Kyle Busch uses late bump from teammate for sixth NASCAR Trucks win of season

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Kyle Busch bumped to victory at Talladega

TALLADEGA, Ala. — Kyle Busch used a generous bump from teammate Aric Almirola a few hundred yards from the finish to win the NASCAR Camping World Trucks race at Talladega Superspeedway on Saturday.

Busch and Almirola pulled wide behind leader Todd Bodine on the final lap and Almirola nudged Busch’s No. 51 Billy Ballew Motorsports Toyota to the front. They overtook Bodine just before the finish line in fading daylight at the 2.66-mile oval.

The win was Busch’s sixth in the Trucks series this season and his fourth in his last four starts.

Bodine, looking for his fifth consecutive win in a restrictor-plate race, was third. Terry Cook was fourth, followed by David Starr.

Busch had endured some tough luck in the last few restrictor-plate stops, including a third-place finish at Talladega last year when Bodine bumped him out of the way on the final lap.

The NASCAR star didn’t waste an opportunity to return the favor.

Busch and Almirola tucked in behind Bodine on the final lap then waited until they emerged from the fourth turn to make their move. The two jumped to the outside and Almirola drilled Busch’s rear fender, propelling them past Bodine in the final yards.

“It stinks sometimes when you have to push your teammate to victory, but hopefully Aric wanted to do it,” Busch said.

Bodine said he considered jumping out in front of Busch in an effort to block him but didn’t want to take any unnecessary risks, not wanting to duplicate Carl Edwards’ wild ride on the final lap of the spring Cup race at Talladega.

“I could have blocked him and who knows if I would have ended up like Carl Edwards into the catch fence,” said Bodine, who didn’t panic when his spun out trying to leave pit road early in the race. “I wasn’t willing to take that chance.”

The finish was Almirola’s best in the truck series. He received a heartfelt “thank you” from Busch moments after the race was over and Bodine credited Almirola for “doing the right thing” by helping Busch get the win.

Not that Almirola was in the mood to celebrate. He finds himself looking for a ride in 2010 and a victory would have certainly helped his cause.

“I wanted to win so bad,” he said.

Instead he sent Busch to his 15th career truck win.

Points leader Ron Hornaday Jr. was collected in an 11-car pileup with five laps remaining and finished 17th though he still has a comfortable 202-point lead over Matt Crafton with three races left in the season.

Chrissy Wallace, making her first Trucks start, finished 13th, while father Mike wound up 28th. The two actually ran first and second for a lap — with dad in front — during a caution early in the race.