Latest / Kenny Wallace Media / Kyle Busch Goes In Depth On NASCAR & Life
Transcript
- 0:00Hello everyone and welcome back to Kenny Conversation brought to
- 0:04you by Jags, the leader in high performance aftermarket car
- 0:09parts. Remember to go to jags.com for
- 0:13everything to fix your hot rod up or your everyday vehicle.
- 0:18Well you are looking at one of the greatest NASCAR drivers of
- 0:23all time, Kyle Busch. How are you doing, my friend?
- 0:26All right, Mr. Kenny. What's going on, man?
- 0:28How are you? Well, I'm doing really good.
- 0:31I am so honored. I'm happy that you are finally
- 0:35on Kenny conversation. You you were a hard 1 to get.
- 0:39You are a busy man. Yeah, yeah.
- 0:42Well, I I say I'm busy. I might not be that busy but
- 0:44that's my excuse anyway. So you know it's a it's it's
- 0:48been a little bit trying to get on here trying to find some time
- 0:51but glad we were able to fit it in and and looking forward to
- 0:53it. So good to speak with you again.
- 0:55Thank you. I think a lot of you, I feel
- 0:59like I know you a little bit. When I work for Fox and I would
- 1:03interview you, you and I would say a couple words to each
- 1:06other. I want to start out like this
- 1:10because I think it's most important.
- 1:12I want to do something with you that I I didn't do to Tony
- 1:14Stewart or Harvick or any of the other drivers you are.
- 1:20You are another level up, you are great.
- 1:23So I want to put my 200 bifocals on and I'm going to, I'm going
- 1:30to tell you the stats about yourself and then when I'm done,
- 1:35I want you to comment. But this will be the first time
- 1:38we do it at the start of the show it, it goes underneath the
- 1:41Rusty Wallace steel. We're going to remind everybody
- 1:44how great you are. OK.
- 1:46OK, here we go. First of all, you've done so
- 1:49much that you roll right off the Wikipedia page.
- 1:54You got to scroll a few times, right?
- 1:56Yeah. Yeah, you.
- 1:57That's when you know somebody's good is when you roll off the
- 2:00page. So here we go buddy. 1152 NASCAR
- 2:06starts in all three divisions. Now feel free to correct me if
- 2:11something's wrong. 2009 Xfinity Series champion, Two time NASCAR
- 2:19Cup champion. 2015, 2019, 63 NASCAR Cup wins.
- 2:29Now we're going to get into rare air.
- 2:32We're going to get, we're going to get into things that nobody
- 2:35has ever done. You are numero Uno.
- 2:38You are a trailblazer. All time wins leader in the
- 2:42Xfinity Series at 102 wins never will be beat.
- 2:47Ever. All time wins.
- 2:49Leader in the Truck Series at 65 wins for a limited schedule that
- 2:56will never be beat. Limited schedule is key.
- 2:59You hardly run that series, but all you do is win.
- 3:03This one's awesome. First driver ever to win on
- 3:08every track in the Cup Series. Unbelievable.
- 3:14First driver to win in all three divisions on a weekend.
- 3:19Did you do that at Bristol? Yeah, Bristol twice, actually.
- 3:23Holy Moly won a race every year for nineteen straight years.
- 3:31Now listen, there's way more, and we all know that.
- 3:35But those are the granddaddy of them all.
- 3:38Now, when I say all that and I asked the greats the same thing,
- 3:43I know you're mine. I mean you.
- 3:45You've won so much. Tell me what goes through your
- 3:48mind when I take you back through your accomplishments.
- 3:53I mean just how grateful I am and how appreciative I am of the
- 3:56opportunity to be in NASCAR, to be able to have achieved all of
- 3:59that and thankful to those that have helped me along the way.
- 4:02There's been a lot of great people that I've been associated
- 4:05with and been able to work with. But then also the Kyle demeanor,
- 4:11the Bush demeanor or whatever it might be looks at all of that
- 4:14and says damn, how good could it have been if I didn't have 62nd
- 4:17place finishes in the Cup Series.
