KYLE BUSCH SNICKERS Team Report Rounds 23 of 36 – Go Bowling 235 – Daytona Road Course
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23 KYLE BUSCH SNICKERS Team Report Rounds 23 of 36 – Go Bowling 235 – Daytona Road Course Car No.: 18 – SNICKERS 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 Go Bowling 235 will mark Kyle Busch’s 557th career NASCAR Cup Series start in the inaugural race on the Daytona road course. Busch has career totals of 56 wins, 32 poles, 210 top-five finishes, 308 top-10s and 17,641 laps led in 556 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. While the location is familiar for this Sunday’s race at Daytona, the 14-turn, 3.57-mile road-course layout will be brand new to the 40 competitors. Busch has a strong record at each of the other road-course venues the series normally competes on – notably Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway and Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International. Combined, Busch has four wins at the venues, along with 11 top-five finishes and 19-top 10s. 2020 Rolex 24 Experience: Busch competed in the No. 14 Lexus RC F GT3 for AIM Vasser Sullivan (AVS) during January’s Rolex 24 in the GTD class. Jack Hawksworth was the primary driver in the No. 14 with Parker Chase and Michael de Quesada rounding out the four-driver team. Prep Time: In preparation for the Rolex 24, Busch spent several hours in the TRD simulator driving the Daytona road course with assistance from Hawksworth, who performed baseline runs. Busch attempted to match Hawksworth’s tire tracks on the simulator to learn braking zones and techniques for navigating the road course behind the wheel of the Lexus RC F GT3. However, the Lexus RC F GT3 features very different technology and braking capability, and it weighs much less than the SNICKERS Toyota Camry that Busch will drive Sunday. -more- Kyle Busch – SNICKERS Daytona Road Course Team Report Page Two Road-Course Ringer: The Las Vegas native burst onto the road-course scene in 2008 as a constant threat to win as he captured all three NASCAR road-course races he entered that year. Busch started by taking home his first career NASCAR road-course win in the Xfinity Series race at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City, leading twice for a total of 22 laps. He followed it up by capturing both Cup Series road-course events that year at Sonoma and Watkins Glen, leading 78 and 52 laps, respectively, for a total of 130 laps led in the two races. 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 on the list for Busch is eighth-place Dale Earnhardt, who had 76 wins during his Hall of Fame career. With his 40th Cup Series victory at Bristol 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 Tony 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 November. 212 and Counting: Busch enters the Daytona Road Course race with 212 career wins among NASCAR’s top three divisions – Cup (56), Xfinity (97) and Truck (58) – following his Truck Series win at Texas Motor Speedway last month. -TSC- .