Kyle “Rowdy” Busch in unprecedented style boasts five wins in five starts piloting the No. 51 Miccosukee Resort Toyota Tundra for Billy Ballew Motorsports.

Busch has been undefeated in his past five starts for the independent team owner in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series since the race at Bristol Motor Speedway in August.

“That’s cool man,” Busch said. “What a Tundra tonight, man. This Miccosukee/Graceway Pharmaceuticals Tundra was awesome and Richie (Wauters, crew chief) and these guys have really done their homework lately. It’s an accomplishment to beat the 33 (Ron Hornaday, Jr.) bunch here, that’s for sure. We got it done today. You know, it was a lot of fun. The 88 (Matt Crafton) — man, I hate seeing the 88 finish second. I really wish he could get a win. I thank the fans for coming out tonight. It was a great race. Thank NOS Energy Drink and all these guys on this pit crew — Billy Ballew Motorsports. I’m pretty proud accomplishment to be here — five in a row. That’s pretty sweet. Undefeated back with Richie (Wauters, crew chief) — that’s what’s even more fun.”

Busch placed the No. 51 Miccosukee Resort / Graceway Pharmaceuticals truck in the 12^th-place position on the starting grid for the 147-lap race on the 1.5-mile Ft. Worth, Texas track.

Busch picked up the point position on lap 47 and held it for three laps and regained the lead on lap 98 holding it until the checkered flag fell on lap 147. 

This is Busch’s seventh 2009 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series win in 13-starts for Billy Ballew Motorsports. 

“You know, I really look forward to working with these guys and Richie (Wauters, crew chief) and everybody that works so hard on this truck.  We’ve got a lot of guys that probably don’t make a whole lot of money, but they dig in real deep and they don’t quit. They don’t go home at five – they stay late. That’s what it takes in this sport. The dedication and the people to make it happen. These guys here, they’ve been dedicated. They really work their butts off — it’s starting to prevail for them. We’ve got five in a row now with myself and it’s a total of seven wins for Billy (Ballew, team owner).

“We made some good changes on this Miccosukee Tundra today and really brought the thing to life. I’m really proud of Richie (Wauters, crew chief) and all these guys. This is an awesome race truck. This is the same one (truck) we won with at Chicago. We’ve got a match to number 11 (chassis). This is (number) 32 here, 11 was always our chassis that kicked butt, so now we found another one. All these guys, they do a great job.”

With the win, the team edges closer to the 2009 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Owners Points Championship just 75-points out of the lead.

“I was trying to stay away from the 88 (Matt Crafton) catching me — I was trying to stay away from him. He was running me down. He had a great truck. I hate seeing Matt (Crafton) finish second. He needs a win in this deal and especially to me. We’re pretty good friends. I wish I could pull over and give it to him, but that wouldn’t be racing. Again, I had to run hard and I ended up pushing the right front tire off for a little bit too much, probably. It lasted just enough, man. Those lapped trucks that I had to get by in the last 10, 12, 15 laps, whatever it was – really hurt our performance of the truck and so we were fairly able to hold off the 88 (Matt Crafton) – which is cool.”

Crew chief, Richie Wauters commented after the race, “When we started out tonight, we weren’t the best truck out there. We had problems; we were a little bit tight and a little bit free at the same time. We made a few adjustments and it helped it. The last stop we made another adjustment and it was the best the truck was all night. Of course, with Kyle (Busch) driving, he’s worth something there, too. We’ve been working hard and the Toyota Tundra was the best it was all night long at the end.”  

The Series heads next to Phoenix International Raceway for the running of the Lucas Oil 150 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race, Friday, November 13, 2009.

Photo: Rusty Jarret Getty Images for NASCAR

Power steering issues hamper a top-10 finish for the No. 15 Graceway Pharmaceuticals ™ / AKAwareness.com team Friday, November 6, 2009 at Texas Motor Speedway relegating the team and driver, Aric Almirola, to a 14^th-place finish. 

Almirola placed the Billy Ballew Motorsports NASCAR Camping World Truck Series entry in the seventh-place position on the starting grid for the 147-lap race on the 1.5-mile Ft. Worth, Texas track.

 From the beginning of the WinStar World Casino 350k truck race Almirola radioed in to the team that the truck was loose.  Despite the handling issues Almirola maintained an eighth-place position on the racetrack.  

While running in the seventh-place position on lap 67 Almirola called to crew chief, Doug George telling him that that he had lost the power steering in the truck making it difficult to steer and maneuver the Graceway Pharmaceuticals ™ race truck around the Ft. Worth, Texas track. 

George and Almirola discussed opening the hood of the Tundra to try to isolate the problem under caution but feared losing valuable track position.  Instead they played with strategy taking on only two-tires when many other teams took on four-tires.  This gave the AKAwareness.com team the lead on lap 94. 

Unfortunately, the mechanical issues continued relegating the No. 15 Graceway Pharmaceuticals ™ / AKAwareness.com Tundra to a 14^th-place finish Friday night at Texas Motor Speedway. 

 According to NASCAR Loop statistics Almirola stayed in the top-15 for 166 of 167-laps and maintained an average position of 8.551-place in the WinStar World Casino 350k.

