KBM Announces 2016 Driver Lineup
Bell and Byron to Compete Full-Time; Coughlin and Suarez Part-Time
MOORESVILLE, N.C. (Oct. 29, 2015) – Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) announced today the 2016 driver lineup for its three-team operation in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Christopher Bell and William Byron will each compete full-time, while Cody Coughlin and Daniel Suarez will share the seat of the remaining entry, each competing in at least 10 races.
Additionally, the team announced that Byron will make his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debut Nov. 13 in a fourth KBM entry at Phoenix (Ariz.) International Raceway.
Bell, a 20-year-old native of Norman, Okla., earned a top-five finish in his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debut at Iowa Speedway in July and in just his third career start led 106 of 154 laps en route to victory at famed Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio. The open-wheel dirt standout began his transition to pavement racing late in 2014 running Late Models for KBM, where in 19 career starts to date he has recorded six victories, including the prestigious Rattler 250 at South Alabama Speedway in Kinston earlier this year.
The 2013 USAC National Midget champion continues to be a force to be reckoned with on dirt, where he has scored six POWRI Midget wins, two USAC National Midget wins, one USAC Silver Crown win and also collected his second career World of Outlaws Sprint Car victory this season.
Bell’s Tundra will carry primary sponsorship from JBL, a division of HARMAN – the premier connected technologies company for automotive, consumer and enterprise markets.
Byron, a 17-year-old native of Charlotte, N.C., captured the 2015 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East Championship and Rookie of the Year honors after producing four wins, three poles, 740 laps led, five top-five and 11 top-10 finishes across 14 starts. He picked up a victory at Greenville (S.C.) Pickens Speedway in just his second career start, earned the championship lead after a runner-up finish at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway in the third race of the season and stayed at the top of the standings for the remainder of the season.
The NASCAR Next product is currently in his senior year at Charlotte (N.C.) Country Day School and also is enrolled in the Liberty University Online Academy. Byron has had a busy 2015 schedule on the track as well, in addition to his fulltime campaign in the K&N Pro Series East, he finished fifth in his lone start in the K&N Pro Series West, made two ARCA Racing Series starts – where he led a race-high 120 laps in his series debut at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis before settling for a runner-up finish when the race was decided by fuel strategy. He also picked up a CARS Super Late Model Tour victory at Hickory Motor Speedway earlier this season and finished second in the Denny Hamlin Short Track Showdown at South Boston Speedway.
Byron’s Tundra will carry primary sponsorship from Liberty University, the largest private, nonprofit university in the nation, the largest university in Virginia, and the largest Christian university in the world.
Coughlin, a 20-year-old native of Delaware, Ohio, made a pair of Truck Series starts this season, including his KBM debut in August at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, where he was on the verge of a top-10 finish before a late-race accident. He has competed part-time in the ARCA Racing Series the last two seasons, where he collected two poles (Chicagoland Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway), five top-five and 11 top-10 finishes across 17 starts, including a career-best second-place effort at Talladega Superspeedway this spring.
The Joe Gibbs Racing development driver’s roots run deep in the motorsports world, as the Coughlin family has produced countless victories and numerous championships across various divisions of NHRA competition. Cody decided to take a different path in racing and at a young age has already achieved success in stock cars. The talented youngster won the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Championship in 2013, and has recorded Late Model victories at prestigious tracks such as Indiana’s Winchester Speedway and Florida’s New Smyrna Speedway.
Suarez, a 23-year-old native of Monterrey, Mexico, has produced five top-five and eight top-10 finishes across nine Truck Series starts driving a partial schedule for KBM this season, highlighted by runner-up finishes at Dover (Del.) International Speedway in May and Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth in June. He also competes full-time in the NASCAR XFINITY Series for Joe Gibbs Racing, where he has compiled three poles, seven top-five and 15 top-10 finishes across 30 starts and leads the Rookie of the Year standings with three races remaining.
A graduate of the NASCAR Next and NASCAR Drive for Diversity programs, Suarez honed his skills in the NASCAR Mexico Series, where he collected 10 wins, 13 poles, 25 top-five and 34 top-10 finishes across 58 career starts from 2011 to 2014, and the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East, where he produced three wins, 12 top-five and 22 top-10 finishes across 43 starts from 2011 to 2014.
Suarez’s Tundra will carry primary sponsorship from ARRIS, a world leader in entertainment and communications technology.
Announcements for Coughlin’s sponsors as well as truck numbers and crew chiefs for all three teams are forthcoming.
Kyle Busch “It’s rewarding for Samantha and me to see that over the past few seasons KBM has become what we envisioned it would be when we got started back in 2010 — a place where young drivers have the opportunity to showcase their talents and develop the skills necessary to be successful on and off the track. Thanks to all of the hard work that everyone at KBM and KBM Chassis has invested into our success and the strong partnerships we have with Toyota and TRD (Toyota Racing Development), we have proven that we are capable of winning races and competing for championships with upand-coming talent behind the wheel. I’m confident that the lineup we’ve assembled for 2016 with Christopher (Bell) and William (Byron) each running full-time competing for the Rookie of the Year award and the Driver’s Championship, and Daniel (Suarez) and Cody (Coughlin) teaming up to go after the Owner’s Championship, will allow us to carry on the winning tradition we’ve established at KBM.”
Christopher Bell “I’m excited for the opportunity to drive a Toyota Tundra full-time for Kyle Busch Motorsports in 2016 and very thankful to JBL for making it possible. I’ve learned so much already this year in my first handful of Truck Series races and I know that with all the tracks that I’ll be racing at for the first time next season I’ll have to do my best to continue learning on the fly. With the staff that KBM has in place and the technology provided to the team by Toyota Racing Development, there’s no reason that I shouldn’t be able to run up front and compete for wins on a consistent basis next season.”
William Byron “I’m so fortunate and excited to join KBM next year as a full-time driver for the organization. It’s a dream come true for me to race in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, and to have Liberty University on board makes next year very promising. I can’t thank Kyle and everyone at KBM enough for this opportunity and I’m looking forward to getting things started with them at Phoenix in my first race.”
Cody Coughlin “I am looking forward to this opportunity with Kyle Busch Motorsports. I learned a lot by running the KBM truck at Michigan (Int’l Speedway) in August; Kyle was really helpful at giving me direction and the team has a lot of great people working for it. I know with them behind me that we will have a great opportunity for success in the races that I get to compete in during the 2016 season.”
Daniel Suarez “I’m very excited to be returning to Kyle Busch Motorsports for the 2016 season. KBM is one of the best organizations in the Truck Series and I really learned a lot behind the wheel of the ARRIS Tundra this year. I believe that the extra seat time I’ve gained by driving trucks has helped speed up my development as a driver and I look forward to continuing to grow with them next year.”
About Kyle Busch Motorsports Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) has quickly established itself as one of the most successful teams in all of NASCAR. Owned by NASCAR superstar Kyle Busch and fueled by his passion for winning, the team has already collected three NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Owner’s Championships and entered 2015 with a remarkable 39 Truck Series victories across its five-year existence, including a single-season series’ record 14 wins in 2014. KBM prepares a fleet of race-winning Toyotas out of its state-of-the art 77,000-square-foot facility in Mooresville, N.C. Fans can stay up-to-date with all the latest KBM news online at www.KyleBuschMotorsports.com, by liking the team on Facebook (KBMteam) and by following the team on Twitter (@KBMteam), Instagram (KBMteam) and Google+ (+KBMteam).
Sources: Andy Gee, Kyle Busch Motorsports