NASCAR Cup PR

YOU SAID AFTER LAST WEEK THAT BEING IN THE POSITION WHERE YOU ARE FIGHTING TO GET IN THE PLAYOFFS ISN’T FUN RACING. WHAT CHANGES NOW THAT YOU ARE IN THE PLAYOFFS? “Fun. I have always thought that. Over my career of making these playoffs, it comes at a good time of year for me. Those summer months are long, grueling and they drag on. You needed a wake up call and shot in the arm. For me, that is the playoffs."

Joe Gibbs Racing driver Kyle Busch was made available to media at Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoff Media Day.

DID YOU THINK YOU WOULD HAVE A SECOND CHAMPIONSHIP BY NOW? “I would have thought. But again, it’s a matter of piecing it all together and putting yourself in position to have a shot at the championship. And it’s not a given. It’s not a guarantee. There are those good years, where you have plenty of speed in the car, but it might be this other weakness; maybe pit road or not quite having the horsepower you need."

“I think the answer to your question is that it is what it is. The balance is you are going to have guys, and I am not picking on anybody, but let’s just say the 48 who is not in the playoffs but he can help by being more aggressive to his teammates and things like that. That is no different than me."

DO YOU FEEL THAT HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS, AS A GROUP, ARE TITLE-READY FOR ONE OF YOU GUYS TO WIN? “I think so. I mean, why be here if you don’t think that? I mean, there’s no point in even coming to this Playoff Media Day if we don’t feel like we have a shot; or, even being in Vegas in general."

The NASCAR Cup Series starts itsPlayoff run, while the Xfinity Series and Truck Series have Playoff milestones. The NHRA starts their Countdown to the Championship in Pennsylvania, and Formula DRIFT, ARCA and POWRi are also on track this weekend.

For the first time in 13 years, the No. 6 team has qualified for the NASCAR Playoffs after Ryan Newman and the team raced their way in through the first 26 races, culminating last week at Indy. His Championship hunt begins this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with the first of three races in the opening round. RFR boasts 16 wins all-time in the Entertainment Capital of the World, having finished in the top-10 in more the half of the races it has competed in at the track.

As Paul Menard begins to wind down his full-time Cup Series career, he and the Menards/Monster team have one main goal in mind – to deliver the Wood Brothers their 100th Cup victory.

Busch has qualified for the postseason in each of the six years of the current elimination format, with a best championship finish of seventh in 2016 and ’18. … Elliott, Bowman and Byron are Hendrick Motorsports drivers, while Busch and Larson drive for Chip Ganassi Racing. … At 21 years, 9 months, Byron is the youngest of the 16 playoff qualifiers. Elliott, 23, is the next youngest. Team Chevy drivers’ average age is 27.6; the other 11 qualifiers’ average age is 31.2 years.

Elliott on tracks he is looking forward to: “The next one, really. I think you have to have the ability to win all of them, or the majority of them, to have a shot at Homestead. We just need to have that mindset going in. This first round is going to be tough. Richmond and Charlotte haven’t been our best two racetracks, so it’s important for us to not overlook it and put some emphasis on the first round and not just think we’re going to breeze right through.”