By: Raphaël Lessard Racing
May 2 2019 

JEGS 200 at Dover International Speedway on May 3rd

Saint-Joseph-de-Beauce, Quebec – Raphaël Lessard will be back on a track with Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) for his second of three races in his 2019 NASCAR truck program, after discovering the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck series in Martinsville, Virginia, USA, last March. Raphaël Lessard will be making his first visit on the one-mile oval of the Dover International Speedway behind the wheel of the Toyota Tundra No. 46 FRL Express | Spectra Premium.

This third level in NASCAR exposes the young phenomenon a mix of experienced as well as younger drivers who are also learning the trade, as he discussed after the Martinsville race. "My team and I learned a lot in Martinsville. After setting the 9th-quickest time in practice and qualifying 7th, we are confident we can do well again at Dover", said the young rider.

Testing at Bristol Motor Speedway (TN)

Two days of testing with the Kyle Busch Motorsport team on April 10th and 11th gave Raphael Lessard a much better understanding of how to extract more speed from his Toyota Tundra No. 46 FRL Express | Spectra Premium pickup truck.

"I am very happy to find myself in Dover, the quickest track I have raced on so far. I feel much more prepared than I did during my first truck race with Kyle Busch's team in Martinsville last March. I learned a lot during the two days of testing in Bristol, working on key issues like optimising corner entry, on exit and on the following straight, something that Kyle Busch and his team are the best in NASCAR at.

What is happening to me is extraordinary and I want to once again thank my parents and our partners, as well as the whole team that helps me improve my performance at each outing", explains Raphael Lessard.

Working with Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) and other satellite teams as part of the Toyota Racing Development (TRD) driver development program, Raphael Lessard has achieved remarkable results over his three seasons in top level racing: 10 wins, 23 top-5, 23 top-10, four top positions for the start, and the 2016 CARS Super Late Model Series champion title. In addition to the three NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series races, the Raphaël Lessard Racing is working to add K&N, ARCA and other NASCAR-related races to its program.

Follow the action on Friday, May 3rd, 2019, at 5:00 p.m. EST on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR 90

Raphael Lessard 2019 Season

Schedule

Thursday, May 2nd, 2019 - practice 14:05 to 14:55 p.m. / 16:05 to 16:55 p.m.
Friday, May 3rd, 2019 - qualifying 1:10 p.m. / race 5 p.m.

Born on July 5, 2001, in Saint-Joseph-de-Beauce, Quebec, Canada, Raphael Lessard is one of the most promising prospects in North American oval racing. Raphael made his debut in stock-cars in 2013, on local tracks in the Quebec City area. His exceptional talent quickly allowed him to climb the ladder and attract the attention of David Gilliland, a former NASCAR Monster Energy Series driver and now a team owner, in 2015. An agreement then allowed Lessard to participate in the last four races of the season in the PASS North Tour Series; a Late Model series on paved ovals, at the wheel of a David Gilliland Racing team car.

In 2016, his first full-time season with Gilliland Racing, Lessard won the CARS Super Late Model Tour title with four wins, 8 top five and 9 top ten in his No. 99 Toyota Camry, and thus becoming the youngest Canadian driver to win a major stock car series title in the United States. Since 2016, Lessard has been part of the Toyota Racing Development (TRD) prestigious driver development program. To date, he is the only Canadian to have been recruited into this program.

2018 - 16 races - Super Late Model with Kyle Busch Motorsports
· Two wins, seven top-5s and 13 top-10s
· Wins the U.S. Short Track Nationals race at Bristol Motor Speedway
· Wins the Red Bull 400 at Anderson Speedway
· Leads 60 laps at the famous Snowball Derby in December, before a mechanical problem puts him out of the race with only six (6) laps to go.

2017 - Competed in 20 Super Late Model races and two ARCA series races
· Two wins and eight top-5 finishes in the Super Late Model category
· A top-10 from two races in the ARCA series
· Voted the most popular driver in North America by Speed51.com
· Voted as one of the top 10 drivers to watch in 2017 by Speed51.com
· Named by Speed51.com Short Track Power Ranking as 7th best driver in the United States

2016 - Participated in 10 races
· CARS Super Late Model Series Champion
· Youngest Canadian driver to win a prestigious stock-car series in the United States
· Four wins, eight top-5s and nine top-10s in 10 races

ABOUT KYLE BUSCH MOTORSPORTS

Since debuting in 2010, Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) has quickly established itself as one of the most successful teams in all of NASCAR. Owned by 2015 Cup Series champion Kyle Busch and fueled by his passion for winning, his organization holds the Gander Outdoors Truck Series records for most team wins (72) and most team wins in a single season (14 in 2014). In addition to collecting a series record six Owner’s Championships, the organization has produced two championship-winning drivers; Erik Jones (2015) and Christopher Bell (2017).

KBM prepares a fleet of race-winning Tundras out of a state-of-the-art 77,000-square-foot facility in Mooresville (N.C.) Fans can keep up-to-date with all the latest KBM news online at KyleBuschMotorsports.com, by liking the team on Facebook (KBMteam) and by following the team on Instagram (KBMteam) and Twitter (@KBMteam).

ABOUT TOYOTA

Toyota (NYSE:TM), creator of the Prius hybrid and the Mirai fuel cell vehicle, is committed to building vehicles for the way people live through our Toyota and Lexus brands. Over the past 60 years, we've built more than 30 million cars and trucks in North America, where we operate 14 manufacturing plants (10 in the U.S.) and directly employ more than 44,000 people (more than 34,000 in the U.S.). Our 1,800 North American dealerships (nearly 1,500 in the U.S.) sold nearly 2.6 million cars and trucks (2.45 million in the U.S.) in 2016 - and about 85 percent of all Toyota vehicles sold over the past 15 years are still on the road today.

ABOUT FRL EXPRESS Inc.

F.R.L. Express Inc. is a general transportation company founded in 2004 by François Lessard. Its main field of activity over the last 15 years is general transport in closed trailers over short and long distances in Canada and the United States. FRL currently have about 50 employees in addition to about ten tow carriers. FRL owners are proud of the progress made in recent years thanks to the FRL team members and wishes to continue on this positive note. “Our employees, customer service and satisfaction are our priorities. We are all proud to be partners in the success and achievements of our son Raphael Lessard,” state the proud parents.