Mooresville, NC | 09-12-2005

After picking up his first career NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series event in California Speedway four days earlier, Kyle Busch headed to Richmond International Raceway (RIR) to jump in the No. 15 Ditech.com Chevrolet Silverado in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.  Busch hoped the streak would continue with the running of the Cheerios Betty Crocker 200, but with 12 laps remaining, a tire went down sending the Billy Ballew Motorsports-entry hard into the turn two wall, eliminating their chances for a top-10 finish.

Thursday’s events started with two practice sessions for the numerous trucks on site at RIR.  Busch struggled with the handling on the Chevy Silverado with his first laps on the track.  Crew chief Richie Wauters called for several changes to the shocks, springs and track bar.  Nothing seemed to work quite right, as Busch still complained of a tight condition.  Following practice, Wauters and the Billy Ballew Motorsports team threw everything they could think of to help cure the tightness Busch felt while in the No. 15 Ditech.com Chevrolet.

“We aren’t quite where we want to be right now,” said Busch after practice.  “We started out not too good, then made a few changes and got better, then made a few more changes and were worse again.  But there at the end, we got the truck pretty much where we needed it to be and then we made a couple qualifying runs and were happy with those.”  Busch went out 41st to qualify and laid down a lap to position him 27th on the starting grid.  For the first time all day, Busch noted the truck was loose during qualifying.

Throughout the race, Busch drove the No. 15 Ditech.com Chevrolet around in the high groove.  The truck would just not handle well enough to use the bottom line.  “I wish I had more laps down on the bottom,” said Busch during caution number two on lap 22.  “I’m a little tight on the bottom.”  Wauters and Busch discussed changes they would make when they made their first pit stop.  They pitted during the fourth caution period for four tires, fuel, and an air pressure adjustment.  The change in air pressure caused the truck to get tighter, but Busch kept digging and by lap 88 was up to the 15th position.  Another caution on lap 94 allowed the No. 15 to come back down pit road for more adjustments.  Still fighting a tight condition, Busch went a lap down on lap 139 after a long green flag run and fought hard to stay the first truck one lap down to become the “lucky dog” recipient when the caution waved on lap 140.  Busch pitted once again for fresh tires and more chassis adjustments.

On lap 160, Busch was up to 18th position and radioed in to the guys, “This is as good as I can get this thing to go.”  Busch persevered and got up to 15th place.  With just 12 laps remaining in the 200-lap race, the right front tire blew on the No. 15 Ditech.com Chevrolet sending Busch into the wall and the line of oncoming traffic.  The damage was too severe to continue, ending the night for the Billy Ballew Motorsports team, placing them 30th in the final rundown.  The finish dropped the team to ninth in the points with seven races remaining on the 2005 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series schedule.

“The tire went down,” said a dejected Busch.  “I didn’t want to risk it by going back out there and riding around for 10 laps.  We struggled all day with the No. 15 Ditech.com Chevrolet.  It wasn’t good anywhere.  I’d be loose in and get it better, then tight through the center, then loose off.  The front end was chattering.  I just didn’t know what it was going to do from one lap to the next. This was a brand new truck for us so we definitely have some work to do on it, but we’ll be ready to recapture our front-running consistency in Loudon next week.”

Billy Ballew Motorsports will head to Loudon, N.H. for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series’ next event at the New Hampshire International Speedway on Saturday, September 17.

Mooresville, NC | 09-06-2005

Busch will Compete in No. 15 Ditech.com Chevrolet Thursday Night
NEXTEL Cup’s Latest First-Time Winner Anxious to Head to Richmond

Streeter Lecka/Getty Images for NASCAR

After just wrapping up his first NASCAR NEXTEL Cup victory at California Speedway on Sunday, Kyle Busch will travel to Richmond International Raceway to compete in all three of NASCAR’s top divisions.  Busch, NEXTEL Cup’s latest first-time and youngest winner, returns to where he captured his first NASCAR Busch Series victory.  His first stab at the triple will be this Thursday night in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series’ Cheerios Betty Crocker 200.  Busch, for the fifth time this season, will pilot the No. 15 Ditech.com Chevrolet Silverado for Billy Ballew Motorsports.

In his four previous attempts this year in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, Busch has not finished out of the top-five, with two victories, a second, and a fifth place finish in the last race at Bristol Motor Speedway a couple weeks ago.  He also captured the Bud Pole Award at Michigan International Speedway, becoming the series’ youngest pole winner.

“After the great run the No. 15 team had at Bristol, and just winning my first NEXTEL Cup race, I am really excited to getting back into the Ditech.com Chevy Silverado and running strong again,” said Busch, also the series’ youngest winner.  “Momentum can bring results, and every time I run with Billy Ballew and Richie Wauters (Crew Chief) things just click. Craftsman truck racing is just cool, and I have a Busch win there so maybe this weekend in the triple header I can secure wins at Richmond in all three series.”

Busch’s record at Richmond International Raceway is quite impressive, with his first Busch Series win and a pole coming in last year’s May event.  Following that up in the fall race, Busch recorded a top-five finish after starting in second position.  Busch also captured a fourth place finish in his NEXTEL Cup debut at RIR this past May.

“We always look forward to having Kyle with us,” said team owner Billy Ballew.  “I foresee another victory coming before this year’s done.  He runs well at Richmond, and the team went and tested there last week, so the victory may just come Thursday night.  Kyle’s done a terrific job for us this season, and we’re anxious to carry on for the remainder of the year with him.  I also want to thank Ditech.com for their support of this team.  It wouldn’t have been possible without them coming on board to support our efforts with Kyle.”

