NASCAR CUP SERIES
BASS PRO SHOPS NIGHT RACE
BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
SEPTEMBER 17, 2020
KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 MONSTER ENERGY CAMARO ZL1 1LE, met with media via teleconference to discuss his outlook going into the race weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway, the pressure that comes with racing during a cutoff race, and more. Transcript:
HOW DO YOU HANDLE THE TRACTION COMPOUND ON SATURDAY, ESPECIALLY WITH WHERE YOU ARE IN THE PLAYOFFS? DO YOU HAVE TO PLAY IT VERY CONSERVATIVELY OR DO YOU JUST RACE AND HOPE YOU DON’T SLIDE ON IT?
“I think the biggest question right now is actually the weather. With Sally moving through, we hope that the Truck race gets in on time and we have the Xfinity race, as well. The thing about the summer race at Bristol is that you have the races before the Cup series race, so it helps burn in the traction compound. Even if they spray more, it still has a more consistent feel. So, this year, the spring race, it had a race before it. But at the All-Star race, there was no race at all and the Cup cars went out there right away, and it was like you were on ice. So, I’m hopeful for more consistent August/September track conditions, which will then lead the notes to what we’ve done in years past at this race. So, for us, we’re just hoping the weather cooperates and the race track ends up very close to the same as it usually ends up as.”
IS THERE ANYTHING THAT YOU FOUND THAT YOU WERE ABLE TO DO RACING ON THE BUBBLE AND ADVANCING THAT YOU FEEL ARE THE KEYS TO SUCCESS?
“Fast cars and fast pit stops – that makes it easier. It’s just not getting too far ahead of yourself and executing as a team. With most likely a competition caution at lap 30, then the stage breaks at 125 and 250, there’s three opportunities to get points – stage one, stage two and the end. If we go out there and do our job, we’ve got a gain those points in the stages so that way the end of the race isn’t as much of a nail-biter as it should be.”
YOU’RE SO GOOD AT BRISTOL. DOES THAT LEND SOME SORT OF CONFIDENCE IN YOU OR HAVE THINGS CHANGED WHERE WITHOUT PRACTICE, IT’S DIFFERENT? BRISTOL, YOU JUST GO BACK TO IT BEING BRISTOL TO YOU, RIGHT?
“Yeah, I feel like anytime you can go to a track that you’ve had past success at, it lends to just better feelings, it lends to going through the checklist items in an easier fashion. So, our confidence is high going into the race. We have our homework done and now we go and race. There are some other tracks where you’re like – we didn’t run so well at Kansas, let’s just say earlier this year, and we’ve got more questions so to speak going into the race. So, Bristol, we’re ready to rip and ready to go with the Monster Energy Chevy. We’ve got seven points to the plus and that’s just kind of how we’ve been all year – we’ve been right around that tenth-place position all year.”
HOW MUCH DO YOU WANT TO KNOW DURING THE RACE, KNOWING THAT BRISTOL IS A BLINK OF AN EYE, AND HOW MUCH WILL YOU JUST SAY ‘TELL ME WHEN I ASK FOR IT’ KIND OF THING?
“There’s so many guys in the mix, so wherever the points end up at the end of each stage, I’ll just want the plus or the minus. As we’re getting closer to the final 100 laps, that’s when you have to make those decisions to race the guys straight up for points and play more of a defensive role if you have to.”
SEVEN POINTS – HOW DO YOU LOOK AT THAT GAP RIGHT NOW? DO YOU PLAY OFFENSE? DO YOU PLAY DEFENSE? A COMBINATION OF THE TWO? JUST WHAT KIND OF STRATEGY DO YOU LOOK AT GOING INTO A RACE WITH JUST A SINGLE DIGIT CUSHION?
“So far in the Playoffs in 2020, we haven’t finished worse than 13th in any stage and we haven’t finished any better than 5th. So, that’s the good news and bad news all mixed in together. And so we just go there and do our job to get points in the stages. We know it’s going to come down to the final little bit on who’s above the line and who’s not, and you can’t worry about it too much. You race off the talent of the crew, the pit strategy, the pit crew guys themselves – everybody has to do their job right now because it’s the Playoffs, it’s what you do. It’s what we do and it’s what we’re prepared for.”
ARE YOU FEELING CONFIDENT JUST KNOWING THAT THE CUTOFF RACE IS IN BRISTOL? DESPITE ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN, GIVEN YOUR PAST EXPERIENCE THERE, DOES THAT KIND OF BUILD YOUR CONFIDENCE GOING INTO THAT EVENT?
“Yeah, I enjoy Bristol. It’s a track that I look forward to going to and I get amped up for. I’m ready for the challenges that Bristol brings. The night race, getting back to the PJ-1 traction compound question, you hope that it all gets burned in and that the outside lane comes into play. But each time we go back to Bristol, there’s just these little weird things that the track is doing that SMI might not tell NASCAR. NASCAR might not tell SMI. And then there’s the Goodyear tire that shows up with different stager values, even though it’s the same tire code. So, there’s a lot of little things at Bristol all the time. But with this being a cutoff, you have to just go in there and do it. Get the job done, don’t shy away from the pressure. Even after this round, you have to go to the Roval and advance through it to get to the round after that. And then you have to go to Martinsville to go through that round if you’re going to have a shot at the championship. This Playoff format is genius for the anxiety level for all the drivers and teams.”
