Kyle Busch is back for another five-race slate in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in 2023, except this will be his first time doing so in a Chevrolet Silverado since 2007. On Wednesday, his Kyle Busch Motorsports team announced he will run the #51 Silverado RST with sponsorship from drayage company Zariz Transport, who will also support the truck in the other eighteen races on the 2023 schedule.
His season begins at his home track Las Vegas Motor Speedway on 3 March. He will later race at Circuit of the Americas (25 March), Martinsville Speedway (14 April), Kansas Speedway (6 May), and Pocono Raceway (22 July).
“(Wife) Samantha and I were introduced to Zariz through our foundation and immediately developed a great connection with them and we are honoured that not only have they committed to the Truck Series sponsorship for multiple years, but they’ll also continue being the presenting sponsor of our Bundle of Joy Fund gala,” said Busch. “We feel that introducing them to NASCAR consumers and people within the industry on the national stage through the Craftsman Truck Series makes perfect sense given the nature of their business and I can’t wait to make them a part of KBM’s winning tradition.”
Busch is the winningest driver in series history with sixty-two victories, over four times more than the next active driver (Matt Crafton with fifteen), highlighted by a perfect sweep in 2019 when he won all five of his entered races. While he only won once in 2022 at the Truck Series’ first race at Sonoma since 1998, he notched top tens in every race including a runner-up at Las Vegas and third at COTA.
COTA is the lone track of the five where Busch has not won in the Trucks, though he claimed the Xfinity race there in 2021. He has three victories at Las Vegas and Kansas apiece, as well as two at Kansas and Martinsville.
“Through working with Kyle and Samantha as the title sponsors of their Bundle of Joy gala, we recognized that there was a business synergy between Zariz and KBM and that the opportunity to align ourselves with one of the most successful drivers in the history of NASCAR is going to be very beneficial to us as we continue to grow our company,” commented Zariz founder Yaakov Guzelgul. “We look forward to seeing our logo on the #51 in the coming years and hosting our employees and customers at the track to cheer on Kyle as he looks to add more wins to an already impressive résumé.”
The #51 will also be driven by Jack Wood in ten races. Drivers for the other eight races have not been revealed.