LOUDON, N.H. — The more wins William Byron piles up in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, the more the question becomes exactly how high is the 18-year-old rookie’s ceiling.
His five wins coming into the opener of the first-ever Truck Series Chase at New Hampshire Motor Speedway were already a record for a rookie.
He raised that total to six by leading 161 of 175 laps of the UNOH 175 on his way to Victory Lane at NHMS. Only 10 other drivers in Truck Series history had won six or more races in a season.
One of them was the owner of Byron’s No. 9 Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch.
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Busch’s advice to Byron before the race was simple.
“Go fast and turn left,” Busch said. “I mean, obviously, there’s a lot of different scenarios that can happen, but William’s done a great job of all the different obstacles that’s been put in front of him. He’s been able to do a good job with that, including this whole year. This is win No. 6. It’s not anything new to these guys and this team to be able to go to Victory Lane.”
The record for wins in a season is nine by Greg Biffle in 1999. With six races left, Byron has a legitimate shot at breaking it.
“We just try and win,” Byron said. “We just go out there and compete like we don’t have a win, so that’s our objective and we want to keep this momentum going throughout this Chase so we can make it to Homestead [Fla]. That’s the ultimate goal.”
With the win, Byron secured a spot in the Truck Series Chase Round of 6.
“He’s certainly done a phenomenal job,” Busch said. “And all these guys have here on this Kyle Busch Motorsports Tundra. The guys in the shop do a great job building some fast trucks, but William’s certainly done the most of his opportunity of being able to deliver these race victories.”
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Bonsignore’s win a first
Typically, NHMS had been a nightmare for Justin Bonsignore.
Two years ago, he came into the F.W. Webb 100 in a three-way battle atop the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour standings. He was having one of his best seasons with a career-high three wins up to that point and he had a solid qualifying, starting 10th.
Then his engine blew.
He was used to a cloud following him around Loudon.
“It was just like every year we were changing a motor either after or during the weekend,” Bonsignore said. “It was draining. It made it not fun. It was just one of those places it’s like, ‘Why do we have to come here? We know we’re going to have bad luck.’ ”
So guiding his No. 51 Chevy on Saturday in the F.W. Webb 100 was especially gratifying. Bonsignore led 77 laps and survived a late caution to pick up his first checkered flag in Loudon and exorcise some longstanding demons.
“This is huge,” he said. “We’ve struggled here notoriously for the last five or six years. We’ve been frustrated coming here. Sometimes you don’t even look forward to coming. But we worked on some stuff in the spring, struggled a bit, and we came back with that package and just fine-tuned it a little bit and we knew we didn’t miss by much then.
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“Right away we knew we had a really good car and I was going to be aggressive. I knew I needed to the front. We’re in a position right now where we have to win and have that max points to be contenders. So I did what I could to get to the front.”
Truex Jr: Keep on truckin’
Martin Truex Jr. has been in the corner of his brother Ryan Truex throughout a difficult Truck Series season. Trying to race his way into a Sprint Cup car at some point, Ryan Truex hadn’t cracked the top 10 in his 10 starts coming into Loudon, and he finished 16th in the UNOH 175.
“You never know what’s going to happen in this sport, but he’s a good driver, he’s a good kid, and he really deserves a good opportunity,” Truex Jr. said. “But it’s hard to get those these days so just keep digging and hopefully he’ll get that break sooner or later.”
Julian Benbow can be reached at jbenbow@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @julianbenbow.