The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series may be making their inaugural visit to Chicagoland Speedway but Billy Ballew Motorsports is bringing a very experienced driver at the Joliet, Ill. race track, Kyle Busch.

Kyle “Rowdy” Busch is back behind the wheel of the No. 51 Miccosukee Resort Billy Ballew Motorsports Tundra coming off a dominant win at Bristol Motor Speedway in the Camping World Truck Series race August 19th.

Busch leads the team to Chicagoland Speedway with five previous NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts with one win from the pole, posted in 2008.  He has six Nationwide Series starts posting one win, three top-five and three top-10 finishes at the 1.5-mile D-shaped oval racetrack in Joliet, Illinois. 

“The biggest thing I learned last year was the track didn’t change much,” Busch said in a post NSCS event at Chicagoland Speedway earlier this year.  “It just got cooler and gained grip.  The balance didn’t change a lot — that was pretty cool to see.  At Chicago, it didn’t change much and the track was well lit by the lights.  Everything went good there last year.”  (more…)

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series heads to the Chicagoland Speedway for the inaugural running of the EnjoyIllinois.com 225 on the 1.5-mile D-shaped tri-oval racetrack.

Although two of the three Top-Tier NASCAR Touring Series race at Chicagoland Speedway, this will mark the first appearance by the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series at the Joliet, IL track.   The 1.5-mile D-shaped track promotes three-wide racing which should be exciting to watch the Camping World Trucks race side by side. 

Aric Almirola will pilot the No. 15 Billy Ballew Motorsports Camping World Truck and has one prior start at the Chicagoland Speedway in 2007.  Almirola piloted a NASCAR Nationwide Series car starting third and led a lap when he was caught up in an incident ending his day early.

“With this being the inaugural NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Chicagoland, it’ll be awesome racing under the lights,” Aric Almirola said.  “Fortunately, we’ll have a day of practice to get the truck dialed in.”  (more…)

Aric Almirola piloting the No. 15 Graceway Pharmaceuticals NASCAR Camping World Truck posted a sixth-place finish in the O’Reilly 200 race at Bristol Motor Speedway Wednesday, August 19, 2009.

Almirola placed the Billy Ballew Motorsports entry in the seventh-place position on the starting grid for the 200 lap race on the .533-mile racetrack with a time of 15.977 seconds at a speed of 120.098 miles per hour.

From the start of the Camping World Truck Series race, Almirola had maintained a top-10 position when the first caution flag flew on lap 34.  He reported to the team that the Graceway Pharmaceuticals truck was “wrecking loose” asking for major adjustments on the pit stop.

The team came down pit road on lap 36 for four tires and returned on lap 37 for fuel and adjustments sending Almirola out for the restart in the 11^th-place position.

Almirola didn’t feel the adjustments helped and pitted on lap 53 for a chassis adjustment and fuel.  He returned on lap 54 for two right side tires restarting in his lowest running position of the race, 24^th-place position. 

When the caution flag flew on again on lap 66 Almirola reported that the rear of the truck was still loose but more drivable.  The team opted to come back down pit road for a round of wedge out of the truck and two left tires.  (more…)

The second time around is just as nice according to Billy Ballew Motorsports and Kyle “Rowdy” Busch after their second consecutive victory at the Bristol Motor Speedway in the fall race. Busch picked up another dominating win, repeating the performance from 2008, piloting the No. 51 Miccosukee Resort /Graceway Pharmaceuticals Toyota Tundra in the O’Reilly 200 presented by Valvoline NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race.

Busch took the lead  on lap 32 holding the position until lap 36 when the first of five caution flag periods in the race occurred. The Billy Ballew Motorsports teams’ strategy was to pit once during the 200 lap race on the .533-mile high banked oval track in Bristol, Virginia. Crew chief, Richie Wauters brought Busch down pit road on lap 37 where the team was flawless; taking tires, fuel and making track bar adjustments to the Toyota Tundra.

Busch returned to the track in the eighth place position for the restart on lap 41. He worked his way to the front picking up the second place position on lap 97. Busch battled with No. 23 Camping World Truck for numerous laps, running three and four wide on the “World’s Fastest Short Track.”

“I got up to the lead and then pitted,” Busch said. “We had to pass a couple more guys that didn’t pit – the 17 (Timothy Peters), the 16 (Brian Scott) and the 23 (Jason White) – he was a battle and that was fun. Jason White, he’s a close friend of Denny’s (Hamlin) and a friend of mine and he was having a moment there so it was a battle for sure. He was tough and he had a good truck.”  (more…)