Monday, March 9, 2009

Kyle Busch To Run Camping World Series Event



Kyle Busch, the winner of the recent NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Shelby 427 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, will race at Iowa Speedway. Busch, who has won nine of 39 Cup Races since moving to Joe Gibbs Racing in 2008, is scheduled to compete in Newton Sunday, May 17, in the NASCAR Camping World Series East/West Challenge.

Busch said he’s looking forward to racing at Iowa Speedway. “Iowa Speedway is an amazing race track with exciting racing and its going to be a great show for the fans,” Busch said. “For some reason, Iowa Speedway has a history of somehow picking the winner of the All Star race in Charlotte by inviting a Cup guy out to run their race. I hope the tradition continues for us this year.”

The NASCAR Camping World Series East/West Challenge has drawn large crowds to Iowa Speedway in its first two seasons. In fact, the race is increasingly popular with NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers since the last two NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers – Kevin Harvick and Kasey Kahne – each won the million dollar NASCAR Sprint Cup Series All-Star Challenge in Charlotte the night before competing at Iowa Speedway.

The word is out: if you want to win a million dollars in Charlotte, race in Iowa the next day.

The NASCAR Camping World Series drivers have shown their ability to hang with the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stars. In 2007, Harvick was bested by then 16-year-old rising star Joey Logano. Last year, Kahne finished runner-up to Brian Ickler. This year, Busch will look to break that trend.

“The fans in Iowa are so awesome, the facilities are first class and the staff is top notch,” Busch said. “Not only will we be running the Camping World Series race, but we'll be back to run the Nationwide Series race as well, on our way to a Nationwide championship. We expect the Camping World race to be highly competitive and full of side by side racing with some of the best talent out there. I'm bringing my ‘A’ game to the race and I hope for a lot of fans in the stands making some noise. See everyone soon and thanks again to the staff at Iowa Speedway for extending the invitation for us to participate and I can't wait to see all of the fans packed in for the race!”

Iowa Speedway CEO Stan Clement, who enticed Busch to race at Iowa Speedway, said Busch’s arrival adds excitement to a race that is already a favorite among racing fans.

“We’re delighted to have Kyle Busch at Iowa Speedway to jumpstart our 2009 racing season,” said Clement, “there’s nobody more competitive in racing right now – he’s the ‘best of the best.’ ”

With his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win Sunday at Las Vegas, Kyle Busch has won three of the eight points races held this year in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, NASCAR Nationwide Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

The NASCAR Camping World Series is the top level of the NASCAR Developmental Series and is made up of the two regional tours, the East and West, competing with identical race cars similar in appearance and design to those cars used in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. The East and the West meet only once during the season with points on the line – at Iowa Speedway in May.

Camping World, the country’s largest RV and outdoor retailer, became the title sponsor of the NASCAR East/West Series last year and continues the tradition of developing talented young drivers as well as sponsoring the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series beginning this year.
Track Release

Moses Smith #16In last year's East vs. West race, Moses Smith was the fastest West Series’ driver in the final practice session at Iowa Speedway and only 2/10th off the record. In a close qualifying session, Moses put the No. 16 HASA Pool Products / White Flyer Toyota in row twelve. Only 44 drivers would start the 200-lap race. Moses finished the race in sixth place for the West Drivers (seventeenth overall).



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