Pit Stops : Atlanta Motor Speedway

• Thursday, February 20th, 2025
• NASCAR Wire Service - Holly Cain

CRAFTSMAN Truck Series to kick off Atlanta’s Saturday doubleheader

The NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series follows up its dramatic Daytona season-opener in the first half of Saturday’s NASCAR double-header at Atlanta Motor Speedway with the Fr8 Racing 208 (1:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Championship favorite Corey Heim was declared the winner of the Daytona opener after Parker Kligerman’s team was disqualified after post-race inspection. The turn of events earned Heim his first-ever visit to Daytona’s Victory Lane and gives him a slim 3-point advantage over 2024 series champion and Daytona third-place finisher Ty Majeski entering the Atlanta race.

The Daytona top-10 may be a good indicator of what to expect this season in terms of competitive highlights with perennial title-favorite Grant Enfinger (fourth) and a handful of talented full-timers joining the grid from Chandler Smith (sixth), who led a race best 34 laps, to former NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Daniel Hemric (seventh) and highly-touted rookie William Sawalich (ninth).

Frankie Muniz, the television and movie star, eager to cement a new career in fulltime NASCAR competition, finished a career best 10th-place at Daytona. Two-time series champion Ben Rhodes led 22 laps but finished 20th while young talents such as Rajah Caruth and Tyler Ankrum were collected in crashes.

Among the fulltime drivers, there are three former Atlanta race winners entered this weekend, including Heim, who hoisted the trophy in 2022, Enfinger, who won in 2020 and Matt Crafton, the 2015 winner.

Kyle Busch is the seven-time and defending race winner and will be competing Saturday in the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet.

• Atlanta Motor Speedway
• Fr8 208
• Pole Winner: Connor Mosack #
• Age: 26
• Team : No 81 - Friends of Jaclyn Foundation Chevrolet
• Owner: Mona Hilgemann
• Crew Chief: Blake Bainbridge
• Connor Mosack won the Pole Award for the Fr8 208 with a lap of 31969 seconds, 173418 mph
• This is his first pole in 13 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series races
• This is his first pole and first top-10 start in 2025
• This is his first pole in one races at Atlanta Motor Speedway
• Grant Enfinger (second) posted his second top-10 start of 2025 and his seventh in ten races at Atlanta Motor Speedway
• Daniel Hemric (third) posted his second top-10 start at Atlanta Motor Speedway It is his first in two races this season
• Connor Mosack (first) was the fastest qualifying rookie

• Saturday, February 22nd, 2025
• NASCAR Wire Service - Holly Cain

Busch just beats Friesen at the line to win Truck race at Atlanta

With seven previous NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Atlanta Motor Speedway trophies already on his mantle, Kyle Busch was obviously the odds-on favorite for Saturday’s Fr8 Racing 208. And the veteran absolutely did not disappoint.

Pulling ahead of Stewart Friesen about 20 yards from the finish line, Busch’s No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet held on for a slight .017-second win as the two passed side-by-side under the checkered flag. It was Busch’s record eighth series victory at the track. He led a race high 80 of the 135 laps but, definitely earned his hardware this weekend with a half dozen trucks going door-to-door with the two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion in the closing 20 laps.

“Awesome run for this Spire Chevrolet and everybody at [sponsor] Gainbridge,” Busch said, thanking the fans in the grandstands for coming out in the cloudy 50-degree Atlanta weather.

“Just trying to make sure I stayed as far forward as I possibly could,” Busch said of how he held off the field in the closing laps “Those guys would cycle to me and get to the next one in front, next one in front of me and I just made sure to keep battling back and got back to the front so I could control it the best I could. That inside [lane] was good, they were rolling forward so it made for a heck of a race.”

“I’m proud we had a heck of a race there to the finish and it wasn’t single file. There was some mixing it up for these fans out here to see a cool show.”

As elated as Busch was in claiming his record 67th NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series win – and record 232nd national series win – Friesen could only muster a slight smile conceding he gave it his best in the thrilling finish.

“Just proud of my race team here,” the Canadian owner-driver of the No. 52 Halmer-Friesen Toyota said. “We had a shot. This is my favorite truck and we’ll keep digging with it. We had a shot and I guess I got too far off my help there coming off the back on my last lap. I thought I could pack some more air on him coming out of three and surge ahead, but just had the surge at the wrong time and he came back.”

With Busch and Friesen ultimately the pair fighting for the checkered flag, Tyler Ankrum and Bailey Curry crossed the finish line side-by-side just behind, a mere .001-second separating the two. Georgia native Chandler Smith finished fifth. All of these drivers giving Busch a challenge in those last laps.

Caden Honeycutt, two-time series champion Ben Rhodes, reigning series champion Ty Majeski, Jake Garcia and Grant Enfinger rounded out the top-10 in a race that saw 19 lead changes among 11 drivers and only a pair of caution flags beyond the scheduled stage breaks.

Of note, championship favorite Corey Heim ran out of gas running third a single lap before the Stage 2 break and was never able to make up the three laps he lost to that, finishing 23rd. It was also a rough ending for 25-year old rookie Connor Mosack, who earned his first series pole position and led 30 laps, but was involved in a late race incident and finished 25th.

Jack Wood won the opening stage and Busch claimed the second stage win. Giovanni Ruggiero was the top finishing rookie in 11th place. Tanner Gray earned an additional championship point for claiming the Fastest Lap Bonus.

• Drivers Entered: 33
• Laps Scheduled: 135
• Margin of Victory: 0.017 Seconds
• Time of Race: 1 Hours 46 Minutes 52 Seconds
• Average Speed: 116.725
• Cautions: 4 for 28 laps
• Lead Changes: 19
• Green Flag Passes: 1,927 (18.0 passes per green flag lap)

• Atlanta Motor Speedway
• Fr8 Racing 208
• Race Winner: Kyle Busch
• Age: 39
• Team : No 7 - Gainbridge Chevrolet
• Owner: Jeff Dickerson
• Crew Chief: Brian Pattie
• Kyle Busch won the Fr8 Racing 208, his 67th victory in 176 CRAFTSMAN Truck Series races
• This is his first victory and first top-10 finish in 2025
• This is his eighth victory and 12th top-10 finish in 15 races at Atlanta Motor Speedway
• Stewart Friesen (second) posted his fifth top-10 finish in nine races at Atlanta Motor Speedway It is his first top-10 finish in 2025
• Tyler Ankrum (third) posted his second top-10 finish in six races at Atlanta Motor Speedway
• Giovanni Ruggiero (11th) was the highest finishing rookie
• Grant Enfinger leads the point standings by 1 points over Ty Majeski
• Fastest Lap Bonus Winner: #15 Tanner Gray