NorthwestRacer.com

HAMPTON, Ga. —  The race isn’t over until the checkered flag falls, and Pacific Northwest native Tayler Malsam made the most of his second chance to earn a solid 13th-place finish in Saturday’s E-Z-GO 200, the second NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race of the season.

Race winner Kevin Harvick, the current NASCAR Cup points leader, had to battle with Kyle Busch, Steve Wallace and Todd Bodine during restarts, but he dominated the rest of the day, leading 100 of 130 laps at Atlanta Motor Speedway. It was Harvick’s third straight victory in truck series starts.

Busch — Malsam’s team owner and the defending Nationwide Series champion — finished second, Aric Almirola was third, Wallace fourth and Bodine rounded out the top five. Defending NASCAR truck champion Ron Hornaday and 2009 series runner-up Matt Crafton were both involved in incidents on the track. Hornaday, whose day was finished before lap 25, finished 34th and Crafton was 27th.

Malsam started 11th but fought loose conditions in his No. 56 Toyota Tundra early in the race and slipped steadily backwards, falling to 20th and a lap down by lap 50. The Sammamish, Wash., native got back on the lead lap by earning the Lucky Dog free pass when the fifth caution flag flew with 55 laps to go. Malsam took both tires and fuel on a pit stop during that caution, and used the fresh rubber to charge into the top ten after the restart.

Running as high as seventh as the laps wound down — and with Harvick and the other leaders needing to make one more pit stop — Malsam was perfectly positioned for a great finish had the race stayed green. But the sixth and final caution flew with less than 20 laps to go, and Malsam’s older tires were no match for the rest of the leaders after their final round of pit stops.

After a disappointing debut at the season-opener last month in Daytona — both Busch and Malsam were collected in early-race accidents and finished outside the top-15 — Saturday’s race was a solid rebound for Kyle Busch Motorsports. Malsam moved up eight spots to No. 9 in the series standings, 104 points behind leader Bodine, and Busch was 68 points back at No. 5.

The next race for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in three weeks away, on March 27 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.