Kyle Busch shuts down 1 truck team

Kyle Busch shut down one of his financially strapped Truck Series teams Tuesday after driver Tayler Malsam accepted a promotion to the Nationwide Series.

Malsam will drive the No. 10 Toyota for Braun Racing starting Saturday at Nashville. Kyle Busch Motorsports announced it will no longer enter the No. 56 Toyota, which doesn't have a full-time sponsor, in the Truck Series the rest of the season.

Malsam is the second KBM driver to leave for the Nationwide Series in a month. Brian Ickler, who had been splitting time with Busch in the No. 18 truck, accepted a job with Roush Fenway Racing.

"The same situation occurred with Tayler," Busch said in a statement. "Braun offered him a chance to move up to the Nationwide Series and we have no reason to hold him back. He's a driver, like Brian, who absorbed a lot of knowledge from myself, (competition director) Rick Ren and the rest of the guys at KBM. We support him all the way."

Shutting down the No. 56 team will lessen the financial load for Sprint Cup star Busch, whose foray into ownership this year has been plagued by sponsorship woes. He acknowledged last month that he was funding the two teams mostly out of his own pocket.