Joe Gibbs Racing driver Kyle Busch was made available to the media at Bristol Motor Speedway:
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s 75 Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
How much do you look forward to Bristol with your recent string of victories?
“I certainly look forward to Bristol and I definitely have over the years whether it was the old surface or when they repaved it. It’s been kind of frustrating a little bit since the grind for me on the Sprint Cup Series side and haven’t figured that out all the way yet. Definitely last fall we got a lot closer to being able to have a win here and having some good success with the race track that we have with the grind. I definitely look forward to this weekend. I feel like with what we did learn here last fall that we’ve got some good chances at a win here this weekend on the Sprint Cup side and we’ll try to do that.”
What do you expect from the heat race format in tomorrow’s NASCAR XFINITY Series race?
“I’m looking forward to it just to see what it’s all about and to be a part of it the first time it comes about here at Bristol, I think this is a good place for it. Obviously, racing Late Models over the years and being at short tracks I’m used to the heat races and things, but I think the format is just a little different from what I’m accustomed to with the races and what they mean at the other race tracks or those other series. We’ll see what it has to offer the fans and kind of break of it up maybe and give a chance to see what heat races are all about in NASCAR again.”
Are you doing anything different in the race car now compared to earlier in your career?
“I wouldn’t say necessarily that I’m doing anything different. Certainly I think that circumstances are going our way maybe a little bit more, why, I’m not sure. I’ve just had some really fast race cars. The guys have been doing a great job at Joe Gibbs Racing both on the XFINITY side and the Sprint Cup side. We’ve had a good taste of success here recently and it feels good and when times are good, things seem easy of course so we’d like to keep it that way. Overall, I think there’s some things still for me to learn over the years that maybe I’m not quite as good at that I could be better at. Just different race tracks and being able to run well at different times or different aspects – Charlotte for instance, haven’t won there. Kansas and things like that. I feel like we can go each and every week and have a legitimate chance to win each and every week which is probably the first time in my career that I’ve had that so it’s pretty good.”
Do you think there will ever be another chance at seven race wins in a row here at Bristol?
“No, no it won’t. I think the way the sport was then is certainly different than the way the sport is now. When you hit on something back in that day you might have been able to keep it at that particular race track for a lot longer than you can now. The way that tech goes and the way you have to tear down your car here at the race track and having people looking at it from not very far away, they can see what you’re doing and then again they go to the tech center and they pull apart the shocks and they pull apart the bump stops and they basically give everybody else what you’re doing away. It’s not all that secretive on the things that these guys are doing these days. I don’t think you’ll ever see seven in a row at a particular race track again, but I could be wrong. Deep down I would like to say that I could do it, but I know that even with the team that I have and the crew and the talent and everything that we’ve got going on with the 18 car that’s going to be hard to do. It’s fun to reminisce about those days and about what it’s all about, but also too sometimes you hear these comments about our sport and about how it could be dull or boring or whatever and they talk about how great it was in the 70s or the 80s and you look at some of the results and there’s eight cars that finish and the second-place car is three laps down and this guy has now won five in a row at a particular race track and it’s like, how is that the good old days? Is that really what would be exciting these days? I don’t think so. Not unless it’s your favorite driver and there’s a lot of fans out there that pull for different drivers.”
You’ve won so much lately, have you lost anything at all personally?
“I haven’t lost anything. You know what, I did lose a watch. It was an anniversary gift from my wife, I lost my watch and then before we lost for the west coast swing I found it. I lost it from last September, but I won the championship so that was pretty good, but then I found it before I left for the west coast swing and we’ve been on a bit of a role so I don’t know, maybe that had something to do with it.”
What would it mean to surpass Tony Stewart as the all-time wins leader at Joe Gibbs Racing?
“I never even knew that, but that’s pretty neat. It does mean a little bit. Tony (Stewart) being there for the amount of years that he was there and winning two championships for the Coach (Joe Gibbs) and he was a huge part of our team and the way that it grew from when it went from one car to two cars and then from two to three, obviously he was there for all of that. I certainly wish that I was teammates with him for a lot longer than I was, but to have the opportunity to go out there this year and maybe win a few more races and to beat him as far as the all-time wins leader at JGR, that would be pretty special and I would like that a lot. Maybe I’ll give him a handshake when it’s all said and done.”
Who would be more difficult to convince for you to run the Indianapolis 500 – Joe Gibbs or your wife Samantha?
“Joe’s (Gibbs) going to be the hardest one for sure. Samantha (Busch) is not necessarily a fan of it and I’ve talked to her about it a little bit and she’s just like, ‘I’ll be there when the time comes, but don’t tell me.’ Then the sponsor aspect, they’ve actually shown some interest in it and that was kind of fun for me to hear that there might actually be an opportunity there if I continue my relationship with them from the Cup side to the IndyCar side. We have to work out all those details and it’s certainly not going to happen for this year, but maybe in some future years we’ll see what we can put together.”
How does this momentum differ from what you went through last year?
“I think momentum is momentum, what we did last year with me coming back and sort of struggling the first five races a little bit and not getting what we wanted out of it and then sort of taking off in the summer months and having some good results and keeping that together through the end of the season and winning the championship – I think that just sort of solidified our team’s ability and what we were all about and that we weren’t some fluke that ended up in the Chase — gives us great pride and strength to know that we’ve come out this year and besides a tire failure at California that we’ve had top-fives at every race. We’ve been really, really strong. Adam (Stevens, crew chief) and the guys again have done a great job for me to give me cars that are good to drive and that keep us up front. I don’t think it’s anything short of what we’re all about and I think what we should be able to do from here on out.”
How has it felt to be so dominant in your recent race wins?
“For missing what I missed last year and being out of the race car as long as I was, I think I’ve certainly given fact to the matter that I love racing and that’s what I’m all about. When I was laid up and thinking about whether I wanted to come back or whether I didn’t, there was never very many thoughts that crossed my mind that I did not want to come back. This is what it’s all about for me. This is my passion, my drive, my fire, everything that it gives me to come out here and race each weekend and to have the success the last two weekends like we have that’s what you want to do. You want to win them all, but you know you’re going to lose a heck of a lot more than you win. We just have to stay consistent through what we’re doing right now. If we’re able to continue the win streak here through Bristol, that would be pretty awesome. Basically take a whole month and be nothing but Busch. We’ll see how it rolls this weekend, but looking for good things here.”
How strong are your chances to win for a third consecutive weekend?
“I think it’s really good. Coming to Bristol, it’s been a really good place for me on the Truck side, the XFINITY side and on the Cup Series side, but I think the XFINITY Series side, I’m not going to say it’s going to be easy as it’s going to be a little different this weekend with the heat races and things like that. If we can win a heat and then start up front for the feature and how the pit strategy plays out with it only being 200 laps and seeing what tire wear is all about here, I think we’ve got a really good shot there. Then of course we’ve got the 500 lapper on Sunday and that’s going to be harder to figure out, but like I mentioned earlier, we were good here last fall and led a lot of laps, we ran up front and we weren’t very good on the long run, but Adam (Stevens, crew chief) and I both went to work over the off-season and especially this week getting prepared for this weekend and knowing that we can come here with a better shot to win this one. I’d like to think that there’s a good shot to do it here and then we’ll hopefully be talking about whether we can do it or not at Richmond. It would be a pretty good story.”
