NASCAR CUP SERIES
LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUOTES
MARCH 15, 2025
Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series’ practice and qualifying session at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Media Availability Quotes:
Kyle, many consider you the king of restarts in NASCAR. For a track like Las Vegas, where restarts are so hectic and crazy, just take me through a restart here on a race weekend..
“Yeah, I mean, restarts are sort of the name of the game, I guess, now, because once you get single-filed out and spread out a little bit, it’s hard to make up time and make up ground unless you’re really, really good. And to get by guys that you’re around or in front of you, as well. So you try to get as many as you can and whatever you can. It’s kind of tough, you know, with the defense being as good as the defense can be with guys, where they pull up in front of you and block your air and things like that, where you’ve got to, you know, get out of the gas and whatnot. So, you know, it’s definitely changed over the years. This car has changed it again. But it seems like, more and more times, guys are more amped up and more — not amped up, but more ramped up to just be ready to defend and make it harder for guys to make ground as much as you used to when we first went to some of the double-file restart stuff.”
This is your home track. You’ve won here once before.. all the way back in 2009. What are some of the most challenging things about getting it done here at Las Vegas?
“I would say Vegas is challenging just because of the time of the year. You know, we’re coming off of winter time for this race, obviously, so we cold weather, things like that. So the track reacts differently versus the fall race here, where you’re coming off of summertime; all the summer heat, the ground being hotter, the track being different, the bumps being different. So, just kind of getting accustomed to all of those things and getting reacclimated with all of that.
You know, the springtime, the speeds are very high. I feel like you run a faster lap time in the springtime, and I feel like the aero deficiencies become greater in the springtime. So, you know, the track doesn’t quite widen out as much as you want it to. I feel like we have a greater sense of track wideness more so in the fall. But, you know, that could always change, just depending on if it gets upwards in temperature on race day.”
There was a lot of discussion this week on the approval process to race in Cup after what happened last week. I’m curious if you feel like there needs to be more structure, and how do you balance or how should NASCAR balance it? You know, you have SVG come in. Granted, it’s a road course, but in his first race, he was able to win. How do you balance, you know, somebody who’s so accomplished in another series and trying to figure out if they’re able to race Cup?
“Yeah, I don’t have a great answer. I feel like I’ve questioned the approval process for a long, long time.
Being an owner in the Truck Series and seeing some young drivers get opportunities at different tracks versus my drivers that I was trying to get them opportunities at some of those same tracks getting denied. So I was very confused, and probably I’m even more confused now on how it all works. I think it’s broken.
I think there’s a lot of work that could be done to make it better. I also do feel as though it shouldn’t be ‘suit and ties’ making the decisions always. Certainly there can be some that need to be involved, but I do feel like there needs to be fire suits involved in some of those decision-making processes on those that need to be approved or not approved for various activities. And I’ll even go so far to say, too, that I feel the same way on driver penalties. The Austin Cindric deal.. I don’t think ‘suit and ties’ should be making that. I think you should get penalized by your peers.”
We talked extensively at COTA and you really felt like things were going in the right direction. In that period of time, you’ve had three top-10s. Do you feel like the No. 8 team has kind of turned the corner? “A little bit, yeah. I mean, certainly we’ve had some good races, so far. We’ve had some good speed. We’ve had the cars driving much more to my liking than what we’ve had in past. So I’ve been able to get more from the race car as well, too. So that’s all a net positive. Everyone at RCR should be proud of the efforts and all the things that we’re doing behind the scenes to get us to where we’re at right now. So I’m grateful of that.
I do feel like there’s more to go get. You know, if we had the gains that we made at Phoenix from last year to this year — if we could have another step of that, you know, then there’s going to be reason for us to race for wins. And so I’m optimistic about here this weekend and seeing what we can do this week in putting ourselves in position to race up front; challenge for stage points, challenge for a win, put ourselves in a position to go out there and continue our decent start to the season of top-10s.”
Given the gains you mentioned at Phoenix, does that kind of, you know, portend well for when you go to Martinsville, which is another shorter, flat track? Since you’ve been in the No. 8 car, that is one of the places where you had had lots of success but struggled with RCR.
“Yeah, each week’s different, right? We have a small sample size right now with the start of the season and only having a few races. So as we continue to add to that sample size of Las Vegas, Homestead and go to Martinsville.. you know, hit a Bristol, a Darlington, I feel like then you’ll really start to see where you stack up. The seasons change so fast also. You don’t want to start hot and then, you know, have NASCAR looking over you with a microscope, and then you have different issues getting through tech each week that then kind of derail your summer. So, you know, you’ve got to be careful and be patient with everything that you’ve got going on. But that sometimes can be a defining factor, as well too, to your season and how you play it out.”
Given that it’s been a while since you won a race, is it difficult to keep your emotions in check and not push too hard when you feel like you’ve got a car that’s capable of winning?
“It is. I would say, you know, when I was winning a lot, you were doing it quite often. You were in position quite often. And so you could harness those emotions and those feelings; be able to go out there and just do your job and kind of let it come to you.
