- Toyota driver Kyle Busch was victorious in Saturday night’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race at Kentucky Speedway.
- The Las Vegas-native started ninth and led four times for a race-high 163 laps (of 267) en route to his second victory of the 2015 season. He also won at Sonoma Raceway in June.
- This is the third win by a Camry driver at Kentucky Speedway, which is located approximately 50 miles from where the Camry is produced at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky (TMMK) in Georgetown. Busch also won in 2011 and Matt Kenseth was victorious in 2013.
- All four Joe Gibbs Racing drivers finished together in the top-five for the first time with Busch (first), Denny Hamlin (third), Carl Edwards (fourth) and Kenseth (fifth).
- Four Camry drivers are currently in the top-20 in the unofficial NSCS point standings – Kenseth (ninth), Hamlin (11th), Clint Bowyer (15th) and Edwards (17th).
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Crispy Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 1st
How fun was it to race for the win at Kentucky?
“It was fun, certainly when you have a great race car like that, it makes it nothing but fun. Adam Stevens (crew chief) and these guys gave me a great M&M’s Crispy Toyota Camry, it was really, really awesome. We could move around the race track there at the beginning and middle part of the race. I kind of mired myself to the bottom-middle and I didn’t really want to move from there, but towards the end I knew I needed to move around and just try to find some other options. That’s what worked for me. He (Joey Logano) got away from me and I was nervous I wasn’t going to be able to get back to him, but I knew to just try something different to go get him and try something different. Man that really worked for us. Again, I can’t thank Adam Stevens enough. I can’t thank M&M’s, Interstate Batteries, Monster Energy, Toyota, TRD (Toyota Racing Development) and the fans of course for all their support coming to Kentucky Speedway and Sprint as well for what they do for our sport. Fun night for us. I enjoyed the race, I really did. I guess I did more so than everybody else because we are in victory lane. I just thought you had options and this is one of my better tracks so I’m not going to lie, we excelled a little better.”
Did you like the new downforce package?
“All the drivers were kind of striving for this. I felt like it was a positive thing when I was chasing Joey (Logano) down. Right when I got to him, he moved up and tried to block my lane. With the old package you get stalled out, and get stuck behind the guy. I just moved down and went a little bit lower and got my Camry to stick and was able to power through and get back by him. We swapped the lead back and forth a couple times. I thought it was pretty good racing. You don’t want to spend too much time racing around and putting on too good of a show for the fans to take yourself out of a win. I thought that was a really good race, at least it wasn’t a guy who checked out on the last run and you didn’t see a pass for the lead coming down the final stretch.”
What type of statement does this make about you and your race team?
“A pretty good one. That was awesome, I can’t say enough about Adam Stevens (crew chief) and this whole M&M’s Crispy team. They did a phenomenal job for me preparing a great race car. This Toyota Camry was fast. I can’t say enough about them and Interstate Batteries, Sprint, Monster Energy and the fans. It’s pretty cool to come here to Kentucky, one of my best places and to score a win. You have to be able to score that win to be here in victory lane. This team did it for me – awesome stops all day, getting us and keeping us up front and just a great race car to move all around the race track. What a blast! I know I won, but so far so good, I like the new aero package obviously. It just seemed like you weren’t stuck. (Joey) Logano kind of moved up and blocked my lane and with the old package you kind of just would get stalled out and you would get stuck behind him and this one here I could kind of move around and went back to the bottom and made a move on him to pass him low. Great racing there with about 10 (laps) to go I guess, that was a lot of fun with Joey. This team and M&M’s, everybody that does such a great job – Adam Stevens, we were right there on that Crispy Edge. If you haven’t checked it out, go to YouTube and M&M’s Chocolate, their page and check out our ‘Days of Thunder’ film.”
How focused are you on the points you need to make the Chase?
“That right there is what we have to do. Just to score as many points as we possibly can and score those wins, that’s what’s going to get us where we need to be. We led the most laps and we won the race so that’s all you can score. We’ll just continue to push on and drive and try to strive through our deficit and get ourselves in position to be in the top-30.”
