Harrison Burton gets a new crew chief for final Truck start of 2017

Hillman left Brad Keselowski Racing about a week ago and has already taken a job at KBM as crew chief of its No. 51 Toyotas. His first race atop the pit box is Saturday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway with Burton as the driver.

Burton, 17, is fresh off winning the 2017 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East championship and will be making his seventh career Truck start and third at Martinsville. He finished 22nd last year and 13th in this season’s spring race.

“First of all, I want to say how excited I am to be at Kyle Busch Motorsports. Everyone has been very welcoming and it's an honor to be a part of one of the most elite teams in the Truck Series,” Hillman said.

“We only have four races left in the season but I’m eager to get out there and get things done. We have some very talented rookies behind the wheel of the No. 51 and I’m looking forward to working with each of them.”

Hillman most recently worked with rookie Chase Briscoe at BKR and will crew chief Burton, Todd Gilliland and Myatt Snider in the coming weeks in the No. 51.

Burton said he believes he learned a lot from the spring race that can help him this weekend.

“Racing at Martinsville is a lot of fun. I think it's kind of a unique style of racing than everywhere else,” he said. “You have to block on a half-mile track and that can be a little tough.

“But, there is a lot that I learned and that I can take from the experience. I know that we ran better than 13th and had a good run for most of the race. I'm ready to get back there and prove myself and get it done.”

Hillman said Burton’s biggest advance now is experience – at 17 years old he already has two prior full races at the track.

“I think that he just needs to take what he knows about the track, learn from it and use it. He needs to be patient, he needs to keep the truck balanced and he needs to be there at the end,” Hillman said.

“We have two practices on Friday to get the truck dialed in and comfortable for Harrison so that when Saturday comes, we will go out there and make the most of his last race of the season.”