“We had a really good truck in Texas, obviously didn’t show in our finish,” Aric Almirola said. “But the AKAwareness.com Tundra was really good in practice and we ended up seventh in qualifying. We were on-track for a solid finish but the power steering gave out about 40 laps into the race and it was everything I had to steer the truck around the track. We thought about coming in to fix it but we would have lost so much track position and at a place like Texas you just can’t afford to lose it. The AKAwarness.com crew had really good pit stops all night and got me out front at one point, but by then my power steering was shot and it was a lot to hold onto with hard charging Hornaday, Kyle Busch and Bodine behind me. Just looking forward to Phoenix next weekend.”

The No. 15 Graceway Pharmaceuticals™ / AKAwareness.com Toyota Tundra team heads next to the Phoenix International Raceway for the running of the Lucas Oil 150 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race Friday, November 13, 2009.  Aric Almirola will pilot the Billy Ballew Motorsports entry on the 1-mile track in Phoenix, AZ. 

Almirola, Billy Ballew Motorsports, along with their sponsor, Graceway Pharmaceuticals™ continue to promote the AKAwareness.com program.  AK Awareness is a national public education campaign to raise awareness of actinic keratosis (AK) (Ack-tin-ick Kare-uh-toh-siss) – a potential early warning sign of skin cancer – as well as the long-term consequences of accumulated sun damage.    For more information on AK visit www.AKAwareness.com.

Kyle Busch heads to the Texas Motor Speedway for the running of the WinStar World Casino 350k NASCAR Camping World Truck Series undefeated in the series since late August after being pushed to the win by his Billy Ballew Motorsports teammate last weekend in Talladega.

In unprecedented style Busch has won in the last four consecutive races he was entered in the No. 51 Miccosukee Resort Billy Ballew Motorsports entry. (Bristol, Chicagoland Speedway, New Hampshire and Talladega)

Busch has never posted a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series win at the 1.5-mile Fort Worth, Texas racetrack with a best finish of second-place in 2006 and 2008 for Ballew in six prior starts.  Busch has nine prior NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts at Texas Motor Speedway and nine Nationwide Series starts where he has scored three victories.

Billy Ballew Motorsports has 20 previous NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts at Texas Motor Speedway.

After Busch’s win at Talladega the No. 51 Billy Ballew Motorsports team jumped 78 points closer to the No. 33 team in the 2009 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Owner’s Points Championship standings.  The team heads to the final three races in the 2009 Series season just 100 points behind the lead.

Team owner, Billy Ballew speaks about the possibility of winning the 2009 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Owners Points Championship.  “Is it possible, yes, but it may not be probable.  We’ll give it our best effort and see where it shakes out after Texas, Phoenix and Homestead.  It is definitely something we think about and it would mean the world to me and the Billy Ballew Motorsports team to win an NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Owners Championship after 14-years competing.”

The WinStar World Casino 350k (147 laps, 350k) NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race is slated to begin on Friday, November 6, 2009 at 8:00pm CT.

SPEED will broadcast the event live beginning at 7:30pm CT with MRN and Sirius Satellite Radio joining coverage at 7:45pm CT.

Aric Almirola and the No. 15 Graceway Pharmaceuticals™ / AKAwareness.com Toyota Tundra will take to the track at Texas Motor Speedway for the running of the WinStar World Casino 350k NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race Friday, November 6, 2009.

Almirola joined the Billy Ballew Motorsports team at the spring 2009 race at the Fort Worth, Texas track. In just 13 starts for Billy Ballew Motorsports he has posted six top-five and nine top-10 finishes.

Almirola repeated his career best finish of second-place after pushing Billy Ballew Motorsports teammate Kyle Busch to the win at Talladega Superspeedway last weekend.

Almirola has five NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts and one NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start at the 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway.

“For whatever reason, Texas Motor Speedway has been a track that is a challenge for me. I’ve never come home with any solid finishes, but I hope to turn my luck around this weekend. It’s been great to have Graceway Pharmaceuticals with their ‘Is it AK or OK?’ campaign on the truck.

“From my previous start this season with Billy Ballew Motorsports, we went back to the stop and figured out what we need to return to Texas Motor Speedway with hopefully a better truck.”

Billy Ballew Motorsports has 20 prior starts at Texas Motor Speedway with a best finish of second-place position posted in 2006 and 2008.

The WinStar World Casino 350k (147 laps, 350k) NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race is slated for Friday, November 6, 2009 beginning at 8:00 pm CT.

SPEED will provide live televised coverage of the 23rd-race of the 25-race 2009 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series schedule beginning at 7:30pm CT with MRN and Sirius Satellite Radio joining the broadcast at 7:45pm CT.

Almirola, Billy Ballew Motorsports along with their sponsor Graceway Pharmaceuticals continue to promote the AKAwareness.com program.  AK Awareness is a national public education campaign to raise awareness of actinic keratosis (AK) (Ack-tin-ick Kare-uh-toh-siss) – a potential early warning sign of skin cancer – as well as the long-term consequences of accumulated sun damage.  

For more information on AK visit www.AKAwareness.com.