The Cheerios Betty Crocker 200 takes the green flag at 8:15 ET from Richmond International Raceway.  The race will be broadcast live on SPEED Channel and MRN Radio.

Mooresville, NC | 09-05-2005

Kyle Busch returned to the seat of the No. 15 ditech.com Chevrolet Silverado for Billy Ballew Motorsports last night at Bristol Motor Speedway and placed fifth in the final running order of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series’ O’Reilly 200.

Busch’s previous three runs for Billy Ballew Motorsports resulted in finishes no lower than second place and the team hoped the trend would continue with a third victory.  During the two practice sessions held on Wednesday morning, Busch and the Richie Wauters-led team worked on dialing in the No. 15 ditech.com Chevrolet.  By the end of session two, Busch’s mock qualifying run placed him second fastest.

Busch commented after making his mock qualifying run.  “We’re good,” he said.  “I can give you a little more with that.”  However, during qualifying, Busch would run a little slower than his practice time, which would line the No. 15 in the ninth position for the 200-lap race.  Busch complained the truck was still a little too tight for his liking.

The key to surviving at the half-mile, high-banks of Bristol Motor Speedway is staying out of trouble.  The first caution waved on lap nine for a single car incident while Busch noted the truck was still tight, but was starting to come around.  Busch maintained his ninth place positioning.

When caution three came out on lap 43, Busch and Wauters discussed what changes they felt would work best for the No. 15 ditech.com Chevrolet’s continuing tight condition.  For their one and only pit stop, that would come on lap 70, the duo decided on air pressure adjustments to both sides of tires, as well as a trackbar adjustment.  Busch came in during the fourth caution after making his way up to the fourth position.  After getting blocked in by the truck in front of them on pit road, Busch would restart in ninth place.

Caution five was displayed on lap 81 for a multi-truck crash on the backstretch.  Busch radioed in the truck was still tight, but maybe it would come in the longer they ran.  Wauters told Busch he was running lap times four tenths faster than the leader despite the tight condition.  Uncharacteristic of Bristol, the race would go more than 100 laps without another caution.  Even though the changes made during their pit stop didn’t improve the handling, Busch and the No. 15 ditech.com Chevrolet had made its way up to the fifth position when the final caution waved with just 12 laps remaining in the race.

The race would restart with five laps to go.  Busch would ride it out to the finish in fifth place, allowing Billy Ballew Motorsports to move up one spot in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series owners standings to sixth position.

“Those second set of tires weren’t as good as the first set,” said Busch after the race.  “The changes we made didn’t help me as much as I anticipated they would.  We started off pretty good at the beginning, but got worse as the night progressed.  I’m not much of a short track racer, but it was still a good run for the No. 15 ditech.com/Billy Ballew Motorsports team.  I have a ball running with these guys and I’m happy to be back with them.  I can’t wait to go to Richmond and have another run at it.”

Busch and the No. 15 ditech.com Chevrolet Silverado will return to action Thursday, September 8 at Richmond International Raceway.

Mooresville, NC | 09-05-2005

Billy Ballew, owner of Billy Ballew Motorsports, is pleased to announce Kyle Busch will return to drive the No. 15 ditech.com Chevrolet at Bristol Motor Speedway for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race on Wednesday night.  Busch competed in the Billy Ballew Motorsports-entry three times earlier this year and produced amazing results.  Busch and the Richie Wauters-led team racked up two victories, a second place finish and a Bud Pole Award.

“We’re happy to have Kyle and ditech.com back with us,” said Ballew.  “We enjoy working with Kyle and he is certainly an outstanding driver behind the wheel.  He has done a tremendous job for us this year already, and I hope we are able to capture another victory at Bristol.”

“I’ll be looking forward to getting back into the 15 truck,” Busch said.  “It’s been fun this year, as well as a great learning tool. We’ve won two races together and finished second in the third race, but the biggest deal has been the experience that I have been able to get by running on the race tracks that I have this year. Billy Ballew and Richie Wauters have been great to work with and they just want to do well. We try to learn what we can with the truck so then we can apply that knowledge to the Busch, and Cup cars.”

Busch returns to the No. 15 ditech.com Chevrolet at Bristol Motor Speedway, a half-mile concrete oval.  The win at Dover was also on the concrete and Busch hopes the experience there, as well as his previous races at Bristol in the NASCAR Busch and Nextel Cup Series, will pay off.  The team also has great statistics at Bristol, as they picked up second place honors in 2004’s event.

“Getting into Bristol, I have run well there but I have a lot to learn about the race track,” said Busch. “It’s a track like Dover where we won, you can never stop learning something about it. It’s always a tough place on drivers and equipment, but we just need to make the most of it.”

Busch’s consecutive victories at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in May and Dover International Speedway in June catapulted the Billy Ballew Motorsports team to their top-10 ranking in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Owners Points Standings, where they have remained and currently sit seventh in the standings.  This continues to be an outstanding feat, despite the fact the team has had seven different drivers this year and for the most part, remained unsponsored.

“ditech.com is returning for Bristol, and it’s great to have their support on the truck,” continues Busch.  “They have been very good to Hendrick Motorsports and to me personally, and I look forward to getting them back to victory lane again. They deserve anything that we can give them plus that much more.”

“I have to thank ditech.com for coming on board with us for Bristol with Kyle,” said Ballew.  “I also appreciate the support of Hendrick Motorsports and Dale Earnhardt Inc. with their help on our motor program.  I also want to thank John Andretti for working with us the last few races.  He’s a great driver, and we’ve enjoyed having him with us.  We appreciate his determination and drive to help us.”

The O’Reilly Auto Parts 200 gets underway at 9:15 ET from Bristol Motor Speedway.  The race will be broadcast live on SPEED Channel and MRN Radio.