Kyle Busch: Driver, No. 51 Cessna Toyota | Atlanta Preview

NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series Overview

Event: Vet Tix Camping World 200, Race 4 of 23, 130 Laps – 30/30/70; 200.2 Miles

Location: Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Ga. (1.54-mile quad-oval)

Date/Broadcast: June 6, 2020 at 1 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR 90

What You Need to Know

• Owner-driver Kyle Busch returns to the Cessna Tundra for his third of five NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Series starts his season. The reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion saw his seven-race Gander Trucks winning streak snapped at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway in the series last event after the team battled several issues throughout the race leaving the No. 51 crew with a runner-up finish. Busch’s streak dated back to his final race in 2018 at Pocono Raceway, all five series starts in 2019 and his first foray into the series in 2020, in February at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway.
• Busch ranks first all-time among Truck Series drivers in wins (57) and average finish (6.8) and second in laps led (7,114). “Rowdy” has won a remarkable 37.5% (57/152) of the Gander Trucks races he has entered and finished first or second in 55.3% (84/152). Last week’s top-five finish was the 100^th of his career in the Truck Series.
• The Las Vegas native is the defending winner of the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. In last year’s event he led a race-high 92 laps en route to his Truck Series’ record-breaking 52^nd win. In 11 starts at the 1.5-mile track in NASCAR’s third division, he has five total wins, four of which came racing for Billy Ballew, while he earned the most recent last year in this event as an owner-driver for KBM. He has eight top-five and nine top-10 finishes with an average starting position of 3.4 and an average finish of 6.1. He also has two NASCAR Xfinity Series wins and two NASCAR Cup Series wins at the Georgia facility.
• The talented wheelman recently finished competing in seven events in 11 days across NASCAR’s top three divisions. Busch finished inside the top five in six of the seven events, including a victory at Charlotte in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, and recorded an average finish of 6.2 despite getting a flat tire late in the Alsco Uniforms 500 that relegated him to a 24^th-place finish.
• Busch will also pilot the No. 51 in the series’ next weekend at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway, June 13. After that he will have one yet to be determined race to complete his five-race schedule in 2020.
• The No. 51 team leads the owner point standings by 22 points over the No. 16 team after two events. So far this season the team has one win, one pole, two top-five and two top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 5.0. Busch captured the victory at Las Vegas, while Riley Herbst captured the pole in the season-opening event at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway.
• Veteran crew chief Danny Stockman leads the No. 51 team in 2020. Stockman called the shots for Austin Dillon’s championship efforts in both the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series (2011) and the NASCAR Xfinity Series (2013) and has experience as a crew chief in all three national series. In Dillon’s Gander Trucks championship season, the pair totaled two wins, five poles, 10 top-five and 16 top-10 finishes. The majority of Stockman’s experience atop the pit box has come in the Xfinity Series, where his drivers have recorded seven wins, 19 poles, 80 top-five and 148 top-10 finishes across 209 starts from 2012 to 2018. At Atlanta Motor Speedway, Stockman’s drivers have two Truck Series starts, two top-10 finishes and an average finishing position of 8.0.
• Textron Aviation Inc. is the leading general aviation authority and home to the Beechcraft, Cessna and Hawker brands, which account for more than half of all general aviation aircraft flying. For more than 90 years, the Textron Aviation brands have represented unrivaled innovation, performance and leadership in the industry, offering an unmatched value proposition rooted in the total ownership experience. For more information, visit www.txtav.com.
• Big Machine Distillery Hand Sanitizer will serve as an associate sponsor again this weekend, adorning the quarter panels of Busch’s Tundra. In late March, the distillery began producing hand sanitizer using the World Health Organization’s formula to ensure compliance with industry safety and efficacy standards, the sanitizer is 80% alcohol and manufactured in various sizes (50 ml, 100 ml, 375 ml and 55-gallon drums). The hand sanitizer is being used in KBM’s 77,000-square-foot facility and is stocked on the team’s hauler, tool box and pit boxes to help adhere to NASCAR’s protocols for a safe return to racing. The product can be purchased online at https://www.bigmachinevodka.com/shop

Kyle Busch, Driver Q&A

What do you have to do to get back to victory lane in the Truck Series at Atlanta?

“We just need to go out and not beat ourselves. At Charlotte, we dug ourselves in a hole more than once and at the end of the day no matter what series you’re racing in it’s hard to come from 22^nd to the front late in the race and compete for a win because you end up using your stuff up just getting to the front. We were almost able to do it at Charlotte, but at Atlanta with how much the tires wear it makes it even more difficult if you’re not able to unload with a fast truck and stay up front all race. We just need to have a race that’s as clean as Big Machine Hand Sanitizer and go out and put the Cessna Tundra in victory lane at the end of the day.”

What is it about the inside lane that makes it so dominant on restarts at Atlanta?

“There’s kind of a different color tone to the asphalt. I don’t know if it has to do with the asphalt mix or whatever when th ey paved that place that now you can definitely tell the difference between the inside lane and that outside lane. Also, the inside guy has a straighter launch than the guy on the outside – he’s always kind of turning so that’s something to be said for it. Overall, it’s just some places are that way. Atlanta is the worst for the launch. The application of throttle to not spin the rear tires is so crucial there and it’s so easy to do when you’re in that outside lane.”

Kyle Busch Career Highlights

• Busch has a total of 152 NGROTS starts and is ranked first in NGROTS wins (57), second in laps led (7,114) and fourth in poles (22). Busch has a total of 100 top-five and 121 top-10 finishes with an average start of 7.1 and an average finish of 6.8.
• The 34-year-old driver has won 37.5% (57/152) of the NGROTS races he has entered and finished first or second in 55.3% (84/152).
• Busch stands alone as the leader in all-time career wins in NASCAR’s national touring series with 210 total victories. He has earned 56 NASCAR Cup Series wins, 97 NASCAR XFINITY Series wins, and 57 NGROTS wins.
• In August of 2010, Busch made history when he won the NGROTS, NXS and NCS races at Bristol Motor Speedway, becoming the only driver to sweep all three of NASCAR’s top three series at one track on the same weekend. He then repeated the feat in August of 2017.
• Busch has won at least once at every active NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors venue that he’s made a start at.

Kyle Busch’s No. 51 Cessna Tundra:

KBM-052: The No. 51 Cessna team will race KBM-052 for Saturday’s Vet Tix Camping World 200 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. This chassis was raced most recently by Raphael Lessard at Bristol Motor Speedway in 2019. Busch earned this Tundra’s best result, a runner up finish at Kansas Speedway in 2018.

KBM Notes of Interest

• KBM drivers have collected two wins, two poles, 511 laps led, seven top-five and 10 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 12.6 across 20 starts at Atlanta. Owner-driver Kyle Busch led a race-high 92 laps en route to victory in last year’s event, while Christopher Bell became to the first driver under NASCAR’s new format to sweep all three stages of a race after leading 99 of 130 laps en route to victory from the pole in 2017.

• KBM holds the NGROTS records for most career wins (76) and most wins in a single season (14 in 2014). 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).