Busch, who owns his own truck, charged from the back of the field after a pit road penalty to win in the series for the first time since Sept. 24, 2011 at New Hampshire. The victory was Busch’s fifth at Charlotte and the 31st of his career in 107 starts.

Brendan Gaughan ran second, .468 seconds behind Busch, with the race decided in an eight-lap green-flag run to the finish after the eighth caution of the night. Max Gresham finished a career-best third, followed by series leader Matt Crafton and Ty Dillon.

“It was an eternity—the starts were spread over a year and half,” Busch said of his seven-race winless streak. “It certainly was frustrating last year that (crew chief) Eric (Phillips) and I weren’t able to get to Victory Lane. We only ran three starts, and in all of those three starts, we were a really good truck and had a shot to win in all three of those…

“We’ve been fast. These guys do a good job, (crew chief) Rudy (Fugle) here, taking over for my stuff on the No. 51with a smaller team—it’s only him and a couple of other guys that are full-time for it… These guys do a lot of work for being so small and just coming out here trying to knock out some wins.”

Busch had led 66 laps by the time Tyler Young’s spin caused the fourth caution of the race on Lap 82. On a fuel-only pit stop under yellow on Lap 84, Busch drew a penalty for dragging his gas can out of the pit stall and restarted on Lap 88 at the rear of the field.

Undeterred—and using the penalty as an opportunity to take four fresh tires–Busch carved his way through the field and had just taken over the seventh position when hard contact between the trucks of Ron Hornaday Jr. and Jake Crum—after Hornaday cut his right front tire–brought out the fifth caution on Lap 94.

After a spate of cautions, Busch finally regained the lead, passing Miguel Paludo for the top spot a lap before a pair of simultaneous wrecks caused caution No. 8 on Lap 122. A crash near the front of the field eliminated Darrell Wallace Jr. and damaged the truck of Brad Keselowski.

Note: The victory was the first as a crew chief for Fugle…Busch now has 113 wins in NASCAR’s top three series combined…Gaughan scored his third straight top-five finish and climbed three spots to fourth in points… Crafton leads in the series standings by 22 points over polesitter Jeb Burton, who finished 13th.

Following the race, NASCAR officials confiscated the fuel cell from the No. 98 ThorSport Racing truck.

The officials found that the team  violated Sections 12-1 (actions detrimental to stock car racing); 12-4K (if in the judgment of NASCAR Officials, race equipment that has been previously verified or previously approved and/or sealed by NASCAR for use in an event, pursuant to sub-section 8-6 and/or 8-12, has been altered, modified, repaired, or changed in any manner); 20B-16 (once a fuel cell or fuel cell components have been certified, modifications of any kind will not be permitted to the fuel cell or fuel cell components); and 20B-16.1B (standard black, safety foam with minimum free-standing height of eight (8) inches, acceptable to NASCAR Officials, and used as provided by an approved fuel cell manufacturer, must be used: Fuel cell safety foam modification.) of the 2013 rule book.

Crew chief Joel Shear has been fined $10,000 and suspended from NASCAR competition for the next four Trucks Series races. He has also been put on probation to the end of the calendar year.

Johnny Sauter was penalized with the loss of 25 championship driver’s points. And, owner Mike Curb has been penalized with the loss of 25 owner’s points.

The penalty cost Sauter the points lead. He is now tied with Jeb Burton, 13 points behind new leader Matt Crafton.

Matt Crafton held off Joey Coulter in a thrilling 25-lap green-flag run to the finish to win Saturday’s SFP 250 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Kansas Speedway.

The victory was Crafton’s first of the season and the third of his career. In beating Coulter to the finish line by .168 seconds, Crafton became the 13th different winner in 13 races at Kansas, breaking a tie for the series record with Homestead-Miami Speedway.

With a late pass, Ryan Blaney finished third, followed by Brendan Gaughan and series leader Johnny Sauter, Crafton’s ThorSport Racing teammate.

Crafton’s crew made wholesale changes to his No. 88 Toyota before the races, and the adjustments paid off.

“This truck was junk (Friday in practice),” Crafton said. “They made so many changes on this thing and turned this thing around. We knew we had something to win with about halfway through this race.”

With Coulter on his bumper for the duration, Crafton’s crew gave him some terse advice.

“They said, ‘Just put your head down and just flip your rearview mirror up and dig,’” Crafton said. “That’s what we did.”

