Toyota Racing – Kurt Busch
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes
MADISON, Ill. (June 3, 2022) – 23XI Racing driver Kurt Busch was made available to media prior to the World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway race this Friday:
KURT BUSCH, No. 45 Monster Energy Toyota Camry TRD, 23XI Racing
Can you talk about your preparation for this weekend?
“It’s exciting to go to a new market for our sport, for the Cup Series. Just the excitement here in the St. Louis area is very similar when we went to Road America. We had Nashville, again, it’s the newness and the fun of preparing for something different and then experiencing it. Our team at 23XI with the simulator with TRD and Toyota’s help. That’s been the best sequence and I’m happy that we have an hour of practice and a qualifying session tomorrow. We have like a normal – well the old normal – of a nice Friday, Saturday, Sunday sequence. For me, that’s the best rhythm to get into as a driver. Raced here 22 years ago in the Truck Series. It has been fun to tell that story. We were at Brexton’s (Busch, Kurt’s nephew) race last night over at the dirt track. Tons of fans coming up all excited about race weekend, so it was fun to circle around with everything. Yes, I do remember 22 years ago racing the trucks. I was leading with about 10 to go. We were trying to stretch the fuel and ran out of gas, but it is a fun racetrack to race on and I think it’s going to put on a good show on Sunday.”
What is like coming to a new market as a driver?
“I think NASCAR has done a good job. Ben Kennedy, Steve Phelps, the whole NASCAR team. We just didn’t arrive here by planning it a month ago – this has been years in the making with all of the different schedule changes and it’s exciting. With the tracks all being locked in, with the contract with the TV or whatever that was – with SMI, ISC, all of that has seemed to dissolve and we have all of these new opportunities. When it’s new, yeah, things are different but it’s fun and I like that. For me, driving rally cars, IndyCars, Pro Stock in the NHRA, I’ve always challenged myself with new things and different things, so this weekend as a veteran it’s terrible because for a certain degree it’s something new and something different.”
How important is it to have the racing governing bodies working together?
“I think all of the motorsport groups that are here have all – if this one is making a move, this one is helping. It’s now a collective effort. That’s what I feel like. It’s key. With the race fans like last night, they are there watching all of the different divisions. (Kyle) Larson is running the midgets. He’s running the late models. Brexton’s (Busch, Kurt’s nephew) running two divisions and I told my little brother (Kyle Busch) that he is understaffed so I’m going again tonight to try to help with Brexton’s cars. It’s fun. The fans love all different types of racing. A girl I met last night sitting on her golf cart said I’m not much of a dirt track person, I’m more of a drag racing person but we are going to race on Sunday too. That’s sort of the vibe, I think. Everything just feels new to this area just with Cup group showing up, but this is some of the best dirt track racing in the country. I heard the sequence is how high the corn grows, that means it is better for dirt racing. The corn grows really tall around her; that means the dirt was awesome last night, just watching it. The stickiness and how fun the dirt track was.”
How grateful are you going to be to get an off weekend here shortly?
“The off weekend after Sonoma is going to be very welcomed. Our team knows we have worked as hard as we have, but it is nice to have a reset to get ready for the second half of the year. The summer months leading into the Playoffs have those different style tracks within them. Those are things that will help us grow as a team. Also, as we get closer to the Playoffs, we need to prep for those tracks – just taking it in chunks. But yes, an off weekend will be nice just to get away and have everybody have their time with their family.”
Are you working closely with your teammates or the other Toyotas in the Cup Series?
“I think the easiest way to explain it is with the six cars there is two agendas, and you have three drivers doing it this way and three this way to help confirm and cover as much ground and then everybody can circle back around because it is not an impound. We can still change things after practice tonight. That’s my normal feel. I can change right front camber. I can change a right rear spring, whereas most of the races this year is impound. Whatever you show up with is what you have basically. It’s nice to get into extra detail today and for me it’s just getting out there and getting acquainted with the track and verifying shift points and seeing what the simulator has for comparability to real life.”
What should be done with the All-Star race?
“I raced in the All-Star race. I didn’t think it was not good. I did my best to try to win it and put on a good show. I don’t have a solution to your question right off the bat. There is different tracks and different atmospheres that you can throw at the All-Star race, whether it’s a short track, or a mile-and-a-half like we’ve been on. Daytona, restrictor plate style. There’re so many options, and maybe that is something we can look at. I don’t have an exact answer, but again, I think Bubba (Wallace) said it a week or so ago after the All-Star race, and that’s where the tracks and cities bid on it to build up the hype and make it a big event before you even show up.”
