Kyle Busch Wins The San Bernardino County 200 In Dominating Fashion

Kyle Busch absolutely dominated the field driving the No. 51 Miccosukee Resorts Toyota Tundra at Auto Club Speedway, in the San Bernardino County 200 winning by 9.023 seconds.

He won from the pole, led 95 of the 100 laps, it was his 10th career win in trucks and his first victory of 2009.

Busch driving for Billy Ballew Motorsports would start the race on the pole, Johnny Benson in the No. 1 Un-sponsored Red Horse Racing Toyota Tundra starts on the outside pole position.

It's a all Kevin Harvick Inc. second row, with Ricky Carmichael in  the No. 4 Monster Energy Drink Chevrolet Silverado starts third and Ron Hornaday in the No. 33 Camping World Chevrolet Silverado starts in fourth.

Mike Skinner in the No. 5 Exide Batteries Toyota Tundra rounds out the top five, starting in fifth.

We could see the new pit rule, effect the out come of this race if it's the long-green runs this race is known for in the past.

We could also see pit strategy used in the final pit stop, do the crew chief's just take fuel or come back in for just right side tires or do you take four tires.

It should be interesting to see with the pit window for the race being 40 to 42 laps.

On the Lap 1 start, Busch would take the green flag, coming into turn one he was already leading having pulled away from Benson and Hornaday would take second passing JB on the high side.

On Lap 2, JB has dropped all the way to sixth and his truck looks loose.

On Lap 4, Kyle Busch has a 1.123 second lead on Horn in second and Matt Crafton in the No. 88 Menard's Chevrolet Silverado running in third right on his bumper.

On Lap 5, Crafton takes second, passes Horn and then Todd Bodine in the No. 30 Geico Toyota Tundra also passes Horn for third.

On Lap 6, Busch has a 4 second lead over Bodine in second and Crafton in third, hasn't been able to catch up to Bodine.

On Lap 8, Crafton would come to pit road, his truck was overheating due to a plastic bag on the grill. His crew would fuel the truck and clean off the grill.

Crafton will be a lap down, but only needs to pit just one time now and will need the Aaron's Lucky Dog award to get back on the lead lap.

After 11 Laps, the top five was; Busch leads by 4.5 seconds, Bodine runs in second, Mike Skinner runs in third, Hornaday runs in fourth and Bliss in the No. 40 Oakland Metal Buildings Chevrolet Silverado runs in fifth.

On Lap 15, the best racing on track is between Skinner and Horn battle it out for fourth and prior to this lap they have swapped it back and forth.

On Lap 16, 27 of 36 trucks are still running on the lead lap. Busch has set a fast pace for the race, the regulars in trucks look like they'll have a hard time catching Rowdy today.

On Lap 21, the top five was; Busch leads by over 5 seconds, Bodine runs in second, Bliss runs in third, Skinner runs in fourth and Brian Scott in the No. 16 Albertson's Toyota Tundra runs in fifth.

Horn is running in sixth, his truck has been sliding around a little and seems to run better on the bottom, than on the high side.

On Lap 22,Hornaday would re-pass Scott for fifth, Skinner passes Bliss for third and then Horn starts battling Bliss for fourth.

T.J. Bell started shot gun to the field in 43rd place after the team changes the engine and up to 16th right now after 22 Laps.

On Lap 25, the top five was; Busch is leading, Bodine runs in second, Bliss runs in third, Scott runs in fourth and Skinner runs in fifth.

On Lap 26, the first caution comes out for Scott spinning, after contact with Skinner spinning and hitting the wall.

He was racing Skinner for fourth, racing hard and had one of those racing wrecks. Where Scott could have stayed low, not pulling right in front of Skinner with leaving no room for error and Skinner could have just re-passed him.

Everyone comes to pit road, they'll get tires, fuel with adjustments on the first stop and which ever they didn't do on the first stop, they'll do it on the second stop.

Two rookies had a mishap on pit road, they were Tyler Malsam in the No. 81 One Eighty Toyota Tundra starts to leave pit road and gets into Chase Austin in the No. 32 Trail Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado who's trying to pit.

Neither where hurt too badly, both finished 3 laps down, with Austin finishing in 23rd and Malsam finishing in 24th.

After pit stops Chad McCumbee in the No. 07 The GPSstore.com Chevrolet Silverado is leading, his crew chief Bobby Dotter uses pit strategy on his stop gets fuel only and no tires.

On the Lap 31 restart, going into turn one Busch passes McCumbee easily and a lap later McCumbee has dropped to eighth place.

