Kyle Busch aiming to give young drivers a chance with his new Truck team
(Left to right) Kyle Busch Motorsports' director of competition Rick Ren, driver Brian Ickler, owner/driver Kyle Busch and driver Tayler Malsam announced their new NASCAR Camping World Truck Series program Friday. // David Griffin, NASCAR Scene
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CHARLOTTE – One of the reasons Kyle Busch says he is fielding a Camping World Truck Series team next season is to give young drivers an opportunity they otherwise might not have in NASCAR. Busch hopes that opportunity also provides a chance for them to quickly move up through the ranks, just as he did.
Busch, who announced Friday that he will field two full-time trucks – one that he’s sharing with 24-year-old Brian Ickler and another for 20-year-old Tayler Malsam – wants both drivers to graduate from NASCAR’s Truck series.
If all goes according to plan, Ickler could move into a full-time Truck ride for Kyle Busch Motorsports in 2011 while Malsam could move up to a Nationwide Series team.
Malsam completed his first full Truck season this year, driving for Randy Moss Motorsports. Ickler made 11 starts in the Billy Ballew Motorsports truck this season, sharing time with Busch in the team’s No. 51 Toyota and also making a handful of starts in a second Ballew truck.
Busch is intent on grooming both Malsam and Ickler.
“Hopefully this year Tayler is successful enough where he wins some races and he can move along and ultimately we’d put Brian in that truck,” Busch said. “You can’t really foresee the future – if Tayler’s going to come back or if he’s going to move forward or what he’s going to do – but for me, I’d love to have Brian in a full-time truck because I feel like he’s got enough in order to do it.
“And maybe this year if things get too busy or too crazy for me, I might even scale my stuff back just a little bit and let Brian have a couple more races if he’s doing well.”
Even though KBM also has 46-year-old Johnny Benson in the fold, Busch wants his organization to first and foremost be a training ground to mold young talent. Benson, the 2008 series champion, will run a third KBM entry in 2010 if sponsorship can be found.
Busch and Ickler have sponsorship for the full season from Miccosukee Resort and Gaming on their No. 18 Truck while Malsam has Activwater on board for a number of races.
Busch just doesn’t want to build his organization around a veteran driver, much as he says Kevin Harvick Inc. has done in the Truck series with reigning champion Ron Hornaday.
“It’s fun for me to try to give back to the young drivers and that’s why I want to have Tayler in there to try to help bring him along and mentor him a little bit because I don’t just want to run the Harvick deal,” Busch said. “I don’t want to have an experienced guy that’s not going anywhere in the sport. He’s just going to stay there and run for championships in the Truck series year after year after year after year. I want to have this as a stepping stone.
“We don’t have any young drivers coming up through the ranks. It’s time. We’ve got to bring that back along a little bit.”
Malsam, who finished 12th in points as a rookie last season, likes his owner’s vision for the program.
“As a driver, our goal is to always move up and it’s very pleasing to hear someone say he wants to help me move up into the higher ranks, and I’m just very excited,” he said. “It’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Malsam finds comfort in knowing that the 24-year-old Busch and Ickler are in his age bracket. Malsam was a teammate to 52-year-old Mike Skinner last season.
“I think we can get along really well,” Malsam said of Busch. “We don’t have that 30-year gap like me and Skinner did. So it’ll be a lot of fun because we can do things off the track. … It’ll be a great year, and I’m very fortunate to have these guys on my side.”
Ickler has driven races for Busch’s Late Model team in the past, in addition to sharing the seat with Busch in a Billy Ballew truck, and looks forward to working even more closely with the driver he considers a mentor.
Busch’s path to the Sprint Cup Series started much like Ickler’s – with a part-time run in the Truck series.
Since entering the Cup series in 2005 after a season in what is now the Nationwide Series, Busch has won 16 races.
“Kyle had a lot of help coming through the ranks and he is looking to see how he can pass that on to other people and do the same that people did for him,” Ickler said. “He’s given back to the short-track world with his Late Model program, he’s given back to drive for other teams where he didn’t get paychecks and brought sponsorship, so for him to do this is great for myself, and I can’t thank him enough.”
