Bell grabbed the lead from Chase Briscoe at the drop of the green and led the first two laps before his left rear tire went down. He was forced to come to pit road for service and dropped to 31st in the running order, one lap down from the rest of the field. Meanwhile, Busch took the lead in his No. 51 Cessna Toyota Tundra.
The first caution came out on lap 9 when Austin Hill’s No. 02 truck spun coming out of Turn 2. That, combined with Austin Cindric’s spin in the middle of Turns 3 and 4, brought out the only two cautions of the opening stage; Busch grabbed control of the race after the ensuing restarts and took the green checkered flag at the end of Stage 1.
He was followed by Johnny Sauter and John Hunter Nemechek, who drove up to second and third respectively in the final four laps of the stage. Matt Crafton was fourth at the end of the first stage, while Briscoe slipped to fifth by stage’s end.
Parker Kligerman pitted during Cindric’s yellow and stayed out in between stages to take the lead at the beginning of Stage 2 on lap 49. That only lasted six laps, as Sauter drove around him to take the lead away on lap 55.
Lap 60 brought out the fourth caution of the race when Kaz Grala and Brandon Jones got together in between Turns 1 and 2. Jones got loose underneath Grala and swung up to the top of the track, collecting Grala in the process and sending both into the outside retaining wall. It was during this yellow that Christopher Bell finally got the lucky dog and got back on the lead lap.
After Grala brought out another yellow for hitting the wall again on lap 69, Busch went from the fifth position to the lead in four laps on the following restart and went on to claim Stage 2.
Though he didn’t have the lead at the start of the final stage, Busch took the lead back on lap 90, passing Austin Cindric and never trailing again.
However, he did have to survive two additional restarts before going on to the win.
With 33 laps to go, Regan Smith was responsible for the next yellow flag of the race when he backed his No. 92 truck into the wall on the front straight after he made contact with Austin Wayne Self.
The race went green again until seven laps remained, when Matt Mills spun his No. 44 truck in Turn 2. That set up a three-lap dash to the finish in which Busch drove away from the field to claim the win.
The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series returns to action on June 2 with the Bar Harbor 200 presented by Seawatch International at Dover Int’l Speedway (5:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM).
