Winning the 100th race was not easy, as Corey Heim, a former driver for KBM, managed to keep Busch from taking the lead during the last 10 laps, despite his repeated attempts.
As both drivers exited off Turn 1 on the last of 60 laps, Busch used a big run to dive under Heim in Turn 2 and come away with the lead.
Busch maintained his lead and crossed the finish line ahead of Heim by a margin of 0.604 seconds, securing his second win of the 2023 season in just five races.
“I cannot reword”
“I was completely stuck in traffic. I couldn’t figure out a way to make a smooth maneuver, so I ended up taking a slightly risky one towards the end when entering Turn 2. Heim performed exceptionally well in the race, we just needed that 100th victory.”
Heim showed clear disappointment with the second-place finish.
“I believed I followed all the correct steps,” he expressed. “Initially, we had approximately five laps in the truck before it began to tighten up significantly. While I was initially a bit frustrated with Busch’s maneuver, I soon recognized that I would have taken the exact same action.”
Taylor Gray finished a career-best third, Christopher Bell was fourth and Grant Enfinger rounded out the top five.
Ty Majeski, Christian Eckes, Dean Thompson, Ben Rhodes, and Matt DiBenedetto rounded out the top-10 positions.
Stage 1
Zane Smith successfully passed Nick Sanchez during a restart when there were only seven laps remaining out of the total 15 laps. Smith maintained his position and emerged as the winner of Stage 1. DiBenedetto finished in third place, followed by Busch in fourth and Austin Hill in fifth.
Tanner Gray and Tyler Ankrum were involved in a collision during the early part of the race, causing Gray’s No. 15 car to be eliminated from the competition.
Stage 2
A few trucks chose to make a pit stop before Stage 2 ended, resulting in Smith regaining the lead and achieving a clean sweep of stage victories.
Stewart Friesen ended up second, Sanchez third, DiBenedetto fourth and Enfinger was fifth.
Stage 3
After the pause between Stages 2 and 3, the trucks that hadn’t made a pit stop yet finally did, while Heim chose to stay on the track and took over the first position. He led Busch and Taylor Gray as they kicked off the last stage.
During Lap 46, Sanchez lost control in Turn 1 and drifted towards the track, colliding with Jake Garcia. As a result, Garcia’s truck, labeled as No. 35, forcefully hit the wall, leading to a caution being issued for the race.
The race returned to green with nine laps remaining and Heim out front but Busch still in the hunt for the win.
After the race resumed, Carson Hocevar lost control in Turn 1. This happened as he attempted to pass multiple trucks at once, causing a chain reaction that involved Kaz Grala, Smith, Stefan Parsons, Austin Hill, Friesen, and several others.
“It becomes extremely difficult to overtake once you find yourself in the midst of turbulent air, particularly with the abundance of unpredictable drivers in this racing series,” Smith expressed. “It’s quite disappointing. Thankfully, I managed to earn two playoff points, which is the silver lining of today’s race.”
NASCAR red-flagged the race for nearly 14 minutes to clear the track of debris.
When the race restarted with only five laps remaining, Heim maintained his position in front, with Busch close behind. Taylor Gray, Bell, and Majeski followed closely behind them.
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