NASCAR CUP SERIES
TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY
GEICO 500
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
JUNE 19, 2020
KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 MONSTER ENERGY CAMARO ZL1 1LE, met with media via teleconference and discussed the upcoming race this weekend at Talladega, bow hunting, his CGR teammate, Matt Kenseth, and more. Full Transcript:
HOW HAS THE RACING CHANGED AT DAYTONA AND TALLADEGA OVER THE YEARS? GIVEN THAT YOU’VE BEEN RACING ON THESE TRACKS FOR THE PAST 20 YEARS, HOW HAS IT CHANGED FROM THEN TO NOW? DO YOU FEEL LIKE DRIVERS RACE MORE AGGRESSIVELY ON THESE TRACKS THAN THEY DID IN THE PAST?
“I think the way the drafts and the racing at restrictor plate tracks has evolved over the years, is around what the rules or what the package is giving the drivers as a feel. And sometimes you can bump draft aggressively, similar to the tandem drafting that happened in the early 2010’s; and then there was the handling aspect in the early 2000’s, where cars would rise to the top because they had speed, but they also had handling. As of late, it’s a lot about manufacturer control and positioning each manufacturer for the most amount of points that they can obtain with the stages and with the race win. So, there are plenty of different ways to say that it’s different and also that there are the different challenges, but it’s still restrictor plate racing. It hasn’t changed since they put a plate on, which means we’re not able to go wide-open and as fast as we want for the full 500 miles.”
HOW WILL SLIP TAPE ON THE BUMPER SURFACES AFFECT DRAFTING AT TALLADEGA? WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THAT?
“It’s a piece of protective film that we’ve been putting on the rear bumpers and it allows the car from behind to push and not get hung-up or directly get caught as easily. You can still get caught and end up pushing the guy in the wrong direction, whether it’s to the left or to the right or hooking the guy. So, the tape helps to at least mitigate the ability of hooking somebody. But, if you’re a guy that’s running up front and blocking a lot and you get hit a lot, it’s going to wear out. And it’s going to create tacky, sticky points. So, you’ve got to watch out for those.”
YOU HAVE 8 TOP-5’s AND 20 TOP-TEN’S AT TALLADEGA. WHAT’S THE MOST CHALLENGING PART FOR YOU?
“To be able to block all these guys at the end and win it. I haven’t won at Talladega over the years. I’ve been in great positions and Top-5 finishes and coming from behind. But yet, even leading on the last lap and still not able to pull a win. That’s been the toughest. You’ve got to be in position to win, which I believe is leading, or second, looking for that slingshot, and that’s been the toughest part is to be able to complete the day to be able to win it.”
TELL US ABOUT YOUR TEXAS BOW HUNTING EXPERIENCE WITH (RETIRED MARINE STAFF SGT.) JOHNNY JONES. I DON’T SEE YOU AS A TED NUGENT OUT-IN-THE-WOODS-WITH-A BOW TYPE OF GUY.
“When people ask about the hidden talent or something that people don’t know about you, I always say I’m a bow hunter. Or, I can do archery. So, I love to get out and target practice. And then, to have a chance to go with a Marine friend of mine to a hunt, it was perfect. With him being a correspondent with Fox News and to have a great ranch with Circle Bar Ranch out in Texas to help with their problems with feral hogs, it all worked out. It was a nice combination of fun, comradery, skill, and just the overall adventure of the hunt. And so, that’s something I’ll do once, twice, every five years it seems like. It seems like the time in between to go and hunt is less and less.”
DO YOU THINK YOU AND KYLE (BUSCH) CAN REPEAT THAT ONE-TWO FINISH AT KENTUCKY WITH A LITTLE DIFFERENT OUTCOME THIS YEAR?
“Oh, with Kentucky, I hope it’s not as dramatic as it was because that was an epic finish; one that I’ll remember forever, especially with beating my little brother, it made it that much more special. And, I don’t have to tell a story about how I lost so close at Darlington over all these years. Now I get to tell a story where I won a close one. So, I’m looking forward to these next few weeks. I think we can do really well at Talladega, Kentucky, and Indianapolis. The way that this point of the season is coming together, a lot of these tracks are going to be hot. A lot of them are going to be slick. And that’s what we have to manage with out set-ups.”
IN TERMS OF RACING WITHOUT PRACTICE AND QUALIFYING, WHAT HAS BEEN THE BIGGEST EYE-OPENER FOR YOU AS FAR AS HOW PREPARED YOUR TEAM IS AND OTHER TEAMS ARE? THE VETERAN DRIVERS SEEM TO BE THE ONES THAT HAVE THE MOST KNOWLEDGE GOING IN. AND THEN, YOU’VE GOT GUYS LIKE CHASE ELLIOTT WHO IS NOT EXACTLY A VETERAN, WHO HAS HAD A LOT OF SUCCESS?
“I think the challenge of all this newness has really put a strategy or a re-thinking into how you approach all the races. I think with a team like Ganassi and myself, we’re doing a great job at finding the balance right away in the races. And then with the way the track is rubbering-in and taking the Goodyear tires and changing the handling characteristics, that’s what we’ve got to do a little bit better with to have more positive outcomes at the end. But man, the pit crew has got to be ready to go. You have your set-up balance right away. And then the energy and the vibe that isn’t there pre-race, from our race fans, and autograph sessions, the photos, the crowd, that’s something that’s been tough. You have to block that out because we are all missing that. That’s been one of the toughest parts. We miss our race fans.”
IN TERMS OF THE GANASSI TEAM SET-UPS, HOW VITAL HAS MATT KENSETH BEEN SINCE HIS ADDITION?
“With Matt Kenseth there, he brings that veteran leadership to the No. 42 and everybody on that No. 42 car is wanting more results, but they’re going through some of their checklist items that you would normally accomplish in practices or in a qualifying session. And so, they have to go through so much more de-brief and detail after these 400 and 500-mile races because they would normally get this on a Friday, with a practice session. Okay, let’s check out the steering box. Or, let’s work on that. And they have to do all of that during the race.”
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RACING AT TALLADEGA AND RACING AT DAYTONA?
“The biggest thing between the two tracks is that Daytona is much narrower. It’s hard to even go three-wide. Yes we will, but it comes with a lot of risk. Talladega can handle four-wide, even five, but there’s the risk as well because a driver and a spotter have to be in sync to know if you’re in lane two or lane four, and knowing where the guys are around you. And so Talladega is bigger. It’s more inviting for lane changes and more randomness, where Daytona keeps you kind of in a box and in your line. And you have to be more aggressive to make your moves at Daytona.”
GOING INTO THIS WEEKEND WITH A NEW RULES PACKAGE, UP UNTIL THE FIRST COMPETITION CAUTION, DO YOU PLAN TO BE REALLY AGGRESSIVE IN GETTING TO THE FRONT, OR ARE YOU GOING TO PLAY IT CONSERVATIVE UNTIL YOU GET TO THAT FIRST CAUTION IN SEEING WHAT YOUR CAR IS GOING TO DO?
“For me, with our group at Ganassi and the restrictor plate races that we have run together, our set-up balance has been really good in practice right off the truck. And so there haven’t been those challenges of where are we for balance? So, it allows go on offense right away. The problem with that is other teams. Are they just as good right off the truck? And we don’t need to be caught-up in a goofy situation early-on. And so there’s the competition yellow that will happen, and that’s been how we’ve been evaluating our races. It’s just ease our way towards that, and then go hard after that because it answers a lot of questions that are hard to really answer because of all the tangibles that we’re dealing with.”
Team Chevy high-resolution racing photos are available for editorial use.
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