Kyle Busch Rockets Past Stewart Friesen for Truck Win at Atlanta

Kyle Busch celebrates his 67th win in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series with a burnout on the frontstretch at Atlanta Motor Speedway. (Photo Credit: Sydney Redden | The Podium Finish)

HAMPTON, Ga — The all-time winningest NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series winner Kyle Busch earned his 67th win in the series after passing the No. 52 of Stewart Friesen right before the start/finish line to claim back-to-back Atlanta Motor Speedway wins in the Fr8 208 Saturday afternoon.

Busch dominated the second half of the race in his No. 7 Gainbridge Chevrolet Silverado in his first of six starts in the Truck Series for Spire Motorsports in 2025, leading a race-high 81 laps en route to victory Saturday afternoon.

Rewinding back to the beginning of the race, pole sitter Connor Mosack and his three McAnally-Hilgemann Racing teammates of Jack Wood, Tyler Ankrum, and Daniel Hemric paced the rest of the field in the top four spots up until Lap 20 in the opening stage.

Layne Riggs, driving the No. 34 Ford F-150 for Front Row Motorsports, faced off against Mosack and Wood as they approached the final lap of Stage 1. As Riggs attempted to make it three-wide, he inadvertently dropped below the apron, resulting in a penalty. This mistake allowed Wood to secure his first career stage victory in the opening stage of the 135-lap race.

Unfortunately, Riggs’ day went from bad to worse after his penalty as he lost numerous amounts of laps due to a mechanical issue aboard his truck, taking him out of contention for the rest of the day.

As the green flag dropped in Stage 2, defending race winner from last week’s competition at Daytona, Corey Heim, decided to gamble and stretch it out on fuel and led the field back to green with drafting help from the No. 98 of Ty Majeski.

Kyle Busch assumed the lead for the first time on Lap 40 and led from there on out to close out the stage, despite a late charge from Majeski and the No. 07 of Michael McDowell. Coming to the end of the stage, Corey Heim ran out of fuel with two laps to go in the stage while running third. This put Heim numerous laps down as the winner of the 2022 edition of the Truck Series race at Atlanta was not able to go back-to-back to kick off the 2025 campaign.

Kyle Busch leading the field late in Stage 2 over Connor Mosack (No.81), Grant Enfinger (No.9), and Ben Rhodes (No.99). (Photo Credit: Sydney Redden | The Podium Finish)

Busch, who restarted the race in the tenth position, climbed all the way back to the lead by Lap 73. He and Mosack battled fiercely for the top spot until the first incident of the day occurred as the field approached Lap 75.

Rajah Caruth, who had been running in third behind Mosack, got loose on the bottom of the racetrack while exiting Turn 4 and spun directly into the path of Hemric and his Spire Motorsports teammate, Andrés Pérez de Lara. This crash also triggered another spin at the start/finish line as the No. 1 Toyota Tundra of William Sawalich was bumped by Matt Mills and collided with the wrecked Caruth, ending the race for both Caruth and Sawalich.

The second and final crash of the day happened with 35 laps remaining. The No. 33 Ford, driven by Frankie Muniz — famous for his role in the hit show “Malcolm in the Middle” — ran Connor Mosack into the fence coming off of Turn 2, unfortunately ending Muniz’s strong performance in the race.

As the race restarted for the final time with 29 laps remaining, several drivers who had been flying under the radar came into the spotlight, including Giovanni Ruggiero and Chandler Smith, all vying for the lead alongside Busch.

Canada’s own Friesen was determined to end his 61-race winless streak, which dated back to 2022, as he prepared to take the white flag.

Busch strategically set up his move as they approached Turn 1 with both Friesen and Busch racing side-by-side down the backstretch. Busch received assistance from Bayley Currey, while Friesen gained momentum entering Turn 3. As they exited the final turn, Busch utilized side drafting to his advantage, edging past Friesen with just a few feet to spare, ultimately securing the victory.

Kyle Busch celebrates in victory lane after winning the 2025 Fr8 208 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. (Photo Credit: Sydney Redden | The Podium Finish)

“It was pretty dicey there towards the end,” Busch stated in a press conference following his win Saturday afternoon.

“It was great to be able to finish a superspeedway race, without a slew of cautions and crashes, so good racing there, that inside lane materialized. I don’t know where it came from or how, but those guys kept working and getting each one of them that led that line got cycled to the lead, got up to the front, and then I was able to do a move from second to first to cut them off and get back up to the front again each time.”

Busch also explained why he opted for the inside lane after Friesen successfully utilized the outside lane to try and contest for the victory.

“There at the end, I chose the wrong line off of Turn 2 coming to the white flag. I should’ve stayed low in front of Friesen, and I went to the top, because I thought the top would have the run off of Turn 2. That’s how Friesen got by me and was kind of nervous that I wasn’t getting enough energy from behind.

“Those next couple of trucks behind me were getting kind of slidey and fading back and getting gaps and wasn’t able to push me forward, got enough there down the backstretch, and a good push from the No. 44 truck (Bayley Currey) to get far enough alongside the No. 52, and it was just a drag race on who was where.”

This victory is Busch’s sixth overall at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the most of all time, and four more than 2018 NASCAR Hall Of Fame inductee, Ron Hornaday Jr., who has eclipsed two victories in 2005 and 2011.

The NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series is back in action on Friday, March 14th, at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the running of the Ecosave 200.

Stage 1 Top 10 Results:
1. Jack Wood
2. Grant Enfinger
3. Connor Mosack
4. Kyle Busch
5. Corey Heim
6. Stewart Friesen
7. Tyler Ankrum
8. Daniel Hemric
9. Rajah Caruth
10. Michael McDowell

Stage 2 Top 10 Results:
1. Kyle Busch
2. Ty Majeski
3. Grant Enfinger
4. Michael McDowell
5. Kaden Honeycutt
6. Jack Wood
7. Connor Mosack
8. Stewart Friesen
9. Chandler Smith
10. Daniel Hemric

2025 Fr8 208 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Race Results