Coulter fell back in traffic with about 10 laps left but rapidly closed back in on Crafton and challenged for the lead over the final five laps.

“When we went around a lapped car, I went in a little higher than Matt did behind that lapped car and just got a little bit tight and lost some ground,” Coulter said. “I wasn’t too worried about it. I was kind of thinking it was going to work out a little bit better.

“These trucks punch such a big hole in the air that sometimes being a little farther back is a better place to be with a few laps to go. But it ended up being the same thing. I could get to him, but (I couldn’t get) that five feet that I needed to get next to him.”

The race was red-flagged after Lap 120 after Todd Bodine took two brutal hits in the same wreck. Driving to the inside of Bodine, Brennan Newberry got loose and his No. 14 Chevrolet knocked Bodine into the outside wall. As Bodine’s Toyota slid down the track, impact from Bryan Silas’ Ford destroyed the front clip of Bodine’s truck and launched it back into the outside wall.

Bodine escaped injury, but the wreck left just 18 trucks—half the field—rolling for a restart on Lap 126, after a stoppage of 12 minutes, 41 seconds.

In a race that set a Truck Series track record for caution laps (52 of 167), contact between teammates on Lap 34 deprived the race of one of its fastest trucks. Polesitter James Buescher’s Chevrolet got loose during a restart and tapped the Chevy of his Turner Scott Motorsports teammate Miguel Paludo as the drivers battled for the lead.

Paludo crashed hard into the frontstretch wall and took his crippled truck to the garage.

“It’s OK—I know he didn’t mean to get into me,” Paludo said after exiting his truck. “It’s unfortunate, because we were having a great run, and we really needed a good finish.”

Shortly after the halfway point, another wreck took out another contender. After a restart on Lap 88, Kyle Busch got loose in traffic and chased his truck up the banking. Ryan Blaney passed Busch without incident, but the same wasn’t true of German Quiroga.

As Quiroga pulled to the inside of Busch’s Toyota, Quiroga lost control, and in trying to correct he spun Busch’s Tundra into the outside wall, ending the race for the No. 51 KBM team.

He was wrong, as he held off a furious late-race charge by Joey Logano to earn the first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series of his career in a green-white-checkered finish. Logano, a NASCAR Sprint Cup regular who had much fresher tires on his truck, had to settle for finishing second after spinning his tires on the final restart and permitting Larson to slip away.

“I was pretty nervous on that last restart because Joey was on a lot newer tires than me, and I’m not normally the best on restarts. But I was able to beat him into (Turn 1) and then hold him off for the win,” said Larson, the first Drive for Diversity graduate to reach Victory Lane in one of NASCAR’s three national touring series.

Larson, 20, won in only his fifth career start in the Truck Series and clearly had the fastest truck in the field all day, leading 187 of the race’s 200 laps.

“It’s not often that you get to drive a car that dominant, so I know you’ve got to take advantage of it,” Larson said.

Logano did not make it easy, as saving a set of fresh sticker tires for the end of the race nearly paid off for him.  The only Sprint Cup driver in the field, Logano arrived at the track in time to qualify seventh after racing at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday night and finishing fifth in the Cup race there. His pit crew dropped the jack prematurely on his first pit stop, costing him track position, but he rallied from there and bided his time until he could get the set of tires he needed to make his run toward the front.

Logano was one of only two drivers whose teams saved a set of sticker tires for the end of the race, with defending series champion James Buescher being the other. Logano actually fell one lap down before the fifth caution came out and afforded him the chance to pit for the fresh tires. He subsequently restarted in 18th and nearly got caught up in a wreck when Todd Bodine spun in front of him, but then began a frenzied, determined charge through the field over the final 20 laps.

It took Logano just six laps to gain 11 spots, and by Lap 193, with seven laps remaining, he was riding in second and right on Larson’s bumper. But after an accident involving Timothy Peters brought out the final caution, Larson beat Logano on the green-white-checkered restart and then held him off for the win.

“I was passing a ton of cars on the newer tires,” Logano said. “That’s Rockingham for you. That’s what makes this race track so cool, because you can play a strategy like that. When we got the last caution, I thought it was playing out perfect for us.

“I just got beat (on the restart). I spun my tires, so it was all my fault. I was so mad at myself. I felt like we should have won this race. We might not have had the truck to win, but we had the strategy to win.”