On Lap 32 the rookies are running in the following order; Ricky Carmichael runs in 8th, James Buescher in the No. 10 International Maxx Force Diesel Ford F-150 runs in 11th, Johnny Sauter in the No. 13 Fun Sand/Curb records Chevrolet Silverado runs in 16th, J.R. Fitzpatrick in the No. 7 TRG Motorsports Chevrolet Sliverado runs in 20th, Gabi DiCarlo in the No. 90 Great Clips Toyota Tundra runs in 22nd, Austin runs in 23rd and Malsam runs in 24th.

On Lap 33, the top five was Busch leading, Bodine runs in second, Skinner runs in third, Hornaday runs in fourth and Benson runs in fifth.

On Lap 34, rookie Carmichael passes Benson for fifth place and he has been running a great race so far.

On Lap 36, the best racing battle on the track is between the KHI teammates Horn and the Goat, battling it out for fourth and fifth respectively.

Ray Dunlap for Fox sports, comments on how Ricky has broken the race into two parts, just race to halfway, and stay out of trouble. Then with 50 to go, see where your running and just go for it.

DW would then mention, how Kevin Harvick is high on Ricky, who last year drove in the Camping World East Series. Ricky goes from winning everything in Motocross to having  to a transition period to learning about racing on four wheels and according to Harvick has great patience when it comes to the learning curve.

On Lap 41, the top five was; Busch leads by 3 seconds, Bodine runs second, Skinner runs third, Hornaday runs fourth and Carmichael runs fifth.

On Lap 42, Skinner would pass Bodine for second, passing on the high side.

On Lap 44, the second caution comes out for Terry Cook in the No. 25 Harris Trucking Toyota Tundra , who's truck started to smoke very badly got black flag, came to pit road, went back out and it got worse smoke wise.

The truck had a oil leak, the right side tire was getting covered with oil. Cook would finish the race 9 laps down and in 25th place.

On Lap 45, the rookies where running in the following positions; Carmichael in 6th, Buescher in 13th, Sauter in 14th, Fitzpatrick in 16th, Austin in 19th, DiCarlo in 22nd and Malsam in 24th.

Everyone pits, most trucks just get fuel and adjustments. A few teams, made two stops for tires and than fuel, but not everyone did, since they have run only 19 laps since the last pit stop.

On the Lap 48 restart, Busch took the green on the restart, pulls away by six truck lengths on Skinner in second.

At halfway on Lap 50, Busch leads by close to 2 seconds, the best racing on the track is the battle between Skinner, Bodine for second and third respectively.

Plus Hornaday, Bell in the No. 11 Home4theholidays.org Toyota Tundra and Bliss have a great battle heating up for fourth, fifth and sixth.

On Lap 52, Busch has checked out, Skinner is still running in second, but has Bodine all over his bumper in third.

Bell passes for fourth, both Horn and Bliss battle it out for fifth and sixth.

On Lap 55, the top five was; Busch leads by 2.3 seconds, Bodine in second, Skinner in third, Bell in fourth and Hornaday in fifth.

On Lap 58, Busch leads by 2.6 seconds, over Bodine in second and Skinner right on his bumper trying to pass him on the high side.

On Lap 61, Busch leads by 3 seconds, Bodine in second and Skinner in third, get back to driving in single file and try to reel in Rowdy.

On Lap 63, the top five was; Busch leading by 3.4 seconds, Bodine in second, Skinner in third, Bell in fourth and Hornaday in fifth.

On Lap 64, McCumbee will pass, Bliss for sixth. So the early fuel only call by crew chief Bobby Dotter has worked out for him and helped hinm stay up front gaining track position.

The rookies were running in the following order; Sauter in 12th, Carmichael in 13th, Buescher in 14th, Fitzpatrick in 20th, DiCarlo in 21st, Austin in 22nd and Malsam in 24th.

After 70 laps, the top five was; Busch has a four second lead, Bodine was second, Skinner was third, Hornaday was fourth and McCumbee was fifth.

On Lap 72, Busch leads by 4.5 seconds, then Bodine and Skinner start battling over second and third.

Plus McCumbee would pass Hornaday for fourth place.

On Lap 74, Timothy Peters in the No. 17 Strutmasters.com/Hair Of The Dog Energy Drink Toyota Tundra, is running in eighth, he's run a great race and exciting to see him running so well with Premier Racing.

On Lap 79, the top five was; Busch leading by five seconds, Bodine runs in second, Skinner runs in third, McCumbee runs in fourth and Bell in fifth.

