SAN DIEGO — Story by Race Chaser Online Managing Editor and NASCAR PEAK Antifreeze Series Correspondent Jacob Seelman — Cody Byus Racing photo —
Cody Byus Racing announced early Sunday morning the team will be restructuring as Aftermath Motorsports, effective immediately, as team principal Cody Byus and drivers Justin Bolton, Brad Mahar and Justin Trombley all left the operation over the weekend.
Byus spoke exclusively with Race Chaser Online following the announcement — citing a hope to take one more step forward to “consistent race-winning and championship potential” going forward in the 2015 NASCAR PEAK Antifreeze Series season. He and Bolton will move over to The TEAM for the remainder of the 2015 campaign, to join current TEAM drivers Kenny Humpe, Chad Laughton and Kevin King.
“The main reason why the move happened is because it’s still early in the season and the [goal] both Bolton and I set at the start of the year [was] to compete for a championship,” Byus said. “We haven’t shown as much speed in the last few weeks like we did towards the end of last season and felt it was time for a change especially with this new build being released.”
“We’ve spent hours upon hours struggling to find just that little more we needed in order to compete for wins each and every week like The TEAM does. We are joining them to form what [I feel] could be even more of a powerhouse team with the likes of Kenny Humpe, Jared Crawford, Chad Laughton, [team co-owner] Kevin King and many more very talented and smart guys who know how to bring fast cars to the track each and every week. This could potentially help all of us at The TEAM make a run for the championship in 2015 and show everyone exactly what we’re capable of.”
For Byus, the decision to depart the team bearing his name was an emotional one for the 19-year-old.
“[Making this choice] was really tough — to the point to where it was eating away at me and I had to choose what would be best for myself this season and how I could make a serious run at the title,” Byus admitted. “Hopefully I made the right move but only time will tell. I’m going to continue to work as hard as I can each and every week and hopefully the results will show.”
“I’ll never forget what CBR became because I remember what it was when it first formed and I could not be any prouder of how great of a team it became. I’ll miss those guys terribly and I hope the friendships made will last outside of the move to a new team — but from a business and a competition standpoint it was time to move on and hopefully move forward.”
King, speaking on behalf of The TEAM, welcomed Byus and Bolton to the squad and said he was excited about what the two drivers’ potential add to the group going forward in the 2015 season.
“Cody and Justin approached us recently about a potential opportunity, and along with the rest of The Team myself and Rich [Dusett, team co-owner] decided it would be a great fit and beneficial to everyone,” King said. “We have a lot of great drivers and adding the two of them — with their setup knowledge — will increase our ability to compete for wins and a championship even further.”
The TEAM won the most recent NPAS event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with Humpe, and scored four victories last season (two with Humpe, and one each with King and Laughton).
The restructured Aftermath Motorsports will be led by new team principal Adam Gilliland, and Pro drivers remaining with the outfit are Gilliland, Tyler Hill, Tyler Laughlin, Alex Warren and Trey Eidson.
Aftermath released an official statement at 2:30 a.m. Eastern Sunday morning, confirming the name and lineup changes in addition to paying a nod to the team members moving on from the organization.
“We appreciate everything that Cody did during his time at CBR to make the operation a top contender across the iRacing service. We would [also] like to thank [the departing] drivers for their efforts and wish them well in their future endeavors.”
No formal announcement has been made at this time regarding future plans for drivers Brad Mahar and Justin Trombley.
For more information on the NASCAR PEAK Antifreeze Series, visit http://wcs.iracing.com.
