Coulter debut new Tundra chassi at TMS

MOORESVILLE, N.C. - Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, known as the "No Limit's Wild Asphalt Circus," is the host of the seventh race on the 2013 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) schedule. The fast mile-and-a-half track is not only the home to the Toyota Tundra, but home to some impressive stats for Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) driver Joey Coulter.

Joey Coulter

Photo by: Michael C. Johnson

In a state where horses run free, Coulter hopes that his horsepower will take him to victory lane in the 31st running of the WinStar World Casino 400k - a feat that would be sure to make his 23rd birthday on Saturday, June 8 a Texas-size memory.

The Truck Series has visited TMS twice a year since 1999 after making its debut in 1997. Coulter, who has four-career starts at the Fort Worth, Texas track, seems to always make strides in the championship point standings following the June race on the NCWTS schedule. In 2011 Coulter entered the June Texas race 11th in the driver point standings and following the 168-lap event he was ninth.

In 2012, Coulter entered the June Truck Series race at TMS 10th in the championship point standings and following the 167-lap event he was eighth. Although the third-year Truck Series driver made a big swing in points following his eight-place finish at Dover (Del.) International Speedway last week, another solid top-10 finish under the lights is just what the 18 team needs to get their season back on track.

Joey Coulter, Driver of the No. 18 NCWTS Darrell Gwynn Foundation Tundra:

What is it about Texas that seems to suit your driving style?"Texas is a high speed, high momentum race track that develops multiple racing grooves over the course of the night. I have always enjoyed race tracks that have multiple racing grooves because it makes the racing more exciting and it allows for a lot more passing.

Texas is one of the tracks that we race at throughout the year that drastically changes from day to night. To my advantage, Harold and I have worked with each other for so long we are able to tune my truck up for the night time during the day where most teams struggle to do that."

Due to your success at Texas, this track seems to be a turning point in your season. I know you haven't had the success this season as you may have hoped, but do you foresee yourself being able to turn that around this weekend at Texas? "Texas is definitely a place where we can turn our season around. After coming from the back to the front at Dover, the team and I both have a lot of confidence and a lot of momentum going into this race.

We're bringing another brand new truck similar to the truck we had a Kansas, which performed extremely well all weekend long. Since the beginning of the season whether we have had a good run or not so good run, Harold and I always come back to the shop having learned something new about the Tundra's that we are racing. Toyota and TRD have constantly been giving us feedback and information that makes our program better every week."

Harold Holly, Crew Chief of the No. 18 NCWTS Darrell Gwynn Foundation Tundra:

The NCWTS will practice during the day and then qualify and race at night at TMS this weekend. How do you prepare your truck for that kind of transition? "The track temperatures during the day this time of year are generally pretty hot. So, typically, I try to work as hard as I can during the day to get the truck into a four-wheel drift. Then, when the sun goes down, you don't have such a massive swing one way or another - front or rear grip - it's all four.

That way, you typically won't swing to the loose side. If you end up detuning the back of your truck to try and make the front work for the night time, my philosophy is the first tire that slips is the first one to grip. So, when it starts slipping in the heat of the day, it's the first one to gain grip at night and everything you have done to get around the right front tire during the day will go bad on you in the night.

Trying to keep all that in mind we typically just try to tune ourselves into a really good driving, evenly balanced four wheel drift in the heat of the day so we don't get a huge shift one way or the other."

What kind of racing can we expect this weekend at TMS? "The bottom of the race track will be fast when we unload but as we go through the weekend the top will start to come in. I think that you will probably see the leaders -pole sitter and on restarts - taking the top side and it will be one of those deals where once you get going in the race, you can run the bottom in one end and the top on one end. However, on all restarts and short runs, you will want to be on the top of the race track. If you get trapped on the bottom, you will typically go backwards."

Kyle Busch Motorsports