FROM THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN, RICHMOND SEEMED PRETTY TAME FOR A SHORT TRACK. DO YOU THINK THAT THE ANXIETY WILL BE ELEVATED GOING INTO BRISTOL, JUST BECAUSE IT IS A CUTOFF RACE?
“The anxiety will be higher, the nerves of course, and just the overall ambiance and excitement. But in all reality, everybody’s got so much riding on the line and everybody’s got to protect their race car, get the points that they can, not run into somebody and get a fender rub. That’s what led to Richmond’s, I guess, lack of excitement and that could end up happening at Bristol. Which then that’s a question of, well wait a minute, maybe we need to move this race back to August when goes aren’t necessarily worried about points as much and let the rough edges drag, dump somebody or wreck some cars and not have to pay such a big points penalty. That’s the difference in Playoff racing – everybody is making sure they’re getting every point possible and, therefore, they’re driving more cautiously.”
THE NEXT ROUND BEGINS AT LAS VEGAS AND THAT’S ONE OF THE RACES THAT WERE HELD BEFORE THE PANDEMIC AND THE PAUSE. TYPICALLLY, YOU HEAR DRIVERS AND CREW CHIEFS TALK ABOUT HOW MUCH THINGS HAVE CHANGED IN THAT PERIOD OF TIME. HAVE THINGS CHANGED AS GREATLY BECAUSE OF THE CHALLENGES THIS SEASON OR HOW DIFFERENT WILL VEGAS BE THIS TIME COMPARED TO THE VEGAS RACE THAT WAS HELD BEFORE THE SEASON WAS PAUSED?
“First things first is that this race is in 100-degree temperatures, where the spring race is in usually 60 to 70-degree temperatures. So that’s a huge difference all in its own. Then you get into the real nuts and bolts of 2020 and that’s where we haven’t had practice. That’s when more things are done on simulation models and engineering models for the baseline setups. That seems to have fallen into some teams’ hands and it seems to have handcuffed other teams. We can say that even within the same garage area, as far as Gibbs – we’ve got Denny Hamlin with a ton of wins and my little brother (Kyle Busch) with none. Guys like (Kevin) Harvick have a ton of wins and all the rest of Stewart-Haas has one. So, it works some ways to be a position, other ways it doesn’t work out as well. Even like Penske, with (Brad) Keselowski running well and (Ryan) Blaney is right on the line of being eliminated. So, it’s hard to really say. What happened back in March seems like two years ago and then also things trend in tech inspection, as well, on things that were going on in March versus what’s happening here in September.”
PEOPLE TALK ABOUT THAT NEXT ROUND. THE FEELING IS YOU NEED TO WIN AT LAS VEGAS BECAUSE OF THE UNCERTAINTY OF TALLADEGA AND THE ROVAL. IS THAT ALMOST THE WRONG APPROACH TO TAKE AND LOOK AT IT AS OPPORTUNITIES INSTEAD OF WILD CARD RACES?
“Yeah, there’s a hundred different philosophies or different ways to look at it. Each team has their own agenda. There’s definitely the championship front-runners. There’s the guys that need to throw the hail marys and try to gamble on a pit stop. You’re going to see some of that at Bristol with this cutoff race. Guys might just do two tires and stay out and try to muscle their way to the end. There could be that same thing at Vegas, where you come in just for fuel only and try to top it off even though you can’t even make it to the end, but you try to use that strategy to get some points or to get a win. So, it’s really hard to really play out all the scenarios. You’ve just got to race with what your strengths are. And some teams have different strengths in different areas.”
IS BRISTOL A TOUGH TRACK TO GET THE BASELINE SET-UP RIGHT, ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU’RE STARTING 13TH AND YOU’RE AROUND THE GUYS THAT YOU NEED FOR STAGE POINTS IN STAGE 1?
“It seems like it’s tougher with the spray (traction compound) and how much they spray or where they spread. That’s been the biggest adjustment. It’s hard to really get into the full jargon of the level of detail of what an engineer has to do to match a race track surface; but then when you throw in inconsistencies from the track and the spray that they’re using and how much chemical versus how much water they mixed in. Or, how rain is hitting the track right now. In years past, to win Bristol you would set-up for lap 250. You would set-up for halfway. And you would just try to get through the first half of the race the best that you could. But you can’t do that anymore with it being the Playoffs and with Stage points. So, you’ve got to go hard right away, but you’ve got to build in that adjustability to be able to be that guy at the end that can win as well.”
CONSIDERING THE PANDEMIC, HOW MUCH INPUT HAVE YOU HAD WITH (CREW CHIEF) MATT MCCALL THIS WEEK, GOING INTO THIS RACE?
“My phone says I have a new operating system that I can download, but I’m scared to do that because I have so many digital meetings and so many calendar items of this department and that department. Hendrick Engines was checking in on some of the horsepower levels. There are these new departments of communication and open line; I mean, it’s all hands on-deck right now. And so, we’re staying on top of it the best way that we can. I even asked the shock department yesterday to have shocks that can have compression and rebound adjustable shocks in case we are off on our set-up and we have to go aggressive with changes. And the only time that you’re able to really do that is if you’re the last car on the lead lap on a pit stop or something. You’ve got to be ready for all case scenarios right now.”
Team Chevy high-resolution racing photos are available for editorial use.
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