KYLE BUSCH
Playoff Primer
HUNTERSVILLE, North Carolina (Aug. 24, 2021) – As the NASCAR Cup Series heads to Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway for Saturday night’s Coke Zero Sugar 400, the race marks the 26th and final race of the regular season for NASCAR’s top series.
Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR), has already secured his spot in the 2021 playoffs, currently sitting third in the driver standings with an eye on putting himself in the best possible position on the 16-driver playoff grid with a strong performance in Saturday night’s playoff primer at Daytona.
From the time the 2.5-mile Daytona oval opened in 1959 through 2018, the NASCAR Cup Series has competed on its high banks every Fourth of July weekend. From 1959 to 1997, the series competed on the morning of July 4, no matter what day of the week the holiday fell on. Starting in 1998, the event was moved to the first Saturday night in July after lights made their debut at the World Center of Racing that season. But when NASCAR’s July 4 Cup Series race moved to Indianapolis for a one-time run in 2020, Daytona moved its summer oval race to the regular-season finale in late August, and this year’s regular-season finale returns to Daytona for the second time this weekend.
Whether this race is in July or August, Busch – the two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion – knows he will not only need to beat his fellow competitors, but also the Florida summer heat at Daytona. This part of the season is annually the hottest for Cup Series competitors, with select race venues seeing record temperatures this year, and also for those who are heading out on their late-summer road trips. Whether on the highway or the racetrack, the summer months can be taxing on both man and machine. Caring for the latter is one of the ways JGR founding partner Interstate Batteries – with whom JGR is celebrating its 30th anniversary together – leverages its NASCAR program, reminding consumers to have their batteries checked during the hot summer months at a local dealer prior to their summer road trips.
Busch is certainly no stranger to victory lane in the Coke Zero Sugar 400, having won the July 2008 race behind the wheel of – yes – the Interstate Batteries Toyota. The Las Vegas native has fared much better in his summer races at Daytona during his career, when the track is much more slick thanks to Florida’s summer heat. He has five top-five finishes in his 16 summertime starts at the track.
With all of that on his side, Busch hopes to have a strong car and track position in pack-style racing, where a driver not only has to be good, but must have good fortune to go along with it. He would like nothing more than to head into the playoffs in the best way possible – by bringing the Interstate Batteries green lightning paint scheme to victory lane Saturday night. With one final primer before the 2021 Cup Series playoffs begin, Busch and his Interstate Batteries team will not only look to beat the Florida heat, but finally recharge the batteries and get back to his favorite place – victory lane.
KYLE BUSCH, Driver of the No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing:
Is Daytona still a special racetrack for you?
“Daytona is cool – a lot more in February than in the summer just because it is the Daytona 500 versus the August race. For us, you still want to win everywhere you go, every single week. To win at Daytona is always cool. It’s definitely special. It’s the birthplace of NASCAR – the superspeedway aspect of it. I definitely love going there. It’s hot, it’s slick, and you can make the most out of yourself as a driver and what you’ve got in the car. We won there in 2008 and I’m hoping we can get a win with our Interstate Batteries Camry this weekend. Interstate Batteries has quite the legacy with JGR with 30 years together and counting. I’m always proud to represent those guys, so we hope to get a win for Norm (Miller, Interstate Chairman).”
Are there still things you and your team need to work on heading into the playoffs?
“There are always things you have to work on heading into the playoffs or heading into any race. With the way the Hendrick cars are, obviously the dominant force that’s been talked about over the year – we’ve had that, we had that in ’16, ’17, ’18, whatever it was where the Toyotas were the fast guys with the 78 or the 18 back then. We feel as though we’re working on things to catch back up and get where we need to be in order to be true contenders.”
Do you feel the Daytona cutoff race runs differently, or is it the same as other Daytona races?
“No, it’s going to all out for anybody who’s top-30 in points. Anybody who’s top-30 in points can win that race. We’ve seen Front Row Motorsports win. We’ve seen Spire win. We’ve seen teams that don’t normally win races be able to score victories in the restrictor-plate races, so that just leads to the anxiety level of everybody. We are going to try to be there, too, so would love to get our Interstate Batteries Camry to victory lane this year. It would be a great way to celebrate the 30th anniversary of JGR and Interstate’s relationship.”
What do you do to prep for the night race at Daytona?
“It’s going to be a hot one. Right now, it’s all about getting your fluids back in you throughout the entire week. You’re not going to get them all back in one or two nights. It’s going to take the entirety of a week. You’ll start over again after that race. It’s Daytona. A lot of different planning goes into that.”
When you look at guys who have won superspeedway races in the last several years, it seems there are those who win more often than not. Why do you think that’s the case?