ADAM STEVENS, crew chief, No. 18 M&M’s Crispy Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Are you constantly surprised by what Kyle Busch can do in a race car?
“There is just no quit in Kyle Busch – he’s proven that time and time again. When the pressure’s on is when he’s at his best and he showed it again here tonight.”
JOE GIBBS, team owner, Joe Gibbs Racing
How nervous were you with all four cars racing up front?
“I think I’m the most nervous when there’s two of our cars up there and today we had four of them up there and I was scared to death, let me just put it that way.”
What does this second win of the season say about Kyle Busch and his recovery?
“I have to tell you, for everybody out there, I have such great respect for what he’s (Kyle Busch) done. This is a great sports story – to be hurt that bad at Daytona and come back in four months, win on a road race – you know how hard that is – and then come back here and win again. Just really proud of him and the whole M&M’s team, everybody has done a great job there – Adam (Stevens, crew chief) and everybody. We’re so excited for the whole group.”
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Office Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 3rd
What happened on the final restart with Carl Edwards?
“Carl (Edwards) was trying to win for his team and I’m trying to win for my team, luckily a Joe Gibbs Racing car won it. We’re all trying to race for a win and I was just shifting from third to fourth when he (Edwards) got to me and hit me and I think he wasn’t trying to hit me, he was just trying to move to the outside and stick us three-wide so he could get position and try to take the lead. When he clipped us, it spun the rear tires and I lost the spot to the 22 (Joey Logano) and him and a bunch of other guys. It all worked out for the good and we got all our cars in the top-five. What a fun race. For us to be able to come back from two laps down and really pass a ton of cars, that’s just encouraging to me that we’ve finally got something that we can really work on and pass guys when your balance is better.”
CARL EDWARDS, No. 19 Minons Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 4th
How tight was the racing with your teammates on the final restart?
“On that restart, that last restart, I thought I would go around Denny (Hamlin) and get around him and Joey (Logano). I thought I would go as hard as I can and still save it and Denny got on my outside and I got a little loose and that was it. Just awesome race – I can’t thank Comcast XFINITY enough for having the Minions on board along with ARRIS, Stanley, Toyota, TRD (Toyota Racing Development), Subway. This package, we need to keep going this direction. We could race closer together, I was steering right. We were using the whole car. We just need to keep taking downforce away. It was an awesome show. Just an awesome, fun day and I’m glad Kyle (Busch) got the win.”
MATT KENSETH, No. 20 Dollar General Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 5th
How was your car compared to your teammates in the closing laps?
“It was good, just not as good as the four guys in front of me. We were a little off, but it was a great night for Joe Gibbs Racing. It shows what the place is all about, there’s a lot of great people over here that make this happen. It was great to be part of that with all of us finishing in the top-five. Just wish I would have been first rather than fifth.”
DAVID RAGAN, No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Finishing Position: 18th
Do you feel you ran better than your finish shows?
“I was encouraged with our Aaron’s Dream Machine. The first half of the race, I felt we were a top-10 car, but we just didn’t have the best pit selection and that really hurt us. We had to come in and around traffic each pit stop it seemed. Track position was really important, I think if we could have started up there in the top-10 or 12, we had a top-10 car. A little disappointed there at the end, but made a pretty good improvement with this aero package from unloading on Wednesday. All we can do is go back and learn and try to do a little better.”
CLINT BOWYER, No. 15 Casey’s General Store/Hughes General Contractors Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Finishing Position: 19th
How was your race?
“Well I hope the fans enjoyed that because I sure did. I thought we were going to have a little better finish there. We were running decent for a while but toward the end I kind of brushed the wall. There wasn’t really any damage but after that the handling just wasn’t the same. Not sure what happened but we worked hard tonight and proud of the effort.”
JJ YELEY, No. 23 Dr. Pepper Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Finishing Position: 39th
JEB BURTON, No. 26 Maxim Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Finishing Position: 41st
MATT DIBENEDETTO, No. 83 Dustless Blasting Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Finishing Position: 42nd
