Kyle Busch to drive in 12-15 Truck races for Billy Ballew Motorsports in 2009
Kyle Busch will make between 12 and 15 starts for Billy Ballew Motorsports this season in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, team owner Billy Ballew said on Wednesday.
Busch, who has run a partial schedule for the Toyota team for the last four seasons in addition to a full NASCAR Cup schedule, will return to Ballew’s No. 51 truck, which he drove to three wins in 18 starts last season.
Busch, who is slated to drive the truck mainly on weekends when the Sprint Cup and Truck series compete at the same track, will share the seat for a second straight year with driver Shane Sieg.
Ballew’s other team truck, the No. 15 entry shared by several drivers last season, including Marc Mitchell, David Stremme, John Andretti, Denny Hamlin and James Buescher, has no primary sponsorship and may not run past the season’s first four races, Ballew said. A driver for those first four races has not been named.
“We don’t have any funding or a dime put into place as of today,” he said.
Ballew’s No. 51 truck will once again have backing from Miccosukee Resorts.
“As you know it’s a pretty tough time in our series right now if you look at the truck count,” said Ballew, a Georgia businessman who launched his team in 1996. “I don’t know what the fix is right now other than time.”
If the No. 15 does acquire a primary sponsor, Ballew says his preference would be to have one driver in the seat for the entire season. If multiple drivers end up sharing the ride again, Ballew expects Hamlin to be among them.
Hamlin made two starts in the truck in 2008.
“We’ve always been successful with him,” Ballew said. “It’s always fun racing with Denny.”
