NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Overview
Event: Buckle Up In Your Truck 225 (Race 13 of 23), 150 Laps – 35/35/80; 225 Miles
Location: Kentucky Speedway in Sparta (1.5-mile tri-oval)
Date/Broadcast: July 11, 2019 at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR 90
What You Need to Know
- This weekend, Brandon Jones will be back behind the wheel of the No. 51 Soleus Air/Menards Tundra in the Bluegrass State. The 22-year-old driver has four previous NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series starts at the 1.5-mile facility, with two top-five and four top-10 finishes. He holds an average starting position of 13.2 and average finishing position of 5.8. In the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Jones has six starts, with one top-five and one top-10 finish. Jones also has two ARCA Menards Series starts at Kentucky Speedway.
- Jones’ last start for KBM was two weeks ago at Chicagoland Speedway, where he qualified the No. 51 Chigo Tundra 19th, but charged to the front of the field for 13 laps and ultimately finished second.
- Veteran crew chief Rudy Fugle leads the No. 51 team this season. Fugle has guided his team to four Owner’s Championships (2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017) as a crew chief at KBM, including combined Owner’s/Driver’s Championships with Erik Jones in 2015 and Christopher Bell in 2017. The New York native’s drivers have combined for 28 wins, 22 poles, 63 top-five and 98 top-10 finishes across his 124 races calling the shots for the organization. Fugle’s drivers have five starts at Kentucky Speedway, with two wins, one with William Byron in 2016, and one with Christopher Bell in 2017. They have also earned four top-five finishes, five top-10 finishes and one pole, with an average start of 3.0 and an average finish of 3.0 and 283 laps led.
- After 12 races in 2019, the No. 51 team leads the owner’s points standings by 17 points over second place. The team has earned five wins with owner-driver Kyle Busch behind the wheel and one win with veteran driver Greg Biffle at Texas Motor Speedway. The team has two poles, eight top-five and nine top-10 finishes.
- Soleus Air is a leader among commercial and residential HVAC brands. Soleus Air is recognized for its air conditioners, dehumidifiers, air circulators and heaters. As an innovator, the Soleus Air brand holds several patents and introduced technologies that are now standard on most products today: heat pump on portable air conditioners, micathermic and reflective heaters, and figure-8 airflow patterns on fans to name a few. Soleus Air built a reputation on quality components, continuous innovation and proven reliability. soleusna.com
Brandon Jones, Driver Q&A
You’re coming off your best finish this season in the trucks, how does that affect your momentum going into Kentucky?
“Yeah, I think after we ran Chicago and had an extremely strong run, led a lot of laps in that race, that gives a lot of confidence heading into Kentucky. We also have Soleus Air on the [Tundra] and I think that’s going to be a hometown track for those guys, so I’m looking forward to getting there. I’ve actually got an excellent memory from Kentucky – I finished second to Christopher Bell whenever he was with KBM with the same team, so it’ll be fun.
What’s unique about Kentucky?
“I think what’s unique about Kentucky is that there’s two different corners, somewhat similar to maybe a Texas, which they ran at very well. I think that’s what makes it really unique — [turns] three and four has a lot less banking than [turns] one and two does. They’re also going to have some compound down on the track, so maybe that’s going to allow us to move around some and start using that second groove.”
Brandon Jones Career Highlights
- Jones has made eight total NGOTS starts for KBM since 2018, recording five top-five and six top-10 finishes.
- Overall since making his Gander Trucks debut in August of 2013, Jones has recorded four runner-up, 12 top-five and 21 top-10 finishes across 43 starts.
- The Georgia native – who is also competing for the 2019 NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) championship with Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) – has registered two poles, six top-five and 42 top-10 finishes across 119 career Xfinity Series starts.
- Additionally, the 22-year-old driver has collected five career ARCA Racing Series victories, including last year at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway, and one NASCAR K&N Pro Series win (Iowa Speedway, 2014).
Brandon Jones’ No. 51 Soleus Air/Menards Tundra:
KBM-047: The No. 51 Soleus Air/Menards team will unload chassis KBM-047. This chassis was last piloted to the victory by owner-driver Kyle Busch in March at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. In total, the chassis has nine starts, with one win.
- KBM drivers have 25 starts at Kentucky Speedway and have earned four wins, 13 top-five and 18 top-10 finishes, with an average starting position of 6.8 and an average finish of 9.0.
- Owner-driver Kyle Busch picked up the first two wins at Kentucky Speedway for KBM in 2011 and 2014, while William Byron won in 2016 and Christopher Bell won in 2017.
- KBM holds the Gander Truck Series records for most career wins (74) and most wins in a single season (14 in 2014). In addition to collecting a series-record six Owner’s Championships, the organization has produced two championship-winning drivers; Erik Jones (2015) and Christopher Bell (2017).
- The No. 51 is the winningest number in the KBM stable with 30 trips to victory lane in Gander Trucks action
