Founded in 2010 in the Craftsman Truck Series, Kyle Busch Motorsports became a staple of the series, and it did so in no time at all. If there was a KBM truck on the track, you expected it to win. Since then, KBM has produced multitudes of future Cup Series stars, including Daytona 500 winners and Championship 4 contenders. By the time the team closed its doors to the NASCAR world, they had amassed 100 wins in the Truck Series and a single win in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series.
In 2010, Kyle himself would score the team’s first win at Nashville, but it took 4 years for KBM to produce its first future Cup talent. Kyle Busch Motorsports would sign K&N Star Bubba Wallace to race the team’s 54 Toyota Tundra, and there was no looking back.
A long list of drivers followed Wallace, including Byron, Bell, and Gragson. Almost one-third of the Cup Field owes their careers to the late Kyle Busch and his team. 10 of the 36 drivers on 6 teams. Here are those drivers.
Bubba Wallace 2014-2015
The first. Bubba accomplished five of his six truck wins with KBM. His first win for KBM came at Martinsville in 2013. He would later on win three Cup Series races to this point in his career, including a Crown Jewel at Indy.
Erik Jones 2013-2015
Two races after Bubba scored his win at Martinsville, Erik Jones would win at Phoenix. Jones would race part-time for the team in 2013 & 2014 before going full-time and winning the title in 2015. He would get all 7 of his truck wins at KBM before eventually becoming Kyle’s teammate at JGR. Erik would go on to win three Cup Series races to this point in his career, including two Southern 500 Crown Jewel events.
Daniel Suarez 2015-2016
Suarez would get his NASCAR start at Daytona in 2015 with KBM, where he would run two part-time seasons. Suarez would get his loan CTS victory at Phoenix in 2016 for KBM. Just like Jones, he would become a JGR teammate of Busch a few years later. Suarez has scored three Cup Series victories, including the last race run, the 2026 Coca-Cola 600, another Crown Jewel thanks to Busch and his team.
Christopher Bell 2015-2018
Christopher Bell would get his first NASCAR start for KBM in 2015. Running three races in a row, Bell would score his first NASCAR win at Eldora before going full-time the next season. He would win seven of his eight truck races and the 2017 title at KBM. Just like the last two, Bell would join Joe Gibbs Racing as a Kyle Busch teammate in the Cup Series, where he would go on to win 13 times to this point, including a Coca-Cola 600 Crown Jewel race.
William Byron 2015-2016
William Byron would join the KBM lineup for a one-off race in 2015 before moving full-time in 2016. In 2016, William would win seven of his eight truck races with KBM, all while having the most successful single season in the team’s history for a development driver to that point. William Byron has become the most successful Cup driver to come out of the KBM development program, with 16 Cup victories, including back-to-back Daytona 500 wins, NASCAR’s #1 Crown Jewel event.
Noah Gragson 2017-2018
Noah Gragson would run two full seasons for KBM, where he would score both of his Craftsman Truck Series victories. Noah moved to the Cup Series full-time in 2023 and races for Front Row Motorsports today.
Todd Gilliland 2017-2019
Todd Gilliland began running part-time for KBM in 2017 and 2018, then moved to full-time with them in 2019. He would score one of his three victories in the series for KMB at Martinsville in 2019 before moving to Front Row Motorsports and Ford. He has never left FRM and has been running 0in their Cup program almost exclusively since 2022.
Riley Herbst 2018-2020
Riley Herbst would make six random starts for KBM over three seasons. Over the last two seasons, Herbst has been running full-time in the Cup Series with 23XI Racing with KBM Alumni Bubba Wallace.
John Hunter Nemechek 2021-2022
John Hunter Nemechek was already a successful Truck Series racer before he moved to KBM in 2021. He came to KBM with six victories under his belt and would quickly begin adding to that tally. He would win seven times for KBM, tied for the most on this list. John Hunter is on his fourth full-time season in Cup and third with Legacy Motor Club.
Corey Heim 2021-2022
Corey Heim would make select starts for KBM in 2021 and 2022. Before becoming one of the most successful drivers in the history of the series, he would score his first two victories with KBM in 2022. Today, he has no full-time home, but is tapped to be the next full-time driver at 23XI Racing, where he currently runs part-time, with alumni Bubba Wallace and Riley Herbst.
Combined Cup Stats
- 38 – Cup Series Wins
- 7 – Crown Jewels
Image: Cody Wansley/ Seriously Fast Motorsports
