Kyle Busch returns to the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series for Thursday night’s Buck Up In Your Truck 225 at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, Kentucky. “Rowdy” will be driving the #18 Toyota Tundra alongside teammates and employees William Byron, Christopher Bell and Daniel Suarez.
The Kyle Busch Motorsports’ foursome of racers looks to reel in the organization’s 51st triumph. Consequently, they would become NASCAR’s Camping World Truck Series winning-est team in the sports history.
Kyle Busch Motorsports has become the top tier team in the NASCAR Truck Series. The journey to the apex of the sport had its share of bumps and setbacks. The very first stumble to the team’s success came before it even arrived at the pavement for the first time.
Their main sponsor Miccosukee, backed out of its agreement to sponsor one of the team’s two hot-rods. Busch was bound to race more than he was originally scheduled in the #18 Tundra Tundra. Furthermore, just seven contests into the team’s inaugural season the second truck went out of commission. Busch’s fellow driver left to turn laps in the Xfinity Series.
Sponsorship for up and coming drivers was hard to come by in the beginning years. Kyle Busch continued to have to fill in behind the wheel more than he intended to when he started the team. It was that option or find other popular drivers to put in the truck to bring some attention to the company.
Kyle Busch managed to claim the team’s first win on April 2, 2010 at Nashville Super Speedway in just the fourth race of the year. The speedster finished out by winning in eight of his 16 starts that season. The success helped Kyle Busch Motorsports become the first team to win an owner’s championship in its debut season since the series started back in 1995.
Kyle Busch Motorsports collected 25 wins from 2010 to 2013. The Las Vegas native was responsible for 19 of them, Denny Hamlin won twice and Kasey Kahne once. Darrell Wallace Jr. arrived at the tail end of the 2013 season. He immediately delivered his historic win at Martinsville Speedway and it marked the start of the evolution of Kyle Busch Motorsports. Busch had dreamed of a team that provided talented young drivers with an opportunity to launch their careers to higher levels.
Although the NASCAR mainstay accounted for 19 of the companies first 25 wins, he also has only 10 of the last 25 wins and also only three in the last 10 races. In the last three campaigns, the team has seen a youthful movement with Kyle Busch just running a handful of contests.
Kyle Busch who guided his machine to the team’s first win in 2010, will now attempt to collect the team’s record breaking 51st victory on Thursday night. The defending NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion knows that this may be his only chance to get it. At the rate his young drivers are winning events, one is likely to get another victory before his next start at Bristol Motor Speedway in August.
Fast forward to 2016. Kyle Busch Motorsports has won five of the nine Camping World Truck Series races, with “Rowdy” finding victory lane in one of his two starts. William Byron leads the series with three victories. Christopher Bell’s triumph at Gateway Motorsports Park also moved the team into a tie with Roush Fenway Racing on the all-time wins list with 50.
If your thinking about betting against the reigning and defending Sprint Cup champion behind the wheel of a truck, you might want to reconsider. Kyle Busch won here in the Camping World Truck Series in 2011 and duplicated it again in the 2014. He’s also won here once in the Xfinity Series in 2004 and twice in the Sprint Cup Series. Busch’s most recent victory was in a cup car in last years main event.
The track may have been changed and a lot of it’s old intricacies removed but nobody adapts better than Kyle Busch. The venue should provide even more speed than the previous set-up which bodes well for a driver that has found victory lane in the truck series already this year. The veteran’s biggest challenge may very well come from employees that will be competing against him on Thursday night.
Kyle Busch’s Results At Kentucky Speedway:
|
Date
|
Start
|
Finish
|
Laps
|
Status
|
Laps Led
|
|
6/26/14
|
1
|
1
|
150/150
|
Running
|
91
|
|
6/27/13
|
6
|
3
|
150/150
|
Running
|
42
|
|
7/7/11
|
8
|
1
|
152/152
|
Running
|
61
|
|
9/3/10
|
4
|
7
|
150/150
|
Running
|
73
|
|
7/19/08
|
2
|
6
|
150/150
|
Running
|
43
|
