NCWTS: Matt Tifft – No. 54 NASCAR ’15 Victory Edition Tundra NCWTS Chicago Advance

Although he has never raced a truck there, Tifft has two top-five finishes in the ARCA Racing Series at Chicagoland. He was fourth earlier this year and third in 2013. He lists Chicagoland as one of his favorite tracks on the schedule and has high expectations for the truck race. Tifft has made eight starts in the Truck Series this season with three top-10 finishes.

The Kyle Busch Motorsports’ (KBM) No. 54 NASCAR ’15 Victory Edition team has high expectations as well. In eight starts at Chicagoland, KBM teams have posted three wins, four top-five and six top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 7.0. Owner-driver Kyle Busch has claimed all three wins for his team, including the past two years and 2010.

Tifft will be racing the same truck he finished eighth with at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway last month. KBM-012 also ran at Dover (Del.) International Speedway and Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway this season, but was rebuilt after extensive damage in the Dover race. The chassis has one win in 15 starts. Erik Jones took the checkered flag in it last year at Iowa Speedway in Newton.

Tifft is headed to Chicago with a very specific shopping list, but it’s nothing that can be bought with a credit card on Michigan Avenue. His list includes a large American Ethanol 225 trophy, adding his name to the record books as a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series winner and truly making his Tundra a NASCAR ’15 Victory Edition.

“I think we will run competitively this weekend, Chicago has always been a good track for me and is one of my favorites on the schedule, so I am definitely excited about our chances this weekend. The KBM Tundras are always strong and we’re racing the same truck I raced at Pocono last month where we finished eighth. I’m hoping to improve on that Friday night.”

“Chicago is very rounded, and definitely has gotten a few bumps through turns three and four. Navigating that will be the biggest key for keeping up momentum. It’s a fun track and I’ve always enjoyed racing there. Hopefully I can keep my record intact of not finishing outside of the top five.”

“Track familiarity always helps, so the ARCA experience should help a bit, but the trucks are definitely a different animal. I think having experience in a truck at any track is just as valuable as having raced at the track itself in another series.”

“After two weeks off I’m really looking forward to getting back to the track this week.  Chicago is a track that I enjoy racing at, as it has some bumps in turns three and four that give the track its own character.  It has a little less banking in the turns than Charlotte, Vegas and Texas, but a little more banking than Kentucky and it’s pretty much identical to Kansas. It’s also really close to where I grew up, so it’s nice to race in front of your hometown crowd so to speak.  Matt Tifft will be driving the 54 Tundra again this week, so I’m excited to get to work with him again.”

KBM-012: The No. 54 NASCAR ’15 team will race KBM-012, for Friday’s American Ethanol 225. This Tundra has one win with Erik Jones at the wheel in Iowa last July. Tifft raced it most recently at Pocono Raceway last month where he finished eighth.

Year	Races	Win	Top 5	Top 10	Pole	Laps	Led	Earnings	AvSt	AvFn	RAF	Miles	LLF
2014	3	0	0	1	0	458	0	$30,400	21.7	16.3	3	430.2	2
2015	8	0	0	3	0	850	0	$123,323	14.4	17.8	5	1033.4	4
Totals	11	0	0	4	0	1308	0	$153,723	16.4	17.4	8	1463.6	6

Shannon Rursch will call the shots for the No. 54 Tundra in the Truck Series in 2015. The Iowa native may be new to KBM, but is no stranger to sitting atop the pit box. Rursch comes to KBM from Turner Scott Motorsports (TSM), where he most recently served as crew chief for the No. 31 team in the NASCAR XFINITY Series. In addition to leading the XFINITY Series team in 2014, he collected three top-10 finishes in four starts as crew chief for TSM in select Truck Series events last season. Rursch scored his first career win as a NASCAR crew chief in July when Christopher Bell won at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio.

Rursch has two prior starts as crew chief at Chicagoland, both in the XFINITY Series with Dylan Kwasniewski. Both starts resulted in 17^th-place finishes.