Kyle Busch: Driver, No. 51 Cessna Toyota
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Overview:
Event: Bucked Up 200, Race 3 of 22, 134 Laps – 30/30/74; 201 Miles
Location: Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway (1.5-mile tri-oval)
Date/Broadcast: March 5, 2021 at 9 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR 90
The Report on ‘Rowdy’:
- Owner-driver Kyle Busch gets behind the wheel of the No. 51 Cessna Tundra Friday night for his first of five NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts in 2021. Busch will also pilot the No. 51 at Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway (March 20), Richmond (Va.) Raceway (April 17), Kansas Speedway in Kansas City (May 1) and Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pa. (June 26). Since Textron Aviation became a partner in 2017, Busch has recorded 12 victories, 1,350 laps led and an average finish of 5.7 in 20 starts with the Cessna and Beechcraft brands adorning his Tundra.
- Busch, the winningest driver in series history, enters Friday’s event having won 38.1% (59/155) of the Truck Series races he has entered and finished first or second in 55.5% (86/155). He has won multiple races in each of the last eight seasons (2013-2020). The talented wheelman in recent years had scored a victory at every active NASCAR Camping World Truck Series venue that he had made a start at, but with Richmond being added to the schedule this year he will need to win there to keep that stat intact. He’s made two starts at Richmond (2001 and 2005), with a best finish of 22nd.
- The Las Vegas native has won the last three spring Camping World Truck Series events at his hometown track (2018-2020), leading a combined 43.5% (175/402) of the total laps in those races. More impressively, Busch has won each of those races with a different crew chief. Mike Hillman Jr. was atop the pit box for his first Truck Series win at Las Vegas in 2018, Rudy Fugle called the shots in 2019 and Danny Stockman led the No. 51 team to victory last year. In addition to his three truck wins at Las Vegas, the 35-year-old driver has two XFINITY Series triumphs (2016 and 2019), and a Cup Series win (2009) at the 1.5-mile tri-oval.
- ‘Rowdy’ will have the chance to make it four Camping World Trucks victories in a row at Las Vegas with four different crew chiefs on Friday night. Mardy Lindley is in his first season as a crew chief at Kyle Busch Motorsports. Lindley has guided his drivers to 32 wins and four ARCA Menards Series East championships since 2013, including back-to-back titles with Sam Mayer the last two seasons. Additionally, he earned the ARCA Menards Series Sioux Chief Showdown championship with Mayer in 2020. Friday night’s race will be the first time that Lindley has called the shots for a Camping World Trucks event on a mile-and-a-half track.
- Busch’s three career wins at Las Vegas are the most by a Camping World Truck Series driver. His 273 laps led at the Nevada track rank third, behind Jack Sprague (298) and Ron Hornaday Jr. (282).
- After two events, the No. 51 team sits 17th in the Camping World Trucks owner standings. Drew Dollar finished 10th in the season opener at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway and Parker Chase was 23rd at the Daytona Road Course.
- For more than 90 years, Textron Aviation Inc., a Textron Inc. company, has empowered our collective talent across the Beechcraft, Cessna, and Hawker brands to design and deliver the best aviation experience for our customers. With a range that includes everything from business jets, turboprops, and high-performance pistons, to special mission, military trainer and defense products, Textron Aviation has the most versatile and comprehensive aviation product portfolio in the world and a workforce that has produced more than half of all general aviation aircraft worldwide. Customers in more than 170 countries rely on our legendary performance, reliability, and versatility, along with our trusted global customer service network, for affordable and flexible flight. For more information, visit www.txtav.com.
Kyle Busch, Driver Q&A:
Are you looking forward to your five races in the Camping World Truck Series this year?
“Competing in the Truck Series in my own equipment is something I really enjoy doing, and as long as I’m allowed to race and my name is on the door, I’ll be running as many as I possibly can. Marcus (Lemonis) and all the folks at Camping World have really done a great job to promote the series over the years and have a lot of cool incentives on the line this year for the drivers and teams. Competition wise, the racing is as good as it has ever been — it is not as easy as everyone thinks it is to go out there and win races on a consistent basis. This if our fifth year partnering with Textron Aviation and having the Cessna logo on the hood of my Tundra for my Truck Series races. It has been a really successful partnership — we’ve been able to get them to victory lane multiple times in each of the first four seasons. Our goal this year is to go out there and be a perfect five for five like we were able to do a couple years ago.”
Talk about working with a new crew chief in trucks this year.
“I’m looking forward to working with Mardy (Lindley, crew chief) and the guys he’s put together on the No. 51 team this year. Mardy came onboard at KBM at the end of last year just before the Snowball Derby, so we brought him along to the Derby to observe down there in an effort to get a head start on things knowing that he was going to be my crew chief for the truck races this year. He was able to sit in on all our post practice debriefs down there and listen in on the radio during practice and the race to get a feel for my communication and my terminology. I think without having any practice on Friday, that little bit of being around each other at track will be very beneficial. He’s won a lot of races in K&N and ARCA with several different drivers, and I’m confident that he’ll be able to continue those winning ways here at KBM. I’ve been to victory lane in the Truck Series at Las Vegas with three different crew chiefs the last three years, so I’m looking forward to the opportunity to keep that streak alive with a fourth different crew chief Friday night and at the same time hopefully add another victory to my resume at my hometown track.”
Kyle Busch Camping World Truck Series Career Highlights:
- Busch has a total of 155 Camping World Trucks starts and is ranked first in wins (59) and second in laps led (7,305)
- The 35-year-old driver has won 38.1% (59/155) of the NCWTS races he has entered and finished first or second in 55.5% (86/155). He has won multiple races in each of the last eight seasons (2013-2020).
- Busch has a total of 102 top-five and 123 top-10 finishes with an average start of 7.1 and an average finish of 6.8.
- Busch stands alone as the leader in all-time career wins in NASCAR’s national touring series with 213 total victories. He has earned 57 NASCAR Cup Series wins, 97 NASCAR XFINITY Series wins, and 59 NGROTS wins.
- In August of 2010, Busch made history when he won the NGROTS, NXS and NCS races at Bristol Motor Speedway, becoming the only driver to sweep all three of NASCAR’s top three series at one track on the same weekend. He then repeated the feat in August of 2017.
Kyle Busch’s No. 51 Cessna Tundra:
KBM-069: The No. 51 Cessna team will unload KBM-069 for Friday’s Bucked Up 200 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Chandler Smith finished third at Phoenix Raceway last November in the Tundra’s maiden voyage.
KBM Notes of Interest:
- KBM drivers have collected four wins, four poles, 12 top-five and 19 top-10 finishes across 36 starts at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. They have earned a collective average starting position of 7.9 an average finish of 12.2 and have led 540 laps.
- Erik Jones won the 2014 event while owner-driver Kyle Busch won in the spring of 2018, 2019 and 2020.
- KBM holds the Camping World Truck Series records for most career wins (80) and most wins in a single season (14 in 2014). In addition to collecting a series-record seven Owner’s Championships, the organization has produced two championship-winning drivers: Erik Jones (2015) and Christopher Bell (2017).
- With 34 victories, the No. 51 is the winningest number in KBM’s Truck Series fleet.
