Busch passes Blaney late to win Truck race at Michigan

BROOKLYN, Mich. (AP) - Kyle Busch's eventful day included a trip to victory lane.

Busch passed Ryan Blaney with four laps remaining and won the NASCAR Truck Series race at Michigan International Speedway on Saturday. The victory came after he wrecked his Sprint Cup car during a morning practice, and then was penalized on lap 27 of the Truck race for speeding on pit road.

After being sent to the rear, he made his way all the way back in his No. 51 Toyota and battled with Blaney through the final few laps.

"These trucks tend to put on a good show," Busch said. "You can kind of draft back up on guys and use the bottom, use the top, kind of work around a little bit."

Blaney took the lead with six laps remaining after a restart, but Busch eventually moved back in front for his 44th victory on the series. He has won each of his two Truck starts this year.

Busch is now seven wins shy of Ron Hornaday Jr.'s career record for the series. It was Busch's first Truck victory at Michigan in nine starts.

After breaking his right leg and left foot in February, Busch has come back and won four Cup races. He also has won a couple Xfinity races, and he is unbeaten on the Truck series.

Erik Jones finished third in his No. 4 Toyota in Saturday's 100-lap, 200-mile race. Jones and Busch are teammates for Kyle Busch Motorsports, and Blaney said that was a factor toward the end.

"When we got the lead, I knew it was going to be hard to keep (Busch) behind us," Blaney said. "He can lay back to the 4 and just get a big run and get by you. There's nothing as a leader you can do about it."

Blaney finished 0.157 seconds behind.

Points leader Tyler Reddick finished ninth. Pole winner Matt Crafton finished sixth and now trails Reddick by eight points in the standings. Crafton made it through a messy situation toward the end when both he and John Wes Townley started sliding almost sideways on the track.

Crafton was able to keep his car going forward - a potentially crucial save in his bid for the championship.

Jones, a rookie, is third in the standings, one point behind Crafton.

"Jones is a good racer, a real smart racer," Busch said. "He's done a great job. He's done anything and everything that's been asked of him. He's still young. He still has a lot of experience to gain. He's not too far off from reaching the Sprint Cup series level."