NASCAR CUP SERIES
BIG MACHINE HAND SANITIZER 400
INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
JULY 1, 2020
KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 MONSTER ENERGY CAMARO ZL1 1LE met with media via teleconference, and discussed his 700th NASCAR Cup Series career start on Sunday at Indianapolis, having both INDYCAR and NASCAR racing on the same weekend, the ages of drivers currently competing in motorsports, the tight pit road conditions at Indy, and more. Full Transcript:
INDY WILL BE YOUR 700th NASCAR CUP SERIES START. DID YOU IMAGINE WHEN YOU STARTED YOUR CAREER THAT YOU WOULD HAVE 700 STARTS?
“It’s amazing. To have this opportunity and to have been blessed to have raced with so many great race teams over the years, just making it past the local track was something that I thought was an achievement because my dad was a local racer. He won a lot. But it was like money, sponsors, and the whole challenge of even getting to like the Southwest Tour and Late Model division, that was even tough for us way back in the past. So, it’s amazing. Twenty years of racing at the top series level and now having 700 starts, I never would have guessed.”
WHEN YOU LOOK AT GOING TO INDIANAPOLIS, WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS? WE HAVE THE ROAD COURSE FOR XFINITY, WE HAVE INDYCAR THERE, AND I’M SURE IT’S A TRACK THAT YOU FIND INTRIGUING. WHAT WILL THE WEEKEND BE LIKE IN YOUR MIND?
“It’s a big marquee race. It’s our Brickyard 400. But unfortunately, we don’t have our race fans. That’s what I still think about first, each time we’re heading to the race track. And, with a special weekend like this with INDYCAR and Xfinity on the road course on Saturday, and then the Cup race on Sunday on the oval, Roger Penske is the only one that could have made INDYCAR and NASCAR happen on the same weekend. And Big Machine is there with their sponsorship and I know they would put on a great concert and the whole atmosphere around Indy, it was set-up to be fan-based and to have that extra entertainment value. So, it’s something we’ll miss. But I’m focused-in on Sunday’s race. I’m just going to fly in day-of. I would have really liked to have enjoyed seeing the IndyCars and Xfinity on track, but it’s time to stay in the bubble and stay isolated.”
WILL YOU WATCH THE INDYCAR AND XFINITY RACE? AND, WHAT IS YOUR VISION FOR GETTING A WIN AT INDY?
“Oh absolutely. I’ll be tuned-in to watch and just enjoy it as a motorsports fan. I think that’s what this weekend is about with it being a July 4th celebration of our country’s birthday, and to have top forms in motorsport in America at Indy, you have open-wheel with INDYCAR and we’ve got NASCAR with the fenders on and they go around the oval, so it’s a great weekend for motorsports to tune-in.
WITH YOUR EXPERIENCED IN INDYCAR, DID YOU LOOK AT ANY CHANCE OF COMPETING IN THE RACE ON SATURDAY?
“I did. I looked at it and just with everything going on with COVID and the pandemic and lack of preparation, it just kind of shut everything down as far as the progress and the approach, because it takes a full effort of being tested and track time and being ready. And that’s something that I really put in when I ran the Indy 500 six years ago now. And so, everything just got shut down. But, it would have been fun to with Chip Ganassi Racing and then with Jimmie Johnson now doing a test next week with Scott Dixon’s car, it’s all right there in front of us. It’s just the timing wasn’t right.”
DO YOU HAVE ANY SENSE OF HOW THE NEXT GEN CAR MIGHT REACT TO THE OVAL? THERE’S SOME TALK ABOUT IF THE XFINITY RACE GOES WELL OF MAYBE NASCAR DOING THE CUP CARS ON THE ROAD COURSE. BUT THEN, THERE’S TALK THAT WELL, COULD THE NEXT GEN CAR RACE ANY DIFFERENTLY?
“As far as testing and gathering up information and data on the new car, it’s all kind of shut down as well. And, I see those cars though, where they’re able to adapt to any circumstances (like) a street course, road course, or oval. The way that I’ve looked at it and they way they’re assembled, things can be changed out pretty quick. So, you could almost hammer out a road course on a Saturday and an oval on a Sunday with the same cars.”
CAN YOU EXPLAIN WHAT HAS ALLOWED DRIVERS IN THEIR LATE 30’S TO BE VIEWED TO BE IN THE PEAK OF THEIR RACING CAREER STILL HAVING SUCCESS AND MAKING AN IMPACT? AND IS THAT EXTENDING CAREERS OR WHAT HAS THAT ALLOWED THOSE FROM LATE 30’S ON TO HAVE MORE SUCCESS AT A TIME WHEN PEOPLE DIDN’T LOOK AT IT AS BEING AS STRONG OF A PERIOD FOR A DRIVER’S CAREER?
“It takes a good team to have a driver’s ability to find the success. A team is the foundation. But the way I’ve looked at things over the years is it seemed like drivers in the generation before me got in when they were in their young thirties and would go to their late forties. And then there was this guy named Jeff Gordon, who came into the sport and broke down a ton of barriers as far as age, and it opened up the flood gates for owners to look at all different areas of the country to find talent and to find racers. It’s been an amazing ride for me. I got in in my young twenties. And then a guy like Joey Logano got in in his teens. My little brother (Kyle Busch) got in in his teens. The change, the shift, has happened for younger drivers to get in and yet it’s still tough to go past 25 years is extreme. I don’t think we’ll ever see that anymore. And so that’s that window that we’ve all had this opportunity to race in, and I think it’s just a matter of age blended with the experience level and with a top-tier team. And when you see that, it’s usually in that 32 to 38 range that I would say could be the peak.
“But I’m having some of the best years of my career as far as consistency because I’m using that experience level. I’m using that calmness and that ability to project the future in the car, and that’s leading to good, consistent, and quality finishes. It’s just that we’ve got to cross over another barrier of sometimes you just throw caution to the wind and let it rip. And that’s when you see guys like (Ryan) Blaney, who now has won the last couple of restrictor-plate races, but yet ran into my little brother the other day at Pocono just driving over the nose of the car. So, you’ve got to blend in the youth and the experience and that’s when you’re going to find the right combination.”
WHAT IS PIT ROAD AT INDIANAPOLIS LIKE? THERE ARE A LOT OF CHALLENGES AT MANY TRACKS, BUT WITH HOW NARROW AND TIGHT INDIANAPOLIS IS, WHAT’S THAT LIKE IN AVOIDING ANY CONTACT THERE, WHICH CAN RUIN SOMEBODY’S DAY?
“Yeah, Indianapolis has the toughest pit road in all of the NASCAR circuit. It’s compounded because of the difficulty of passing on track. And so, we’re all trying to gain every inch, every foot possible, on pit road. And so, when you’re coming down pit road at speed, guys are trying to look ahead and see where to peel off to get into their pit box, and then it creates an accordion effect of guys that are sitting there right on top of their lights and their pit road speed, and so that checks people up. And then when you’re coming out of your pit box, you’ve got to turn hard to the right to get around the guy that’s in front of you, and you’re mostly likely blending straight into traffic and people usually just throw all caution to the wind and go you know what? I’m just going to block you and it’s up to you to check-up because we’re that aggressive on pit road to keep that track position.”
Team Chevy high-resolution racing photos are available for editorial use.
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