- 4:19You know what I mean And and I think my my running average
- 4:23right now, I ruined it at Vegas a a few weeks back in the
- 4:27trucks. But I think I had finished
- 4:29first, second or third in the last 15 or 16 races in a row
- 4:33before finishing. I think we had a pit Rd. penalty
- 4:36so I had to come back down in Vegas.
- 4:38So we finished 16th. But anyways, just stuff like
- 4:41that, you know what I mean? Like there's there's plenty of
- 4:43other accolades, as you mentioned, that, you know, you
- 4:45could go on and on and on with, but it's the ones that get away.
- 4:48I think that kind of hurts the most because I know how much
- 4:51greater those numbers could sound, or those numbers could be
- 4:54if if it wasn't for small little details in those races that just
- 4:58didn't go my way. And I believe that's what makes
- 5:02you so great is, you know, you always know you could be better.
- 5:07I want to go to something that you might not remember, but I
- 5:10remember it clear as day. It was a late night at Bristol,
- 5:15and you and I were in the RV lot, and I was waiting for my
- 5:19daughter Brooke to drive up from North Carolina.
- 5:22I was going to meet my daughter at the gate so she could get in
- 5:25and come in the RV. And you, you and I carried on a
- 5:29just a nice pleasant conversation.
- 5:32The conversation went like this. When you win a Cup race like 5
- 5:38hours later you're over it and and you're off your high and and
- 5:43you're on to the next thing. Is that true?
- 5:48I mean I know you said that to me.
- 5:51Are you better at that? Are you soaking in the winds a
- 5:54little bit more or or is that a curse?
- 5:58I would say when you are, I think it kind of goes in a in a
- 6:03wave, right, Like in a up and then a down where when you are
- 6:07young and you are first winning races, like you're going to
- 6:11take, you're going to soak that up.
- 6:13You're going to take that and you're going to celebrate as
- 6:14long as you can. You're going to go all the way
- 6:16to the next race, all the way to Saturday, you know.
- 6:18But as you win regularly and as you get more victories under
- 6:23your belt, it's kind of like what you just said where all
- 6:26right, that was cool. That was good.
- 6:28That was fun. We did our job.
- 6:29Let's, let's move on to the next one.
- 6:30How can we, how can we do it again?
- 6:33But the focus turns forward. And then I think as you get, you
- 6:36know, older and a little bit deeper into your career and you
- 6:39just don't know how often they're going to come or when
- 6:42the last one is going to be, then I feel like you kind of
- 6:45celebrate those a little bit longer as well again because
- 6:48again, you just don't know when, when that's that's ever going to
- 6:52be. So I look back at at Kevin for
- 6:55instance, you know where I think his last win was Richmond the
- 7:00year prior to last, where last year was his last year.
- 7:04He wasn't able to accomplish getting into Victory Lane, but
- 7:07he had a lot of strong runs but just didn't get that trophy.
- 7:10So I I know that that could happen to me.
- 7:13I think it's happened to all the greats, right?
- 7:15Like they've all kind of gone into years where they haven't
- 7:17won, although you mentioned it earlier, the 19 years of
- 7:20winning, man, I want to I want to carry that until I'm done.
- 7:23You know, I I want to say it's 232425 years of winning and and
- 7:27that'll never be touched, you know, so that's that's kind of
- 7:30where my mind's AT and and how I, you know celebrate the wins
- 7:33and and what comes next. I hear echoes of Mark Martin
- 7:38towards the end of Mark Martin's.
- 7:40Let let's say maybe the last seven years of Mark Martin's
- 7:42career. Mark would say that I don't know
- 7:46when my next win is going to be. So I agree with you and you and
- 7:50Mark Martin in the same breath. That's that's the best.
- 7:54That's as good as it gets. I love Mark.
- 7:56I've got, you know the cool story with Mark is, you know I I
- 8:00remember his kid growing up, Matt was growing up racing in a
- 8:03little bit and we were in Florida for speed weeks and he
- 8:06was running Bandolero or a super truck or something like that.
- 8:09And we'd go hang out at the that New Smyrna and then Matt gave
- 8:13that up. But now you know he kind of does
- 8:15his archive page and stuff like that.
- 8:17But anytime they make a new release of a T-shirt or a
- 8:20diecast, I always call Mark and I go, you have to send me one
- 8:23because I I was AI was a Mark Martin fan growing up.
