Harold Holly |
Additionally, the team
announced that Coulter will pilot the team's flagship truck, the No. 18 Tundra,
while team owner Kyle Busch will run a partial schedule in the team's second
entry, the No. 51 Tundra. Busch's schedule and the rest of the team’s driver
lineup will be announced at a later date.
With Holly calling the
shots, Coulter earned his first Truck Series win at Pocono Raceway in August of
last season for Richard Childress Racing, while also capturing three pole
awards. Coulter also posted eight Top-5 and 15 Top-10 finishes en route to a
third-place finish in the championship standings. Coulter's 749 driver's points
accumulated over the final 20 races this season were more than any other Truck
Series driver during that span.
Overall, in two Truck
Series seasons together, the tandem accumulated one win, 14 Top-5 and 28 Top-10
finishes in 47 starts, along with one Top-10 finish in two Nationwide Series
starts. Holly also served as the crew chief for Coulter's two full-time seasons
in the ARCA Racing Series, in 2009 and 2010.
Coulter will drive KBM's No. 18 Tundra |
"Being able to
join Kyle Busch Motorsports and continue to help Joey grow at the same time is
a pretty special thing," said Holly, who will begin his fifth consecutive
season as Coulter's crew chief. "Kyle brings a lot to the sport and a lot
to the Truck Series, so I'm looking forward to the opportunity to work for his
organization. Joey and I have spent the last couple years learning this series
and what it takes to points race with these guys. We've gotten better each year
and I think we have a good plan going into next season. The biggest thing is that
we need to come out of Daytona with a solid finish. Last year, we got so far
behind at the beginning and had to make up so much ground at the end."
"When we signed
Joey, we made a promise to him that we would do everything that we possibly can
to put him in a position to win the championship in 2013 and we made bringing
in Harold Holly as his crew chief our top priority this offseason," KBM
General Manager Rick Ren said. "After we signed Joey in early November, I
listened to some of their radio communication during practice those last few
races and they really work well together. With having such a short schedule in
the Truck Series, you can't afford to get off to a slow start and we feel like
this move will help ease the transition of moving to a new organization for a
young driver."
A fixture in the
Nationwide Series garage during the late 1990's and 2000's, Holly led Jeff
Green to the 2000 series championship. Green collected six wins, seven poles,
25 Top-5 and 27 Top-10 finishes in 32 starts en route to the crown.
Coulter and Holly will
make their KBM debut Feb. 22 in the season-opening NextEra Energy Resources 250
at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway.
No comments:
Post a Comment