Charlotte Advance
5/14/2013
JOEY COULTER CHARLOTTE ADVANCE
Coulter hopes to hit the "Jackpot" in Friday night's N.C. Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte
When it comes to lucky numbers at Charlotte Motor Speedway (CMS), you better make sure to go "All In" on the No. 18 Darrell Gwynn Foundation Toyota Tundra of Joey Coulter. In three previous starts at the 1.5-mile oval, the No. 18 Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) machine has claimed three top-five finishes including one pole and two wins. In fact, in 10 previous NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) starts at CMS, the No. 18 is the only Toyota Tundra that knows the way to victory lane. Therefore, driving for two-time race winner Kyle Busch, Coulter feels confident that his KBM team will supply him with the speed and handling he needs to hit the jackpot in Friday night's N.C. Education Lottery 200.
With finishes of 22nd, 15th, 13th and second, respectively, in the first four NCWTS events on the 2013 schedule, Coulter has improved his finishing position in each race and knows that his momentum coming off a season-best finish at Kansas will lead him straight to familiar territory with the No. 18 machine. A solid effort by the 22-year-old Miami Springs, Fla. native has allowed him to gain 12 positions in the NCWTS driver point standings since Daytona and currently sits comfortably inside the top-10 with 125 points; a mere 10 points behind fifth-place Ty Dillon and 37 points behind series point leader Matt Crafton. With only one goal in mind, to win KBM their first driver championship, Coulter knows a solid finish at CMS this weekend will keep him on track to "runnin' down his dream."
Making his third start at CMS this weekend, Coulter hopes to improve on his 2012 track-best finish of seventh and "scratch off" another "W" in the win column in the 11th Annual N.C. Education Lottery 200 at CMS.
Joey Coulter, Driver of the No. 18 NCWTS Darrell Gwynn Foundation Tundra:
What makes racing at Charlotte so special?
"Charlotte is a cool place to race for a lot of reasons. One, it's a hometown race for everyone; there are not only a lot of fans that come out but a lot of your friends and family come out to see you race and you get to sleep in your own bed, which is neat. As far as truck races go, I would consider this to be one of the biggest - there is so much excitement and energy in the air not only around the truck race/All-Star week but both weeks in Charlotte. You have SPEED Street, we have a really big KBM fan event leading into the 600 weekend and there are just a lot of fans in town, it's a really cool feeling. Also, Charlotte Motor Speedway is just one of those tracks with a lot of history and it's a fun, cool place to race - it always makes for a good show."
Do you lose momentum in the three week break between Kansas and Charlotte?
"Any break is tough - we had that really big break in between Daytona and Martinsville, which is really a whole month and that was kind of tough on us because it wasn't a great finish. Coming off a second-place finish at Kansas and then having three weeks off, it's still tough, but we are all walking around knowing that we had a good day and itching to get back out there and do it again - one position better. We are bringing the same Toyota Tundra that we had at Kansas to Charlotte, so I know we will have a good piece. I've always enjoyed racing at Charlotte, I've run well there in the past and these mile-and-a-half tracks tend to be good for us. Our confidence is up, so I don't see us losing momentum at all."
Harold Holly, Crew Chief of the No. 18 NCWTS Darrell Gwynn Foundation Tundra:
What are the keys to getting around Charlotte Motor Speedway?
"The big thing with Charlotte is we practice during the day and race at night. There is such a huge swing with the race track between the daytime and at night, so you need to have a really good feel of how much you need to change your balance for the race and not over adjust. Turns three and four are a different animal than turns one and two - turns one and two are really violent, three and four are not. The sun sets in the west and shines down directly on turns three and four so it can give you a challenge during the day. At night turns one and two can because they are rough, so you have to keep those things in mind when you are tuning up."
You are taking the same Toyota Tundra to Charlotte that you were so strong with at Kansas; do you expect to unload where you left off three weeks ago?
