No Sleep till Brooklyn

The good news for Kyle Busch is that the last time he raced a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, he ended the day by hoisting the winner’s trophy there for the first time.

In contrast to Las Vegas native Busch’s previous 12 Sprint Cup starts at the 2-mile oval that sits approximately 90 miles southwest of Detroit, during which he posted just one top-five finish and led just 88 laps, Busch’s 2011 assault on Michigan International Speedway netted his maiden win in the Irish Hills in August, a third-place finish in June and 81 laps led in the two events.

As the driver of the No. 18 SNICKERS Peanut Butter Squared Toyota Camry heads back to Michigan for the Quicken Loans 400 on Sunday, an offseason track resurfacing will have Busch, along with crew chief Dave Rogers and the entire No. 18 team, working hard to adjust to the blazing-fast track conditions facilitated by the new pavement.

Busch, Rogers and the SNICKERS Peanut Butter Squared team got a head start on the learning process in April as they were among four teams that participated in a Goodyear tire test on the new surface.

After spending two extra days on-track at another newly resurfaced facility last weekend at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway, the No. 18 team has an especially short turnaround with extra practice sessions Thursday at Michigan so teams could begin adjusting to the vastly increased grip.

The No. 18 team had just a little more than 24 hours from when the hauler arrived from Pocono at the JGR shop in Huntersville, N.C., before it was time to load the SNICKERS Peanut Butter Squared Toyota back on the truck for the trek up to Michigan.

But few – if any – individuals in the NASCAR garage are known to work harder than Rogers, Busch and the No. 18 team when it comes to race preparation. As the Beastie Boys so eloquently put it many years ago, there certainly will be “No Sleep till Brooklyn” as the talented Busch and his troops work this week to back up their Michigan win last August.

TSC PR