In victory lane, Kyle Busch stated that he hopes his Wednesday night Camping World Truck Series win is the just “razzle before the dazzle”. Well, if that was just the way to start kicking things up a notch, then we’re in a for a treat this weekend as the race had everything a fan wanted.
Busch didn’t have the best truck going into the night, however strategy and luck helped him along the way.
“If the race were to go green to the end, I would’ve been stuck at 10th,” he said. “Completely wore the tires off on that thing; they were junk. That’s why when that caution came out with 25 to go, 30 to go, I was like ‘Man, we’re coming’. I knew there was only one or two trucks behind me so I knew we were coming; there was nothing to lose.”
Busch came off pit road in the eighth spot, crediting his pit crew for a solid pit stop.
The first restart saw Matt Crafton stall and bottle up the inside lane, resulting in James Buescher spinning Brad Keselowski around. In all the shuffle, Busch moved from the eighth spot to the second spot.
On the restart, he was able to get by Ryan Blaney and held off Timothy Peters in a wild finish to the line.
“Being able to clear of Ryan Blaney at the end and then run our own line that I wanted to run and then Timothy was just chasing me,” Busch said. “I give it to him – he was able to run us down and was quicker than us, but there was just the right amount of laps left that we were able to beat him and coming to the checkered, he was on my inside and I knew it would be a close finish but I hate ti that he got spun out there.”
It wasn’t an easy win for Busch by any means, either, as he had to overcome an early pit road speeding penalty after the pit stop.
“Yeah, we were pitted, I had no idea where the timing lines were,” Busch said of the penalty. “But I launched out of my box and by the time I looked down to make sure nobody else as going to come out ahead of me, the pit road speed was 3500 and I was running 5000 so I was just hoping. As soon as I saw that, I stopped and slammed on the brakes. You just hope that you were inbetween a timing line and you don’t get busted so you’re not up to speed in the zone, but obviously I was so I got busted on that. that was my bad, but you know, it’s one of those deals.”
Busch also received some damage to the truck along the way as he fought handling issues.
“Glad to see our Toyota Care Tundra in victory lane after knocking up the front of it in traffic and knocking up the right side just being tight there and trying to figure it all out during those 200 laps,” he said.
The truck wasn’t to Busch’s liking most of the night as crew chief Ryan Fugle tried a different set-up to try and beat Timothy Peters. When it comes to a Bristol set-up, Busch looks for a truck that rotates the center well and is able to get off the corner straight and quickly.
Lots of people have said that they don’t approve of Busch running in the Nationwide and Truck Series, though he doesn’t see a problem with it.
“Certainly there’s young guys in the series that are learning and trying and the only way to learn is to race against guys like myself,” he said. “I was in the truck series back in 2001 and I was 16. I was racing against guys like Greg Biffle, who was a Nationwide Series driver then. I was racing against other guys too – I remember racing against Tony Stewart when I was 18 and beat him at Dover. You got to race against those guys throughout your career. Martin Truex and I raced against all the Cup guys during our career and yet we were able to beat them out – finish 1, 2 in Nationwide championship in 2004. It’s fun to go race vehicles that you can go race and till that changes, I think it’s free ring.”
Busch says that he hasn’t heard his fellow competitors criticize him running the truck races, only hearing about it from fans and media.
Also having the ability to put Busch in the trucks is an asset for the Kyle Busch Motorsports team as Fugle says he can try different set-ups.
“We are running different tires this year and struggled right off the bat with it and have been trying a lot of different set-ups lately, especially when Kyle is driving, trying to get better than what we have had in the past,” Fugle said. “Didn’t hit it perfect at all but any means but kept working, kept working. Made some hay in the second practice, then struggled in qualifying and struggled back and foth in the race. just kept adjusting, adjusting, adjusting – Rick Ren helping me, the pit crew doing a good job.
“That last stop getting us up three spots and getting us that top lane which got us the luck with everything happening so just having Kyle driving makes it a whole lot easier when you’re trying stuff and trying to learn because you miss a little bit, he makes up for it.”
Though in the process, Busch has also been helping fellow Toyota driver Matt Crafton in Crafton’s quest for the championship.
“After every practice, we’re talking and I’m trying to help him and see what they’re doing and ultimately help them achieve their ultimate goal to win a championship this year,” Busch said. “I think when you have people who are true to you and respect you for who you are, you want to help those guys. Everybody else that isn’t that way, you don’t give two craps about.”
Busch will to complete the sweep this weekend as he looks for to win both the Nationwide and Truck races also.
“It’s so dependent on so many circumstances but I don’t see why not,” he said. “If we can get my cars to do what I need it to do, then it should be a lot better. We tried to find that tonight but never could. Fortunately, we couldn’t tonight but we still won. I know what I’m looking for and sometimes I get it, sometimes I don’t. it’s all about me trying to communicate with the crew chief to get it done…….to win three, you must win one.”
