NASCAR: Key unknown eliminated before Kyle Busch’s return
By Asher Fair
Kyle Busch is set to return to the NASCAR Truck Series this Friday night at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the first of his five scheduled starts in 2022.
As a full-time NASCAR Cup Series driver with more than five years of experience, Kyle Busch is only allowed to compete in up to five Truck Series races per season. Just as he has done since this limit was put into place, he is set to do just that once again in 2022.
Busch is set to make his first start of the season in tonight’s Victoria’s Voice Foundation 200 at his home track, Las Vegas Motor Speedway. As usual, he is set to drive the #51 Toyota for the team he owns, Kyle Busch Motorsports.
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The 36-year-old Las Vegas, Nevada native hasn’t competed in a Truck Series race since last June when he finished in second place at Pocono Raceway behind his own driver, John Hunter Nemechek. In fact, Busch won two of his five starts last year, and in all three of the others, he finished in second behind Nemechek.
After winning at the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) Las Vegas oval for three straight years, he finished in second place behind Nemechek in last year’s race, a race most remembered for what many believed to be an intentional spin by Busch after he had a tire go down.
Heading into the week, it had only been confirmed that Busch would be competing in Friday night’s race.
Busch was still set for another five-race season behind the wheel of the #51 Toyota this year, but the locations of his other four starts had not been revealed until earlier this week.
However, prior to his first start of the year, it has since been confirmed that the Truck Series’ all-time winningest driver is also set to compete in the races at Circuit of the Americas (Saturday, March 26), Martinsville Speedway (Thursday, April 7), Charlotte Motor Speedway (Friday, May 27), and Sonoma Raceway (Saturday, June 11).
Perhaps most notably, these races are the only non-Cup Series races in which Busch is set to compete this year, as he retired from Xfinity Series competition after hitting 100 wins (102 after making all five of his starts) last year.
He hasn’t competed in a non-Cup Series race since earning his 102nd career Xfinity Series victory at Atlanta Motor Speedway in July.
Here is what Busch, who has 61 career Truck Series victories to his name, had to say ahead of his first series start of the year in a team release.
"“Competing in the Camping World Truck Series in my own equipment is something I really enjoy doing, and as long as I’m allowed to race and my name is on the door, I’ll be running as many as I possibly can. I know everyone at KBM worked hard alongside the folks at Toyota and TRD on this new Tundra PRD Pro. It’s really sharp looking and I’m looking forward to hitting the track in Vegas for my first race with it.”"
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The Victoria’s Voice Foundation 200 is set to be broadcast live from Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Fox Sports 1 beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET this evening. Start your free trial of FuboTV if you haven’t yet done so!