NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Overview
Event: Digital Ally 250, Race 7 of 23, 167 Laps – 40/40/87; 250.5 Miles
Location: Kansas Speedway in Kansas City (1.5-mile tri-oval)
Date/Broadcast: May 10, 2019 at 8:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR 90
What You Need to Know:
- Riley Herbst will make his first of four starts for Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) this season, piloting the No. 46 Monster Energy/Advance Auto Parts Tundra at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City. Herbst will make starts in both the No. 46 and the No. 51 Tundras in 2019. The other three races on the 20-year-old’s NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series schedule this year are Iowa Speedway in Newton, Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Bowmanville, Ont., and Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway.
- Herbst finished eighth in his Gander Trucks debut last season driving the No. 51 Tundra at Gateway Motorsports Park in Madison, Ill. He also drove the No. 46 Tundra at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway, where he was fastest in final practice and qualified fifth in his first Gander Trucks start on a mile-and-a-half track, but was relegated to a 29th-place finish after a mid-race accident. In addition, he made two starts for DGR-Crosley last season, finishing 15th in starts at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway and ISM Raceway in Avondale, Ariz.
- The Las Vegas native is also competing in a part-time NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule with Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) in 2019. He has posted one top-10 finish across his two starts this year. Herbst made his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut last season for JGR, posting an impressive sixth-place finish at Iowa Speedway in his lone start of 2018.
- Herbst was a full-time competitor in the ARCA Racing Series in 2018, where he finished third in the championship standings after posting eight top-five and 15 top-10 finishes, resulting in an average finish of 8.3 across 20 starts. He is competing in a limited ARCA Racing Series schedule this season and most recently earned a runner-up finish at Talladega on April 26. He has made two starts at Kansas Speedway across his ARCA Racing Series career. He finished ninth in the 2017 event and fourth in last year’s race at the 1.5-mile track.
- Michael Shelton will call the shots for the No. 46 team at Martinsville. Shelton was James Buescher’s crew chief when he won the Gander Truck Series championship in 2012. Shelton has seven career Truck Series victories, including four with Buescher during their championship season. Shelton’s drivers have combined for one win (Buescher, 2012), two poles, two top-five and three top-10 finishes across eight starts at Kansas.
Riley Herbst, Driver Q&A
Are you excited about being back with KBM for four races this season?
“I’m really excited. My first race is at Kansas Speedway — another mile-and-a-half. We had some good speed in Las Vegas last year until it ended early. I’m looking forward to taking the knowledge that I learned at Las Vegas into Kansas this weekend.”
What can you apply from your two starts at Kansas in the ARCA Racing Series to the truck race this weekend?
“I think the ARCA car and the truck have a lot of differences but some similarities. I learned the track layout and things of that nature. I have a little bit of experience going into Kansas — which I’m excited about.”
What did you learn about racing the trucks on mile-and-a-half tracks at Las Vegas last year?
“The biggest thing is probably the air when people are in front of you, on your door or behind you — how squirrelly the truck gets and how you have to react before it even happens. That’s probably the biggest thing I’ve learned. I still need to learn a lot more about it, but we are one step closer.”
Riley Herbst Career Highlights
- Made four NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series starts in 2018 with his best result of eighth coming in his series debut at Gateway Motorsports Park in June.
- Has posted two top-10 finishes, an average starting position of 6.5 and average finish of 12.0 across three career NASCAR Xfinity Series starts. Posted an Xfinity Series best finish of sixth in his series debut at Iowa Speedway last June.
- Across 41 career ARCA Racing Series starts has collected one win (Pocono Raceway, 2017), one pole, 242 laps led, 15 top-five and 27 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 8.7. Most recently he earned a runner-up finish on April 26, 2019 at Talladega Superspeedway.
- Named the 2017 ARCA Racing Rookie of the Year after posting one win, one pole, 203 laps led, six top-five and 10 top-10 finishes.
Riley Herbst’s No. 46 Monster Energy/Advance Auto Parts Tundra:
KBM-47: The Monster Energy/Advance Auto Parts team will unload KBM-47 for Friday’s Digital Ally 250 at Kansas. KBM-47 has an average qualifying position of 2.9 across seven career starts including a pole with Noah Gragson at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill., last June. Christopher Bell’s runner-up finish with the Toyota at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway in 2017 was the truck’s best career result, but it has finished inside the top five in five of its seven starts. Friday will be the first outing for the Tundra in 2019.
KBM Notes of Interest:
- KBM drivers have collected four wins, four poles, 597 laps led, nine top-five and 14 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 9.7 across 21 starts at Kansas
- Noah Gragson led a race-high 128 laps and swept all three stages in last year’s event at Kansas. Owner-driver Kyle Busch has collected two of the wins at Kansas (2014 & 2017) and William Byron earned his first career Gander Trucks victory there in 2016.
- KBM holds the Gander Trucks records for most career wins (72) 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. 46 team has recorded one win, one pole, 147 laps led, two top-five and seven top-10 finishes across 12 starts while competing in a part-time schedule with various drivers the last three seasons. Owner-driver Kyle Busch captured the pole and led a race-high 109 laps en route to the No. 46’s inaugural victory at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway in August of 2017.