"Yes we do. It was a brand new chassis going into Kansas and now we have a race in on it so when we got back from Kansas we made some fine tuning adjustments to it. Kansas is obviously a completely different race track than what Charlotte is - Kansas was new pavement and smooth, Charlotte is something different. However, it gave us an opportunity to work the bugs out of a new truck at Kansas especially with the extra practice time, which we have at Charlotte as well. But, yes we are really pumped about it and think we are going to be really fast."
Joey Coulter's No. 18 Darrell Gwynn Foundation Tundra:
Chassis KBM 014: Coulter will pilot KBM 014 in this weekend's N.C. Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Built new for the 2013 season, this chassis has one previous start at Kansas Speedway, finishing a season-best second.
Notes of Interest:
Joey Coulter @ Charlotte:
• In two NCWTS starts, has compiled one top-10 finish, seventh (2012)
• Best start: third (2012), Best finish: seventh (2012)
• Completed 100% of laps attempted (268/268)
• Average Start: 13.0/Average Finish: 11.5
• In his most recent start at CMS, qualified a track-best third and finished a track-best seventh in the 2012 N.C. Education Lottery 200
• Started 21st and finished 10th in his lone NASCAR Nationwide Series start at CMS
Joey Coulter 2013
• Gained four positions to ninth in the NCWTS driver point standings following a second-place finish at Kansas. Coulter is now 10 points behind fifth-place Ty Dillon and 37 points behind series leader Matt Crafton
• Recorded a season-best second-place finish at Kansas Speedway
• Has improved his finishing position in each of the last four NCWTS events
• The only KBM driver to complete 100% of laps attempted in 2013 (722/722)
• Finished 13th at Rockingham Speedway
• Finished 15th at Martinsville Speedway
• Finished 22nd in the season-opener at Daytona International Speedway
• Third full-time season in the NCWTS
Joey Coulter 2012
• Earned first career NCWTS victory at Pocono Raceway (8/4/12)
• Captured three pole awards (8/18/12 @ Michigan International Speedway, 9/21/12 @ Kentucky Speedway and 9/28/12 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway)
• Collected eight top-five and 15 top-10 finishes en route to a third-place finish in the final point standings
• 749 driver's points accumulated over the final 20 races of the season were more than any other NCWTS driver
Joey Coulter Camping World Truck Series Career:
• In 51 starts, has compiled one win (Pocono, 2012), three poles (2012), 135 laps led, 14 top-five and 29 top-10 finishes
• 2011 - Earned Rookie of the Year award in the NCWTS after registering four top-five and eight top-10 finishes en route to a seventh-place finish in the final point standings
• 2010 - Collected 1 win ( 8/7/10 @ Berlin Raceway), 7 top-five and 10 top-10 finishes en route to an eighth-place finish in the final ARCA Racing Series point standings
• 2009 - Captured two poles (7/11/09 @ Iowa Speedway and 9/4/09 @ Toledo Speedway) and recorded seven top-five and 13 top-10 finishes en route to a fourth-place finish in the final ARCA Racing Series point standings as a rookie
Last NCWTS Event-SFP 250 at Kansas Speedway:
Starting from the 11th position, Coulter battled his way into the top five before getting caught a lap down early in the 167-lap event when an untimely caution flag was waved before green flag pit stops had cycled through just prior to halfway. After receiving the "Lucky Dog" award on lap 91, Coulter went on to lead twice for 15 laps, spending the last 29 laps battling Matt Crafton, the eventual race winner, for the top spot. The 22-year-old driver would finish second in just his third start at the 1.5-mile tri-oval marking his first top-five finish of the 2013 Truck Series season.
Mission Possible:
Coulter kicked off a campaign last week to raise $18,000 for the Darrell Gwynn Foundation by the final NCWTS race of the season at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November. The Darrell Gwynn Foundation - which exists to provide awareness, prevention, support and ultimately a cure for paralysis - was launched in 2002 by former drag racer, Darrell Gwynn and will adorn the quarter panels of Coulter's No. 18 Toyota Tundra in the 11th Annual N.C. Education Lottery 200 at CMS this weekend. For more information visit: www.JoeyCoulter.com