Kyle Busch Motorsports gets top-5 finish in final NASCAR race

Kyle Busch Motorsports wrapped up their tenure in NASCAR with a top-five finish Friday.

Chase Purdy finished third after a wild, quadruple overtime ending to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship race.

The No. 4 truck was in the top-five with three laps to go in the scheduled distance of the race. Then, Corey Heim got into Carson Hocevar and Purdy back in it. 

After two overtime restarts, Purdy took the lead during the third one. He didn’t get a good launch on the fourth, though, but still salvaged a third-place finish. 

“I wish we could have the last one back (restart),”Purdy said. “Obviously a lot of emotions this weekend, no more KBM, but we just gave it our all. I wanted to take them out on a high note, and I tried my hardest to. Hats off to all these guys.” 

Phoenix hadn’t served Purdy well in his three prior starts in the desert. Before Friday, he didn’t even a top-10 finish at the track.

In 2023, the No. 4 team had two other top-five finishes and 10 other top-10s. Purdy even had three top-10s in the last four races. 

“I didn’t start the season like I anticipated,” Purdy said. “All that matters is that we finished it as strong as we possibly could. And we’ll take the positives and move from there and take it into 2024.”

Purdy re-signed with Kyle Busch Motorsports before the sale to Spire Motorsports was announced.  

Teammate Jack Wood finished 27th after a late-race restart incident. His plans aren’t set for 2024.