It’s October and, as usual this time of year, M&M’S has brought back its Halloween-themed No. 18 M&M’S Toyota scheme for driver Kyle Busch this weekend at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City. Not surprisingly, this is one of M&M’S busiest seasons.
But unique to 2020, M&M’S will add an exciting twist to the yearly October Halloween scheme as Mars Wrigley has launched TREAT TOWN – the world’s first digital trick-or-treat experience with the app featured on the No. 18 TREAT TOWN Toyota for Sunday’s race at Kansas. In the new app, fans can go door to door collecting candy credits, which can be redeemed for real candy. The No.18 M&M’S Halloween Toyota will actually be featured in the app, free M&M’S and SNICKERS candy credits will be given away to anyone who visits, while supplies last. Fans can find the TREAT TOWN app in the app store or by visiting treat-town.com to download.
Busch and his M&M’S themed Halloween TREAT TOWN Toyota will head to Kansas hoping to find a way to bring home their first win of the season. And for his part, Kansas hasn’t been nearly as spooky over his last 11 races there as opposed to a vastly stark record during his first 13 starts at the 1.5-mile oval, when he had eight finishes of 20th or worse.
With those Kansas finishes in mind from earlier in his career, Busch and his M&M’S TREAT TOWN team can look to the turning point being in April 2014 race there, when they started from scratch with a brand new car. They attacked the track in the Heartland of America with hope that a fresh outlook would produce vastly different results. While a pit-road speeding penalty cost them precious track position and an even better finish in that race, the result of 15th was still much different than the three previous trips. They began to turn the corner there in terms of competitiveness and results.
Starting with the October 2014 Kansas Cup Series race, Busch brought home his first-ever top-five finish at the track. Anyone who has ever followed Busch’s career knows the 2015 and 2019 Cup Series champion never cared much for moral victories. However, the momentum carried over from the October 2014 top-five to his next Kansas race in October 2015, when he finished a solid third.
Busch keeps making strides each time he goes back to Kansas. He broke through for his first Cup Series win there in May 2016 as the surface finally started to wear and become more agreeable to Busch’s driving style. He has nine finishes of 11th or better over the course of his last 11 starts there, a streak that at one point included five consecutive top-fives. During this year’s first Kansas race in July, Busch led 52 laps, but a late-race brush with the wall kept him out of contention for the victory.
So, as the Cup Series heads to the Heartland Sunday with Halloween fast approaching, Busch is hoping for a “treat” by the time the checkered flag falls and his colorful M&M’S TREAT TOWN Toyota lands in victory lane.
TSC PR