KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Crispy Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
How would you describe your 2015?
“I don’t think tomorrow is going to be near as hard as what it was back in March or April going through the therapy and everything trying to get all of that done and everything to get my strength back and to get back walking and all of that stuff. It seems pretty easy, it seems pretty far gone now that I’m here walking and I’m racing, I’m winning and have a chance for the championship. It was actually eight months ago to the day today that I was in the hospital going in for surgery and everything else. If there’s one final emotion that’s probably going to be set for hopefully this weekend and that’s to win my first Sprint Cup Series championship so hopefully we can do it.”
How was your car in practice?
“The M&M’s Crispy Camry was pretty good. Really pleased with it – it’s definitely one of the best race cars I’ve had here for sure. It does the things that I think that it needs to do so hopefully I’m right and hopefully we’ve got a good race car for tomorrow.”
How much have you leaned on your teammates for information this weekend?
“I’ve leaned on them a lot. It’s been really fun to work with those guys and they’ve been very gracious to work with me and to help me out really well. I still have more that I need to talk to those guys about later on tonight after the XFINITY race, but I think it will be good.”
ADAM STEVENS, crew chief, No. 18 M&M’s Crispy Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
How was your race car in practice today?
“It was pretty good. It was better than yesterday. I’m glad that we didn’t have to race what we brought off the truck because we certainly had our work cut out for us, but I feel like we’re competitive for sure. Got a good direction for a couple small race changes for tomorrow but not much so overall I’m very optimistic.”
What is your strategy going into tomorrow with possible rain in the forecast?
“I don’t know that you can have a strategy for the weather. Thunderstorms can pop up so fast that you’ve got to keep an eye on it. It really doesn’t make a difference until you start approaching halfway and the rules are the rules so we’re aware of that. I think it’s just something you’ve got to play by ear because the weather is really hard to predict down here.”
What is the confidence level of the team going into tomorrow’s race?
“I think it’s about the same as it always is really. It’s another race weekend. We typically qualify decent and put a good car on the track and we’ve done that again. We know exactly who we’re racing so that’s a little bit of a comfort. Normally you don’t know who you’re racing. And, it might not take a victory to pull this off so it’s a little bit different situation than a normal race weekend. The other thing is in recent weeks we’ve been racing with more to lose than to gain and this weekend is all gain so we can kind of unleash Kyle (Busch) and turn him loose. I’m looking forward to that.”
What does it say about Kyle Busch and the 18 team to compete for the championship after overcoming adversity to start this season?
“I think it just shows you that hard work and dedication pay off. Not a one of us would be here without the 550 dedicated employees at Joe Gibbs Racing and all of the help we get from Toyota and TRD. And, if you re-ran these Chase races again it could be any one of the JGR cars or potentially more than one JGR car in the situation that we’re in. So, through some good fortune and some good driving and some fast cars it’s our turn and we’re carrying the banner for Toyota and JGR.”
