FANTASY NASCAR Racin

KYLE BUSCH - 05/02/1985 -
Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes full time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, and the NASCAR late model series. KBM was founded after Busch purchased the remaining assets of Xpress Motorsports from J.B. Scott (father of driver Brian Scott) in late 2009 as well as purchasing trucks from Roush Fenway Racing, which had closed its Truck team the previous year. As of 2016 Kyle Busch Motorsports has worked as a 'farm team' for Joe Gibbs Racing. Bringing in young talent and giving them a place to show what they can do. Usually if a driver performs well he ends up with a seat in the CUP series driving for the Gibbs team. KBM currently receives engines and technical support from Joe Gibbs Racing Rick Ren, the crew chief on Ron Hornaday Jr.'s 2009 championship team, would be signed as the team's competition director. Busch had competed in the truck series for the 2008 and 2009 seasons in the #51 for Billy Ballew Motorsports with Miccosukee Indian Gaming as his primary sponsor, and had split the ride with Brian Ickler the previous year. Busch brought Ickler to the KBM stable, and signed Tayler Malsam away from Randy Moss Motorsports after he finished second in series Rookie of the Year standings to former Cup and Busch/Nationwide driver Johnny Sauter. The team ambitiously planned to run three trucks in its debut season: Busch and Ickler would split the primary truck (No. 18), Malsam was to drive a second truck for KBM, the #56 ActivWater/Talking Rain Tundra, and a third was to be fielded for 2008 series champion Johnny Benson if sponsorship could be found. The Miccosukee sponsorship was to carry over to Busch's primary truck

as part of an agreement with Phoenix Racing. On February 7, however, the Miccosukee tribe's new leadership pulled out of NASCAR altogether, leaving Busch's team and Phoenix's Cup and Nationwide series teams without sponsorship. Benson would also be limited to a part-time schedule with KBM and Ballew, and Malsam's team ceased operations after only seven races. After operating out of the former Xpress shop for most of its first season, the team opened its new $10 million facility in Mooresville, North Carolina on October 14, 2010. In 2011, KBM made its first foray into the then-Nationwide Series (now Xfinity Series) in conjunction with NEMCO Motorsports. The team moved to full-time in 2013; with Parker Klingerman piloting it to a ninth place finish in the points with a best finish of

third that season. On November 16, 2013, Busch announced that the team will not race in the Xfinity Series in 2014 due to lack of funding and as of 2017 has not raced since. The Truck series ownership situation played out like this: The #18 truck (Kyle Busch's Sprint Cup Series number), the primary entry of KBM during their debut 2010 season, with Kyle Busch running a partial schedule and Brian Ickler running non-companion races. The team would lose its Miccosukee sponsorship prior to the season, replaced by Toyota, M&M's, Interstate Batteries, Dollar General, and Traxxas. In the first seven races of the season, Busch made five starts and won twice, while Ickler finished in the top ten both of his starts. KBM lost Ickler in May when he was signed by Roush Fenway Racing to drive its #6 and #16 Xfinity Series cars on a part-time basis as

Automotive Service Excellence, winning at Darlington. Josh Richards drove two races with Joy Mining Equipment. Kyle Busch scored 6 wins over the course of the season. In April 2011, KBM signed the2007 Formula One World Champion Kimi Räikkönen to run a limited schedule in the Camping World Truck Series. Räikkönen and Busch planned three to five races beginning at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May. The efforts were sponsored by Perky Jerky, and the team used the owners points of Billy Ballew Motorsports' 15 team. In his debut, Räikkönen started 31st but finished a solid 15th. The deal ended due to lack of sponsorship beyond the Charlotte race. Also in 2011, NASCAR Corona Series champion Germán Quiroga made

his first Truck Series start in the #51 with Telcel as a sponsor at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in the New England 175. Quiroga finished a solid 16th, but three laps down. He would run the truck again in the season finale' at Homestead, finishing 26th. The number 51 was chosen as a tribute to both the late Bobby Hamilton and the film Days of Thunder. In July 2012, the team announced that Quiroga would return to the #51 truck for four races: Talladega, Texas, Phoenix, and Homestead; with sponsorship from Net10 Wireless. Denny Hamlin drove the truck at Martinsville Speedway on October 27, 2012 with sponsorship from Toyota and earned Kyle Busch

