KURT BUSCH, No. 45 Monster Energy Toyota Camry TRD, 23XI Racing
Has the difficulty of the 600-mile race changed over the years that you’ve been competing?
“I mean, yeah, there was those years where I felt intimidated by it and then found comfort with basically, I break it up into two sectors, there’s a daytime portion and a nighttime portion. And to me, that’s just the mental approach of not adding the extra 100 miles and just going after a normal type of race. But the handling conditions, this Next Gen car and the temperatures this year will be difficult — more difficult than most years. Just because of all the newness with the car. We only get 20 minutes of practice. At least the practice is during the race window. A lot of times we’d practice and it would be two in the afternoon or it’d be nine o’clock at night. And so glad the practice is closer to race conditions. And it’s just the Next Gen car has its challenges. And we don’t know what to expect with the traction spray and the way that it’s been racing. Looks like it just keeps getting higher and higher and higher. So we got to go to that outside groove right away in practice.”
Have you ever competed in a race with a car on seven cylinders and finished the race?
“I had two that I can recall pretty quick. One was here at the 600 and I was running up front with the boys, it was early in the race though, 150 miles in and a green flag pit sequence was happening and I radio Dennis I think we dropped cylinder and the lap times were dropping off big time. And Jimmy Fennig (crew chief) was like, might as well just stay out until she blows. Literally led the 600-mile race for a little bit on seven cylinders and then finally she let go. So we didn’t end up with a good finish. I guess the comparable story was at Bristol years ago. 2005 spring race. Doug Yates was the engine builder I was at Roush and at towards the end of the race, I just didn’t have like the full like launch off the corner but we were really good on a long run. And there was a yellow with maybe 30 to go. And Jimmy Fennig’s like, we’ve got to pit and I said no sir, we’re staying out and I overrode him and there’s something wrong with the engine, but if we pit I don’t have track position anymore. And so we stayed out and I tried to jump the restart the best I could legally and not get black flagged it all worked out. And then now I have this guy Rusty Wallace rearranging my rear bumper for the next 15 laps. And if I if I can survive this little bit of his fresh tires, I’ll be able to hold him off. And sure enough we’re able to stretch it out. And Doug Yates afterwards says, you’re a magician, I don’t know how you did that. The timing distributor started to tweak because the bracket broke. And we were basically on seven cylinders. But at a short track, you can kind of pull that off. At a big track, that’s impressive, for Noah (Gragson) to be able to run that speed and get a top five.”
Do you feel the new car will impact the race more physically than the old car?
“Yes, absolutely. And Denny (Hamlin) was talking about it early in the season on some of the good races he was having on how you drive it extra hard and it sticks better, because it forces the tires into the track and your diffuser is lower. And me and Bubba (Wallace) were like, I don’t think we’re at that sequence of handling yet. We’ve improved our car in the last month and I felt that it Darlington literally was driving into turn three way deeper than I ever have and it was sticking. And now you’re trying to learn the feel of a tire drop off and overdriving and still having good lap times. And so that’s going to happen as well as the left rear tire has been fragile on this car. A lot of guys have had trouble and so will it go 50 laps that we have stages of 100, but if you do the calculations 50 laps is the way you break it up for speed and not being on pit road too often. And so will the tires go 50 laps while you’re pushing hard in a new sequence with the car.”
Will you be keeping up with the Indy 500 tomorrow and how Jimmie Johnson does in the race?
“Yeah, I’ve been rooting him on with some texts and some driver advice and trying to drag Tony Stewart’s experience as well into it with the double and just trying to fuel Jimmie (Johnson) the best way we can. And of course we’re rooting him on and I’ll be watching — I usually can watch until about halfway. And then my duties start for race day with fan events and meetings with our team. But it’s on the DVR and can’t wait to watch and I can’t wait to hear the results for Jimmie.”
What did you learn at CoTA that you think can transfer to Sonoma with the Next Gen car?
