KYLE BUSCH M&M’S Team Report Round 5 of 36 – Darlington 400 – Darlington
Car No.: 18 – M&M’S Thank You Heroes Toyota Camry
Teammates: Denny Hamlin – No. 11 Toyota Camry; Martin Truex Jr. – No. 19 Toyota Camry; Erik Jones – No. 20 Toyota Camry
At-Track PR Contact: Bill Janitz, True Speed Communication (704-875-3388 ext. 803 or [email protected]).
Primary Team Members:
Driver: Kyle Busch Crew Chief: Adam Stevens Hometown: Las Vegas Hometown: Portsmouth, Ohio
Car Chief: Nate Bellows Spotter: Tony Hirschman Hometown: Fairfax, Vermont Hometown: Northhampton, Pennsylvania
Over-The-Wall Crew Members:
Gas Man: Matt Tyrrell Front Tire Changer: Cam Waugh Hometown: Fort Lauderdale, Florida Hometown: Johnstown, Colorado
Jackman: T.J. Ford Rear Tire Changer: Jeff Cordero Hometown: Charlotte, North Carolina Hometown: Salem, Connecticut
Tire Carrier: Joe Crossen Hometown: Salisbury, North Carolina
Notes of Interest:
The Darlington 400 will mark Kyle Busch’s 539th career NASCAR Cup Series start and his 16th NASCAR Cup Series start at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway.
Busch has career totals of 56 wins, 32 poles, 202 top-five finishes, 298 top-10s and 17,446 laps led in 538 career Cup Series races. His most recent Cup Series win came in November at Homestead-Miami Speedway, resulting in his second Cup Series championship. Busch’s most recent pole, the 32nd of his career, came in November at Phoenix Raceway.
Busch has one win, four top-five finishes and 10 top-10s and has led a total of 716 laps in 15 Cup Series starts at Darlington. Busch’s average Darlington finish is 11.1.
2019 Darlington: When NASCAR’s top series last raced at Darlington in September, Busch led once for a race-high 118 laps. Busch’s lead was late in the race, but he lost it to JGR teammate and eventual race-winner Erik Jones during a round of yellow-flag pit stops on lap 277. He restarted third on lap 281, and later moved himself up to second behind Jones. However, with less than five laps to go, Busch scraped the wall trying to catch Jones and he dropped to third when the checkered flag fell.
Where we left off: While Busch started off the season with disappointing finishes of 34th and 15th-place at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway, respectively, he rallied for strong runs in the next two races. The Las Vegas native brought home a season best runner-up finish at Auto Club Speedway March 1 in Fontana, California, and followed it with a solid third-place finish March 8 at Phoenix Raceway. The Phoenix result moved him to 11th in the driver standings. The Phoenix race was the last event before racing was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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M&M’S Thank You Heroes – Darlington 400 Team Report Page Two
56 Career Cup Series Wins: With his Cup Series win at Homestead in November, the 56th points-paying win of his career, Busch passed NASCAR Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace for sole possession of ninth place on the all-time win list in NASCAR’s top series. Next up for Busch on the list is eighth-place Dale Earnhardt, who had 76 wins during his Hall of Fame career. With his 40th Cup Series victory at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway in August 2017, Busch became the fourth-youngest driver to reach 40 Cup Series wins at 32 years, 109 days, behind only Richard Petty, Jeff Gordon and Herb Thomas.
All-Time JGR Wins Leader: With his Brickyard 400 win in July 2016, Busch passed Stewart for most all-time Cup Series wins for JGR. Busch now has 52 wins for JGR to Stewart’s 33 following his most recent win at Homestead last year.
209 and Counting: Busch enters Darlington with 209 career wins among NASCAR’s top three divisions – Cup (56), Xfinity (96) and Truck (57) – following his Truck Series win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway back in February.
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