Motorsports their first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series win of the 2012 season. Meanwhile, veteran Jason Leffler was signed to be the primary driver of the #18 Toyota Tundra. The team secured sponsorship from Dollar General for 14 races. After nine starts and with a lone top-five finish to his credit, Leffler was released. Finishing the season in the truck were Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Brian Scott, Denny Hamlin, Drew Herring, Kyle Busch , and Kurt Busch. Kyle Busch had previously abstained from driving in the Truck Series per a request from JGR co-owner J.D. Gibbs, following an incident the previous season. Scott scored the team's only other wins of the season at Phoenix. Kyle Busch didn't win a race for the first time in his Truck Series career. For 2013, Busch hired former

Richard Childress Racing driver Joey Coulter to drive the #18. Coulter and Busch had a previous on-track altercation in 2011, leading to a physical encounter between Busch and team owner Richard Childress. Coulter struggled, with only five top tens and a 15th-place points finish. With Coulter moving to GMS Racing, the #18 team did not run in 2014 or 2015. Also in 2013, the #51 became a full-time team, with owner Kyle Busch running 11 races. 16-year-old driver Erik Jones ran 5 races, while Scott Bloomquist ran the Mudsummer Classic at Eldora. On November 8, 2013, Jones

won the Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix International Raceway, the youngest winner of a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at 17 years, 5 months, and 9 days. Busch would go on to win the season finale Ford EcoBoost 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway the next week. The #51 would win the 2013 Camping World Truck Series owner's title, barely edging the ThorSport Racing #88 team of driver's champion Matt Crafton. It was the second owner's championship for Kyle Busch Motorsports. A third team truck driven by Joe Gibbs Racing development driver Darrell "Bubba" Wallace, Jr. ran the full season in the #54 Toyota with sponsorship from ToyotaCare and Camping World/Good Sam Club. Wallace won his first race at Martinsville Speedway in the Kroger 200, and would finish 8th in points. In 2014, Wallace ran his second full-

time season in the #54. In June, Wallace won the Drivin' for Linemen 200 at Gateway Motorsports Park. Three weeks later, he battled Kyle Larson and Ron Hornaday, Jr. for the win at Eldora Speedway. Wallace, Jr. held off a hard charging Larson, who wrecked his car trying to catch him, and beat Hornaday by a 5.489-second margin to win the second annual Mudsummer Classic. Wallace switched to the #34 for the Kroger 200 at Martinsville in tribute to Wendell Scott, and led the most laps en route to his second straight victory in the race. Wallace won his final race with KBM, the season finale at Homestead Miami Speedway, beating Larson again to earn his first non-short track victory. Wallace's four wins along with nine top fives and 14 top tens led to a third-place finish in points. Kyle Busch

and Erik Jones split the #51 truck, with Busch at the controls for 10 races and Jones driving 12 races. Eric Phillips served as the crew chief. Busch won the season-opener at Daytona along with his next four starts in the #51 truck at Kansas, Charlotte, Dover, and Kentucky. Erik Jones won at Iowa, Las Vegas and Phoenix. The team won its second consecutive owner's championship, with 10 wins among the two drivers. Former ARCA Racing Series rookie of the year and Joe Gibbs Racing development driver Justin Boston signed to run the full 2015 season in the #54. After nine races and while sitting 12th in the points

standings, Boston left the team. Initial reports stated that Boston and KBM parted ways due to lack of performance and requests for internal changes by Boston not being met. A later report, however, stated that KBM released Boston due to sponsor Zloop breaching its agreement with the team. The company had initially signed on to be the primary sponsor, but only appeared in two races. KBM would later sue Boston and Zloop (owned by Boston's father) for $4.025 million in defaulted payments. Boston was replaced by Toyota development driver Christopher Bell at

