Richards’ Returns to Truck Racing in ‘Dega: Saturday’s 250-mile NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) race at Talladega Superspeedway will be 23-year-old Josh Richards’ seventh career start in the Truck Series. Richards made his NCWTS debut at Kentucky Speedway on July 7 with Kyle Busch Motorsports and sponsor Joy Mining Machinery.
KBM at Talladega: The Mooresville, N.C-based Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) team has one career NCWTS start on Talladega Superspeedway’s 2.66-mile tri-oval. Owner Kyle Busch piloted the No. 18 entry to one of eight total wins in 2010 at the October NCWTS event at Talladega en route to claiming the 2010 Truck Series Owners’ Championship. In 56 total NCWTS starts since their inception in 2010, Kyle Busch Motorsports has earned 15 victories, 30 top-five finishes, 36 top-10 finishes and eight pole awards while leading 1,919 laps of competition.
Joy Mining Machinery at Talladega: Richards’ sponsor, Joy Mining Machinery, will have a group of over 100 employees and customers present at the Talladega Paddock Club on Saturday to support Richards and the No. 51 Joy Mining Machinery Toyota Tundra it their seventh series start this season.
Josh Richards on this weekend’s race: “I’m excited to get on track at Talladega. Having a good leader like Rick Ren and an experienced team behind me, makes me feel more confident heading into Talladega. I look forward to racing on such a historic track.”
Crew Chief Rick Ren on working with a rookie driver at Talladega Superspeedway: “I’ll have to give Josh some of the dos and don’ts about how you blend in, because the biggest thing is actually how you blend into the race track. You have to learn that when a group goes by you in excess of 190 mph it can pick you up and turn you right around on the race track with that big spoiler. I’ve had that happen with more than one rookie. The second thing we’re going to work on is trying to get him comfortable riding around there. I’ll start him on the bottom to get around there to not lift and get him comfortable. And then we’re going to have to get him into some drafting practice somewhere. I don’t want to put him in a three-wide situation during drafting practice. I think we need to keep him two-wide for practice. It’s important, so I need to teach him to learn to shift at the same point every time. It’s shifting, it’s pit road and if you get a little wiggle during draft, you can’t let off the draft, so there will be quite a bit to talk about.”
SPECIAL PAINT SCHEME AT MARTINSVILLE:
Richards will run a special paint scheme at Martinsville Speedway on October 29 highlighting artwork done by Alexandra and Hunter Vogel of Mooresville, N.C. The children’s artwork was created to honor the U.S. Navy SEALs and warriors who lost their lives fighting terrorism in Afghanistan on August 6, 2011.
Having been a part of a Navy family all of their lives, Hunter (9) and Alexandra (6) created artwork to show support for the Naval Special Warfare (NSW) families who lost loved ones on August 6. Hunter and Alexandra have since had their artwork made into stickers and have given them away to remind people of the sacrifices these and other warriors make everyday. As a result many who met Alexandra and Hunter and heard their story have made donations to the Navy SEAL Foundation.
The NSW Community lost 22 members on August 6. The fallen included Navy SEALs, Explosive Ordinance Disposal warriors, information systems professionals and cryptologic specialists. Along with these personnel, we also lost the Army aircrew, Air Force personnel and our Afghan partners that fight with our soldiers every day.
Richards met Hunter and Alexandra in August and has had their special sticker on his Joy Mining Machinery Toyota Tundra in Bristol, Atlanta and Kentucky. Richards’ partner Joy Mining Machinery was impressed by the story and the company decided they would help Josh help Alexandra and Hunter get the word out. The company created a special paint scheme and generously donated the hood branding on Richards’ entry into the NCWTS race at Martinsville Speedway on October 29 to showcase Alexandra and Hunter’s effort and artwork on the truck.
Alexandra and Hunter Vogel, their family, guests from the Navy SEAL Foundation and the NSW community will attend the NCWTS race at Martinsville as special guests of Richards and Joy Mining Machinery.
A website was created to help get the word out about the stickers and the fundraising effort. For more information go to www.NSWKids.com. To make a donation to the Navy SEAL Foundation, go to www.NavySEALFoundation.org.
KBM PR
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