Chris Knight has served as Assistant News Editor, Director of Driver Communications and Senior Staff writer for Catchfence.com since 2001. In his 11 years with Catchfence.com, Knight has covered and posted daily news and press releases for the NASCAR Nationwide Series, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, ARCA Racing Series and "Other" Series for Catchfence.com. In addition to his active duties at Catchfence.com, The 28-year old also served as the Manager of Operations and Communications for Sheltra Motorsports and driver Patrick Sheltra in the ARCA Racing Series presented by RE/MAX for five years including their championship season in 2010. Currently, Knight is the President of Knight Motorsports Management, which oversees a variety of clients in all racing divisions including ARCA, NASCAR and USAR.
Over his first 99 career starts, the 26-year-old has quickly established himself as one of the most prolific drivers in the history of the Truck Series. Busch’s 30 wins rank second on the all-time series wins list. Additionally, he ranks fourth all-time with 4,120 laps led, is tied for sixth with 12 poles and ranks ninth with 59 top-five finishes.
On Aug. 3, 2001, at the age of 16, the Las Vegas native made his Truck Series debut at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis. After starting from the 23rd spot, Busch raced his way to a ninth-place finish in his first, of 574 – and counting – career starts among NASCAR’s top three divisions. He made five more Truck Series starts in 2001, highlighted by a near victory in his second series start, two top-five qualifying efforts and in what turned out to be his sixth and final start of the season, a second top-10 finish.
Busch was scheduled to make a seventh start that season, the maximum allowed – at the time – by NASCAR for a driver under the age of 18 in their first season, at the series finale at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif. The young driver was the fastest in practice for the Auto Club 200, but due to circumstances beyond his control, was unable to qualify or race his No. 99 truck. The then 16-year-old was ejected from the track by CART officials because the American Racing Wheels 200 was part of a CART weekend featuring the Marlboro 500 CART FedEx Championship Series event. Marlboro threw Busch out of the garage because of an interpretation of the Master Settlement Agreement of 1998, prohibiting persons under the age of 18 in participating in events sponsored by tobacco companies.
Shortly after the Auto Club Speedway incident, NASCAR – whose title sponsor at the time was also a tobacco company – enacted a minimum age requirement for the 2002 season, which forced Busch to put his NASCAR career on hold until his 18th birthday.
After spending two seasons honing his skills in the American Speed Association, Busch returned to NASCAR upon turning 18 in May of 2003. He registered three top-10 finishes in seven Nationwide Series races that season, but did not make a Truck Series start.
Busch returned to the Truck Series for one start in 2004 and in 2005 began running several Truck Series races each season alongside his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule. In his first Truck Series start of 2005, at the age of 20 years and 18 days, he became the youngest driver in series history to earn a victory when he won the Quaker Steak & Lube 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. In the next race at Dover International Speedway, he made it back-to-back victories and added his third career victory later that season at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Since scoring his first victory in 2005, Busch has won at least once each season and has scored multiple victories in each of the last five seasons.
In December of 2009, Busch entered the ownership ranks of the Truck Series when he announced that Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) would field a pair of entries for the 2010 season. With its owner behind the wheel for a series-leading eight wins in 2010, KBM’s No. 18 Tundra became the first team to win a Truck Series owners’ championship in their inaugural season since the series originated in 1995.
Entering this weekend’s race, Busch, the driver, has registered a series-leading six wins in 14 Truck Series starts this season while Busch, the owner, has tallied seven victories.
With no signs of slowing down, on or off the track, Kyle Busch – the owner and the driver – plans to keep on truckin’.
Other notable Truck Series highlights for Busch include:
- Has won 30.3% of the NCWTS races he has entered and finished first or second in 48.5%.
- Reached 25th win in NCWTS faster than any driver in the history of NASCAR’s top three series, attaining the milestone in just his 87th career start.
- 119.6 career driver rating entering the 2011 season is the highest accumulated by a NCWTS driver since the stat was introduced in 2005.
- Average career finish of 7.2 ranks first among active drivers with 50 or more career starts in the NCWTS.
What does the Truck Series mean to Kyle Busch?
“I love the Truck Series. I think it’s one of the best forms of racing we have in NASCAR. It’s definitely brought some excitement to the series over time with ESPN2 back in the 90s and of course with Speed Channel being the broadcast partner that we’ve had for the last few seasons. They’ve done a wonderful job for us. It’s definitely been a great series to run in, to be involved in, to win some races in and to now be owning a race team in the series is definitely great for myself and for all the people at Kyle Busch Motorsports that are employed there and that we can give jobs to and put food on the table for their families.
