Chase Purdy: Driver, No. 4 Bama Buggies Chevrolet
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Overview:
Event: UNOH 200, Race 20 of 23, 200 Laps- 55/55/90; 106.6 Miles
Location: Bristol Motor Speedway (0.533-mile oval)
Date/Broadcast: Sept. 14, 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 Bristol Motor Speedway for Thursday night’s UNOH 200. The 23-year-old driver is looking to close out his debut season with KBM strong to gain momentum towards a championship run in 2024. Last week at Kansas Speedway, Purdy earned his first career pole and finished the opening stage in the second position before a loose wheel early in Stage Two forced him to pit road and when he returned to the track had gone a lap down. The end result would be a disappointing 14th-place finish.
The Mississippi native has gained two positions in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series point standings over the last two races and now ranks 11th, which is the highest that a non-playoff driver can finish. Purdy entered the 2022 season having never earned a top-five result in Truck Series action but has produced two across 19 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.
Purdy is in his third full-time season in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and first with KBM. He 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.
Across two Truck Series starts at Bristol, Purdy has an average finish of 30.0, but has produced an average running position of 19.05. He finished 12th in the 2017 NASCAR K&N East Series race at the half-mile oval in 2017 and scored a ninth-place finish in the CARS Pro Late Model Tour race there the same year.
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 Bristol. He earned a 10th-place finish with John Wes Townley in the 2016 event.
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 Thursday night 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:
Even though you didn’t get the result you wanted, does showing speed last week at Kansas build confidence?
“I think some of the struggles I’ve had this year have been from some of my execution. We showed up for practice and we were fast in practice and the fastest one in qualifying and sat on the pole. Those are the kind of things that we’ve had to improve on, and we did a good job of that at Kansas. We’re hoping to bring that same pace and execution to Bristol.”
Do you enjoy racing at Bristol?
“Yeah, it’s a really neat place to go race. We had a lot of speed this past weekend at Kansas and the weekend before at Milwaukee. We’re hoping to bring that same speed into Bristol, a high-banked short track, more of my wheelhouse. Like I’ve mentioned before, Kansas and Bristol are two of my favorites. I’m really excited to get there and get a little redemption after our weekend in Kansas and have a race where we execute as a team to our capability and reach our full potential. It seems like we are a little bit snake bitten with our luck and the weeks that our Bama Buggies Silverado is really fast we have something go wrong like it did last week with the loose wheel. I’m just excited to get to Bristol.”
What does it take to be fast at Bristol
“Well, if it’s anything like last year, I feel like the driver who qualifies up front and can wrap the bottom the best is going to be the one to beat there. It’s so hard to pass there, so qualifying is very crucial. Track position will be everything this weekend.”
Chase Purdy Career Highlights:
- Across 71 career Truck Series starts, has produced one pole, 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. Earned first career pole in September of 2023 at Kansas Speedway.
- 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-58: The No. 4 Bama Buggies team will unload KBM-58 for Thursday night’s race at Bristol Motor Speedway. This Silverado raced most recently with Purdy at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, where he brought home a 14th-place finish. John Hunter Nemechek raced this truck three times in 2022, with a best result of second coming at Richmond Raceway. In 2021, Nemechek piloted KBM-58 to three wins: Charlotte Motor Speedway, Richmond Raceway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway. KBM-58 has recorded four career wins, three with Nemechek in 2021 and one with owner-driver Kyle Busch at Charlotte in 2019.
Click Here for KBM-58 Performance Profile:
KBM Notes of Interest:
- KBM drivers have collected four wins, five poles, 628 laps led, 11 top-five and 18 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 12.5 across 34 starts at Bristol. Owner-driver Kyle Busch collected the first three of his organization’s victories at the half-mile oval, winning the Craftsman Truck Series race as a part of his historic Bristol Sweeps in 2010 and 2017 and he also won the 2013 event. Chandler Smith picked up the organization’s most recent win in 2022.
- 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.
