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‘Blue-Collar’ Boss Back Behind the Wheel of Dollar General Tundra

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (Aug. 27, 2012) – Kyle Busch will return to the seat of his Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) No. 18 Dollar General Tundra for Jeff Foxworthy’s Grit Chips 200 at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Ga. Friday night’s 130- lap race - which is being sponsored by the potato chip brand endorsed by Foxworthy, a member of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour - marks a fitting return for KBM’s owner-driver, who is a ‘blue-collar’ driver – willing to get behind the wheel of any type of vehicle, in any series, at any type of track.

After making 16 starts in each of his team’s first two seasons in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, Busch will be making his first series start of 2012. Over his 32 starts in 2010 and 2011, the boss led KBM to 14 of its 16 victories, all eight poles and 24 top-five finishes. Behind the strength of his series-leading eight victories in 2010, the No. 18 group became the first team to capture an Owner’s championship in its inaugural season since the Truck Series originated in 1995.

The Las Vegas native - who has been victorious in an amazing 29.7% (30 of 101) of the Truck Series races he has entered over his career - is a four-time winner at Atlanta, but will be looking to drive into victory lane for the first time in his own equipment. Busch won in each of his first three starts in NASCAR’s third division at the 1.54-mile Quad-oval and was victorious again in 2009. Since starting his own team, he has finished second and third, respectively in 2010 and 2011.

The No. 18 Tundra has been fast all season long, but for one reason or another has been unable to find victory lane. KBM’s blue-collar boss is hoping that he can, as another member of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour - Larry the Cable Guy - says, ‘Git-Ir-Done’ behind the wheel Friday night.

Kyle Busch, Driver of the No. 18 NCWTS Dollar General Tundra:

Your brother Kurt is also entered in Friday’s race, how cool is it going to be racing against him in the Truck Series?

“Kurt was very successful as a rookie in the Truck Series and that earned him a full-time Cup ride quickly. By the time I got to the Truck Series, Kurt had already established himself in the Cup Series and for whatever reason, he didn’t really run any Nationwide or Truck Series races, so we never got the chance to race against each other in NASCAR until I made it to the Cup Series. We’ve been able to race against each other a few times this year in the Nationwide Series, but it’s been mostly working together in the tandem draft on the superspeedways. It will be really cool to be competing against each other in the trucks -- it’s such a fun series to race in. How exciting would it be to see things come down to a battle of me versus Kurt for the win on Friday night?”

What does it take to be successful at Atlanta Motor Speedway?

“It takes a lot of things. You have to have a lot of grip, you have to have a lot of downforce, you have to have tire management, a great engine and fuel mileage too. There are a lot of circumstances that it can come down to at the end and what it will boil down to. In last year’s truck race, Clint (Bowyer) and I ran first and second pretty much all race long and then (Ron) Hornaday ended up winning the race on fuel mileage. It seems like a few Truck Series races this season have come down to fuel mileage -- we had the dominant truck at Michigan with my brother Kurt until it came down to fuel mileage -- so we’ll have to keep an eye on how it plays out on Friday and keep it in the back of our minds with our strategy.”

Eric Phillips, Crew Chief of the No. 18 NCWTS Dollar General Tundra:

How does Atlanta compare to the other mile-and-a-half tracks that the Truck Series visits?

“It’s kind of its own animal. The pavement sits in the hot Georgia sun all summer and they still get fairly cool winters, so every year we go back it seems like it has less grip. It’s an exciting place that definitely puts a premium on handling -- being able to get your truck to drive good through the corner and trying to say in the gas as long as you can. A lot of the other mile-and-a-half tracks that we go to, you can run wide open all the time and everyone is running similar lap times, but this weekend you’ll see a bigger separation between the fast guys and the guys who are off a little bit. To be successful you need to have a good balance of horsepower and handling.”

Kyle Busch’s No. 18 Dollar General Tundra:

Chassis KBM-12: The Dollar General Racing team will unload, KBM-12, which has two career starts, both this season. Jason Leffler registered top-10 finishes with the Tundra at Texas Motor Speedway in Forth Worth and Kentucky Speedway in Sparta.

