Hospitalized with what his family described as a “severe illness,” Kyle Busch will miss not only Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR Cup Series race but also Friday night’s North Carolina Education Lottery 200 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series event at Charlotte Motor Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET on FS1, NRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Busch won last Friday’s Truck Series race at Dover Motor Speedway in the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet and was slated to drive the same truck at Charlotte before the illness forced his withdrawal.
Corey Day will take Busch’s place in the No. 7 Chevrolet in Friday night’s race.
Even without Busch in the field, there’s a diverse array of talent in Friday’s race, from series leader Kaden Honeycutt, who picked up his first career victory May 8 at Watkins Glen, to triple-duty drivers Connor Zilisch and Ross Chastain, who will be competing for Spire Motorsports and Niece Motorsports, respectively.
In addition, road course superstar Shane van Gisbergen will run the third Truck Series race of his career and his first on a 1.5-mile intermediate oval.
“I’m excited to have the opportunity to run the No. 71 truck for Spire Motorsports,” van Gisbergen said. “It’s going to be epic. I really enjoy racing the Truck Series. I had a decent crack at it a couple of weekends ago in Watkins Glen, but I’m looking forward to another go on an oval.”
NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series regulars Brandon Jones and William Sawalich will race as TRICON Garage teammates with Honeycutt, who is driving the No. 11 Toyota that carried Corey Heim to victory last year.
Honeycutt finished third behind Heim and Chastain at Charlotte last season, with Layne Riggs, who trails Honeycutt by 38 points in the series standings, running fourth.
–NASCAR Wire Service–