Joe Gibbs Racing driver Kyle Busch was made available to the media at Texas Motor Speedway:
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
What has Norm Miller meant to Joe Gibbs Racing over the year?
“Norm Miller (chairman of Interstate Batteries) and Joe Gibbs (Joe Gibbs Racing team owner) are obviously both instrumental in Joe Gibbs Racing and what it’s become and where it started, so without Norm Miller and the Interstate Batteries folks back in the beginning there would be no Joe Gibbs Racing. I think that was on the NASCAR side as well as the NHRA side when they did some drag racing stuff back in the day, so Norm’s been a passionate guy for us to work with and be around for the last 25 years – for me, it’s been the last 10 years – and we’ve had a lot of fun together both on and off the race track.”
Is there any reason you and Norm Miller hit it off initially?
“No, I think Norm’s (Miller, chairman of Interstate Batteries) just easy going. I think he just kind of takes thing as they come to him, but he’s also a smart guy. He’s passionate about marketing and passionate about trying to find different ways of being able to reach people in big magnitudes and things like that also and he’s just fun. We go fishing together and go go-kart racing together – we’ve done it all.”
Were you surprised by the response to you fan video from after the Martinsville Speedway race?
“Yeah, I was surprised at the response that it got certainly. We were just kind of messing around rolling down the road in traffic the other day and figured we’d give it a shot. I’ve done things like that before where I’ve just kind of waved at them or whatever, but her response – it seemed as though it initiated a little bit more where I asked her for her hat and gave her an autograph on the hat, but probably wouldn’t have happened if she was wearing another driver’s hat, but I don’t know maybe we’ll have to try to the flip side of that another day. But as far as being able to speak with her again, yeah, we’ve reached out to her and tried to get her information and get her to a race and she wants to go to Bristol, so we’ll see her again next week.”
Is it weird to see someone freak out like that?
“Yes and no. I mean, not really. I have definitely seen some like that before and maybe some a little bit worse sometimes – people, some ladies before they just start cracking down in tears and start falling apart and don’t know what to say. You can’t even say anything, let alone keep going about, ‘Oh my gosh,’ or whatever she was saying, so I’ve definitely seen worse.”
Would you ever react like that to anyone?
“Me – that I would have? No, not a chance.”
Did you know how much a fan would appreciate something like that?
“Yeah, no doubt. I think it was just sort of a neat thing at first that turned into a phenomenon I guess – certainly an internet sensation and she’s gotten a lot of attention around that as well too, so did we mean for that to happen? Absolutely not. Just kind of spur of the moment, just kind of something fun to do while we were stuck in traffic and obviously just given the opportunity it presented itself to do that, so I think it’s been fun.”
How does it feel to have an early win in 2016 compared to the comeback effort in 2015?
“Yeah, I’ve always put extra emphasis on being able to start the season off strong my whole career and there’s been times where I’ve been kind of behind the eight ball and a little down on myself, but then there’s also been times where we’ve started out the season really well like this year and we’ve got a win earlier season a couple years ago – our only win that got us into the Chase – and that was our saving grave at California, but then every single year you try to get a win early, so it just kind of alleviates that pressure as the season winds down getting towards the Chase and it’s nice when you’re able to do that like we were in 2013 and again this year. But last year, it was hard. There were times where we came back and we knew we had to run strong and we were crashing out a couple times and it was getting pretty stressful that we weren’t going to make the Chase and that was one of the things where I kind of had something reset and click and turn into something different when we got to Sonoma. We won Sonoma and stuff like that just a week after crashing, finishing last at Michigan, so there’s times where it just seems to work and there’s times when it doesn’t. It’s way more fun when it is working.”
What has been to go from villain to a hero?
“Last year, when I came back, I was booed a little bit, but there was certainly some cheers around being able to get back in the race car, get back to the race track – things like that – but then I started winning again and it kind of went away. It seemed like not only did I go back to my winning ways, but it seemed like the fans kind of went back to their old ways of how they treated me, but I feel like through the championship and things like that obviously I’ve grown a little bit, but obviously too I think my reputation’s kind of grown a little bit as well and I think it’s just – it’s a never-ending evolution of people in the sport. You look at every single driver that’s gone through the sport over the years and they’ve all kind of gown through that – every popular one maybe I should say – Rusty (Wallace), DW (Darrell Waltrip), Dale Jarrett I think even, Bobby Labonte, Jeff Gordon especially and (Dale) Earnhardt, so you’ve seen those transitions happen and I feel like this is maybe mine. I’ve now been here – this is 12 seasons I think, so it’s been a while. I am only 30 – I did start probably a lot younger than many of the other ones did and made a lot a more mistakes in my younger age than many of them did, but I think it will be – hopefully will be pretty memorable by the time it’s all said and done.”