Johnny Sauter, who was attempting to make history by becoming the first driver to win three consecutive races at the start of a Truck Series season, qualified 11th and ran as high as second before settling for a fourth-place finish. Brendan Gaughan finished third behind Larson and Logano, and Chase Elliott rounded out the top five.

Gaughan and Sauter provided much of the mid-race entertainment after a poor pit stop forced Sauter back to 10th. From there, Sauter worked his way back toward the front, passing ThorSport Racing teammate Matt Crafton for third after a spirited battle on Lap 154.

Then Sauter set his sights on Gaughan’s truck. But as Sauter and Gaughan battled lap after lap for second as the laps wound down, Larson began pulling away from them and the rest of the pack.  Two late cautions bunched up the field again, and allowed Logano the opportunity he needed to get fresh tires on his truck, setting up the duel at the finish.

Sauter maintained his lead in the series standings by 16 points over rookie Jeb Burton, who won the pole during Sunday morning qualifying and finished seventh in the race.

Sauter won the season opener at Daytona, and after a break of 43 days, won the second race of the season at the .526-mile short track. Sauter won for the eighth time in the Truck series and posted his first back-to-back victories. It was only the second time in series history that a driver has opened the season with back-to-back wins; the first was 2006 by Mark Martin.

Sauter’s ThorSport Racing teammate, Matt Crafton, passed Burton for the second spot with four laps left. Burton held third, but his top-five finish was clouded by an accident on Lap 103, when he turned Ron Hornaday Jr. into the Turn 3 wall while battling for the lead.

Timothy Peters and Darrell Wallace Jr. completed the top five.

Though Sauter and Burton were on equal tires at the finish–in terms of the timing of their last pit stops, at least–Burton had put more stress on his right rear as he worked his way through the field.

“We all knew today was going to be about tire management, just from the tire wear we saw (Friday in practice), moreso than ever before that I can ever remember here at Martinsville,” said Sauter, a perennial hard charger. “The first part of the race, we ran 80 percent, just trying to maintain and not lose too much track position, but still try to run as fast as we could.

“That’s really hard to do, because you’ve got to keep the people behind you behind you, and you don’t want to use too much of your equipment up. … With about 45 or 50 to go, I put the hammer down and was picking them off. I still can’t believe we did it.”

With two straight wins, Sauter holds a 12-point lead over Burton in the series standings.

“I really wanted to win,” Burton said. “We have ‘em covered half the race. We were really good at the beginning, and we adjusted to the track half way (through the race). Everything was good, and we still had ‘em covered, I thought, and then I used the right rear tire a little bit too early when I had to get back through there.

“That was my fault. I thought there was 40 (laps) to go, and there was actually was 60 to go, and I went a little harder than I needed to.”

About the contact with Hornaday, Burton’s explanation was short and simple.

“I ran in a little too hard and got into him, and there’s not much else to say about it,” Burton said.

In a battered No. 9 Chevrolet, Hornaday rallied to finish 10th, making use of two free passes under caution as the highest scored lapped car.

Divergent pit strategies put Kevin Harvick in the lead for a restart on Lap 151 of a scheduled 250, but Harvick, who had stayed out on old tires, gave up the top spot to Nelson Piquet Jr. one lap later and began a freefall back through the field.

Three circuits after a Lap 162 restart following the eighth caution, Wallace snagged the lead from Piquet and opened an advantage of more than three seconds, but both Wallace and Piquet opted to come to pit road for fresh rubber on Lap 198, under the ninth caution for Max Gresham’s spin in Turn 2.

That gave the lead back to Burton, who brought the field to green on Lap 203, with Wallace, Piquet and Harvick deep in the field on new tires. John Wes Townley’s hard crash in Turn 4 caused the 10th caution on Lap 206 and bunched the field for a restart on Lap 218.

Wallace restarted seventh on fresh tires and had worked his way up to third by the time Harvick tapped and spun Todd Bodine in Turn 3 on Lap 229 to bring out the 11th caution. By then, Sauter, who last came to pit road with Burton on Lap 146, had fought his way into second place and was challenging Burton for the lead when the yellow flag flew.

FS1 will feature NASCAR races in 2015 and all Speedweek events leading up to the Daytona 500 in 2014 and 2017 – 2022.

Fox also expects to use a split screen during commercials to keep viewers engaged.

The Daytona 500 will remain on network television. But, beyond that, there has been no indication which of the 13 2015 Sprint Cup races Fox will move from network TV to cable.