Kentucky, where he was involved in a crash. In his next start, however, Bell battled with rookie Bobby Pierce at Eldora Speedway and won the race after a green-white-checkered finish. It was the second consecutive Eldora win for the #54 team. Bell also shared a ride with Kyle Busch and Joe Gibbs Racing Xfinity driver Daniel Suarez in the #51 vehicle. Busch drove the truck at Pocono, Michigan, and New Hampshire, winning at Pocono and Michigan. Bell scored a top five finish in his debut at Iowa Speedway. Erik Jones was given a full time ride in the third team truck; and before the years end KBM would field a fourth team truck with William Byron at the wheel. When 2016 rolled around KBM had a stout line-up of drivers; but everyone was surprised by the rookie William Byron. With

sponsorship from Liberty University Byron won in only his fourth start of the season and by the 13th start, had captured his fifth win of the season breaking Kurt Busch's old record for wins by a rookie Truck Series driver, with nearly half the season left to go. William would continue to win collecting a sixth win at New Hampshire in the first race of the chase for the championship. The team suffered an engine failure with ten laps to go at the last race of the Round of 6 at Phoenix after William Byron lead majority of the race costing him his shot at the Drivers Championship. However William won the season finale at Homestead and Kyle Busch Motorsports collected the Owner's Championship for Truck #9 in 2016. This was Kyle Busch

Motorsport's fourth-consecutive and fifth all-time NASCAR Camping World Truck Series owner championship. Christopher Bell ran the full season in the #4 machine posting a win and nine top five finishes. He ended up third in the points. The #18 truck's driving duties was once again sharing among a few drivers; Kyle Busch drove four times; winning twice. Daniel Suarez drove 13 times posting one win, and the truck was also driven by Cody Coughlin, and Erik Jones among others. In 2017 Noah Gragson drove the full season wheeling the #18 machine while Christopher Bell drove the #4 full time. The #51 was split among several drivers Kyle Busch, Myatt Snider and Harrison Burton. Bell would win five times and claim the 2017 Truck Championship. Busch would claim three wins in seven starts. Gragson would also claim one win. As

driving Busch's trucks. In all twelve different drivers took turns in Busch's truck with only Todd Gilliland and Noah Gragson racing full time. In 75 starts in 2018, his drivers produced three wins and 24 Top 5's and 49 Top 10's. Kyle himself claimed two of the wins as he made five starts. The other win went to Gragson, who won at Kansas. The results for some of his other drivers included Harrison Burton who had eight starts and six Top 10's; Christian Eckes had only four starts and posted three Top 10's; and Todd Gilliland made 19 starts and had nine Top 10's. Gilliland was only able to make 19 starts due to NASCAR's age restrictions. Along with his win, Gragson would qualify

the #18 Toyota for the Chase championship race at Miami. He ran a good race running up front all night. He finished second in both stages; but in the end Brett Moffitt got his truck hooked up and won the race and the Championship. Gragson ended up third in the race; and second in the points. Gragson is leaving to go to JR Motorsports to fill the seat left by a retiring Elliott Sadler. Kyle Busch Motorsports continued to field competitive teams in 2019. Kyle himself led the charge starting five races in the Truck series and winning all five times. Greg Biffle also came out of retirement and ran one race for KBM and he too parked the truck in victory lane. All in all, his trucks; with various

drivers made 75 starts and had 30 Top 5 finishes. Up and comer Chandler Smith made his Truck Series debut and ran four races. He placed in the Top 5 on three occasions with a second; third and fourth place finish. His other start he finished eighth. Certainly a driver to watch for in the future. Brandon Jones made five starts and finished second twice. Kyle's main horses were Harrison Burton and Todd Gilliland who were the two drivers who raced the whole season to compete for the championship. Both drivers struggled with leading and both seemed to crash for no reason. Busch even threatened to replace them if they didn't step up their performance. Finally Gilliland

