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No. 51 Looking to be No. 14 at Kansas

Kyle Busch returns to the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series this weekend at Kansas.

Kyle Busch

Kyle Busch

Alexander Trienitz

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (May 6, 2014) - Since the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series began visiting Kansas Speedway in Kansas City in 2001, the action has produced a different winner in each of the 13 events, including four whose last name starts with the letter B, but no ne named Kyle Busch.

With the annual descent by NASCAR's third division on the Sunflower State having been a standalone event until 2011, this weekend's race at the 1.5-mile oval will mark just the third series start for Busch at the Midwest venue, with a best result of sixth coming in 2011.

Last year's visit to Kansas Speedway marked an eventful one for Busch and the No. 51 ToyotaCare Tundra team. After changing engines twice in practice and coming out of an early spin in the race unscathed, Kyle Busch Motorsports' (KBM) owner-driver showcased one of the fastest trucks in the first half of the 167-lap event. He rallied back through the field to lead 11 laps, before rookie German Quiroga got lose underneath him trying to make a pass on lap 90 and sent his Tundra hard into the outside wall. The crash ended the day prematurely and left the team with a disappointing 27th-place finish.

Busch, who did not compete in the Truck Series event at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, will be looking to score his third consecutive victory in NASCAR's third division on Friday night. The Las Vegas native closed out the 2013 season with a victory at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway and helped his organization pick up its second Truck Series Owner's Championship in its four-year existence. The talented wheelman picked up right where he left off in the 2014 season opener at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway, picking up his first career Truck Series victory at the famed track and becoming the first driver to win in four different series (ARCA, NCWTS, Nationwide and Sprint Cup) there.

Friday's night's SFP 250 at Kansas Speedway will be an event full of firsts. It will be the first race under the lights at the Midwest venue and the first race for the newly remodeled trucks on a 1.5-mile track. The driver of the No. 51 ToyotaCare Tundra will set his sights on being the first one to cross the finish line and become the 14th different winner in 14 races.

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

Are you hoping to have a more uneventful Truck Series event at Kansas this year?

"Definitely hope things go a lot smoother in the Truck Series race at Kansas this year than last year. The guys on the ToyotaCare Tundra really had to work hard last year with changing motors twice in practice. Even though we lost some practice time because of the engine changes, once we got in the race we had a really fast truck. I had to spin on purpose to avoid some contact early in the race and then drove back through the field and led some laps. Unfortunately, after a round of pit stops, we got taken out by a rookie driving a little too aggressive making a pass and it ended our day - it was disappointing because I felt like we had a truck capable of winning. If you look at last year's race Darrell (Wallace Jr.) and Joey (Coulter) were really fast and had a shot at the win late in the Truck Series race and our Nationwide Series team with Parker (Kligerman) had probably the fastest car in October, so I think we've got some good notes for the new surface at Kansas and a good baseline to go off. Looking forward to getting there this weekend with another fast Tundra and hopefully brining home another victory for everyone at KBM and Toyota."

Eric Phillips, Crew Chief of the No. 51 NCWTS ToyotaCare Tundra:

You had a really fast Nationwide Series car with Parker Kligerman at Kansas last October, are there some things from that setup that you can transfer over to the truck with Kyle this weekend?

"Our Nationwide Series program and the three truck teams worked really well together at the end of last year in sharing information and ideas and all the teams hit their stride at the end of the season -- we won three of the last four Truck Series races and had some of our best runs with the Nationwide car in October and November. What we hit on with our Nationwide car at Kansas in October was something we had been working on with the truck program. There are some things that are different with the car versus the truck, but a lot of the things are the same and that will allow us to unload a Tundra that has a fairly similar setup to what we ran in our Camry in October."

Kyle Busch Motorsports

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