Kyle Busch was second last week to Matt Kenseth at Bristol. Credit: Autostock

Q&A: Kyle Busch

Second-year driver talks about closing in on Chase berth

Kyle Busch made quite a splash in his rookie season, but he failed to make the Chase for the Nextel Cup. After his second-place finish Saturday at Bristol, his place in this year's Chase is a bit more secure.

Busch, the defending winner of Sunday's Sony HD 500, talked with members of the NASCAR media Tuesday.

Q: Kyle, you're fourth in the points, puts you in pretty good shape as the Chase approaches. On the other hand there's only 48 points separating you from the 10th place driver, Mark Martin. Maybe just talk about what the pressure is feeling like going into these next couple races with the Chase on the line and the points so close.

	Credit: Autostock
	Inside the Numbers Kyle Busch's Nextel Cup record Starts 66 Wins 3 Top-5s 17 Top-10s 26 Poles 2 Laps Led 570 Avg. Start 18.4 Avg. Finish 19.5

Busch: Well, there's definitely some pressure there, but there's probably not as much as maybe would have been in the past couple years. 2004 was the first year for the Chase and last year, 2005, there were more guys, more drivers eligible Chase contenders.

This year, we're only fighting Kasey Kahne, the only one out right now to get in for one of the ideal 10 spots. That makes it a little easier that you only have to worry about one guy, so the pressure is there to try to get yourself into the Chase. But I think more so right now what it is is about is positioning yourself. You never know how much those five points coming down Homestead will mean for and you what it will mean for your championship hopes coming out of Homestead.

Q: How much help and input have you received the last couple of seasons from Jimmie and the rest of the Hendrick team?

Busch: Some of the things that we've been talking about, just it's all about cars and setups and things like that and just being able to make our cars faster and trying to share information and that kind of stuff. The biggest thing, of course, this year has been the coil bind and all that stuff, so everybody is trying to make sure they can get their cars the best they can make them.

For us, being able to share information the way we do, I think the teams have become a lot closer than what they maybe have been over the past few years.

Q: And what do you think of the main thing that Jeff or Jimmie has taught you over the last couple of seasons?

Busch: I think the biggest thing is watching Jimmie and how he races. You know, he's always a very fast and particular racer, but he's always very smart and does good with the things that he knows how to do well with, like how to do adjust the car throughout race, what he needs in his car throughout the race, and how he goes about, you know, the beginning, towards the end and whatnot. I mean, you look at him, he's been successful for every season that he's been in the Nextel Cup Series, he's finished in the top 10 in points. So he definitely knows a little bit about how to race and how to go about and how the season plays out and how to work with it.

And from Jeff, you know, kind of the same thing. He's been a very smart racer over the years. He's won four championships himself. You know, he's always been probably one of the best overall racers that I've ever seen as far as his adaptability to all of the different racetracks.

Q. It seems like in the last several races that you've avoided the controversies that you were involved with, say, early in the year with a couple of drivers. In the meantime you've moved up solidly in the points. Was that a conscious effort on your part to just keep your head down and worry about the car and the Chase and try and avoid some of the controversy you had earlier?

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Busch: I think it just somehow, some way makes it's rounds. You know, really, I didn't look for it in the beginning of the year. I didn't want to get involved in any of that because you don't want to have to deal with all of the pressures of media and everything in answering all of the questions and stuff. It was something I got into and I found on my own. But I haven't really done anything different.

I might have become a bit smarter racer which put me in some different situations throughout the year. You know, we've just kind of been going along and finding our own way and finding our own peace with the series. Of course, being able to learn more about what NASCAR is all about and Mr. Helton and I we sat down and had lunch and I've been getting a closer relationship with him. Everything is going pretty well. It's all about trying to come into the sport and realize it's not all about you, and that, you know, even though NASCAR grew up with who all made the sport what it is today such as the Rusty Wallaces, the Terry Labontes, the Richard Pettys, the sport is going on and they are not here racing. So you have to understand that fact, as well, too; it's not all about you.

Q. Moving on towards the Chase, should we count you as one of favorites to make a run at the title, and why? What are your strengths going into the Chase?

Busch: Heck, yeah, you better. No, just kidding. I think we've got a legitimate shot at it. We've got a very strong team. I'm very confident with my guys that they can prepare good enough race cars where we can head into the racetrack with a solid top-10 car. And, you know, it just comes down to these final two races to solidify ourselves in there. California, we ran well last year. We finished 10th there this spring. Richmond, I don't think we've had a finish worse than 5th, so hopefully we can keep that trend going.

Overall it's just getting down into the Chase. I think there's only two tracks that we haven't -- well, I shouldn't say that. There's more tracks that we haven't had a top-10 finish at. The biggest tracks for me that we need to work on is Texas and Atlanta. For some reason we run so well at Charlotte and we can run pretty well at the two mile places like Michigan and California, but Atlanta, we can run well through the middle part of the race, but by the time we get to the end we're not going so well, we finish 12th; three times in a row we've finished 12th.

Texas is one of those places that for some reason I just can't get a hold of. I've run well there in the Truck and Busch car but the Cup car, I can't figure it out for some reason. Those two places are the main two places that we definitely need to get better race cars for. And Talladega is one of those crapshoot races where you never really know what's going to happen.

Q: On the personal front, your brother officially eliminated from Chase contention. Is it weird for you to more than likely make the Chase and have Kurt not make it?

Busch: No, it's not weird at all. Talking with him, he's had a tough season. You know, it's been a lot of a learning curve for him this year trying to understand the Penske chassis and Penske bodies and Penske race cars that they have over there. You know, the team itself, the team is relatively new. There's a new crew chief and a new engineer and a couple new crew guys, as well.

So you know, it's kind of like a rookie season, if you will, all over again for Kurt, having to go through all the learning curves that you have to when you join a new team. It was not crazy that he didn't make the Chase. I was hoping he would so he could stay in there and have the two Busch brothers in, but it wasn't meant to be here in 2006, so maybe we'll see it in 2007.

Q: You had many learning curves thrown at you early in life and you learned well, can you comment on how that might affect your future?

Busch: I hope it's going to be a long future. I know some day hopefully there won't be as much during a year that I'll have to learn, but you're very right in saying that I've had plenty to learn and being at such a young age. But the career I chose, that's what I wanted to do,

I wanted to become a racecar driver, and that's what I love to do best is drive race cars as fast as I can make them go. The big thing is just trying to go out there and get the best result you possibly can, and yet try to learn the best things.