“We didn’t have the best of day and we missed a chance on our pit strategy sequence to finish up front and then we got caught in a wreck late in the race. The cars at COTA really chewed up the tires and I expect the same at Sonoma. Sonoma is more of a rhythm track and doesn’t have a lot of speed. And so you have to find that rhythm with this car. And the gearing, the gearing is going to be different. We used to always set the Sonoma track up with second gear as the primary gear for most of the corners. And with this car, the gears are somewhat set and basically can’t change it. And I hope that the gearing is happy in most of the corners, but I’m afraid we’re going to be double shifting more than we’re supposed to be just because the gears have been so random this year. So tire wear and gearing are going be the big things at Sonoma.”
Are there bragging rights going into Gateway with it being the first time racing there for the Cup Series?
“Yeah, anytime it’s an inaugural event, a new market, you feel that energy around the race. Last year with Road America. It was off the charts Nashville was off the charts — might be missing one. You have that feel this year going into it. There’s three days of track activity. I’ll be on the sim Wednesday. And it’ll bring me back to when I raced there in the trucks. I was there in the year 2000 running trucks and shifting down the back straightaway at Gateway so I’m looking forward to it. It’s a big Phoenix and it’s not quite Darlington and so it has its own character already before we get there.”
When you look back on your career, what will you be most proud of in your career?
“That’s a hard question. It’s a heavy one, a detailed one. And I guess just being lucky to have made it and to have been here. Just a blue-collar kid out of Vegas and never was expecting to win and I guess my work ethic and being somebody that the fans could count on, no matter if I was in New Hampshire in the Northeast, racing in Texas or in the southeast racing in Georgia or Florida, as being a driver that fans could always count on and that my story is similar to a lot of people where I’m just very lucky that I had this chance.”
What are additional things you would like to accomplish with 23XI Racing?
“Yeah, it was it was an incredible win and it checked off so many boxes of winning with 23X1, winning with Toyota winning a race to get this team in the playoffs. I never won at Kansas so it was cool to check that one off the list. Darlington has been on my list. I missed that chance this spring. Maybe when we go there in the Playoffs. That’s a key track in the Playoffs as well. You know Watkins Glen has snuck by me over the years. I finished second years ago to Juan Pablo Montoya. You know, the crown jewels that are still left this year, the Indy road course. You know, there’s still goals and you have to continue to make those and achieve those with the team. And now I’ve told this team another goal of ours is we have a good team or a winning team. Let’s all make it a great team together. And so those are our short-term goals by the end of the year.”
How will you adjust this race car to be good at night and not too good during the day?
“That’s another you know, tough aspect of the 600 and the Next Gen car is the adjustments are limited on cross-weight and air pressure. There isn’t much you can change aero wise. There are some things that you can do with the fuel load, but we’re going to be running a long run each time with all of our sets of tires. So again, that just makes it to where you have to understand how loose it can start and not be too tight towards the end of the run. And can I change the air pressure build by changing my line and running different lines or keeping the car in clean air and not trying to hustle for that one position for a long time because that just cooks the tires up a little extra. So I’m hopeful there’s some old school trends that will pop up and be surprises to some unexpected to others.”
Is there ever anything you can take away from Brexton’s races that you somehow apply?
“Brexton’s (Busch) great. I showed him a restart where he got passed and he wasn’t blocking the outside lane. And he looks at me looks at the video and goes, ‘I got that okay,’ but like it was he was angry that I was giving him the advice. And then he goes on applies it and then he wins the race. And I’m like, See, I tell you and he goes, ‘Well, I did this over here in this corner, did you see that?’ No, I didn’t, you’re right. I mean, how do you tell a seven-year-old what to do and how to race? I’d say Millbridge is a proving ground right now for talent and for people to work on different skills. Me and my little brother Kyle, we’re standing there watching one of the high horsepower open wheel cars there and the kids were sliding the car into corner entry and using the right rear putting the right rear into the wall and sling-shotting it forward like a rubber band. And Kyle and I are looking at each other like, we weren’t doing that at 12 years old. We weren’t doing that at 14. There’s so much to learn it at every race track every day and Grandpa Tom is still involved. I mean with Brexton he’s just he’s there having fun with his friends and being a kid and then he has Busch family lineage because he puts his helmet on and he’s a different kid. So I’m just I’m proud of him that he’s able to still be a kid at that age because I wasn’t racing when I was that young. But then we put the helmet on. He knows what job has to be done.”
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