The rookies are running in the following order; Carmichael 11th, Sauter 13th, Buescher 14th, Fitzpatrick 20th, Austin 21st, DiCarlo 23rd and Malsam 24th.

Busch has led 79 of 81 laps, so far and to this point led every green flag lap.

On Lap 82, both Bodine and Skinner let their crew chiefs know they probably wore out their right front tires.

On Lap 86, green flag pit stops starts and Bliss slows running out of fuel while slowing for pit road.

On Lap 88, Busch still leads, teams are cycling through green flag pit stops. With the new pit rule, it's impossible to tell who's pitting once for fuel and who's coming back in a second time for tires.

On Lap 89, Hornaday comes in to pit, gets fuel, makes an adjustment and nearly gets hit by Peters who is coming into his pit stall, trying to get to his stall right in front of Horn's stall and why Horn still sits in his. 

On Lap 91, Busch pits, gets a splash of fuel and heads right back out. Bodine would also pit for fuel only and doesn't come back in for a second stop for right side tires.

On Lap 92, Colin Braun in the No. 6 Con-Way Freight Ford F-150 leads, the third leader of the race, but he still needs to pit for fuel.

On Lap 93, Busch would pass Braun for the lead and pull away.

On Lap 94, David Starr in the No. 24 Zachry Toyota Tundra passes Hornaday for sixth place.

On Lap 95, Busch leads by five seconds over Braun in sceond but will need to pit soon, Bodine runs in third, McCumbee runs in fourth and Bell runs in fifth.

On Lap 96, Braun slows as he runs out of fuel, while trying to stretch his fuel milage and would make it to pit road.

On Lap 98, Busch leads by close to 10 seconds over Bodine in second.

On Lap 99, the White Flag lap, Busch just needs to drive around the track one last time, stay out of trouble and doesn't have too worry about racing to the checkers for the win.

Busch would take the checkers, win by 9.023 seconds, collect his first win of the still young 2009 season, led 95 laps today and repeats as winner of the San Bernardino County 200.

Bodine still unsponsored, though he did have Geico on board for the race would finish second.

Post-race he said, he thinks they'll be at Atlanta, but looks like Germain Racing will be switching to running select races with Bodine with no sponsor and not full-time.

McCumbee finished 3rd, they used pit strategy to get it and it's great to see these guys both driver and team run well.

Starr finished in fourth, another team and driver that it's great to see run well and sure we'll see more great finishes for these guys.

Bell would finish 5th, nice to see him run this great, he also landed a associate sponsorship from a Wakeboarding manufacture (sorry forgot the name).

Horn would finish 6th, ran real well and sure under the old pit rules this would have been a better finish. As we all know Ren would have at least put on right side tires.

Rounding out the rest of the top ten was; Crafton in 7th, Carmichael in 8th, Peters in 9th and Papis in 10th.

Carmichael was the top finishing rookie, ran well, learned a bunch and was happy to finally finish a race for KHI. In three previous starts for the team, he hasn't finished, two in ARCA and last weeks Daytona truck race.

DiCarlo ran a great debut race, logged lapped, stayed out of trouble and finished 19th. She beat out several of her rookie counterparts.

Here's the finally finishing order of the rookies; Carmichael was 8th, Buescher was 13th, Sauter was 17th, DiCarlo was 19th, Fitzpatrick was 22nd, Austin 23rd, and Malsam was 24th.

Rowdy had the following comments to say about his dominating win.

"This thing was just flawless," Busch said of his No. 51 Toyota, which was serviced through a cooperative effort with James Finch's Nationwide Series crew. "The guys did flawless. They worked so well and made this truck drive so well".

"It's really a lot of fun to come out here and win two years in a row and hopefully we can do some more".

It also was Rowdy's crew chief Doug George's first career win as a crew chief, add the pit crew not being his regular crew and it makes this win even more impressive. 

Rowdy, Wildthing what the heck you want to call Kyle Busch. He's the only driver doing triple duty at the Auto Club Speedway and he's 2 for 2, has two home-runs so far on Fontana weekend.

Now I hate this new pit rule, have my fingers crossed that by March 28th when they race at Martinsville Speedway for the Kroger 250, that NASCAR abolishes this rule.

It doesn't work, someone will get badly hurt or lose their live, if they try this on a short track. So lets all hope that NASCAR tosses this rule out before then.

The next truck race is March 7th at hotlanta, for the American Commercial Lines 200.

Source: Busch quotes from nascar.com

Photo Credit: yahoosports.com