Chase Purdy: Driver, No. 4 Bama Buggies Chevrolet
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Overview:
Event: Heart of America 200, Race 8 of 23, 134 Laps – 30/30/74; 201 Miles
Location: Kansas Speedway (1.5-mile tri-oval)
Date/Broadcast: May 6, 2023, at 8 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR 90
‘Chase’n Checkers:
Despite being only seven races into the 2023 season, Chase Purdy enters Saturday’s race at Kanas Speedway having already produced a career-high four top-10 finishes and having achieved a career-best runner-up finish earlier this year at Texas Motor Speedway. Purdy currently ranks 10th in the Craftsman Truck Series point standings, 127 tallies behind points leader Ty Majeski. With nine races remaining before the playoffs begin, the 23-year-old driver sits 11th on the playoff grid, 11 points below the cutoff line.
Across five prior Truck Series starts at Kansas, Purdy has recorded an average finish of 17.6. His best result was a 10th-place finish in July of 2020. In last year’s spring race, he finished 13th for Hattori Racing Enterprises, while John Hunter Nemechek won the pole and led a race-high 88 laps en route to victory for the No. 4 team driving the truck that Purdy will pilot on Saturday, KBM-56.
The Mississippi native is in his third full-time season in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and first with KBM. He enters Saturday’s race having totaled one top-five, nine top-10 finishes, and 18 laps led across his 59 career Truck Series starts. Purdy finished 16th in the Truck Series final standings in 2022 after competing in 22 of the 23 events. He posted two top-10 finishes and nine laps led, with a season-best finish of seventh coming at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway in October.
Purdy will be trying to etch his mark in the KBM historical archives this weekend at Kansas as he looks to collect the organization’s 100th NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory. KBM-owner driver Kyle Busch collected KBM’s record-extending 99th-career victory with his dominant victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway earlier this year leaving his organization one shy of the century mark. William Byron collected KBM’s record-breaking 51st Truck Series victory in July of 2016. Overall, 18 different drivers have won at least one race behind the wheel of a KBM truck, led by Busch’s 47. Four drivers rank second on the list with seven victories: Byron, Christopher Bell, Erik Jones and John Hunter Nemechek. Six of KBM’s wins have come at Kansas.
Jimmy Villeneuve is atop the pit box for Purdy and the No. 4 Chevrolet team this season. Prior to being promoted to crew chief for the 2023 season, Villeneuve served as a Truck Chief at KBM since the 2017 season and in that role was a part of 18 wins, a driver’s championship with Christopher Bell in 2017 and the 2019 owner’s championship with the No. 51 team. Prior to joining KBM the New Hampshire native served as a truck chief at Athenian Motorsports in 2015 when the team won with John Wes Townley at Las Vegas. He was promoted to crew chief five races into the 2016 season. Saturday’s race will be Villeneuve’s first atop the pit box at Kansas.
Bama Buggies, your one-stop shop for all the biggest names in powersports and utility vehicles, will be the primary sponsor on Purdy’s No. 4 Chevrolet Saturday and for the majority of the events on the 2023 schedule. They are Central Alabama’s powersports experts, serving as an authorized dealer of Polaris, Slingshot, and Seadoo.
Chase Purdy, Driver Q&A:
You have as many top-10 finishes already this year as you did combined the two seasons before coming to KBM. What has been the key to your success?
“Obviously I have more experience, but I think that it’s the people that I’ve been around and the team I’m with. Everybody can go out and buy the same parts and pieces, but it’s the people that put it together that make it go fast and everyone at KBM has done a really great job of bringing me a fast Bama Buggies Silverado each week. They’ve given me the opportunity to finally go out and show what I feel I have the talent and the ability to do. I think I’m finally in a position where I get to showcase what I can do, and I think that the best is yet to come.”
Kyle Busch, Owner Q&A:
Talk about Chase Purdy’s development over the first third of the season.
“Yeah, I have been excited about that. With Chase, and Jack (Wood) and (Nick) Sanchez, they all had a shot to win Atlanta. They were all running up front in the top three, top four. It was really cool, and I was hoping we were going to get into victory lane, but unfortunately circumstances just didn’t work out there at the end on that last lap. Purdy has done a good job. He went to Vegas and was smooth and consistent and ran in the top 10. Texas was a little more of a struggle where he ran 10th to 12th but finished second. Where Sanchez was dominating that race, leading that race. So, there are still some things we can work on to help those guys be better and get better. Top 10s are great, but being up front and contending for wins is what it’s all about and where he wants to be. I know he has been working hard at that. Him and Jimmy Villeneuve (crew chief), they have built a good working relationship thus far. It’s exciting to see that as well as all the drivers and crew chiefs at our place. It’s going real well.”
Chase Purdy Career Highlights:
- Across 59 career Truck Series starts, has produced 18 laps led, one top-five and nine top-10 finishes. posted a career-best runner-up finish at Texas Motor Speedway in April of 2023.
- Finished 16th in Truck Series championship standings in 2022.
- Finished fourth in the 2018 ARCA Menard’s Series championship standings after recording 84 laps led, 10 top-five and 14 top-10 finishes.
- Earned the 2017 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East rookie of the year honors and finished fourth in the championship standings after posting four poles, 200 laps led, five top-five and eight top-10 finishes across 14 starts.
- Won the prestigious Snowflake 100 Pro Late Model race at 5 Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Fla., in Dec. of 2018.
Chase Purdy’s No. 4 Chevrolet Silverado RST:
KBM-56: The No. 4 Bama Buggies team will unload KBM-56 for Saturday’s race at Kansas. This chassis has two career victories across 17 starts, most recently with John Hunter Nemechek at Kansas Speedway last September. Nemechek also won with KBM-56 at Pocono Raceway in June of 2021. Earlier this year, Purdy earned an eighth-place result with this Silverado at Las Vegas Motor Speedway earlier this year.
KBM-56 Performance Profile:
KBM Notes of Interest:
- KBM drivers have collected six wins, six poles, 717 laps led, 17 top-five and 29 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 9.6 across 43 starts at Kansas. John Hunter Nemechek scored the organization’s most recent triumph at Kansas, capturing the pole and leading a race-high 88 laps en route to victory last September. Owner-driver Kyle Busch has collected three wins at Kansas (2014, 2017 and 2021). Noah Gragson led a race-high 128 laps and swept all three stages in the 2018 event and William Byron earned his first career Craftsman Trucks victory there in 2016.
- KBM holds the Craftsman Truck Series records for most career wins (99) and most wins in a single season (14 in 2014). With his victory at Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway last year, Corey Heim became the 18th 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).
- The No. 4 has 18 career victories at KBM and was the number for both of the organization’s driver championships.
