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Clocking In at Martinsville for First Time Since '09

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (Oct. 22, 2012) – For the first time since the 2009 season, Brian Scott will take to the .526-mile oval at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway in pursuit of the coveted Grandfather Clock. Scott will be making his fourth of five starts this season for Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM), driving the No. 18 Tundra with primary sponsorship from Shore Lodge - the premiere resort in Central Idaho and a quintessential mountain retreat located on the southern shores of the stunningly beautiful Payette Lake in McCall, Idaho - in Saturday’s Kroger 200.

While Scott hasn’t tackled ‘The Paperclip’ the last few seasons, he’ll be driving for a team that has proven capable of running at the front of the field at the flat track. The No. 18 Tundra is the defending race winner and the team has finished in the top 10 in each of their four trips to Virginia since debuting in the Truck Series in 2010, including three top-three results. Not only will the Idaho native have a strong team to work with, he’ll be able to pick the brain of the defending race winner and Martinsville expert Denny Hamlin, who drove the No. 18 Tundra to victory last season and will be behind the wheel of KBM’s second entry, the No. 51 Toyota Tundra this weekend.

The last time Scott piloted the No. 18 Toyota, he led 14 laps and scored a top-five finish in the Kentucky 201 at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta last month. His top-10 finish at Kentucky is one of five straight for KBM’s flagship Tundra, which has gained four spots, moving from 11^th to seventh, in the Truck Series Owner’s point standings during that span. Helping the rise in the point standings has been the bonus points accumulated from running up front. After pacing the field just once over the first 11 races of the season, the team has led at least one lap in six of the last seven races and led the most laps in two of those events.

Scott will be behind the wheel of the No. 18 truck in half of the four remaining races this season. The Nationwide Series regular would like nothing more than to help KBM continue to catapult up the standings and deliver the team its first win of 2012. With a Grandfather Clock on the line this weekend, there is no better time for that first victory than Saturday at Martinsville.

Brian Scott, Driver of the No. 18 NCWTS Shore Lodge Tundra:

Are you looking forward to your return to Martinsville?

“Martinsville has always been a decent track for me. I’ve qualified pretty well a couple of times -- I think the top four or five twice -- and had some pretty strong runs. I feel like I’m a more experienced driver since the last time I was there and that I can be really competitive this weekend. Kyle (Busch) and this team have had success there and Denny (Hamlin) won this race for them last year, so we should have a good starting point. It will be a lot of fun to get back to a little beating and banging, short-track racing.”

What will be the biggest challenge this weekend?

“A lot of it will come down to strategy -- everybody seems to short pit and tries to stretch fuel out. You want to try and get your pits stops out of the way as quick as possible in order to gain track position. Other than that, you have to have speed in your truck. It can be a fairly uneventful race if you’re fast enough to run up front and not be back there in that middle-of-the-pack swarm -- that 10^th-to-20^th-place swarm, where everybody is beating and banging and you get the accordion effect when you drive into the corner on the restarts. Hopefully, our Shore Lodge Tundra will have a lot of speed and we can qualify well. Then, the plan is to stay up front and bully our way to victory.”

Is there a track like Martinsville on the Nationwide Series schedule?

“Heck no -- Martinsville is a track like Bristol, where it is its own unique creature. It’s a flat track with long straightaways and tight, concrete corners and there is nothing else really like it. You can find some similarities in other tracks, but Martinsville is Martinsville.”

Eric Phillips, Crew Chief of the No. 18 NCWTS Shore Lodge Tundra:

You participated in a Toyota test at Motor Mile Speedway in Virginia last week, what did you work on?

“We worked on a couple of different spring packages, trying to come up with some different ideas to try for Martinsville. We’ve been really good at Martinsville the last couple of years, so I don’t think we’ll be trying to do too much different than what we’ve been doing, but it’s always good to have some ideas in the back of your head.”

Brian hasn’t raced at Martinsville since 2009, what will be his biggest challenge?

“One of the biggest reasons we participated in the Toyota test last week was to get Brian some laps in a truck on a short track. The trucks drive a little bit different than the Nationwide cars, so it allowed him to reacquaint himself with how far you have to drive the truck into the corner and where to pick up the gas. Martinsville is quite a bit different than anywhere the Nationwide cars run and the key is being able to roll the center. He was able to get some laps in and work on thinking about braking, picking up the gas and concentrating on rolling the center.”

