Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) announced today that Alex Tagliani will be returning to the organization in a one-race deal to drive the No. 51 Tundra at in the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series race at the Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway Road Course on Aug. 16. Tagliani’s Toyota will carry co-primary sponsorship from RONA – one of Canada’s leading home improvement companies, and VIAGRA. – a personal care product that is available on subscription.
The Canadian driver has two poles, 15 laps led, two top-five and three top-10 finishes across five career NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series starts, all which have come at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP) in Bowmanville, Ont., including a runner-up finish for KBM in last year’s event. Tagliani has competed in two Rolex 24 events on the Daytona Road Course: the 2007 event in the GT class and in 2014 in the Prototype Challenge division.
“We finished second last year with the No. 51 Tundra at Mosport (CTMP) and now Kyle and everyone at KBM has provided me with an amazing opportunity to go to the road course at Daytona and try to finish one position better and add another banner to the rafters in their shop,” Tagliani said. “There are a lot of guys in the Truck Series that have been able to make a lot of laps around Mosport (CTMP) the last few years, which is a challenging road course, so the laps they’ve made there in practice and the race are going to pay dividends at a track like Daytona and it’s not going to be a walk in the park. I love the track and it’s going to be a good battle and exciting for the fans in attendance and watching on television.
With everything we have going on with our shortened Pinty’s Series season, it’s very cool that we are able to bring over our partners from that program – RONA, VIAGRA, CanTorque, St. Hubert and Andy Transport – and add a race to our schedule and get them more exposure. It’s kind of interesting that we launched a new partnership with VIAGRA this year and the first race that I will be doing for them is in the states. Also, I want to say a special thanks to Groupe Mach for handling the logistics and allowing me to travel safely to and from United States with the situation that we are in.”
In addition to his four Gander Truck Series starts, Tagliani has compiled four poles, 92 laps led, four top-five and five top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 13.0 across eight NASCAR Xfinity Series starts, all on road courses. A full-time competitor in the NASCAR Pinty’s Series the last several seasons, the veteran driver has collected nine wins, 10 poles, 36 top-five and 56 top-10 finishes across 81 career starts. He finished second in the championship standings in 2018 and third in 2016.
The NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Series will be racing for the first time on the 3.57-mile Daytona International Speedway Road Course. The event will be broadcast live on FS1 in the United States and in Canada on RDS at 12:00 p.m. ET Sunday, Aug. 16, prior to the NASCAR Cup Series race that will take place at 3 p.m. ET.
— Kyle Busch Motorsports PR
Photo Credit: Nigel Kinrade Photography / NKP