SPEED programming will move to FS1.

Sauter led the final 17 laps of the NextEra Energy Resources 250, and was leading when the a caution for a last-lap wreck came out, ending the race.

Defending Truck Series champion James Buescher spun Jeff Agnew on the final lap, which caused the caution that prevented Sprint Cup Series regular Kyle Busch from making a move for the victory. Buescher finished 13th.

Sauter said, “I was having flashbacks of last year,” when he was turned by race-winner John King. They always say you want to be second going into the last lap. It just didn’t work out that way. … I’m not going to lie, I was happy to see that caution come out at the end. Just a wild race. Speedway racing is just crazy. … I’m just ecstatic to be in Victory Lane.”

Busch finished in the runner-up position for the third time. Ron Hornaday, Justin Lofton, Jeb Burton, and Ty Dillon rounded out the top 5.

The race was pretty uneventful until the caution came when Scott Riggs lost an engine.

The next caution came when Brendan Gaughan attempted to squeeze between pole-sitter Brennan Newberry and German Quiroga in Turn 3. The trucks made contact and hit the outside wall, causing an accident that collected 13 trucks. Burton, Tim George Jr., John Wes Townley, Ryan Truex, and Jason White were among those involved.

Piquet also made two Nationwide starts last season, winning the Sargento 200 at Road America from the pole. He finished in the top 10 in both of his starts.

No word on who will replace Piquet in the team’s No. 30 Camping World Truck Series Chevy. But, Jeb Burton has signed with the team. And, James Buescher will return to the CWTS to defend his title.

In related news, Justin Allgaier will also return to TSM for 2013, continuing his relationship with the newly renamed team, and his sponsor, Brandt.

Allgaier piloted the No. 31 TSM Chevy to two wins, 12 Top 5s, and 36 Top 10s. He also earned one win with Penske Racing.

It has also been rumored that Danica Patrick will drive 10 races for the team in the Nationwide Series in 2013.

Related Stories

• Patrick Expected To Run For Turner Motorsports In N’Wide
• Buescher Could Move To Nationwide Series In 2013
• Burton Signs With Turner Motorsports

The plan seems to be to run Dillon in six to eight, possibly more, Cup races this season to prepare him for 2014.

Dillon will drive for Circle Sport, a satellite team of Richard Childress Racing, the team owned by his grandfather. Dillon will also drive one race for Phoenix Racing and owner James Finch.

Dillon made one start for Circle Sport in the Sprint Cup Series last season, finishing 24th in the No. 33 Chevy in the Quicken Loans 400 at Michigan International Speedway. Stephen Leicht, Tony Raines, Elliott Sadler, Hermie Sadler, and Cole Whitt also drove for Circle Sport in 2012, with Leicht winning Rookie Of The Year honors.

Childress indicated that he didn’t know how many Cup races his grandson would run, saying that it depended on sponsorship.

Austin’s younger brother Ty Dillon may also run some Cup races. In 2014, the younger Dillon will move from the Camping World Truck Series to the Nationwide Series full time.

Many speculate that the elder Dillon may drive the No. 3 Chevy, which hasn’t been run in Cup since 2001, when Dale Earnhardt Sr died in a last lap crash in the Daytona 500.

Dillon finished third in the Nationwide Series standings, winning two races last year. He will look to improve upon that in 2013.

Related Stories

• Report: Harvick To Join SHR In 2014
• Childress Still Seeking Sponsorship For Bowyer For 2012
• Dillon Will Never Be More Than ‘Driver Of The 3?

France set a goal for the Research and Development Center to improve drying times by 80 percent.

France said:

We engaged third-party help and we’ll have it for Daytona. We won’t be at 80 percent, but we’re going to be dramatically better with a whole new system on how to dry the track as much as 60 percent [faster] and we will get to the 80 percent goal.

The end goal is to see a larger speedway such as Daytona International Speedway dried in 30 minutes, and a smaller speedway like Martinsville Speedway dried in 15 minutes.

The new system uses an air-powered blower, which is followed by a vacuum. The new system is expected to be faster and “greener” in that it will not use the kerosene jet fuel currently used in jet dryers.

He added:

Think of it as giant tanks, scuba tanks, that drive air out and blow water — or anything else — off the surface in a dramatically better way. It’s a big solution. We’re not (all the way) there yet, but it’s ready now.