Kyle Busch: Driver, No. 51 Cessna Toyota
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Overview:
Event: Fr8Auctions 200, Race 4 of 22, 130 Laps – 30/30/70; 200.02 Miles
Location: Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Ga. (1.5-mile quad-oval)
Date/Broadcast: March 20, 2021 at 2:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR 90
Report on ‘Rowdy‘
• Owner-driver Kyle Busch gets behind the wheel of the No. 51 Cessna Tundra Friday night for his second of five NASCAR Camping
World Truck Series starts in 2021. In his first start of the year, Busch was able to rebound from going a lap down after suffering a flat tire in the final stage at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to finish second to KBM teammate John Hunter Nemechek.
• ‘Rowdy’ will also pilot the No. 51 at 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, 1,366 laps led and an average finish of 5.5 in 21 starts with the Cessna and Beechcraft brands adorning his Tundra.
• Busch, the winningest driver in series history, enters Saturday’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.
• Rowdy’s five victories at Atlanta are the most by a Camping World Truck Series driver. He also leads Truck Series drivers in career laps led at Atlanta (516) and top-five finishes (eight). In Truck Series events at Atlanta since 2005, Busch leads all drivers in driver rating (127.9), fastest laps (279) and average running position (3.7). His most recent truck triumph at Atlanta, in the 2019 event, was the 52nd of his career and made him the winningest driver in series history. It was his first win in the Truck Series at Atlanta driving for his own team, his first four victories (2005, 2007, 2008 and 2009) came while driving for Billy Ballew Motorsports.
• As it did for the historic win in 2019, Busch’s Tundra on Saturday will carry associate sponsorship on the lower rear quarter from the Dawsonville, Ga. location of Ballew’s car dealership. You can find the lowest prices on used Cars, Trucks and SUV’s at www.BillyBallewMotorsports.com.
• In addition to his five Camping World Trucks victories at Atlanta, Busch has two Cup Series victories (2008 and 2013) and two triumphs in the NASCAR XFINITY Series (2016 and 2017) at the Georgia track.
• It will be a busy weekend for Busch as he does triple duty at two different tracks on two distinct surfaces. The Las Vegas native will be driving a Dirt Late Model for Double L Motorsports at the Bristol Dirt Nationals at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway on Friday night. After traveling to Atlanta for Saturday’s Camping World Truck Series race, he will return to Bristol for a second night of Dirt Late Model action at Bristol. The 35-year-old driver will conclude his hectic weekend in the Cup Series race at Atlanta on Sunday.
• After three events, the No. 51 team sits sixth in the Camping World Trucks owner standings, 57 tallies behind KBM’s No. 4 team. Busch’s runner-up finish at Las Vegas was the team’s best result this season. Drew Dollar finished 10th in the season-opening event at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway, and Parker Chase, after a solid run, was relegated to a 23rd-place finish 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
What is it like finishing second to one of your KBM drivers?
“At Las Vegas, John Hunter was a little bit better than us at the end of the race and I hate I finished second obviously, but it’s nice to see our Tundras getting used to their full potential and running up front. I’m excited to have John Hunter racing at KBM this year and to have Eric Phillips (crew chief) back on board. I felt like when we were able to make that move over the offseason and pair those two together it was going to be a winning combination. Three races in we’ve already reaped the benefits. They’ve had really fast trucks everywhere they’ve gone early in the season, the first few races they just had some issues that kept them from victory lane. Now that my first race with Mardy (Lindley, crew chief) is under our belts, hopefully we will come out a little bit stronger at Atlanta and get our Cessna Tundra back to victory lane and have the other KBM trucks finish second and third.” Kyle
Busch Camping World Truck Series Career Highlights
• Busch has a total of 156 Camping World Trucks starts and is ranked first in wins (59) and second in laps led (7,321)
• The 35-year-old driver has won 37.8% (59/156) of the NCWTS races he has entered and finished first or second in 55.7% (87/156). He has won multiple races in each of the last eight seasons (2013-2020).
• Busch has a total of 103 top-five and 124 top-10 finishes with an average start of 7.3 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 NCWTS, 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-066: The No. 51 Cessna team will race KBM-066 for Saturday’s Fr8Auctions 200 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The Tundra made three starts last season with Raphael Lessard behind the wheel with a best result of sixth at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway.
KBM-066 Performance Profile:
Starts Wins Average Start Average Finish Laps Led
3 0 12.0 8.0 2
KBM Notes of Interest
• KBM drivers have collected two wins, two poles, 566 laps led, eight top-five and 11 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 12.8 across 23 starts at Atlanta. Busch led a race-high 92 laps en route to victory in the 2019 event, while Christopher Bell became to the first driver under NASCAR’s new format to sweep all three stages of a race after leading 99 of 130 laps en route to victory from the pole in 2017.
• KBM holds the Camping World Truck Series records for most career wins (81) and most wins in a single season (14 in 2014.With his victory at Las Vegas, John Hunter Nemecheck became the 15th different driver to win a Truck Series event for KBM. 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.