“You’ve got to be good, but there’s still a lot of luck involved. You’ve got to be out front. When your cars are fast, you need to do a good job, you know how to lead it, get yourself through traffic, you’ll be out front a lot of the time. So hard to hold those fast cars back, if you will. They do a good job of being able to predict the lines and how they build the inertia and everything behind them.”
Event Overview:
● Event: Coke Zero Sugar 400 (Round 26 of 36)
● Time/Date: 7 p.m. EDT on Saturday, Aug. 28
● Location: Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway
● Layout: 2.5-mile oval
● Laps/Miles: 160 laps/400 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 50 laps / Stage 2: 50 laps / Final Stage: 60 laps
● TV/Radio: NBC / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Meet the No. 18 Interstate Batteries / Joe Gibbs Racing Team
Primary Team Members:
Driver: Kyle Busch
Hometown: Las Vegas
Crew Chief: Ben Beshore
Hometown: York, Pennsylvania
Car Chief: Nate Bellows
Hometown: Fairfax, Vermont
Spotter: Tony Hirschman
Hometown: Northampton, Pennsylvania
Over-The-Wall Crew Members:
Gas Man: Matt Tyrrell
Hometown: Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Front Tire Changer: Blake Houston
Hometown: Enochville, North Carolina
Jackman: T.J. Ford
Hometown: Charlotte, North Carolina
Tire Carrier: Joe Crossen
Hometown: Salisbury, North Carolina
Rear Tire Changer: Jeff Cordero
Hometown: Salem, Connecticut
Road Crew Members:
Race Engineer: Seth Chavka
Hometown: Soldotna, Alaska
Truck Driver: Chris Miko
Hometown: Bronx, New York
Truck Driver: Tom McCrimmon
Hometown: Spicer, Minnesota
Mechanic/Tire Specialist: Justin Peiffer
Hometown: Lebanon, Pennsylvania
Mechanic: Scott Eldridge
Hometown: Warsaw, Indiana
Notes of Interest:
● 30th Anniversary Celebration: This season, JGR and Interstate Batteries are celebrating quite the milestone in their 30th year together in NASCAR’s top series. No other sponsor has been with the same team for as long of a run as this strong partnership. In fact, Interstate Batteries has brought home 32 all-time Cup Series wins as a primary sponsor and countless others as associate sponsor on JGR cars. Interstate Batteries and JGR brought home their first win together in the 1993 Daytona 500 with Dale Jarrett behind the wheel. Jarrett won twice in Interstate Batteries colors, Kyle Busch nine times, and Bobby Labonte leads the way for the Dallas-based company with 21 all-time Cup Series wins in its colors.
● 30-Year Giveaway: In celebration of the 30-year partnership with JGR, Interstate Batteries is hosting a Twitter giveaway on the 30th day of each month. Fans can follow Interstate on Twitter (@interstatebatts), Facebook (@interstatebatteries), Instagram (@interstatebatteries), and YouTube (@interstatebatteries) for giveaways, how-to tips, NASCAR updates, and even more car-related content most people never knew they needed.
● Green Machine: In addition to Busch’s nine Cup Series victories in Interstate Batteries colors over the years for JGR, he’s brought home two Xfinity Series victories for Interstate Batteries. Both came at Phoenix Raceway, in 2008 and 2011. In addition to the aforementioned victories, Busch also brought home a Camping World Truck Series victory for Interstate Batteries in 2010 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, which happens to be in the backyard of the company’s Dallas headquarters.
● Daytona Stats: Busch has one win, eight top-five finishes and nine top-10s and has led a total of 468 laps in 32 career Cup Series points-paying starts on the Daytona oval. Busch’s average Daytona finish is 19.3.
● Playoff Points: After scoring a stage win at Michigan last weekend, Busch has accumulated 15 important playoff points he can take with him through each round, with a chance to add more at Daytona as the final race of the Cup Series regular season. Busch also currently sits third in the point standings with 11 top-five finishes and 17 top-10s over the 25 races of the season.
● Alone in Ninth: With his win in June at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway, Busch sits at 59 career wins in NASCAR’s top series as he moved past Kevin Harvick into sole possession of ninth on the all-time win list. Next up on the win list is Dale Earnhardt, the seven-time Cup Series champion and NASCAR Hall of Famer who won 76 races during his storied career.
● 222 and Counting: Busch will be aiming to add to his record 222 overall wins among NASCAR’s top three series this weekend at Daytona. In addition to his 59 Cup Series wins and 102 in the Xfinity Series, Busch has 61 wins in the Camping World Truck Series.
