| Aside from NASCAR’s biggest events like the Daytona 500 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway and the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a win at the hometown racetrack is high on the priority list for most Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series drivers. Las Vegas native Kyle Busch crossed off an all-important one in in 2009 in just his fifth NASCAR Cup Series start at his hometown Las Vegas Motor Speedway, site of Sunday’s Pennzoil 400. This weekend, he looks to bring home career Cup Series win No. 52 as he closes in on 200 overall wins in NASCAR’s top three series combined. The driver of the No. 18 M&M’S Chocolate Bar Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) and 2002 honors graduate of Durango High School in Las Vegas would like to double his number of Cup Series wins at the desert track after having brought home that emotional first win there 10 years ago. Driving the yellow M&M’S Toyota that day, Busch qualified on the pole but was forced to start at the rear of the field because the team needed to change engines during Friday practice. Unfazed, Busch remained patient on race day as he and the M&M’S team worked their way to the front of the field by the 54th lap. Busch went on to lead three times for 51 laps en route to claiming what he called at the time the biggest win of his young career. This year, well before he competes in Sunday’s Cup Series headline event in the M&M’S Chocolate Bar Camry, Busch will have his sights set on “hitting triples” as he is entered in all three NASCAR national series races at Las Vegas, starting with Friday night’s Gander Outdoors Truck Series race and Saturday’s Xfinity Series race. He’s swept all three races in the same weekend twice in his career, both times at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway – in 2010 and 2017 – but he’d like nothing more than to pull off a weekend sweep at his hometown track. While Busch has 2016 Xfinity Series and 2018 Truck Series wins to go with his 2009 Cup Series win on the 1.5-mile Las Vegas oval, he already was no stranger to winning on Las Vegas Motor Speedway property. From 1999 to 2001, he earned more than 65 wins in Legends cars while racking up two track championships at the facility’s “Bullring,” which existed for several years before the NASCAR oval was built. When Busch moved up to Late Model Stock cars, his winning ways continued with 10 victories at the Bullring in 2001. The Las Vegas native will be sporting an M&M’S Chocolate Bar scheme on his No. 18 Toyota for the second time this season. The new permanent addition to the brand’s iconic candy lineup will be highlighted Sunday just miles from the Las Vegas strip. The M&M’S Chocolate Bar consists of smooth milk chocolate with whole M&M’S® Minis visible in a large bar and is available nationwide in five flavors: Peanut, Milk Chocolate, Crispy, Almond and Crispy Mint. So as Busch returns to Las Vegas this weekend, the only thing that would be sweeter than winning his first Cup Series race there would be winning would be to “hit triples” by adding more Vegas trophies to his extensive collection of hardware and bring home the first win in the M&M’S Chocolate Bar scheme. KYLE BUSCH, Driver of the No. 18 M&M’S Chocolate Bar Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing: What would it mean to you to take home multiple checkered flags home this weekend? “It would certainly be special to win there. I love going out to Las Vegas. You want to win any weekend, but especially when it’s in your hometown and you remember this track being built from the ground up and the hole being dug in which it sits right now. I was able to win in the Truck Series there last year for the first time and hope we can keep the momentum from last year and win again and, of course, win Xfinity and win Cup. I’ve been close to a lot of Xfinity wins there and I’ve only been able to close out one, and Cup wins we haven’t quite been as great. I’ve just never been on the newer surface. On the old surface, I’d finish second or third every time I went there. It would certainly be special to close it out and to win a triple in your hometown. That would be pretty awesome. Even though we tested out there back in January, there are just a lot of unknowns about the package this weekend. Things changed even from the start of the test until the end of it and I’m expecting it to evolve during the weekend and who knows what it will be like when you have all 40 cars on the track at one time. Hoping we can be one of the first to figure things out and bring home a win with our M&M’S Chocolate Bar Camry.” How much does your body go through running a triple-race weekend? “We have a busy early part of the season with triples at Vegas and at Texas, and running all the Xfinity races on the West Coast and also the Trucks at Martinsville, so it’s going to be a busy month of March for myself and all my guys. At least I’m getting it all out of the way early in the season when your body’s a little bit fresher. Certainly, you’ve got to take care of it. This week would be nice to kind of chill out and relax a little bit and take it easy, but you eat well and try to get some workouts in when you can. Not too hard. Obviously, you’ve got to let your body recuperate and stuff like that, so that’s kind of what my strategy is.” Is there more pressure racing at your hometown track? “Yeah, Vegas always means a little bit