Saturday

Tough Opening Act for Kyle Busch Motorsports

” Kyle Busch, Tayler Malsam Involved in Early Accidents in Camping World Truck Series Race at Daytona”

Date: Feb. 13, 2010

Event: NextEra Energy Resources 250 (Round 1 of 25)

Series: NASCAR Camping World Series

Location: Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway (2.5-mile oval)

Winner: Timothy Peters of Red Horse Racing (Toyota)

KBM Finish: Tayler Malsam (Started 6th, Finished 17th / Running, completed 94 of 100 laps)

Kyle Busch (Started 16th, Finished 22nd / Running, completed 83 of 100 laps)

Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) Logo

The race was the debut event for KBM, which fields the No. 18 Heluva Good!® Toyota Tundra for driver/owner Busch, as well as the No. 56 Toyota Tundra for Malsam. Busch finished 22nd, 17 laps down, while Malsam finished 17th, six laps down.

Busch was the first victim of misfortune as he was caught up in a multi-truck accident in turn three on the very first lap. The No. 18 Heluva Good! Toyota Tundra suffered extensive damage to the right side and Busch was forced to drive to the garage for lengthy repairs, which put him out of contention.

“It’s frustrating,” said Busch, who has more than 60 victories in NASCAR’s top three divisions. “These guys worked all winter long and did everything they could to prepare great trucks. It just shows you how fast that thing was even tore up. We went straight to the front, we led a couple times and that thing was fast. There’s really nothing else I could have done.

“The thing I actually thought about the most was going out there and racing as hard as I could, even though it meant nothing other than to get Heluva Good! some TV time. That’s all I was about. I know it’s frustrating for them because they didn’t get exactly what they wanted, or have a shot to win and get the coverage of that, but hopefully they at least got some TV time so we could get their name and branding out there. We’re trying to sell some more races and I hate that this one was a bad one for them and us. We’ll go on to Atlanta where it matters more about trucks and handling then it does here at Daytona.”

Malsam, in his second full season of Truck Series racing, was in the top-10 for much of the first 30 laps of the 100-lap event, but like Busch, was caught up in a multi-truck accident not of his making in turn three on lap 32.

“I couldn’t see what happened in front of me,” Malsam said. “I saw a truck come over and then the next thing I knew I felt something break in the right front. We had a good Tundra tonight. We were faster than a lot of those trucks. It’s too bad we weren’t in contention at the end. We were good.”

The No. 56 Toyota crew made several repairs throughout the remainder of the race, enabling Malsam to garner a top-20 finish.

Timothy Peters won the NextEra Energy Resources 250 by .068 of a second over Todd Bodine. It was Peters’ second career Camping World Truck Series victory, his first of the season and his first at Daytona.

Dennis Setzer, Jason White and Matt Crafton took spots three through five. The rest of the top-10 consisted of Nelson Piquet, Stacy Compton, Johnny Benson, Donnie Neuenberger and J.J. Yeley.

The race featured seven caution periods for 33 laps, with 14 drivers failing to finish.

While Busch is not running the full Camping World Truck Series schedule, the No. 18 Toyota is competing for the owner’s title, and it is 22nd in points after round 1 of 25. Brian Ickler is driving the events in which Busch does not compete.

Malsam is competing in all 25 races and is 17th in points.

The next event on the Camping World Truck Series schedule is the March 6 Atlanta 200 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The race starts at 1:30 p.m. EST with live coverage provided by SPEED beginning with its pre-race show at 1 p.m.

- True Speed Communication Press Release