This Sunday is a notable day for Kyle Busch for a couple of reasons. Of course, Busch’s main focus is on that afternoon’s NASCAR Cup Series race, the Xfinity 500 a Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.
But the driver of the No. 18 M&M’S Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) will also use the opportunity to celebrate Halloween as the race happens to fall the day before this year’s “All Hallows’ Eve” celebration. Fittingly, Busch’s racecar will sport the colorful candymaker’s special scheme en homage to its M&M’S Halloween fun packs.
Along with his favorite chocolate candies, Busch is looking for something else to add to his Halloween treat bag following Sunday’s race on the half-mile, paperclip-shaped Martinsville oval – the track’s iconic grandfather clock trophy.
The spooky-looking M&M’S scheme will race on Halloween at a place that was particularly challenging for Busch at the start of his career and the initial part of his 15-year tenure with JGR, which will wrap up at the end of this season. Busch finished outside the top-10 in three of his first four Martinsville races with JGR in 2008 and 2009. Since then, he’s scored 13 top-five finishes there and looks to add a 14th and final Martinsville top-five with JGR Sunday – ideally in victory lane.
The turning point for Busch and the M&M’S team at Martinsville came with the two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion’s first career win there in April 2016. Not only did he bring home his first Martinsville clock, he did it in dominating fashion, leading five times for a race-high 352 laps. He added a second win there the following year.
So, as the Cup Series heads to the penultimate race of the season this weekend, Busch and the M&M’S Halloween team hope the confidence they’ve built at Martinsville in recent years translates to yet another grandfather clock, just in “time” for Halloween.
— Joe Gibbs Racing —