Kansas last fall, I felt rushed. I felt hurried. I felt like I needed to get through the traffic as fast as I could, and I put myself in a bad spot; we hit the wall and lost the race. So, you know, those things are certainly on your mind as you come to them, especially with as close as the competition is today. It’s rare that you see — I guess unless you’re tiny Kyle (Larson), it’s rare that you see, you know, three-second gaps to the next guy behind you. You know, you’re always kind of fighting within that one-second gap that you have to a guy behind you. You can lose a half a second in one lap, if you get the wrong lane through a corner and you get in somebody else’s wake. So, you know, you don’t have much room to breathe.”
When you were talking about the approval process, does the sport need to go back to looking at how much practice that includes on a race weekend when somebody is in a car for the first time, as well as the testing policy where teams being able to take someone and put them in a car during the week and run laps with them beforehand?
“Yeah, I agree. That can definitely be a good piece of what we can do with individuals that, you know, want to come run.
Testing is tough because, obviously, I would say that if we’re talking about Katherine’s (Legge) situation, I don’t know how much extra funds there are there with that situation to be able to go out to Phoenix a week early and go test, you know what I mean? But that obviously would be beneficial to not only the team, but also the driver in that case to just go out there and get some reps; get some laps, get some seat time, feel the car out, get it more comfortable than probably what she was able to do in just the short practice that we have. So how that all works, I’m not exactly sure.
If it’s a four-hour session on Thursday or Friday or, like, the day before or something, I think that that could certainly be a waiver piece that is allowed for, you know, some first-timers.”
Talking about your performance, the three straight top-10s and the direction this team is going – how much do you want to see from this team or have early season success as it pertains to then when you start weighing your future and what you’re seeing from this team and how much that’s going to weigh in?
“Yeah, I mean, obviously having good runs and solid race cars; cars that feel like they should and drive like they should is a big important piece to all of that. So, so far so good. I mean, from last year to this year — just, you know, Legos being the same, apparently they’re not because we’re doing something different and cars are driving much better. So, again, I just appreciate the efforts and values of everyone at RCR putting all that in. And so, you know, there’s not a team out there that will outwork us, that’s for sure. We’re going to continue that grit and continue to go out there and make sure that we have good pieces and, you know, keep performing.”
With Auto Club Speedway gone and the loss of so many tracks in Southern California, how important is it to you to keep Las Vegas thriving for NASCAR? And do you think that maybe you miss Fontana or that NASCAR might have to do something to fill that gap now that it’s not on the schedule?
“This is a really tough question to answer. Fontana was always one of my favorite places. I love that track. Even though it started off really rough for me, of getting kicked out of there when I was 16 years old, it certainly ended very well winning the final race there a couple years ago. So that place has a special meaning in my heart and, you know, all of Southern California does. You know, I remember Irwindale. I remember Orange Show. I remember Blythe. I think Blythe is still there. You know, you’ve got Madera. You’ve got Altamont. I don’t know if Altamont is still going or not.. that’s more Northern California. But, you know, there’s some really good racetracks that have been through California that I’ve been around and at least have been to or Kurt has been to. And I don’t know how to make it go. There’s so many people around that area that, you know, for a local short track with 5,000 seats to not fill those seats, it’s just not the interest of the fan in those areas. So that’s why they die. I mean, if you’re full every week and you’ve got standing room only like Eldora in Ohio, there’s no problem that you’re going to keep your doors open, you know?
But I understand the Fontana piece — the land value is worth much more than what you were ever going to make in ticket sales. So, you know, eventually there becomes an economic decision and it overpowers us being racers that want to go race at those tracks. It overpowers that.”
Regarding your season, and you and Randall (Burnett) sitting down at the beginning of the year and figuring out which tracks you’re going to –- I know you’re going to try to win every week, but do you focus on certain tracks that you may have a better shot at? And does that morph throughout the year? As you perform well here, you might think that — hey, we learned something that we can apply at X track down the road..
“No, we don’t circle any venue or anything like that to say — hey, this is a place that we want to go win. We know we can win here. Nuh-uh, no. Like, we just try to elevate the whole program. If you elevate the whole program, the whole program is going to, you know, bring yourself to the front and being able to capitalize on good runs. And honestly, like a lot of times, with the way pit stops are, with the way sometimes strategy goes, with the way restarts are, with the way calamity is — if you are running between fourth and seventh every single week, you will at one point or another in the race be eligible or be racing for a win.
And so, yeah, obviously you’ve got to race for the win at the end. But, you know, if you’re within that position, there’s going to be some guys that falter. Literally a lot more times than not, guys beat themselves out of a win. So you just can’t be that team that does that. So I feel like getting to that level of, you know, that fourth through seventh, fourth through eighth range, where we’ve been just on the outside brink of last week at Phoenix, then we’ll have a shot.”
And a follow-up, this week is the last Cup race for Chris Powell, also Jeff Motley leaving. You built your career here racing around this area. What does that mean for the track, the community, to lose those guys? And for you personally, knowing what you’ve done?
“Yeah, I mean, obviously, a great career for those two guys. So I’m probably a little closer to Jeff than Chris. But, you know, it’s cool to see their tenure here as long as it’s been, as great as it’s been, and for the success of this racetrack; seeing all the different peaks and valleys that it’s been through has been really, really cool. So congrats to them. I wish them nothing but the best in their future endeavors.
I’ve heard some cool things that Jeff’s looking at doing. So, you know, it’s going to be neat to see whoever comes in next to keep this place going and keep it where it’s at or grow it.”
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