Kyle Busch will get two shots at first Martinsville win this weekend

Busch, who has never won at Martinsville in any of NASCAR’s three national series – Sprint Cup, Xfinity or Trucks – will make his season debut in a Kyle Busch Motorsports Truck entry in Saturday’s Alpha Energy Solutions 250 race.

Busch, the reigning Cup series champion, has not competed in a Truck event at Martinsville since the 2011 season, when he finished second in the fall race.

Saturday’s race is the first of four Truck races Busch plans to run this season in the No. 18 Toyota. The others are May 20 at Charlotte, July 7 at Kentucky and Aug. 17 at Bristol, Tenn.

“With having a couple of young guys driving for us at KBM this year it will be a great opportunity to work alongside of them as a teammate. It’s a lot easier to answer any questions they might have when you are actually in the truck at the same time and experiencing some of the same things, as opposed to giving them direction based on your past experiences,” Busch said.

“It will be especially helpful this weekend, since I haven’t raced in a Truck Series race at Martinsville since 2011. The last two or three times that I did race the trucks at Martinsville we came really close to getting a win and collecting a grandfather clock – hopefully we can finish it off this time.”

Busch ranks first all-time among Truck Series drivers in average finish (6.9) and his 44 wins rank second all-time to Ron Hornaday (51). Busch, 30, has finished first or second in 51.9 percent (67/129) of the Truck races he’s entered.

William Byron and Christopher Bell run fulltime in the Truck series for KBM. The No. 51 team also competes fulltime in the series with a variety of drivers. The No. 18 truck runs a partial schedule – right now it’s scheduled for six races this season.