TOYOTA NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) Kyle Busch — Notes & Quotes Daytona Media Day – February 16, 2012
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing What would it mean to win the Daytona 500? “It means the world to anybody, I think. It’s a huge race to win. It’s something that we all hope to do and dream of doing. For me, I’ve been close a few years, I’ve been very far away in other years. It’s exciting to get back down here again and get back after trying to win the (Daytona) 500 and hopefully having a great race car to do it with. I remember 2008 was just phenomenal. We were flying, me and Tony (Stewart) were nose-to-tail much of the race and got blown by on the last lap and missed the opportunity. I’m looking forward to much of the same success here this year, hopefully.”
How much does luck and skill play into winning the Daytona 500? “I think it takes a lot of skill obviously, and I think it took a lot more skill with the old surface than it does now. I think anybody can run on this surface. But, it also takes a whole lot of luck, too. You have to be in the right place at the right time with the right moments and not get too anxious at times and not get yourself messed up by missing your pit box or something like that. When it comes down to the last five, four, three, two, one lap — it’s just craziness. There’s cars that are trying to go everywhere and make moves that they probably shouldn’t, including me. We have cautions and what have you, but that’s what is exciting about it. That’s what makes it the Daytona 500, that’s what makes it the staple of our sport and that’s the symbol of winning it.”
How much of the race will be the pack and how much will be the two-car draft? “I’m going to say it’s going to be a lot more pack. Certainly you’re going to see two cars and they’re going to push and go off in spurts. When you push, you can’t push the whole day, so we’re not going to have that, which is good. That’s what I like. When you do push, you might get so far out front that you’re going to get swallowed back up by the pack and get two laps. It’s not necessarily going to be beneficial to get too far out there. What I am curious to see is how long guys can push for or are willing to push for coming down towards the end of the race. Is it going to be eight laps to go, five laps to go, three laps to go, two — how many laps is somebody going to start pushing for and just not lifting and not giving up until something blows?”
Do you feel you need to win the Daytona 500 to round out your resume? “There’s still a lot of races that I haven’t won that I want to win to round that out. Whether it be the big four obviously — I see it as the Daytona 500, All-Star race, Coke 600 and Brickyard. I haven’t won any of those. I think the biggest race I have won is probably the inaugural race at Kentucky, just being an inaugural event. Then, my hometown track in Vegas was a big win for me, so that was special. Other than that, there’s still a lot of ones out there that I want to win, including a championship.”
Is the two-car draft swap dangerous? “If there’s still a two-car tandem and yeah, we’re going to be swapping. It’s certainly dangerous, there’s no doubt about it. For me last year, it’s funny — Denny (Hamlin) and I, we ran for a spell in the race when we restarted ninth, 10th, 11th, something like that and everybody doubled up and was going away and we started separate and we just started drafting off everybody that was going by us or what have you. We stayed single-file for 30-something laps just drafting off everybody else’s wake and stayed apart from each other. I don’t think you can push long enough to get far enough away and you can’t swap quick enough to where cars running in single-file drafting off of you won’t be able to keep up.”
Why won’t cars be able to two-car draft as long as they did last year? “Well, last year we could push a whole race. You can’t do that now because of all the changes that NASCAR made. The restricted cooling system, moving the rear bumpers down lower so there’s less air getting to the front bumper, the opening is smaller in the front bumper and moved up to the center of the front bumper from down below where you could get air from the car in front of you. All of that is coming into play. I don’t foresee you being able to push for longer than two laps without overheating.”
How can you overheat your car while pushing as two cars, but not overheat in a big pack? “When you’re pushing somebody, you have to get so far off-set to have a clear opening to your grill to get air in to cool the radiator. When you’re in a pack and you’re off that car, you are getting air from underneath the car in front of you. There’s that space. You’re not touching. When you’re touching, essentially you tape off that grill — it’s taped off. There’s no difference than putting tape on it. But, when you’re away from it, there is air that is able to get in there.”
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TOYOTA NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) Kyle Busch — Notes & Quotes Daytona Media Day – February 16, 2012
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KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing (continued) Why can’t a driver go out and win the Daytona 500 on his own? “It’s been that way since they repaved this place. When they had it the old way, it was driver — you had to get your car set up correctly to run well here. Since they repaved it, it’s anybody’s game.”
How were drivers able to pass a two-car draft with just one car during the test? “It happened, but it’s a particular situation that makes it happen. It won’t happen in real racing instances. They were just swapped or got broken up and they were getting back together. When you get back together, the front car has to drag the brakes so much to get nose-to-tail that you can pass them.”
Have you done any testing this year besides at Daytona? “We haven’t done any. Denny (Hamlin) is the only one that went testing. He went to Texas last week, I think, for a tire test. That was it.”
Were the issues Joe Gibbs Racing faced last season settled before the start of this year? “I know Denny (Hamlin) always had some reservations about engines or chassis or the way they were being made or what have you. I think for us, me and Dave (Rogers, crew chief), we build off what we have and we work with what we’ve got. I’m not sure exactly what Denny was looking for, but I’m hoping that Darian (Grubb, No. 11 crew chief) and Dave and Jason (Ratcliff, No. 20 crew chief) can all put that together for this year and make it to where we’re all competitive and not just one of us is or none of us are, but we all are.”
