Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

Global

Kyle Busch takes on Kansas in brand new Toyota Tundra

Kyle Busch is looking for third consecutive NASCAR weekend sweep!

Kyle Busch

Kyle Busch

Alexander Trienitz

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (April 16, 2013) - Kyle Busch sweeps into Kansas Speedway in Kansas City this weekend, where once again he will be pulling double-duty, driving the No. 51 ToyotaCare Tundra in Saturday's SFP 250 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race and the No. 18 M&M's Camry in Sunday's STP Gas Booster 500. The last two weekend's that the Las Vegas native has pulled double-duty - driving in both the Nationwide Series and Sprint Cup Series races last weekend at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth and at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif. in March - have resulted in victories in both series in the same weekend, so he will be looking to pull off a third consecutive sweep at Kansas this weekend.

Kyle Busch
Kyle Busch

Photo by: Alexander Trienitz

After a tough 2012 season, Busch has returned to his winning ways early in the 2013 season, posting four Nationwide Series wins and two Sprint Sup Series wins. Now, he hopes to carry that momentum into Saturday's 167-lap Truck Series event. The talented driver has finished in the runner-up spot in three of his last four starts in the series, giving him 21 second-place finishes in 105 career starts. Add in his 30 wins, which rank second all-time to Ron Hornaday's 51, and he has cross the finish line first or second in an amazing 48.6% of his Truck Series starts.

The 27-year-old, who registered a runner-up finish in the Truck Series season-opening NextEra Energy Resources 250 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway, will be making his second Truck Series start of 2013 and just his second start in NASCAR's third division at Kansas. Busch started 11th and finished sixth, driving his No. 18 Tundra in the 2011 Truck Series event in the "Sunflower State."

Busch returns to Kansas this weekend with an old number, a new crew chief and a brand new Tundra underneath him. This time around, he'll be behind the wheel of the No. 51 - a number he made famous by winning several Truck Series races for Billy Ballew Motorsports from 2006 to 2009 - with Rudy Fugle as his crew chief and KBM-015 being unloaded off the hauler. He's hoping that the mix of old and new will result in something familiar -- a weekend sweep.

Kyle Busch, Driver of the No. 51 NCWTS Toyota Care Tundra:

Are you excited to be back in your No. 51 Tundra this weekend at Kansas?

"After a tough 2012 season, this year has gotten off to a great start -- hopefully we can keep it going this weekend at Kansas and have strong runs in both my No. 51 ToyotaCare Tundra and my No. 18 M&M's Camry. Kansas is a track that has always been pretty challenging for me, so I'm looking forward to running in the trucks this weekend and getting some extra laps in -- especially on the new surface. We had a really strong run there last year in the Nationwide race with our KBM Monster Energy Camry and if it wasn't for an extended caution period we would've won that race, so maybe Kansas owes KBM one."

Will your experience having raced in both the Nationwide Series race and Sprint Cup Series race at Kansas last October give you an advantage on the Truck Series regulars?

"It definitely doesn't hurt, but I don't think it gives me a big advantage. I only ran three truck races last year and just Daytona so far this year, so I haven't been in a truck a lot the past couple seasons. If you look at the guys that finished near the top of the Truck Series points last season, a lot of them are back again this year -- James Buescher, Ty (Dillon), (Matt) Crafton and (Joey) Coulter, who we have running for us at KBM -- so there is some pretty good guys that have a lot of experience in trucks the past few seasons. With Eric (Phillips) moving up to crew chief our Nationwide Series car and taking some of the guys from our truck program with him, I basically have a brand new team to work with, so we have to make sure the communication is there. Also, we will be bringing a brand new Tundra, so we don't have a lot of notes to work off."

Rudy Fugle, Crew Chief of the No. 51 NCWTS ToyotaCare Tundra:

Your team has finished in the top three in all three races this season. What are your expectations going into Kansas?

"It's been a really good start to the season for this team. With Eric (Phillips, crew chief No. 77 KBM Camry) moving up to the Nationwide Series and taking some of the guys that were going to be on this team with him, we basically built this team from scratch about a month before we went to Daytona. To come out of the box with three top-10 finishes, I couldn't be happier with all my guys. Erik (Jones) did an awesome job the last two weeks finishing in the top 10 in his first two races being in the truck -- that kid is going to be one heck of a driver. Nothing against Erik, but when Kyle is in the truck the expectations are higher -- if you don't come out of the weekend with a win, you don't go home happy. Kyle has had a really strong start to the season, winning a bunch of Nationwide races and a couple of Cup races. Now it's our job to provide him with a truck capable of winning on Saturday."

You're bringing a brand-new Tundra to Kansas. What areas did KBM work on with these latest intermediate trucks?

"The biggest thing that we worked on with our newest trucks is trying to get more straightaway speed out of them. We really took a look at the aero balance on these latest Tundras, trying to get the best combination of drag and downforce. With Kansas being repaved recently it is going to be really fast, so this weekend will be a really good test to see where we stack up against the rest of the series."

Kyle Busch Motorsports

Be part of Motorsport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Coulter has high hopes heading into Kansas
Next article Kansas 250 was good for Blaney and hopeful for Logano

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

Global