Kyle Busch finishes as runner-up in 'eventful night' in Texas NASCAR Truck race

Kyle Busch hadn't lost a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race he competed in at Texas Motor Speedway since 2013. His chances to win a fifth straight on Friday looked to be dashed early. 

A loose condition on Busch's No. 7 Chevrolet led to Busch hitting the outside wall in Stage 1 and making an unscheduled pit stop. And while the winningest driver in Truck Series history eventually got back on the lead lap, his progress was relatively slow.

That was until the final pit cycle, when Busch got up to sixth, then into the top five and then found himself battling for the race lead with eventual winner Carson Hocevar, Kaden Honeycutt and Gio Ruggiero. 

Busch was on the front row for the race's second-to-last restart but lost several positions and had to restart on Row 3 in NASCAR overtime. While he got up to second on the final lap, he was nearly a second behind Hocevar, who cruised to his sixth Truck Series win five days after winning his first Cup race at Talladega. 

Kyle Busch had "eventful night" at Texas

"We had an eventful night," Busch told Fox Sports. "When we put our last set of tires on, [we] felt really good. Would've been nice to be in victory lane, but it's good to have a teammate in there and have him get his shot. Now we're even."

Busch won the Feb. 21 Truck race at Atlanta thanks to a push from Hocevar. The former enters Sunday's Cup Series race 27th in the series standings and is looking to break a 103-race drought dating back to June 2023.