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For the fourth time in five races at the Atlanta Motor Speedway, Kyle "Rowdy" Busch showed them how it's done, taking his second straight NASCAR Camping World Truck Series win.
Battling a transmission problem, Busch was able to overcome falling back on the final two restarts to grab the checkered flag and bow before the Hardcore Race Fans in the stands. "It was good - it wasn't great - but it was good," Busch said after celebrating in victory lane. "All we did was bide our time and do what we needed to do to get there at the end of the race to win this thing."
Already fighting a truck with no third gear, Busch restarted the race with eight laps to go in the second spot and lost second gear as soon as he stepped on the gas. Dropping back as trucks sped past him on the outside, Busch put the truck in fourth gear and kept his foot in it as he refused to give up. "The kid didn't give up," winning crew chief Doug George explained. "He never gave up and that was the bottom line. When he rolled in the corner we were like ten back, eight back and we're like, "Man, this is not good." He just rolled the outside. He's just a phenomenal driver." "It felt like an eternity to get this thing up to speed and get going," Busch said of the final restart. "Once we got there, man, I didn't lift the final twelve laps. I just stayed in the gas and held it wide open, ran the middle groove and prevailed." Overcoming the problems with the transmission, Busch charged through the field to battle with Kevin Harvick and Todd Bodine for the top-spot as the laps ticked away. Getting huge runs off Turn 2, Busch was able to close in and make his move for the lead past Bodine's No. 30 Toyota with just five laps remaining. Leading four times for a total of thirty-three laps, Busch earned his eleventh series victory and ninth in chassis No. 11. In three races in 2009, Busch has racked up a second and two wins en route to twenty-five point lead over Bodine in the standings. After earning twenty-one wins in three series last season, Busch has already scored at least one victory at every track NASCAR has visited in 2009. Celebrating in victory lane in the Gatorade Duels in Daytona, taking the checkered flag in both the Nationwide and Truck Series events in California and earning the win last week in front of his hometown crowd in the Cup Series at Las Vegas, Busch has clearly set his goals high for the 2009 season and expects to deliver. "It's awesome we've been able to win at every venue so far this year," Busch said with a smile. "You can only dream of being able to win at every single one of them and make it thirty-six, that would be phenomenal, but I don't foresee that happening. It's awfully, awfully tough in this sport and when some guys hit it they hit it really, really good."
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