Daytona Beach, FL

Kyle Busch piloting the No. 51 Miccosukee Resort Toyota Tundra in the season opener for the NASCAR Camping World Series finishes second at the Daytona International Speedway Friday night.

Busch started in the 19th-place position but quickly advanced to the point position by lap 15.  Busch looked to be setting up the field to take the win but was held off on a last lap shootout bringing home a second place finish at the 2.5-mile superspeedway.

“The plan was to knock Todd (Bodine) out of the way,” said Busch. “Get to turn three and get his rear tires off the ground and get him to move up the track and get him out of the way. All that did was shoot him further ahead. I just sat there and was gathering my stuff up, trying to figure out how to plan the attack for the run down the front straightaway. Once we got back to the short chute over here, Terry (Cook) pulled to my outside. If I would have had Terry push me or hit me or bump-draft me or whatever, I probably could have pulled up alongside Todd and probably gotten my nose to his nose by the start-finish line. I still don’t think I would have beat him, but I probably could have made a better finish out of it. Instead, Terry went to the outside of me, did what he was supposed to do to try to pass me. Just didn’t work out. Never will for me, I guess. I’m kind of frustrated in myself just not being able to figure this out yet. I got the cars kind of figured out, but I can’t get the trucks going.”

Teammate Shane Sieg had a solid performance in his first start for Ballew at the World Center of Racing and looked to bring home a top-10 finish even after spinning through the grass during the caution filled event.  Despite running in the top-10 for the majority of the event, Sieg was unable to get a drafting partner bringing home a 15th-place finish in the 100 lap, 250-mile NextEra Energy Resources 250.

“I really wanted to jump in line with Hornaday on those last laps and get the push,” Sieg said.  “But I got a little hung up. I had a lot of fun drafting with Kyle out there. When they checked up I got into the back of him a little when someone hit me but it didn’t seem to hurt his truck or mine.”

Busch and Sieg were first and second according to NASCAR Media loop statistics as the fastest drivers early in the run.  Sieg ranked third with Busch fourth as the fastest drivers in the last 25 percent of laps run since a pit stop.  Sieg ranked at the top as the fastest driver on restarts.  Busch made 113 green flag passes with Sieg 107, ranking them third and fifth respectively of drivers with the most passes during green flag conditions in the race.  Sieg was the fastest driver under green flag conditions of the race with an average speed of 182.354 mph, with teammate Busch a close second with an average running speed of 182.315 mph.

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series teams head to Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California for the running of the San Bernardino County 200 where Busch is the returning race champion.