Toyota Racing – Kyle Busch
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS)
Richmond Raceway – April 12, 2019
Joe Gibbs Racing driver Kyle Busch was made available to the media in Richmond:
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Has anything exciting happened in the past week and how do you feel rolling into the Richmond race weekend?
“What’s happened this week? I can’t remember what I even did yesterday so I can’t say that there’s a whole lot going on. It’s been pretty quiet. Just our normal meetings week or whatever we had going on. Just got on track today and felt pretty good I guess. A few other guys that were running some good lap times as well too around us and looking forward to qualifying being rained out so hopefully we can start on the pole and have a good start to tomorrow night’s race.”
How do you quantify how well you’re doing this season on a weekly basis?
“Obviously, I guess I just go after hard work and preparation – the things that you do behind the scenes that help you succeed on race days and what you can do behind the wheel of a race car. It’s also due to being with some really good, talented people – Adam Stevens (MENCS crew chief) and my group on the 18 car. Of course Ben Beshore (NXS crew chief) on the Xfinity side and Rudy Fugle (NGOTS crew chief) on the truck side. They’ve all done a tremendous job in leading the groups that they’ve got with them and we’ve been doing really well and the results have been coming too. We’ve had a little luck on our side as well. I’ll admit I always tell you when we don’t have any luck on our side so I might as well tell you when we do have a little luck on our side. It’s been nice to have. We just have to continue with the way we’re running and the way that we’re doing it. Keep being successful.”
Is there such a thing as momentum in racing?
“There’s no question there’s momentum. Absolutely. You can go through the whole beginning stretch of the season – we’ve had a really good stretch to the beginning of this season and unfortunately we’re coming up to one of my most favorite race tracks in the world, Talladega, in a couple weeks, that can certainly end that momentum at any particular moment and knock you down off your pedestal or whatever you want to call it. Then you have to figure out how to rebound and get back. I think that’s where our strength is and we’ve had some moments in some of these races that we’ve kind of been knocked off that we’ve been able to rebound and come back up through. Just treat it like anything else and focus forward.”
What do you remember about your first win here at Richmond and can you believe it’s been 15 years?
“We’re talking about the Busch Series one right? I came here the year before in the Truck Series and hit about everything but the pace car. It was an ugly, ugly venture for me. I don’t even think I ran 15th in a Truck Series race, it was pretty bad. Then came here two years later I guess with Hendrick Motorsports and the 5 car and was able to qualify on the pole, brand new asphalt and was able to qualify on the pole, was able to lead the most laps and was able to go on and win the race and Greg Biffle finished right behind me. Probably if he was a little bit meaner of a guy, he could have moved me out of the way and won for himself, but we’ve always had respect for one another. I remember that day and being able to score that first victory and remembering going to victory lane and jumping off the car and all the guys catching me behind me and just having a good celebration. That was certainly a lot of fun. 15 years, that’s scary. I didn’t think I’d be here that long for a few of those years, but I’m glad it all worked out now and there’s better days ahead.”
What was your decision to put Greg Biffle in your truck later this season?
“We’ve been friends for a long time and we were just kind of ‘BSing’ a little bit about it and I always thought that – it’s nothing against the older guys, (Greg) Biffle is older now. When you’re done racing Cup, you go back and run Xfinity or you go back and run truck or whatever it might be. He was a Truck Series champion, he was an Xfinity Series champion and coulda, woulda, shoulda been a Cup Series champion, just never quite got there. I asked him if he ever thought about running full time in the trucks as an ‘on your way out’ type of thing. I’ve asked him about it a couple times and he’s kind of given thought to it and said he didn’t really want full time. Earlier this year he asked me if I had a race available and I was like, ‘yeah, actually I do, not the one you want, but I’ve got one that you can have and take it or leave it.’ He took it and he’s going to run Texas.”
Is there one specific thing that makes you successful at Richmond?
“Again, the first time I came here I was terrible and then I came back here after the repave with the Busch Series back then and was able to run really well and we won that race, the first race here, and then ran pretty strong in my Cup Series career here since my Hendrick Motorsports days and in the Joe Gibbs Racing days. I don’t know if it’s necessarily a tendency or a trait or something that works with me here. Whatever it is, cool. Let’s keep it going. It’s nice to be able to come to Richmond and know this is a familiar place or familiar territory we can come and get strong runs and good finishes and be able to hopefully win and continue our winning ways here.”
Do the stats of where you are compared to many Hall of Fame drivers motivate you to keep winning?
“No, I don’t need any more motivation to try to win. We’ve got plenty of reasons to win – I think it’s written about all over me. It obviously is just cool to have opportunities like that, when you do win and you are successful, every weekend somebody brings up something new to you and there’s that top-10 streak that we’re kind of running right now that we’re on so that’s pretty cool. To keep that rolling as long as we can and of course too if we can win three in a row here at Richmond and match names like that – the Godfathers of our sport that built our sport to what it is today would be pretty cool. I think I’m only the third guy now — (Matt) Kenseth did it – to win on my birthday and I won here on my birthday years ago so that was pretty special too.”
What does it mean to see your name matched up to the Godfather’s of our sport?
“It’s pretty cool and I think we’re tied with Lee Petty right now so obviously there’s some pretty good company that’s in the top 10. In any sport in the top 10 of accolades that guys go up against, it’s pretty cool to be recognized within that group. I talk about where we’re at right now, it’s cool and it’s great, but I feel like hopefully I can still have 10 or 12 years left in this business to be able to have the opportunity to reach much higher levels and numbers and to look back on it and reminisce on it when it’s all said and done and see where we stack up.”
Is there anything specific you feel you’re missing compared to the Penske cars?
“I wouldn’t say it’s a multitude, but it’s just different things. The Penske guys just seem to have the pure short run speed right now where we don’t quite have that. That’s something that we know we need to work on and get better at and find. It would be nice to have short run speed and long run speed because then you would have the field covered. Some of these races have gone long runs that have lended more towards our style and where we’re at and some have lended towards the short run. It just kind of depends and it’s just the way the luck of the day falls. Last week at Bristol, the showed probably the most run speed, the longest speed of runs and they were fast for 50 laps and I think the longest run we had was 79. They were pretty quick for the majority of it and it was hard to make ground on them even in the long run when we had 40 laps on tires, it was still inches at a time rather than tenths of a second at a time.”
What do Samantha and Brexton think of the beard?
“I don’t think Brexton really cares, he doesn’t know much about it, but Samantha, it’s growing on her. It’s gotten softer so she’s a little bit better with it. She said, ‘You just have to keep it going, you’re on the top-10 streak so maybe that’s what it is and keep it rolling.’ I don’t know, I guess when I finish outside the top-10, it will be gone so we’ll see.”
There weren’t any ‘starting on the pole’ questions so I don’t have to come back later? Can we do that now?
“Feels pretty good to be able to get the number one qualifying spot today. I want to thank Mother Nature for that and having the opportunity to start up front because every time we do qualify here, we qualify in the back. It would be nice to start up where I think we’re going to finish and not have to pass everybody. That’s what I like, up front, it’s key.”
