KYLE BUSCH, NO. 8 MORGAN & MORGAN CAMARO ZL1, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum. Media Availability Quotes:
WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO DO TO WIN THIS RACE?
“Obviously having a good car always helps.. having some speed to start with. But we’ve had some good races here, so I’d really love to be able to come out here and have another strong one this time around and be able to get our No. 8 Morgan & Morgan Chevrolet Camaro to victory lane. That would certainly be nice.”
DO YOU COMMEND NASCAR FOR MAKING THE DECISION THEY MADE AS QUICK AS THEY DID?
“No question. I think today is an unprecedented mark in our sport and one that I think all of us will applaud NASCAR, FOX and everybody on for giving us the chance to get a race in today. I don’t know that we would have been able to do it before Wednesday and would we have even been here on Wednesday. So this was the best chance that we had. I feel like it was definitely a very good move.”
DOES THAT CHANGE YOUR PREPARATION? ARE YOU LOSING OUT ON A LOT OF PREPARATION TIME NOW?
“No, no.. not at all. You better be ready when you get here. It’s all good. Everything is already done, so ready for what we have in store for today. Just get out there on the track – run some practice laps, get some qualifying laps in that are hopefully good to get us into the Top-22 to be in the show. And then from there, go race it out. I want to say starting up front would help your result at the end of the day, but last year we started up front – we got spun out, went to the back and then we came back to the front anyways. That just hurts your chances of getting that victory because last year I burned my tires up getting back to the front. It would be nice to not have those issues this year.”
WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU ACTUALLY HAD TO QUALIFY ON SPEED?
“I mean every week, we do.”
I MEAN TO MAKE THE RACE, THOUGH.
“Yeah, you would think that – I guess in my situation, being wherever we were in points last year, we would still be able to get in. But yeah, it’s a short field, a tight field, and it’s going to be close. The times here are always really within thousandths of a second, sometimes to the fourth decimal, so it’ll be tight.”
WHAT DID YOU LEARN IN YOUR FIRST YEAR AT RCR? WHAT HAVE YOU AND RANDALL (BURNETT) TALKED ABOUT THAT YOU NEED TO DO TO MAKE 2024 BETTER?
“We started the year really well last year. We had some good speed and we did things early on in the year just kind of based on their notes, and then we built off of that. We had some good races in the second-half of the year, I just did not capitalize very well on those. Had some issues myself, and then also just some other issues. Slow pitstops would sometimes knock us back, and then I would try too hard to get to the front and spin out or whatever. So just a lot of things – It’s not just one single area, I feel like. I know we’ve kind of changed some processes and procedures over the off-season of how we were doing cars, how we were looking at parts of cars and things like that. So hopefully all that helps, too.”
THIS IS THE LAST RACE WITH THE 2023 SHORT-TRACK PACKAGE. ARE YOU JUST AS HAPPY TO SAY ‘GOODBYE’ TO THAT?
“Yeah, I guess so. We have to figure it out, regardless. Whatever the next one is, we have to figure it out. That was definitely our weak spot last year, was the short-tracks. We had one good one, which was the second Richmond (Raceway) race. We ran third there. We need to have more results of being able to run in the top-five, top-10, like that.”
WHEN IT COMES TO SIBLING RIVALARY, THE ONLY THING KURT (BUSCH) CAN HOLD OVER YOU IS THE HARLEY J. EARLY TROPHY. WHAT WOULD IT MEAN TO KYLE BUSCH TO WIN THE DAYTONA 500?
“Yeah, that would be awesome. That’s the last box to check, essentially, in my career for the great things to do and accomplish in our sport. I would love to have that and be able to get that. Been oh-so-close a few times and still continue to work on being able to get that done. Last year, I led mile-marker 500.. it was just under yellow. Would love to be able to have that trophy back home.”
INAUDIBLE..
“Yeah, I mean to me, I feel like the championship is the pinnacle of our sport. I feel like the Daytona 500 – everybody wants to call it the Super Bowl of our sport. It is.. it’s our biggest race, it’s our biggest stage. It’s just that though – it’s one race. So being able to score that win in a restrictor plate-style race where there’s 30 other guys that are vying for the win and that have a legit shot for the win. You go to many of these other places and sometimes the drivers aren’t very good at those tracks or sometimes their cars, their teams or the manufacturers or whatever, they don’t really lineup well for those tracks. So I feel like the restrictor plate stuff though is pretty level for everybody.”
10 YEARS AGO, IT’S HARD TO PICTURE NASCAR LEADERSHIP MAKING THIS DECISION. DOES THIS GIVE YOU MORE CONFIDENCE IN THE PEOPLE STEERING THE SHIP, SO TO SPEAK?
“Yeah, definitely. Not sure how much we can still be able to do that down the road. I remember going to Fontana (Auto Club Speedway) last year, right? Like we all knew it was coming.. we all knew the snow was going to be there Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but could we run a race on a Thursday or a Friday ahead of time instead of waiting until Monday? I don’t know. Obviously with how bad the weather is that’s coming, for three days straight – we all don’t want to be here wasting money on hotel rooms and everything out, no matter how great you feel like the state of California is.”
DO YOU FEEL LIKE A WEIGHT HAS KIND OF BEEN LIFTED ON YOU AFTER SELLING KBM AND JUST BEING ABLE TO CONCENTRATE ON RACING AND WHAT BREXTON IS DOING?
“No, not really actually. I’m busier now than I was then. Just don’t have the resources, the people behind the scenes to send work to.. you know, like clerical work, booking hotel rooms, booking rental cars or doing that sort of stuff. I’m doing it.. Samantha (Busch) is doing it. It’s her and I that are just kind of getting everything done and making sure we have all of our pieces that we need to be able to travel and go race with. It’s definitely busier. I would say just a lot of off the track stuff, but it’s fine.. it’s not too hard.”
WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE THING ABOUT THE DAYTONA 500 AND WHAT’S YOUR LEAST FAVORITE THING?
“I would say my least favorite thing is just how many guys have a chance to be able to race for the win and it doesn’t really come down to the greatest driver or the greatest car. I feel like it all comes down to circumstances. I feel like the greatest thing about the Daytona 500 is that it’s the Super Bowl of our sport – it’s the biggest race, it’s the pinnacle, and you want to be able to go out there and win it.”
WHAT TRACK DO YOU LOOK FORWARD TO EVERY YEAR ON THE SCHEDULE?
“Well Fontana (Auto Club Speedway) was one.. that’s not happening. But I would say Bristol (Motor Speedway), of course. Charlotte (Motor Speedway) is always pretty fun.. the oval. Pocono (Raceway) was probably one of my least favorites for years, but now that’s a pretty good one.”
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