Xfinity series in 2020 to drive for Joe Gibbs Racing. Gilliland moved to the #38 owned by Bob Jenkins and replaced John Hunter Nemechek who move to the Cup Series full time. In 2020; Busch himself ran five Truck Series races. He won three of the five events; and supplied truck full time for two drivers. Christian Eckes drove the #18 and had three second place finishes. One of them at Texas where only Kyle Busch out ran him. For the season he had seven Top 5 finishes and eleven Top 10's. Up and coming Canadian rookie Raphael Lessard also raced full time; and claimed a win in 2020. Lessard started off slow learning the truck and their set-ups and the new tracks he was racing on. He only had four Top 10 finishes

in the season opening ten races. He posted him first Top 10 at Michigan; and the first Top 5 the next race. He grabbed a win at Talladega and finished 12th in the points. The #51 truck saw four different drivers split driving duties for the year. Alex Tagliani, and Riley Herbst drive one race each. While Brandon Jones drove four races and Chandler Smith run 12 events. Jones snagged a win at Pocono. Meanwhile, Smith got off to a slow start with only two Top 20 finishes in his first six starts. Then it seems like he flipped the switch and finishes the last six races with every finish but one inside the Top 5. In 2021 John Hunter

Nemechek replaced Lessard in the #4 vehicle. Eckes was back to drive the #18; while the #51 was a split of drivers much like it was in 2020. Nemechek would run well all season; even beating his boss, Kyle Busch, on a couple occasions to get a win. For the year Nemechek won five times, including a span of three wins within four races. He ran well in the Chase and made it to the final race to have a shot at the Championship. However, they never seemed to find the set up in that final race and he ended up seventh in the race and third in the points. Smith also had as good season as he grabbed a win at Bristol. He advanced threw the Chase nicely, but was eliminated right before the Championship race. It was unfortunate because, in that race he had a great truck and won the

vehicles in 2022, and it was suspected we'd see various drivers in the #51 again. KMB once again fielded three full time teams in the Truck Series. One was a ride for John Hunter Nemechek; another was for Chandler Smith; and the final one was split between Busch himself, Buddy Kofoid, and Corey Heim. Nemechek would go to victory lane twice with wins at Darlington and Kansas. He had ten top five finishes. Smith added three wins. They came at Las Vegas, Pocono and Richmond. He had nine top five finishes and finished third in season points. Kyle Busch run five events and won at Sonoma. He had four top fives, and finished all his starts in the top ten. Corey Heim would win at Atlanta in a thriller; making a last second pass to get his first win. He won again at Gateway and had six top five finishes for the season. Buddy Kofoid raced the two

races on the dirt tracks and finished 27th and 11th. For the year, the KBM organization made 69 starts and won eight times. Perhaps the biggest news for the KBM group came off the track. Since Busch had drivers a Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Cup series; he had always worked with Toyota and used their vehicles in the Truck series. M&M's made an announcement they were getting out of racing at the end of 2022; and JGR was going to have to come up with a new sponsor for Busch for 2023. The season progressed along, and no information was forthcoming as to who would fill that void. About mid-season Tyler Reddick announced he would be leaving Richard Childress Racing at the end of 2024, to go drive for

23XI Racing. Childress was upset because he was not given any prior notification before the announcement. At Pocono, Kurt Busch sustained a concussion in qualifying and would end up setting out the rest of the season. As the season was winding down; Kyle Busch made an agreement with RCR to drive the #8 car for him in 2023. Childress assured Reddick he would field a third car for him in 2023. This caused a major problem with the KBM truck race organization. Since Busch was going to RCR and would be driving Chevrolets; he couldn't very well field Toyota's in the Truck Series. So, Busch announced he would field Chevy's for 2023 which caused a ripple all through the truck garage. Suddenly teams were looking to align with Toyota to fill the void left by KBM. David Gilliland Racing changed their name to TRICON Garage and

swapped to racing Toyotas. Corey Heim moved to drive for TRICON and left KBM. Busch picked up Chase Purdy to drive the #4 truck full time in 2023. Busch split time in the #51 with Jack Wood and the #18 truck team shut down. To date as a car owner KBM has saw his drivers start 67 races in the Xfinity series and have one win. KBM's "specialty" seems to be the Truck Series where he has supplied trucks for his drivers to make 822 starts and has 100 wins and 297 Top 5's. His drivers have 479 top ten finishes. He also has two owners championships in the trucks - Eric Jones in 2015 and Christopher Bell in 2017. Of the 100 Truck series wins, Kyle Busch himself has accounted for 48of them. Some info from Wikipedia