How important will qualifying be this weekend?

“It is always pretty big there. If you end up towards the back, something always tends to happen in the middle-of-the-pack and you end up in a wreck even though you may not have done anything wrong.”

Brian Scott’s No. 18 Shore Lodge Tundra:

Chassis KBM-6: Chassis KBM-6 will make its first start since 2010 in Saturday’s Kroger 200. The Tundra saw the track three times during KBM’s inaugural season, qualifying and finishing in the top 10 in each of those races. Owner-driver Kyle Busch dominated the New Hampshire event that season, capturing the pole and leading 156 of the 175 laps en route to the victory. Busch also led 25 laps and posted a runner-up finish with the truck at Phoenix that season.

 

Notes of Interest:

Brian Scott @ Martinsville Speedway:

• In five NCWTS starts has qualified in the top five twice and posted one top-10 finish

Brian Scott Martinsville NCWTS Performance Profile:

Date	Start	Finish	Laps	Laps Led	Status
10/24/09	5	24	195/200	0	Running
3/28/09	12	8	251/251	0	Running
10/18/08	23	14	200/200	0	Running
3/29/08	4	30	250/253	0	Running
10/20/07	32	15	200/200	0	Running

Brian Scott 2012:

• Currently resides ninth in the NNS driver point standings
• Has posted two top-five and nine top-10 finishes in 30 starts, including a season-best third-place finish at Dover (Del.) International Speedway (6/2/12)

Brian Scott NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Career:

• In 60 career starts has collected one win (Dover 2009), 10 top-five and 21 top-10 finishes
• Finished seventh in the final 2009 NCWTS driver point standings after registering seven top-five and 13 top-10 finishes

Brian Scott NASCAR Career:

• In 106 career NNS starts has registered one pole, five top-five and 21 top-10 finishes
• Awarded the Featherlite Most Improved Driver after finishing eighth in the final 2011 NNS driver point standings
• Captured his first career NNS pole at Chicagoland (Ill.) Speedway in September of 2011 and went on to post a NNS career-best third-place finish in the race
• 2010 NNS Rookie of the Year runner-up
• 2008 NCWTS Rookie of the Year runner-up

Kyle Busch Motorsports’ No. 18 Toyota Tundra:

• With top-10 finishes in five straight and 11 of the last 12 races, the team is currently tied for second among Truck Series teams with 13 top-10 results this season (No. 3 truck – 16 and No. 31 truck – 13)
• 196 points accumulated over the last five races are third most in series (No. 3 - 207 and No. 31 - 198) and during that span the team has improved four positions, from 11^th to seventh, in the NCWTS owner’s standings
• All seven drivers that have made a start this season have posted a top-10 finish (Ku. Busch, Ky. Busch, Hamlin, Herring, Leffler, Mayhew and Scott) and six of the seven have led at least one lap
• Has led at least one lap in five straight and six of the last seven races after leading just once over the first 11 races
• Denny Hamlin qualified third and led 68 laps en route to victory in the 2011 Kroger 200 (10/29/11)
• Jason Leffler qualified 12^th and finished eighth in the Kroger 250 earlier this season (3/31/12)
• Kurt Busch started third, led two laps and finished seventh in the fred’s 250 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway the last time that the Truck Series was in action on Oct. 6
• Registered a season-best second-place finish with Kyle Busch at Atlanta Motor Speedway (8/31/12) and earned a season-best second-place qualifying effort with Jason Leffler at Kansas Speedway (4/21/12)
• 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, has compiled 16 wins, 36 top-five and 52 top-10 finishes over 68 starts
• In 2010, became first team since the NCWTS originated in 1995 to win the Owner’s Championship in its inaugural season

The Phillips File:
Crew chief Eric Phillips has collected one win (2011 Denny Hamlin), two poles, five top-five and 10 top-10 finishes in 17 races calling the shots for Truck Series races at Martinsville Speedway. Amazingly, his 10 top-10 finishes at the .526-mile oval have been registered with eight different drivers behind the wheel. His driver has finished in the top three in five of the last seven races at ‘The Paperclip.’ The Illinois native has registered 26 Truck Series wins with seven different drivers (Clint Bowyer, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Kasey Kahne, Travis Kvapil, Dennis Setzer and Mike Skinner) over his nine seasons atop the pit box.

Kyle Busch Motorsports 2012 NCWTS Box Score:  

 

-KBM-