TOYOTA NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS)
Kyle Busch — Notes & Quotes
Dover International Speedway – September 27, 2013
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
What is your outlook for Dover?
“We ran pretty good here in the spring, so feel like we’ve got a good shot at being able to run well again here this time around. Just have to be able to do the same things we did then, which starts here in about half hour with just getting a good practice session in, being able to get good notes built up and get a good handling race car. Obviously, that starts with all of that, being fast and then running the race here. It’s a long 400-lap race and the challenges of Dover are always there in front of you and being on the concrete surface and what not. So, makes it fun, but yet know you’ve got to be around at the end you’ve got to execute everything all day.”
How important is to unload with a good car and how important are the practices here?
“Yeah, I mean that’s a huge advantage you know. The better you can come off the truck the less work you feel like you have to do to get speed out of your car and the speed is already in it. So, then you can just sort of fine-tune right away on balance or trying to find a little bit more speed, but if you already have all the speed and you find a little bit more speed that just helps your cause. If you’re starting behind the eight ball and having to work your way around it then it never really seems to — you never really seem to get yourself all the way to the front or all the way to the top of the sheet, however you want to look at it.”
What can you say about Joe Gibbs Racing being so dominant in the Chase?
“It’s early. It’s week two so I think that that’s obviously great. We would love to have it that way all the way throughout the Chase and be able to end the season on a high with both cars being one-two and how we can reverse the order that would be okay. But, all things considered, I mean these cars have been really fast all year long. We unloaded at Daytona and we were super fast there and then through the season — Phoenix, Vegas, California, Kentucky, Atlanta, Richmond (Va.) not so much maybe, but Loudon (N.H.) last week again we were fast. Here at Dover in the spring I felt like the 18 and 20 (Matt Kenseth) and the 48 (Jimmie Johnson) and the 5 (Kasey Kahne) were probably the five best cars here, and then it just came down to circumstances toward the end of the race on how everything played out. Look forward to here and then of course on through.”
Do you view it as a three-man race for the championship at this point or is it too early?
“I think it’s too early, but also I’m not paying attention to the points. So, I could guess who’s first, second and third in points, but I really don’t care right now. We’re just with the mindset to continue on the path that we have all year long and that’s to continue to run consistently and to get good finishes and if we can win we try to win. But, right now it’s going to be the guys who are upfront each and every week and certainly it may take a couple wins in this deal to win it, but I’ve also felt all along that if you finish second every single Chase race then you could have a really good shot at winning a championship that way. I would certainly take that over a Chase win and then following that up by a DNF.”
How do you think the new tire will do at Kansas next weekend?
“I think it’s the same — it’s not the same tire. It does have the dual zone tread compound, but it’s not the same tread compound, I believe. I could be wrong, but I don’t think it’s the same one we ran at Atlanta. So, we went and did the tire test a couple months ago and I thought that we learned some things and went real well for us and I think for Goodyear as well too. They changed the left side tire compound, so we’re not on that treacherous left that everybody spins out and crashes on, including myself three times. And we’re also going to be on the new dual zone tread on the right. I wasn’t a huge fan of the dual zone right at Kansas, but it did get great reviews at Atlanta so I would expect that it will run pretty well at Kansas too.”
How does running well to start the Chase affect your approach at this point in the season?
“Maybe I know my stats a little more than others, but in 2011 we got through Charlotte and we were third in points so we were looking pretty good then. We certainly had a shot for the title. I think there were five races left after Charlotte or something like that and the next two we got wrecked. We went to Talladega (Superspeedway), we crashed and then we went to Martinsville (Va.) and we got crashed there. It’s tough and you’ve got to be able to pull through in all of these races and you’ve got to have a little bit of luck go your way. You’ve got to have the execution of everything go your way. Like I said, it starts with coming off the hauler and getting good practice sessions going, qualifying well, trying to always stay upfront so then you’re not in the back and racing against guys who you shouldn’t be racing against.”
Do you think you can win a championship without a victory in the Chase?
“Sure, I think I said it last week. I think that if the guy who I lost to in the first two races wasn’t the same guy or being a Chase guy I think that it would be entirely different right now. It was the first race at Chicago where I felt like we were the car to beat and we had great pit strategy, we came off pit road first and then there was that late caution. On that restart, I looked back — I don’t think there was anything I could have done differently to have been able to win that one. I think that just the push from the 29 (Kevin Harvick) was too big on the 20 (Matt Kenseth) to hold those guys back, so we lost that one. We finished second. We coulda’, shoulda’, woulda’ won it, but we finished second. And then with the Chase race last week at Loudon (New Hampshire Motor Speedway), Kenseth was the fastest car there all weekend long, so he deserved to win that race no doubt. We were all just trying to fight for the best position possible that we could get and I probably should have finished anywhere between fifth and seventh and we ended up second, so we take a lot of positive out of that. We didn’t lose as many points as maybe we could have and that was a good, strong finish. It was frustrating because it was second to the same guy both weeks. If Kenseth wins every single race and we finish second every single race, we’re not going to win the championship, so you’ve certainly got to have some different winners in there.”
Do you feel like you have a team that can put it all together to win a championship?
“There’s only one way to find out and that’s to run these races. Certainly, we want to, we need to, you know you have to but there’s also anything that can happen in this sport and we’ve seen that time and time again over the years. Where you don’t expect something to happen and then all of a sudden something does happen. So, I’ve literally had things fall out of the sky this year and hit my race car. So, just be ready for anything.”
Has there been any change in the structure at Joe Gibbs Racing regarding the competition director?
“No, Jimmy’s (Makar, competition director) still there. Jimmy’s still the guy. He’s the competition director, so I don’t think there’s really been any change. Certainly, all the same people are still in the same positions. The engineers are all still the same and whatnot, so I don’t know that we’ve done any different preparation this year than we have in years past. Maybe the preparation has just gone to plan whereas in years past obviously it hasn’t gone to plan. You don’t plan for sway bar bolts to fall out and fuel pickups to not work and other things of that nature, so I think this year it’s just sort of gone the way you expected it to and so far so good.”
Does it help to have a driver not in the Chase for testing and information?
“Sure, definitely. I think it was with us last year. We weren’t necessarily trying a bunch of different things, but different things that we did do that we did find speed in. It was certainly beneficial to those around us and it didn’t cost us anything. I feel like Denny’s (Hamlin) actually been really good in that position. I feel like he’s been excited about being in that position because he has come over to our haulers during practices or after practices a couple of times this year where he’s got whether it’s a set of rear shocks or whether it’s a set of front shocks or whether it’s a bump rubber or whether it’s rear springs — whatever it might be — he seems to find something that he likes and falls on that then he shares with the rest of us. So, he wants to see the rest of us succeed which is great that we’ve got a teammate like that that’s not only working hard for the rest of us, but himself too, to end the year on a high note.
Do you have to temper your enthusiasm after a good start to the Chase?
“Yeah, a little bit. Certainly, I’ve been in this Chase a few times — I haven’t been in it consistently every year — but it seems like when I am then a lot of the same questions arise. Jimmie (Johnson) might be the guy that gets sick of it more than most because he’s in it every single year, but it is sort of one of the same things, you know? We try to get through the first few races and build a strong foundation and for those that can build a strong foundation it’s usually beneficial to their Chase and the others sort of start out with a bad couple of weeks — that’s not so good for their Chase — so it all gets jumbled up in the beginning. It all kind of gets mixed together in the middle and then at the end you know who the players are going to be, so you just kind of have to — I’d say you wait through Talladega (Superspeedway) and once you get past that you’ll know who your players are going to be.”
