Kyle Busch tackling new Kansas surface with winning Camry

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (Oct. 16, 2012) - There are two things that Kyle Busch looks forward to in this weekend's Kansas Lottery 300 NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) race. One, a newly paved surface on the 1.5-mile oval, where Busch has seven series starts which have yielded one win and four top-five finishes. Two, the opportunity to drive on the new track surface with one of Kyle Busch Motorsports' (KBM) best fleet cars, chassis #009, that earned the 27-year-old owner his first taste of victory, with older brother Kurt Busch as driver of the No. 54 at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway. With more track banking and a fast race car, Busch and team will work hard for the right setup in the Monster Energy Camry, to strive for that elusive season win together.

Following the 2012 spring events at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, NASCAR and track officials conducted a repaving project on portions of the intermediate-size race track, changing the oval from 15 degrees of uniform banking to 20 degrees of variable banking in the track turns. "It's just a matter of trying to figure it out," described Busch after visiting the track, close to the Missouri-Kansas state line, in April. He continued, "Once you kind of get it figured out or get the right situations lined up, you can have a shot. I look at this place a lot like Michigan. That's a place where I struggled for a long time, but we finally were able to break through there for a win last year."

Busch has tasted victory at Kansas in NASCAR's second tier of competition, winning the 2007 event. Additionally, he has two runner-up finishes (2010, 2009) and a pair of third-place runs (2010, 2006). Breaking through for a win this year, with his own NNS crew would be special and the KBM Monster Energy team believe they have the car and driver to do it.

Kyle Busch, Driver of the No. 54 NASCAR Nationwide Series Monster Energy Camry:

You have run well on intermediate tracks lately with the No. 54 team - do you feel prepared for Kansas this week? "We are taking one of our best cars this week, the one that Kurt (Busch, brother) won with in Richmond, and that's had some top-fives since then. Hopefully we can dial it in again for the new track surface. Our intermediate-track program has progressed over the season, we've been competitive, just need those last few tweaks to be there at the end. We'll have a test session there before regular practice, so plenty of time to work with Mike (Beam, crew chief) and the guys to get it where we like it."

Mike Beam, Crew Chief of the No. 54 NASCAR Nationwide Series Monster Energy Camry:

What are your goals for the Kansas event this week with Kyle? "Hopefully we can get a much needed win for the sponsor Monster Energy, for KBM, and to win a race with Kyle to keep his streak going. We are trying everything there is, to do this; we just need to put it all together."

How will you approach it considering the repave? "Going to Kansas with the new pavement will allow us to get in some valuable test time. We have a lot of test items to go through and still have time to work on our race and qualifying set ups. We are taking chassis #009 to Kansas and this car has always run well for us."

Kyle Busch's No. 54 Monster Energy Camry: Chassis KBM-009: KBM will unload car #009, the team's winning chassis from Richmond (Va.) International Raceway, earlier in the season with Kurt Busch. This car, considered one of the best in the No. 54 fleet, has raced four subsequent events with both Kurt and Kyle Busch, running at Iowa Speedway in Newton, twice (fifth-place and 17th place), Indianapolis (Ind.) Motor Speedway (22nd-place) and most recently returning to Richmond International Raceway for a third-place finish. The backup machine is Chassis KBM-007, regularly traveled as a second team car.

Source: Kyle Busch Motorsports