Any fan who watches NASCAR racing can easily pick out the familiar colors of M&M’S® Chocolate Candies and its longtime driver Kyle Busch.
In addition to the M&M’S Red, White and Blue scheme in Sunday’s Cup Series race this weekend at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, for the first time ever Busch will be sporting a scheme that will be more familiar with fans from the U.K. and around the world as the MALTESERS® brand will adorn the No. 18 MALTESERS® Toyota in Saturday’s NASCAR XFINITY Series LTi Printing 250.
| Mars Wrigley Confectionary U.S., the makers of the wildly popular M&M’S brand, brought the U.K.’s No. 1 bite-size candy brand to the United States with a limited launch in 2015. And now, MALTESERS is making its way to retailers across the country. MALTESERS candies feature light, crispy, airy centers dipped in smooth, chocolatey deliciousness. MALTESERS has been a worldwide favorite and is a leading bite-sized brand in the U.K. since its creation more than 80 years ago.
The brand is known for its playful charm and “look on the light side” brand promise, encouraging fans to make the best of situations in life with a light-hearted attitude. The MALTESERS “look on the light side” campaign is highlighted on MALTESERS U.S. digital and social channels (www.youtube.com/maltesersusa , IG: @maltesers)
While MALTESERS is looking to become a mainstay in the U.S., Busch is certainly one in XFINITY competition. The 2009 XFINITY champion this weekend will make his 343rd start in the series in which he literally owns just about every record that exists. He boasts an all-time series record of 92 career wins, 210 top-five finishes and 247 top-10s. He’s earned the top starting spot a total of 64 times and has led a whopping 18,745 laps.
Driving the No. 18 MALTESERS Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR), Busch will make his fifth of seven starts in XFINITY series competition in 2018. He’s coming off his most recent XFINITY Series win at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway last weekend, where he led a race-high 64 laps in upping his all-time series win mark to 92. This weekend’s race will also feature a restrictor-plate package used last year at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and last weekend at Pocono as the series looks to experiment on bringing the cars close together on the fast, 2-mile Michigan oval.
The Las Vegas native has also had a strong record at Michigan in his 10 career starts in XFINITY Series competition there. After several near misses, Busch finally broke through to pick up a series win at Michigan in 2015, which also happened to be his first XFINITY Series race since returning from a February 2015 accident that same season at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway. In addition to the win in 2015, Busch’s XFINITY Series record at Michigan features nine top-five finishes and nine top-10s, two pole positions and a total of 234 laps led.
So as Busch heads to the Irish Hills of Michigan this weekend, he’s knows with restrictor-plate-style racing that circumstances beyond his control could affect the outcome of his team’s day. But, no matter what happens during the 250-mile race that will feature a fairly new package, Busch will do his best to put the MALTESERS colors in victory lane during the brand’s NASCAR debut weekend. |
| WILLIAM CLEMENTS: Vice President of Sponsorships for Mars Wrigley Confectionery U.S. |
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“Mars Wrigley Confectionery U.S. is excited to bring another one of our iconic worldwide brands to the sport of NASCAR with another fun and colorful paint scheme for Kyle Busch to race in the NASCAR XFINTY Series race at Michigan this weekend. MALTESERS® is a leading bite-size candy brand and longtime favorite in the U.K. and we were thrilled to bring it to consumers in the United States. For the first time ever, we will be unveiling a unique paint scheme on the No. 18 MALTESERS Toyota, sharing the brand with millions of loyal NASCAR fans here in the U.S. at Michigan International Speedway on June 9. The MALTESERS® brand is close to our hearts and important to our Mars, Incorporated heritage. Manufactured and sold in the U.K. for over 80 years, we are thrilled they are more broadly available here in the U.S.”
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| KYLE BUSCH, Driver of the No. 18 MALTESERS Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing: |
| Can you tell us a bit about having MALTESERS on your car for the first time this weekend at Michigan?
“It’s really exciting to have MALTESERS on board with us at Michigan this weekend. MALTESERS has been the No. 1 bite-size candy in the U.K. for a long time. You can buy them at here in the U.S. nationwide and this will be the first time we’ve had it on one of our cars. I’m hoping that NASCAR fans will learn more about it and try them out. We’re really looking forward to seeing what we can do at Michigan with our MALTESERS Camry and try and bring them to victory lane their first time racing with us.”
How special is it to add to your legacy in the Xfinity Series each time you race?
“It’s great. It meant a lot to win in the Xfinity Series race at Pocono last weekend and check another box of being able to win in all active tracks on the Xfinity schedule. That’s pretty special. There are a few that I have missed out on and haven’t gotten over the years that I wish I could get. They’re gone and done now, so I can’t. I hear about the numbers from everyone else. I don’t necessarily go back and check stats or look at records. It’s cool to come out and race in the Xfinity Series, have some fun and learn some things I can use on Sundays, as well.”
Are you looking forward to the Michigan Xfinity race with the package being run there, as well?
“If you want to run that restrictor-plate package, Michigan would be a good place since it hasn’t been my best track over the years. I am sure (Kyle) Larson would like to say differently, but we’ve been fast there. It’s a shame we haven’t gotten the finishes that we wanted there. We were leading, I think, with 23 to go and one of the track marshals in the infield called debris in turn two and there was nothing out there. And so, there was a debris caution called on me and I got run over on the restart and faded. It’s been frustrating there, for sure, but we’ve had speed and we’ve been fast and I’m hoping we bring home a win there with our MALTESERS Toyota Camry. It comes down to circumstances there and we should go for the win if we can.”
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