Chase Purdy: Driver, No. 4 Bama Buggies Chevrolet
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Overview:
Event: Kansas Lottery 200, Race 19 of 23, 134 laps – 30/30/74; 201 Miles
Location: Kansas Speedway (1.5-mile tri-oval)
Date/Broadcast: Sept. 8, 2023, at 9 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR 90
‘Chase’n Wins:
Chase Purdy and the No. 4 Bama Buggies team head to the Kansas Speedway for Friday night’s Kansas Lottery 200. Purdy qualified third for the May race at Kansas and went on to finish the opening stanza fifth and Stage Two in the eighth position. After being in the back of the field via strategy just past the halfway point of the race, he got caught up in a five-truck accident that ended his night and relegated him to a disappointing 33rd-place finish. Overall, across six career starts at the 1.5-mile tri-oval, Purdy has recorded an average finish of 20.2, with a best result of 10th in July of 2020.
Purdy is coming off a solid outing at the Milwaukee Mile in the Truck Series’ last stop, where he qualified seventh and finished sixth. With that finish, he gained one position in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver point standings. The 23-year-old driver now ranks 12th, nine tallies behind 11th-place Tanner Gray. The 23 year-old driver entered the 2022 season having never earned a top-five result in Truck Series action but has produced two across 18 races in his first season at KBM, including a career-best runner-up finish at Texas Motor Speedway in April. He has also produced a career-high eight top-10 finishes this season, after posting just two each in 2021 and 2022.
The Mississippi native is in his third full-time season in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and first with KBM. 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 Superspeedway in October.
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 had 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. This will be Villeneuve’s second race calling the shots for a race at Kansas. He qualified third and finished 33rd with Purdy earlier this year in his first trip to Kansas as a crew chief.
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 Sunday 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.
As part of the Martin Truex Jr. Foundation’s Honor A Cancer Hero Program, Purdy’s truck will carry the names of Libby Hall and Sara MacPherson on his Silverado Friday night at Kansas.
Chase Purdy, Driver Q&A:
Will going back to Kansas for a second race be beneficial to you?
“I think it’s exciting for all of us on the No. 4 team and everyone at KBM because we had a lot of speed there the first time. We were set for a really solid day — probably one of our more solid days. I thought we had a chance to win that race and then we just had some misfortune happen and bad luck. I’m really excited to get back there and have high expectations. We have nothing to lose and were only chasing wins so we’re going to do whatever we can to do that.”
Coming off a solid outing at Milwaukee, does that reinvigorate confidence in you?
“It does, it’s not only good for me but all the guys on this No. 4 team. All of us do our part to do the best we can and when we have a result like that, it resembles the hard work we put in. When we have a good day at the racetrack it puts momentum back on our side and we’re all really excited to go to Kansas.”
Do you enjoy racing at Kansas?
“I do. I think it’s fun from a driver’s point of view and from a spectator perspective because of the different lanes you can run. Most places you go to only have a lane or two to work with, but Kansas is like five lanes wide so there’s just a whole bunch to work around. You can really go anywhere and race with anybody, so it makes the racing exciting, and you don’t feel as handicapped.”
Chase Purdy Career Highlights:
- Across 70 career Truck Series starts, has produced 20 laps led, two top-five and 13 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-79: The No. 4 Bama Buggies team will unload KBM-79 for Friday night’s race at Kansas Speedway. This Silverado made its debut at Pocono Raceway, where Purdy qualified 10th and finished 18th.
KBM Notes of Interest:
- KBM drivers have collected six wins, six poles, 816 laps led, 17 top-five and 30 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 10.0 across 45 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 (100) and most wins in a single season (14 in 2014). KBM owner-driver Kyle Busch picked up his organization’s first-ever win at Nashville Superspeedway in April of 2010 and also picked up its 100th Truck Series victory at Pocono Raceway in July of 2023. 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.
