.045 mph giving Toyota their 50th pole in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Busch’s time was nearly three miles per hour faster than the second place position with a time of 176.904 miles per hour.

From the start of the North Carolina Education Lottery 200, Busch took the lead and checked out on the rest of the field. He led 86 laps of the 138 lap race racking up top statistics in NASCAR Loop Statistical Data. Busch claimed the top driver rating for the event which is determined from a formula that combines the average running positions (4), most laps lead (62.3%), number of fastest laps under race conditions (36 of 98), average speed, number of laps in the top-15 (100%) and several other race factors.

Busch looked to bring home his third win for Ballew (2005, 2006) in his four starts at the Lowe’s Motor Speedway until lap 105 when he went to advance on the outside of another competitor who got loose, sending Busch into the outside wall. The Billy Ballew Motorsports team led by Richie Wauters brought the No. 51 Miccosukee Resorts Tundra down pit lane under the caution for front end splitter repairs. The team was able to make repairs before losing any laps, putting Busch back out on the track in the 14th position for the restart on lap 108.

Despite pitting under the next caution for further splitter work, Busch was on a mission to continue his hunt towards the front. Busch was the driver advancing the most positions in the last 10 percent (14 laps) of the race. He gained six spots bringing home an 8th place finish and his fourth top-10 finish in five Craftsman Truck Series starts. Busch’s solid performance after even having a damaged truck paid off as he regained the lead in the 2008 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Owners Championship points for team owner Billy Ballew.

“I’ve learned in these things, that when you get to the outside of someone you tend to make them loose,” Busch said. “I tried giving him room by getting up the race track. I heard him gas up, and when he did, he drove up the race track a little bit and got right on my door. It took his air away and sucked him around.

My truck, I guess, was glued to the race track way better than his, and I could hold it down on the bottom on the white line better. I was able to make passes all night. It’s just unfortunate. I hate it most for these guys at Billy Ballew Motorsports. The guys that work on them and put these things together. We don’t have many of them. It’s good, hard racing, going out there and getting after it, but we still had 30-something laps to go. It wasn’t like it was three laps to go door-to-door for the win. We still had plenty of time to duke it out. I was trying to get to the front, and get up to see those boys and try to race with the rest of the guys when we got behind on track position. Man, that thing was strong tonight. That Toyota Tundra was just awesome.”

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series heads to the Mansfield Motorsports Park for the running of the Ohio 250 Saturday, May 24, 2008.