What are your feelings on Phoenix getting the championship race for another season?
“I think Phoenix is a great track. It’s a great market. NASCAR owns the track, and they own Homestead, where we were at for 20+ years. I think it is almost a bridge of the last question. The All-Star race is an important staple in the sport, just as the championship race is the most important and we can move it around and shake it up and take it to different places and have the cities bid on it and want to host it. Again, some of the northern tracks may be blocked out just due to weather. Who knows what TV is going to bring us on the next contract, where their markets will be important. There are a lot of factors involved. Just keeping it real and keeping it fun.”
Looking forward to Indianapolis, could these cars run better on the oval versus continuing on the road course?
“It’s tough to answer. I think the racing has shown really well in certain tracks, certain situations, whether it’s the short run or the long run speed that we still need to have more stability in because left rear tires are wearing out more aggressively than we thought. To me the quickest answer is watching the Indy 500 and racing in it a few years back, there is options for downforce that teams have in other forms of motorsport. In NASCAR, we’re basically boxed into this very small box of adjustments. Let the teams have more downforce that they can take out of the front or put in the front, in the rear or out of the rear. That would create a window for guys have this package and guys having that package at the same style track. That might open things up to who has short run speed versus long run speed in a different way or a different opportunity.”
Do you think taking off the diffuser can help with short track races?
“That bridges right off that last question. As aero and diffusers and front splitter and how the airflow works and how it looks in the wind tunnel with one car doesn’t necessarily act the same as two cars out on the track in real life conditions. Again, it’s a balance and learning and applying it the right way. I think this summer test session at Martinsville is where they are going to take the diffuser off to help see what it does for short track balance and then you have to execute a long run while you are doing that and it is tough to do when you only have the 10 cars or so that are there versus the 40 that start the race. You just have to keep piling up information – not necessarily looking or collecting data – let’s apply it and let’s go for it.”
Do you think this track is similar to Phoenix?
“This is as close as you will get to a Phoenix sequence in track style, so that is how we have prepped to show up here. This is an important race because of the Phoenix championship race on what data we can gather here. Weather is perfect. It’s like 85 this weekend and that’s probably what we will see in Phoenix for the finale. This is an important weekend for a championship style effort in November.”
Can you compare the different celebration styles for the different owners you have competed with?
“There’s the different rival points on how you get to those wins whether it’s building a team up like this year or Jack Roush and Roger Penske and their legendary heritage in motorsports and how they have had the Cup team there already and asked me to come in and just perform for wins. Where Toyota and Monster and this whole project with 23XI asked me to come in as a veteran and build the team up. I have strong emotions, I guess, of how each win happened or unfolded, but again there’s the respect. There’s the understand that this is their team and it’s not me. Each one has their own unique way of doing things. I remember celebrating with Jack Roush in Detroit at the company’s headquarters. I remember going to Nantucket with Roger Penske to his vacation house to have Michael Jordan send me back his rookie card that I had as an ongoing structure as how we were going to build the team. Those are all moments that I will remember forever and I’m very grateful for each of the teams that I have raced for to have opportunities to win. Just like with Barney Visser. We never won together, but there was always that family atmosphere and then with Stewart-Haas, with Gene (Haas) and Tony Stewart, there was different was that we put parties together and functions afterwards.”
Have you figured out what you are going to do with the Michael Jordan card?
“It’s in the safe, but I think with the Daytona 500 entry blank, the card and then something to symbolize the Kansas Speedway win in the Jordan Brand car, that will be how I think I will put the display together. I’ve got to get in my art frame mode and put it together.”
Would tires make more of a difference if they had more of a fall off at these short tracks?
“As far as the tire and short tracks, there is always that balance that drivers want as far as a tire that if you push it to hard you end up wearing it out and slipping sideways and struggling towards the end of the run. There’s a durability question and then there is the flat out – you want a tire that is able to grab each of the track’s asphalt the right way. Tire codes that might work at Phoenix might not be the best application for a Loudon or the best application for Richmond. I think Goodyear, NASCAR and the teams just have to continue to work together in a frame of mind to put on the best show possible, to have durability and to give the car the grip it needs, but also if you step over that line, the driver then has to pay the penalty.”
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