Mooresville, North Carolina (Monday, August 3, 2015): Joe Gibbs Racing development driver Cody Coughlin is teaming with Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) for his next start in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.
The 19 year-old will pilot the No. 54 Tundra in the Careers For Veterans 200 at the Michigan Int’l Speedway on Saturday, Aug. 15.
“Kyle Busch Motorsports is on top of the game in the Truck Series,” said Coughlin, a native of Delaware, Ohio. “It’s an honor to be able to race for this team. Kyle has helped me with some knowledge of some tracks this year and that has really helped me. I think this is a great opportunity and I’m expecting a great run.”
“Joe Gibbs Racing has called upon us the last few seasons to put a few of their young drivers in our trucks and help with their development,” said team owner Kyle Busch. “This year the extra seat time that Daniel (Suarez) has received by running our trucks has really seemed to help speed up his learning curve in the XFINITY Series. Cody’s another one of their young guys and we’re looking forward to the opportunity to work with him.”
Coughlin has been a stand-out in the Late Model ranks in the Midwest. Coughlin won the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour championship in 2013, and has won races at prestigious tracks such as Indiana’s Winchester Speedway and Florida’s New Smyrna Speedway.
While still running late model races when he can, Coughlin has some time running with the ARCA Racing Series on a part-time basis. Coughlin has won two poles (Chicagoland Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway), had a career-best second place effort at Talladega Speedway this spring and nearly won in his first attempt on a road course. The Delaware, Ohio, native has scored five top five and 11 top 10 finishes in 17 career starts.
“I’ve been able to watch Cody progress as a young driver in the Late Model ranks and be able to pick up some wins along the way, including a big one in the Super Late Model at Winchester (Speedway) last year. Then he moved up into ARCA where he has had some strong runs the last few seasons and continued his progression earlier this year when he made his first Truck Series start at Kentucky,” said Busch.
Coughlin has one NASCAR Camping World Truck Series start under his belt so far. Rain washed away all practice and qualifying, but Coughlin was still able to score a top 20 finish even after having never run a lap in a truck before taking the green flag.
Coughlin has seen a lot of success at the bigger race tracks in his ARCA career. It was only natural for his first race with KBM to be on a bigger track as well. As a result, Coughlin expects to run strongly all day long on the two-mile track in Michigan.
“Obviously I want to contend for the win,” said Coughlin. “But I’ll be satisfied with a good, solid top-10 finish after being up around the front all day long.”