more pressure – more pressure on myself – just because it’s the hometown and you want to win there. Thankfully, I have won there and I’ve knocked that one off the list, but certainly you want to win there every year. I love Vegas, the atmosphere and everything going on around that place. We’ve run up front there the last couple of years, so I would like to get our M&M’S Chocolate Bar Camry back in victory lane there.” What was it like to bring home a Cup Series win in your hometown in 2009? “It was cool. To go out there and to run a smooth race and to have a shot at winning at the end of the race, that’s what it’s all about. I watched Vegas being built from the ground up, and I remember when it wasn’t anything but a gleam in the eye of Richie Clyne (founder of Las Vegas Motor Speedway) – all those guys who made that place happen.” Having grown up in Las Vegas, do you still have a lot of friends in the area? Do you get a lot of ticket requests from friends and family?“ I get a lot of ticket requests for California, Vegas and Phoenix – all the West Coast stops that we run. It’s kind of hard to fulfill all of them, but we try when we can. We get to go to M&M’S World on the (Las Vegas) Strip to sign some autographs on Thursday, so I’m looking forward to seeing some of the hometown fans there, as well.” What is your fondest racing memory of growing up in Las Vegas? “My fondest racing memory is probably my first Late Model race. I started about eighth or 10th and ended up winning it. My first-ever start, I won. So that is definitely a great memory to have.” M&M’S Chocolate Bar RacingRace 3 of 36 – Pennzoil 400 – Las Vegas Motor SpeedwayCar No.: 18 M&M’S Chocolate Bar Toyota Camry Teammates: Denny Hamlin – No. 11 Toyota Camry; Daniel Suarez – No. 19 Toyota Camry; Erik Jones – No. 20 Toyota Camry. At-Track PR Contact: Bill Janitz, True Speed Communication (704-875-3388 ext. 803 or Bill.Janitz@TrueSpeedCommunication.com). |
| Primary Team Members: Driver: Kyle Busch Hometown: Las Vegas Crew Chief: Adam Stevens Hometown: Portsmouth, Ohio Car Chief: Nate Bellows Hometown: Fairfax, Vermont Race Engineer: Tyler Allen Hometown: Seattle, Washington Engine Specialist: Mike Johnson Hometown: Bozeman, Montana Spotter: Tony Hirschman Hometown: Northampton, Pennsylvania Over-The-Wall Crew Members: Gas Man: Matt Tyrrell Hometown: Fort Lauderdale, Florida Front Tire Changer: Cam Waugh Hometown: Johnstown, Colorado Jackman: T.J. Ford Hometown: Charlotte, North Carolina Tire Carrier: Joe Crossen Hometown: Salisbury, North Carolina Rear Tire Changer: Jeff Cordero Hometown: Salem, Connecticut Road Crew Members: Truck Drivers: Brendan Greene and Jamie Price Hometowns: Midland, North Carolina, and Choteau, Montana, respectively Tire Specialist: Jon Desrocher Hometown: Plattsburgh, New York Mechanic: Wesley Lape Hometown: Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania Race Engineer: William Hartman Hometown: Laingsburg, Michigan Ride and Handling Engineer: Chris Chase Hometown: Nichols, New York Rear End Mechanic: Chris Jones Hometown: Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia Interior Mechanic: Todd Foster Hometown: Birmingham, Alabama |
| Notes of Interest: The Pennzoil 400 will mark Kyle Busch’s 501st career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series start and his 16th NASCAR Cup Series start at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Busch has career totals of 51 wins, 31 poles, 183 top-five finishes, 270 top-10s and 15,887 laps led in 500 career Cup Series races. His most recent Cup Series win came in November at ISM Raceway near Phoenix. Busch’s most recent pole, the 30th of his career, came in October at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. Busch has one win, six top-five finishes and eight top-10s and has led a total of 241 laps in 15 career Cup Series starts at Las Vegas. Busch’s average Las Vegas finish is 12.9. 51 Career Cup Series Wins: With his Cup Series win at Phoenix in November, the 51st points-paying win of his career, Busch surpassed NASCAR Hall of Famers Ned Jarrett and Junior Johnson to now sit all alone in 11th on the all-time wins list. Next up for Busch on the list is Lee Petty, who had 54 wins during his Hall of Fame career. With his 40th Cup Series victory at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway in August 2017, Busch became the fourth-youngest driver to reach 40 Cup Series wins at 32 years, 109 days, behind only Richard Petty, Jeff Gordon and Herb Thomas. All 23: With his win at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway last May, Busch has now won a Cup Series race at all 23 tracks at which the series competes, becoming the first driver in the modern era to win at every track where he has made at least one start. Of the 23 different tracks where Busch has won, he has multiple wins at 13 of them. All-Time JGR Wins Leader: With his Brickyard 400 win in July 2016, Busch passed Tony Stewart for most all-time Cup Series wins for JGR. Busch now has 47 wins for JGR to Stewart’s 33 following his most recent win at Phoenix, along with besting Stewart’s Cup Series career win total. 195 and Counting: Busch enters Las Vegas with 195 career wins among NASCAR’s top three divisions – Cup (51), Xfinity (92) and Truck (52) – following his Gander Outdoors Truck Series win last weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway. TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK! |
