Kyle Busch headlines Saturday night’s NASCAR Truck Series race at Kansas Speedway
.JPG "Kyle Busch drives during a NASCAR Truck Series auto race at Charlotte Motor Speedway Tuesday, May 26, 2020 in Concord, N.C. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)")
Two-time NASCAR Cup champion Kyle Busch will pilot the No. 51 Toyota for the fourth of five Camping World Truck Series starts in 2021. So the winningest driver in trucks series history (60 victories) will be the heavy favorite in Saturday’s Wise Power 200.
Busch’s six wins (one Cup Series, four Xfinity and one trucks) at Kansas Speedway are the most by any driver in the 20-year history of the track. He won the trucks race at Kansas in 2014.
Here are five trucks regulars to watch challenge Busch, who owns one victory and two runner-up finishes in his other starts this year.
Ben Rhodes, No 99 Toyota
Rhodes, 24, won the opening two races of the season, at Daytona and the Daytona road course. Rhodes, of Louisville, Ky., had top 10 finishes in two of the three trucks races at Kansas Speedway last year and was second in 2019.
John Hunter Nemechek, No. 4 Toyota
Nemechek, 23, son of Joe Nemechek, who swept Cup and Xfinity races at Kansas in 2004, has returned to the trucks series for Kyle Busch Motorsports after spending 2019 and 2020 in the Cup and Xfinity series. He’s already won twice in six starts this season — beating trucks owner Busch at Las Vegas and Richmond — and will start on the pole, alongside his boss. He ran third in 2017 and fourth in 2018 at Kansas.
Sheldon Creed, No. 2 Chevrolet
Creed, 23, the defending series champion, has three top six finishes this season in six starts and five career trucks series wins, all in 2020. Creed, of Alpine, Cal., finished second in the October race at Kansas last year and also won at the track to cap his 2018 ARCA series championship.
Matt Crafton, No. 88 Toyota
Crafton, 44, has yet to win this season, but the three-time series champion has 15 career wins, including 2013, 2015 and 2020’s second summer race at Kansas Speedway. Crafton, from Tulare, Calif., is the only driver to win multiple trucks races at Kansas.
Austin Hill, No. 16 Toyota
Hill, 27, ran strong in all three Kansas trucks races last year, winning the first event, followed by sixth- and third-place finishes. Hill, of Winston, Ga., has six career wins. He finished third at Las Vegas and second at Atlanta, similar intermediate tracks to Kansas.