KYLE BUSCH NO. 18 NOS ENERGY CHARGED CITRUS TOYOTA TUNDRA
N.C. EDUCATION LOTTERY 200 PREVIEW
RACE: N.C. Education Lottery 200
TRACK: Charlotte Motor Speedway
PRIMARY SPONSOR: NOS Energy Charged Citrus
ASSOCIATE SPONSORS: Toyota, Flexco, M&M’s, Dollar General
PRIMARY CHASSIS: KBM-8
BACKUP CHASSIS: KBM-4
MOTORS: Triad Racing Technologies
BROADCAST: Friday, May 20 – 8:00 p.m. ET SPEED/MRN/Sirius NASCAR 90
KYLE BUSCH AND KBM CONTINUE TO LEAD THE CHARGE HEADING TO CHARLOTTE
Defending N.C. Education Lottery 200 winner Kyle Busch will be looking for his third consecutive NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) victory and fourth of the 2011 season Friday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The driver of the No. 18 NOS Energy Charged Citrus Toyota has led more than half of the laps in each of last two truck series races this season en route to victories at Nashville Superspeedway and Dover International Speedway.
Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) drivers have won four of the six NCWTS races this season and lead the chase for the owners’ championship by 49 points. Including the last four races of 2010, the driver of the KBM Toyota has driven into victory lane seven times in the last 10 races.
KBM AND SPEEDWAY CHILDREN’S CHARITIES TO HONOR ZAHRA BAKER
KBM and Speedway Children’s Charities will pay remembrance to Zahra Baker, the 10-year-old from Hickory, N.C. that was tragically murdered last September, during Friday’s race. Zahra’s name and picture will adorn the area above the passenger side window of Kyle Busch’s No. 18 Toyota and Charlotte Motor Speedway will observe a moment of silence in her honor before the start of the race. One of the last times that Zahra was seen in public was at the Starkey Hearing Foundation “Get in Gear to Help Children Hear” event hosted by Speedway Children’s Charities at Charlotte Motor Speedway last May. She was one of 75 underprivileged children and adults throughout the Carolinas that were given the gift of hearing at the event.
KYLE BUSCH NCWTS @ CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY
* Captured the pole and led a race-high 69 laps en route to victory in last year’s N.C. Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway (5/21/10)
* Career leader in NCWTS races at CMS in wins (3), laps led (328) and is tied with Ron Hornaday Jr. for most top-5 finishes (4)
* Has captured the pole for each of the last three NCWTS races @ CMS
* Ranks first among NCWTS drivers over the last six races at CMS in driver rating (129.3), average finish (4.0), laps led (328) and green flag passes (215)
KYLE BUSCH 2011 NCWTS
* Ranks first in the NCWTS in driver rating (133.1), average finish (2.0), laps led (439), fastest laps run (199), and average running position (4.7)
* Enters this weekend on heels of back-to-back NCWTS victories; Dover International Speedway (5/13/11) and Nashville Superspeedway (4/22/11)
* Led the final 107 laps of the Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix International Raceway en route to first victory of 2011 season (2/25/11)
* In the four races he has entered since Daytona, has led 442 of the 750 combined laps (59%)
* Has recorded top-five finishes in each of the last 11 NCWTS he has entered, including six wins and three runner-up finishes
KYLE BUSCH MOTORSPORTS NO. 18 TOYOTA TUNDRA
* Lead the 2011 NCWTS Owner Point Standings by 49 points over the ThorSport’s No. 88
* Aiming to become the first team to win back-to-back owners’ titles since 2003 (No. 16 Steve Coulter 2002 and 2003)
* Rank first in the NCWTS in wins (4), top 5′s (6), laps led (534) and fastest laps run (256)
* Only team in NCWTS to finish in the top 5 in all six races this season
* Have registered 11 consecutive top-five and 16 consecutive top-10 finishes; including ten wins and three runner-up finishes
* In 2010 became the first team since the NCWTS originated in 1995 to win the owners’ championship in its inaugural season
KYLE BUSCH NCWTS CAREER
* Has won 30% of the NCWTS races he has entered and finished first or second in 48.8%
* One of 10 drivers in NASCAR history to lead over 20,000 laps among the top-three series
* Reached 25th win in NCWTS faster than any driver in the history of NASCAR’s top three divisions, attaining the milestone in just his 87th career series start
* Youngest driver (20 years, 18 days) in NCWTS history to win a race (Quaker Steak & Lube 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on 5/20/05)
* Has at least one NCWTS victory in each of the last seven seasons and multiple victories in each of the last five
* 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 7.1 ranks first among active drivers with 10 or more career starts
* Ranks fourth in NCWTS history in wins (27), seventh in poles (11), ninth in top 5′s (53) and 15th in top 10′s (70)
* Tied with Mark Martin for fifth in All-Time Combined National Series Wins (96)
KYLE BUSCH EXCITED ABOUT RACING AT HIS FAVORITE TRACK
“Before I got started in NASCAR, I grew up watching what use to be The Winston and is now the All-Star race on television. That was always the most exciting race to watch and Charlotte quickly became my favorite track. Running under the lights is always a lot of fun. It’s a unique track. Turns one and two are far different from turns three and four and that seems to be a challenge for a lot of drivers. They don’t understand what it takes to be fast. I’ve been pretty successful in all three series. I’m looking forward to trying to get my first win in the All-Star race and trying to continue the tradition of winning in the truck and Nationwide Series car.”
KYLE BUSCH ON UNLOADING WITH A FAST TRUCK
“I think behind Rick and Eric’s leadership our guys do a really good job of preparing the trucks at the shop. They really pay attention to detail and put their best effort into building and maintaining quality Toyota Tundras. We unload with a fast truck and don’t have to spend practice searching for speed. When you can do that, it seems to make everything go a lot smoother.”
CREW CHIEF ERIC PHILLIPS ON PREPARING A NEW TOYOTA TUNDRA
“We’ll be racing a brand new Toyota Tundra Friday night, KBM-8. It was a tough decision not to bring KBM-4 which has six wins in eight races on the intermediate tracks, but if you keep racing the same stuff every weekend and you’re not trying to get better eventually that will catch up with you. This truck is similar to KBM-7 which was the new truck we won with at Phoenix in February. In building these new trucks, we really worked hard on making the trucks lighter and lowering the center of gravity height. We’re looking forward to getting Kyle’s feedback after practice on Friday and seeing how we did.”
- Kyle Busch Motorsports Press Release
