UNOH 225 Preview
RACE:
UNOH 225TRACK: Kentucky Speedway
PRIMARY SPONSOR: Dollar General
ASSOCIATE SPONSORS: Toyota, Flexco, M&M’s
PRIMARY CHASSIS: KBM-4
BACKUP CHASSIS: X-128
MOTORS: Triad Racing Technologies
BROADCAST: Thursday, July 7 – 8:00 p.m. ET SPEED/MRN/Sirius XM NASCAR 90
KYLE BUSCH HOPING TO INTRODUCE KENTUCKY FANS TO HIS VERSION OF THE TRIFECTA
With legendary Churchill Downs located just over an hour away, many fans attending NASCAR races at Kentucky Speedway are probably familiar with the term trifecta. Kyle Busch is hoping to introduce those fans to his version of the trifecta — the version which doesn’t include any second or third-place finishes. The 26-year old, who last August at Bristol Motor Speedway became the first driver to win races in NASCAR’s top three divisions in the same weekend, will begin his try at the Kentucky Speedway trifecta driving the No. 18 Dollar General Toyota in Thursday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series UNOH 225. The Las Vegas native, who figures to be one of the favorites in all three races this weekend, has visited victory lane at the 1.5-mile paved oval twice in his career, winning the ARCA Racing Series Channel 5 205 in 2004 and the NASCAR Nationwide Series Meijer 250 in 2005.
6-YEAR-OLD BRADLEY BUMPAS “RIDING SHOTGUN WITH KYLE BUSCH MOTORSPORTS”
6-year-old Bradley Bumpas from Elizabethtown, Ky. was recently selected as the winner of the “Riding Shotgun with Kyle Busch Motorsports” essay contest for Kentucky Speedway. Bumpas’ essay was chosen among submissions from children age 5-12 that live in areas surrounding Kentucky Speedway. The youngster’s name and picture will adorn the area above the passenger side window of Kyle Busch’s No. 18 Dollar General Toyota for Thursday’s UNOH 225.
KYLE BUSCH @ KENTUCKY SPEEDWAY
* Led a race-high 73 laps and finished fourth in the 2010 NCWTS Built Ford Tough 225 (9/3/10)
* Started second, led 43 laps and finished sixth in the 2008 NCWTS Built Ford Tough 225 (7/19/08)
* Ranks first among NCWTS drivers over the last six races at Kentucky Speedway with a Driver Rating of 119.7 and 38.7% laps led
* Ranks first among drivers entered in the UNOH 225 in career laps led (116) and fastest laps (65)
* In his first NASCAR Nationwide Series start at Kentucky Speedway, led the final three laps of the 2004 Meijer 300 en route to victory (6/19/04)
* Won the 2003 Channel 5 205 ARCA Racing Series race and led 91 of the 137 laps
KYLE BUSCH 2011 NCWTS
* Ranks first in the NCWTS in driver rating (128.3), average finish (2.4), laps led (446), miles led (465.78), percent of laps led (38.6), fastest laps run (211), average running position (5.1), fastest early in run (3.2), fastest late in run (3.4), fastest on restarts (3.8), green flag speed (2.5) and speed in traffic (3.5)
* Has won four races in seven starts and registered six top-five finishes
* Had a three-race winning streak snapped when he finished sixth in the O’Reilly Auto Parts 250 at Kansas (Charlotte Motor Speedway, Dover International Speedway and Nashville Superspeedway)
* Has recorded top-10 finishes in each of the last 19 NCWTS races he has entered, collecting 11 wins, four runner-up finishes and an average finish of 2.1 over that span
KYLE BUSCH MOTORSPORTS NO. 18 TOYOTA TUNDRA
* Leads the 2011 NCWTS Owner Point Standings by 47 points over KHI’s No. 2
* Aiming to become the first team to win back-to-back owners’ titles since 2003 (No. 16 Steve Coulter 2002 and 2003)
* Ranks first in the NCWTS in wins (5), top 5s (8), laps led (541) and fastest laps run (268)
* Has registered 19 consecutive top-10 finishes including 11 wins and three runner-up finishes
* Only team in NCWTS to have completed all 1,134 laps this season
* 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 30.4% of the NCWTS races he has entered and finished first or second in 48.9%
* Tied with Dale Earnhardt and Darrell Waltrip for third in All-Time Combined National Series with 97
* Tied with Mike Skinner and Jack Sprague for second in NCWTS history with 28 wins
* Tied for seventh in NCWTS history in poles (11), 11th in top 5s (54) and 15th in top 10s (72)
* 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
“Any time that NASCAR has a tripleheader at the same truck, you know that I have my eyes on winning all three races. With the Sprint Cup Series racing at Kentucky for the first time, it gives me another shot at a trifecta. I’ve had some success at Kentucky in the past — I’ve won in both the ARCA and Nationwide Series. Last year the Dollar General Tundra was the dominant truck for most of the night until the race was decided by fuel strategy. I think we’ll have a good shot at getting the weekend started with a win in the truck and been one of the contenders in both the Nationwide race on Friday and the Cup race Saturday. It should be a great atmosphere, they have had great crowds for the truck and Nationwide Series races in the past and the Cup race is already a sellout. Hopefully, we can make it a memorable weekend!”
KYLE BUSCH ON RACING AT KENTUCKY SPEEDWAY
“I couldn’t expect anything but some good, hard racing. Kentucky is a fast race track. There’s a lot of sweeping corners there so you’ve really got to keep your momentum going and it’s a big momentum-type race track. There’s a lot of throttle on time there. You carry a lot of good speed, but yet the place is really wide so you’ve got room for maneuverability. You can run the bottom. It seemed like you can run the middle. I don’t know how great the top will be, but we’ll have to see once we get there and what kind of tire we’re on.”
ERIC PHILLIPS ON WHAT HAS BEEN GOING ON AT KBM SINCE LAST RACE
“Despite not racing in three weeks, it’s been pretty busy at KBM. We were able to get to the wind tunnel a couple times and worked on a few things to try and make our trucks better. We also went to The Milwaukee Mile for a two-day test with Josh Richards. Josh got to make some laps in a truck and I think it went very well. It should definitely help prepare him for his debut in the No. 15 Tundra at Kentucky and we’re looking forward to his debut in our No. 18 Tundra at Nashville.
ERIC PHILLIPS ON PRIMARY TRUCK SELECTION
“Our primary truck for this weekend will be KBM-4. It’s raced nine times and has won six races including Darlington and Nashville this year. Brian Ickler finished fourth with it at Texas. The truck came home from Texas with a little cosmetic damage, so we fixed it up and took it in the wind tunnel last week.”
- Kyle Busch Motorsports Press Release