Without the sponsorships and without the strong partnerships that we have there, we wouldn’t be here and be doing what we do. We have to thank all those people with Dollar General, Flexco, Joy Mining Machinery, NOS Energy Drink, Traxxas, Toyota and I’m sure there are some that I am forgetting — forgive me.. It takes all of those people to stand behind you that can make your program successful and that you can build it.”
Eric Phillips, Crew Chief of the No. 18 NCWTS Toyota Certified Used Vehicles Tundra:
What is the reason that tandem drafting hasn’t trickled down to the Truck Series?
“It’s a combination of a few different things. Probably the most obvious reason is that the bumpers on the trucks don’t line up as well as they do on the cars. Another reason is that most of the drivers in the Truck Series don’t have the same experience that the Nationwide and Cup guys do on the superspeedways and haven’t had the opportunity to tandem draft. The tandem drafting snuck up on people and we weren’t really prepared for it last year at Talladega — or this year at Daytona. Not only do the driver’s not have the experience, the teams in the Truck Series aren’t as experienced because we only run on the big tracks twice a year. Our staffs are smaller and we don’t have the time or resources to put into the research that is needed to prepare the trucks for the physical demand that the tandem drafting puts on the chassis and the motors. I think this weekend you’ll see a little bit more of two trucks working together to try and gain an advantage, but nothing like in the Cup Series where they are able to do it lap after lap.”
Kyle Busch’s No. 18 Toyota Certified Used Vehicles Tundra:
Chassis KBM-F59: Chassis KBM-F59 is the same chassis that Busch used to squeeze past Aric Almirola on the last lap of last year’s Truck Series race at Talladega. The Tundra has been on the track once this season, registering a fifth-place finish in the season-opening race at Daytona.
Kyle Busch @ Talladega:
- Two-time defending winner of the Truck Series race at Talladega and has registered three top-three finishes in four career NCWTS starts.
- .002-second win over Aric Almirola in 2010 Mountain Dew 250 at Talladega Superspeedway was the closest margin of victory using electronic scoring in NCWTS history (10/30/10).
- Won the 2011 Aaron’s 312 NASCAR Nationwide Series race (4/16/11).
- Won the 2008 Aaron’s 499 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race (4/27/08).
Kyle Busch 2011 Camping World Truck Series:
- In 14 starts this season, has won a series-leading six races (Phoenix, Nashville, Dover, Charlotte, Kentucky, New Hampshire) and is tied with Ron Hornaday Jr. for the series lead with 11 top-five finishes
- Ranks first among NCWTS drivers in Laps Led (703), Miles Led (782.41), Fastest Laps Run (325), Fastest Early in a Run (3.250 rank), Fastest Late in a Run (3.083 rank) and Green Flag Speed (2.50 rank)
Kyle Busch Motorsports and the No. 18 Toyota Certified Used Vehicles Tundra:
- Trails KHI’s No. 2 team by 73 points in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) owners’ point standings.
- Ranks first in the NCWTS in wins (7) and second in laps led (809), fastest laps run (390) and top-five finishes (14).
- Since joining the NCWTS in 2010, the team has compiled 15 wins in 46 races.
- Crew chief Eric Phillips ranks first among active crew chiefs with 25 career NCWTS wins and General Manager Rick Ren’s 27 wins as a crew chief are the most in the history of the NCWTS.
- In 2010 became the first team since the NCWTS originated in 1995 to win the owners’ championship in its inaugural season.
7-Year-Old Annabelle Lacy “Riding Shotgun with Kyle Busch Motorsports” for Saturday’s race:
7-year-old Annabelle Lacy from Odenville, Ala., was selected the winner of the “Riding Shotgun with Kyle Busch Motorsports” essay contest for Talladega Superspeedway. Lacy’s name and picture will adorn the area above the passenger side window of the No. 18 Toyota Certified Used Vehicles Tundra for the Coca-Cola 250 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race Saturday, Oct. 22. Lacy and her family will have the opportunity to attend Saturday’s event compliments of Talladega Superspeedway and will get the chance to meet Busch on the starting grid prior to the race.
- Kyle Busch Motorsports Press Release