Notes of Interest:

Kyle Busch @ Atlanta Motor Speedway:

• Started sixth, led 14 laps and finished third in last year’s Truck Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway (9/2/11)
• Has registered four wins (10/29/05, 10/27/07, 3/7/08 and 3/7/09), six top-five and seven top-10 finishes for an average finish of 2.4 in seven career starts in NASCAR’s third division
• Has led multiple laps in all seven NCWTS starts
• In eight NNS starts, has two poles, 488 laps led, five top-five and five top-10 finishes
• In 14 Sprint Cup Series starts, has one win (3/9/08), 319 laps led, three top-five and three top-10 finishes
• Scored Toyota’s first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win in the 2008 Kobalt Tools 500 (3/9/08)

Kyle Busch’s Atlanta NCWTS Performance Profile:

Date	Start	Finish	Laps	Laps Led	Status
9/2/11	6	3	130/130	14	Running
3/6/10	2	2	130/130	15	Running
3/7/09	1	1	130/130	33	Running
10/25/08	3	8	130/130	9	Running
3/7/08	3	1	130/130	39	Running
10/27/07	5	1	130/130	65	Running
10/9/05	5	1	130/130	45	Running

Kyle Busch 2011 Camping World Truck Series:

In 16 starts, won a series-leading six races (Phoenix, Nashville, Dover, Charlotte, Kentucky & New Hampshire)

Ranked first among all drivers in Laps Led (703), Miles Led (782.41), Fastest Early in a Run (4.000 rank), Fastest Late in a Run (3.308 rank) and Green Flag Speed (2.538 rank

Kyle Busch Camping World Truck Series Career:

• Has won 29.7% of the Truck Series races he has entered and finished first or second in 47.5%
• 105 All-Time Combined NASCAR National Series wins rank third all-time (Petty 200, Pearson 106)
• Ranks second in Truck Series history in wins (30), fourth in laps led (4,210), tied for sixth in poles (12) and 10^th in top five-finishes (59)
• One of 10 drivers in NASCAR history to lead over 20,000 laps among the top three series
• Reached 25^th win in Truck Series faster than any driver in the history of NASCAR’s top three series, attaining the milestone in just his 87^th career start
• Youngest driver (20 years, 18 days) in Truck Series history to win a race (Quaker Steak & Lube 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on 5/20/05)
• Enters 2012 having collected at least one Truck Series victory in each of the last seven seasons (2005 - 2011) and multiple victories in each of the last five (2007 - 2011)
• 119.6 career driver rating entering the 2012 season is the highest accumulated by a Truck Series driver since the stat was introduced in 2005
• Average career finish of 7.5 ranks first among active drivers with 10 or more career starts in the Truck Series

Kyle Busch Motorsports’ No. 18 Toyota Tundra:

• Kyle Busch started sixth, led 14 laps and finished third in last year’s Truck Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway (AMS) (9/2/11)
• Busch started second, led 15 laps and finished second in the 2010 Truck Series race at AMS (3/6/10)
• Brian Scott’s 17^th-place finish in last week’s race at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway snapped a streak of six consecutive top-10 results
• Registered a season-best fourth-place finish at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway (5/18/12) and earned a season-best second-place qualifying effort at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City (4/21/12)
• After 13 races, resides 11^th in the 2012 NCWTS Owner’s point standings
• In 2011, ranked first in Truck Series wins (8) and second in Owner’s points (920), Laps Led (878), Fastest Laps Run (448) and Top-Five Finishes (16)
• Three different drivers won a race in the No. 18 Tundra in 2011 - Kyle Busch (series-leading 6), Kasey Kahne (1) and Denny Hamlin (1)
• Since debuting in the Truck Series in 2010, the team has compiled 16 wins and 34 top-five finishes over 63 starts
• In 2010, became first team since the NCWTS originated in 1995 to win the Owner’s Championship in its inaugural season

Strong Finishes Equal Online Savings Monday’s at DollarGeneral.com
Dollar General is giving fans an extra reason to cheer for Kyle Busch at Atlanta Motor Speedway Friday night. If the No. 18 Dollar General Tundra brings home a top-10 finish in Jeff Foxworthy’s Grit Chips 200, everyone will receive 10% off all online products purchased at DollarGeneral.com next Monday, Sept. 1, and if he wins, the savings increase to 20% off.

The Phillips File:
Crew chief Eric Phillips’ drivers have registered three consecutive top-five finishes at Atlanta Motor Speedway – including a third-place finish from Kyle Busch in last year’s event. The Illinois native has called the shots for a total of 11 Truck Series races at the 1.54-mile Quad-oval, collecting five top-five and five top-10 finishes.

Kyle Busch Motorsports 2012 NCWTS Box Score:

-KBM-