NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Overview:
Event: NextEra Energy 250, Race 1 of 23, 100 Laps – 20/20/60; 250 Miles
Location: Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway (2.5-mile tri-oval)
Date/Broadcast: Feb. 17, 2023, at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR 90
‘Chase’n” Checkers:
Chase Purdy will make his Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) debut behind the wheel of the No. 4 Bama Buggies Silverado in Friday night’s NextEra Energy 250 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway. The 23-year-old driver will be beginning his third full-time season in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and first with KBM. He enters Friday night’s race having totaled five top-10 finishes and 17 laps led across his 52 career Truck Series starts. He posted a career-best sixth-place result in 2021 at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway.
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 Friday 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.
Purdy finished 16th in the Truck Series standings last year 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. He missed the season-opening event at Daytona last year after experiencing a mechanical failure in qualifying prevented the engine in his truck from getting up to full speed and his truck number was not guaranteed in on points. He has one prior start in the Truck Series at the “World Center of Racing,” which came in 2021 when he qualified fourth but saw his event end after an electrical issue sidelined him with nine laps remaining in the race. He finished 21st in his line ARCA Menards Series start at the Florida track, after getting caught up in a lap-87 crash.
The Mississippi native is part of a new-look KBM that will hit the track for the first time Friday night as a Chevrolet team with two full-time entries of its own and a technical alliance on REV Racing’s first-ever entry in the Truck Series. The manufacturer switch aligned with owner-driver Kyle Busch’s signing with Richard Childress Racing for 2023, one of the premier Chevrolet teams in the Cup Series. Across its 13 seasons with Toyota, KBM collected and amazing seven owner’s championships (2010, 2013 – 2017 and 2019), two driver championships (Erik Jones 2015 and Christopher Bell 2017) and a Truck Series-record 98 wins.
Since becoming a full-time entry for KBM in 2015, the No. 4 truck has captured both of KBM’s driver championships and totaled 18 wins with five different drivers. The number has found victory lane for KBM in six of its seven seasons, excluding 2018. John Hunter Nemechek piloted the No. 4 to seven wins in his two seasons behind the wheel before moving into a full-time ride in the NASCAR Xfinity Series for 2023.
Jimmy Villeneuve will be 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 and he was promoted to crew chief five races into the 2016 season. Friday night’s race will be Villeneuve’s first calling the shots for a race at Daytona.
Chase Purdy, Driver Q&A:
Chase Purdy | Daytona International Speedway Preview
How is your comfort level heading into Daytona with a new team?
“I feel pretty comfortable, obviously I’ve done a few speedway races over the course of my career so I kind of know what to expect. Really, its kind of like any other speedway race, you kind of enter into it thinking about survival and being in the right place at the right time. It you can keep the nose on it, by the end of the race you’ll have a shot.”
You ran up front and led laps in the fall at Talladega. Does that give you confidence heading into Friday night?
“Definitely, any time you go some where and can run up front and lead laps it gives you a lot of confidence going into similar type places. So, I don’t see why we can’t do the same thing this year.”
Do you enjoy superspeedway racing?
“Yes and no. I think when you have a good day and keep yourself out of trouble then yes, it’s pretty fun to speedway race. If you get collected in the big one, or something dumb happen and its not even your fault and it’s just a product of what’s around you then it’s not really fun to speedway race.”
Chase Purdy Career Highlights:
- Across 52 career Truck Series starts, has produced 17 laps led and five top-10 finishes. Posted career-best sixth-place result at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway in 2021
- 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-13: The No. 4 Bama Buggies team will unload KBM-13 for Friday’s season-opening race at Daytona. This chassis has led at least one lap in its last seven races, including a race-high 50 laps with John Hunter Nemechek in last year’s Truck Series race at Daytona. KBM owner-driver Kyle Busch captured his organization’s only victory at Daytona with this chassis in the 2014 event.
KBM Notes of Interest:
- KBM drivers have collected one win, three poles, 188 laps led, four top-five and 11 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 17.1 across 34 starts at Daytona. Owner-driver Kyle Busch picked up the team’s lone victory at the 2.5-mile tri-oval in dramatic fashion in the 2014 season opener, finishing .016 seconds ahead of Timothy Peters.
- KBM holds the Craftsman Truck Series records for most career wins (98) 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.