How quickly after you posted the fan video did you realize it was exploding?
“Let’s see – we posted it – Samantha (Busch, wife) posted it and then I just retweeted it and then I think our web guy texted us probably about 20 minutes, 25 minutes later and said it’s got traction. It’s rolling pretty heavily, so it was probably about 20, 25 minutes that it seemed to be growing and it never stopped. We got home and we were looking at the amount of views because my web guy put it up on Facebook and I think the views on Facebook after 24 hours was up over 10 million, so it was in 24 hours.”
What else do you want to achieve in NASCAR?
“Yeah, there’s plenty of things that are out there to achieve. I think obviously being able to win at every single venue – that’s one of the things I’m close. I’ve got three to go. Getting a Daytona 500, an All-Star race, a Charlotte Coke 600 victory and then from there just being able to continue to add on to the legacy and winning at more venues. Just building that win column – it’s at 35, but to be able to build that to 100 or something like that, I think that would be pretty special. Now whether 100 is reachable or not, I doubt it, but we’ll give it our best shot. There’s no reason why to not try and we’ll just – hopefully the championships will pile in there as well too. Whether seven is achievable, probably not, but I’d like to say it is and we’ll give it our best. I’d like to have five, how ‘bout that?”
Do you think you’ve expanding your fan base by being a father?
“A little bit. Yeah, somewhat. I think Brexton (Busch, son) has his own fan base already. People like him a heck of a lot more than they like me, but I laugh about that with my wife (Samantha) and tell her that well that’s because he’s in free, so he’s just living the dream right now. It’s fun to see him and to have people want to see him or to see what he’s up to and what’s going on.”
Did you talk to Matt Kenseth about the end of the Martinsville Speedway race?
“Well I figured he knows, but I did – I sent him a text afterwards to kind of make sure and he responded back, so it was fine. We then talked on Tuesday with our meetings and stuff like that at JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) and he was probably disappointed down deep, but overall he was probably more disappointed in his finish. I think they’ve just had a tough go at it this year. I’ve been in that position before. I think it was 2012 maybe – that season that I had it just seemed like nothing was going right and it has all turned around and gotten better since, so it’s just a down spot. You’ve got to fight through it.”
Where did you put the Martinsville Speedway grandfather clocks?
“One’s at home in the foyer and I had to turn off the buzzer because it’s close to Brexton’s (Busch, son) room, so we don’t get to hear it. We heard it a couple of times while it went off, but then I turned it off. And then the other one we’re just going to unpack and leave at KBM (Kyle Busch Motorsports) and have it there.”
Would it be fitting for Joe Gibbs Racing to win both the Cup and XFINITY Series titles in its 25th season?
“Sure. It’s always fun to win. It was more fun here in 2013 when I was able to score a victory at Texas than any other time we’ve been here, so it was Norm’s (Miller, chairman of Interstate Batteries) in the Interstate Batteries colors in the Sprint Cup Series. I scored a victory with him years ago in the Interstate Batteries colors in Trucks and XFINITY I believe as well here too, so it’s been fun and I think that him sharing some time or having some opportunities to be on Erik Jones’ car. That’d be pretty cool to win a championship and know that he was a part of that and of course too to win the Sprint Cup Series championships again I think that would be a dream come true for all of us. I know it would be for Joe (Gibbs, team owner) as well, but Norm again he’s been a huge part of our success here at our race team for a long time.”
Have you looked at the new Truck Series engine as a team owner?
“Yeah, it’s definitely not our radar right now. We haven’t discussed it one bit actually, so we’re leaving our game plan as it is with what we’ve got with the Toyota support and the Toyota engines that we run in the Truck Series and we’ll see how it plays out with the other engines and see if it’s a necessity that we need to look towards for next year.”
