Kyle Busch: Diamond Hill 200 preview

DARLINGTON, S.C. -- Kyle Busch on the upcoming Diamond Hill Plywood Co. 200 at Darlington Raceway:

"I think it's a fun place to race. I love the old tracks where you slip and slide all over the place. It has some bumps in it, kind of like Lowe's Motor Speedway does. You really have to have your car hooked up, because you're just running on sand and shells all day. It's hard to keep your tires under you on long runs, that's for sure. We ran really well here last year when we finished second to Brian (Vickers), so I'm definitely excited to come back here with the same chassis he won with. This is also the same chassis we ran so well with in Vegas a couple of weeks ago, so it's becoming one of my favorites."

ON THE NEW SAFER BARRIERS:

"First, let me say that how awesome it is that these tracks are going to the expense of putting these walls into place. I'm hearing the new walls take up about two feet of racetrack, so that's definitely going to take some getting used to. I'm not complaining, though. I don't think there's a driver in the garage who isn't willing to give up some racing groove to be better protected in case of a crash. I hope it won't be long before every track where those walls will work will have them installed."

ON HOW THE NARROWER RACING GROOVE WILL AFFECT SETUPS:

"You're going to see guys slowing down a lot more to be able to get through the turns. You're also really going to have to work on getting your car to rotate through the center of the turns to be successful. You'll need a ton of forward bite to get up off the corners after slowing down that much, too. It's going to be all about which drivers and teams can adapt to the new configuration the quickest. I think you may see some guys struggle who have run well here in the past, and you might see some guys near the front of the field who don't usually do well here. I love a challenge, so we'll just see how things shake out on Friday."

ON TIRE WEAR:

"This place was the best teacher I could have ever asked for on how to manage your tires. When we raced here in the Busch Series last year, I did everything I could to take it easy on my tires in the early part of the run. Our lap times would be mediocre, and we'd just have to let guys go by. Later in the run, though, I'd always reel them back in. It's just very hard as a driver to not go all out from the very first lap of a run, but you just have to remember that it's only the last lap that pays."