Kyle drives the #18 M&M's Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing. Only 23 years old, he graduated high school a year early so he could follow big brother Kurt's footsteps into NASCAR. He started in the series in 2004, and was the then-Busch series Rookie of the Year as well. In 2005, his first full year of racing, he won 2 races, becoming only the sixth driver to win multiple times in their rookie seasons. In his short career, he has 13 wins (eight coming last year), 10 poles, 49 top 5's, and 74 top 10's. The only time he has been out of the top ten was his rookie year in 2005. Last year, he won a NASCAR record 21 times across the top three series.
No stranger to controversy, Kyle started with powerhouse Hendrick Motorsports but last year moved over to Toyota and JGR. Hendrick doesn't kiss and tell, but reportedly Kyle's less-than-mature attitude prompted them to release him in favor of free-agent Dale Earnhardt Jr. So how did Kyle respond? With the aforementioned career-high eight-win season, handing Toyota their first-ever Cup series win in the process.
So far this year, he's been doing extremely well, with his lone poor finish a result of getting caught up in the Dale Jr./Brian Vickers wreck at Daytona. He won the pole at Vegas, but had to start at the back of the pack because of an engine change and worked his way--fairly patiently for Kyle--all the way to the front, then hung on through late cautions and restarts. Maybe because it was his hometown track there just weren't so many boos when he won this time. He may be cocky, but nothing wins fans like success.
No comments:
Post a Comment