- 8:27I would say I was more of a Jeff Gordon fan growing up just as a
- 8:31kid and the bright colored rainbow car, all that.
- 8:33But I I liked everybody in general, you know, I even
- 8:36remember Kenny Wallace in the bear car.
- 8:38You know what I mean? So there were there were days of
- 8:42of cheering on for Mark and and since I got to know him and be a
- 8:45part of NASCAR and spend some more time with him, you know he
- 8:49and I, we we really formed a relationship that we have the
- 8:52utmost respect for one another. So I always love it when he
- 8:54comes out with those those new retro die casts and stuff that I
- 8:58got to have one. Kenny, conversation is all about
- 9:03conversations. You know, and I remind everybody
- 9:05all the time, I'm not going to ask you the next question.
- 9:08I'm going to wait later. I'm going to go down to
- 9:10something that I had in my notes.
- 9:11Now that you've talked about Mark, my hero, my mentor, the
- 9:16Great Dick Trickle, who's not with us anymore.
- 9:19Dick Trickle Flat told me to my face, quote UN quote, that Kyle
- 9:25Bush is a racer. He came to Wisconsin, maybe.
- 9:29He said I think it was Slinger and he's OK You really impressed
- 9:34the great Dick Trickle, the greatest of all time in my book.
- 9:37He said that you knew your race car and you were working on your
- 9:41race car. What?
- 9:44What do you think about that when I tell you one of the
- 9:46greatest racers of all time says that you, Kyle Busch, you're a
- 9:50racer because you're you were into your car, under your car,
- 9:54working on the chassis. Oh yeah, no, the the I remember
- 9:57the Super late model years that were most fun for me and and
- 10:01going up to Slinger and we went up to Kakana, we went up to
- 10:04Madison, we we did a lot of Wisconsin racing and of course
- 10:08Dick and the Midwest Tour and all those guys were from around
- 10:11that area. So I I actually knew Dick
- 10:17Trickle a little bit beforehand. Obviously just following NASCAR
- 10:20and seeing him race in the Busch series, in the Cup series and
- 10:22everything else. Youngest Rookie of the Year
- 10:25ever, by the way. Yeah. 40.
- 10:28But the his brother Chuck lived in Las Vegas and his nephew
- 10:35Chris Trickle was racing out in the Southwest Tour and racing
- 10:40Late Models and stuff like that on the West Coast scene and was
- 10:42probably one of the next West Coast guys to make it big to go
- 10:45into NASCAR. But unfortunately he was shot in
- 10:49a drive by shooting and never raced again.
- 10:52But that moment was actually the turning point for the Bush
- 10:58family and our stature in Vegas. For Kurt to get into that
- 11:04Southwest Tour car that Chris was driving to take it over, to
- 11:07run that 70 star nursery car and run it to multiple wins and A
- 11:12championship. And then that was the moment
- 11:15where Kurt got the call from Roush to go run in the Truck
- 11:18Series. So like there's a whole
- 11:20connection there with respect and and everything that we've
- 11:23had through that family and and what they've meant to us and and
- 11:27us being able to get to the big leagues.
- 11:29So, you know, to to spend some time with Dick when we were up
- 11:32in Wisconsin and to have him say those kinds of things to me.
- 11:35You know, it was always fun to to talk with him.
- 11:38You know, there was always a coffee in one hand and a
- 11:40cigarette in the other. But it was, if it was after the
- 11:43races, it was a Coors Light can in one hand and it was a
- 11:45cigarette in the other, you know.
- 11:47So he was. I tell you man, he was, he was
- 11:51tough. He was, he was one of the the
- 11:53Iron Man of the of the late model world, the ASA world, you
- 11:56know and I don't think he ever really got the the, the stats in
- 12:00NASCAR that he probably would have hoped for.
- 12:02But he was one of the best of the early days of of all the ASA
- 12:07stuff and was highly respected. Makes me really happy.
- 12:11You talk like that and you you just educated.
- 12:13You just taught me a lot about connecting the dots, kind of
- 12:18reminds me of, of our past. We delivered newspapers to a
- 12:22house and that was Don Miller. And Don Miller knew Rodger
- 12:25Penske and the rest is history. There you go, all because of a
- 12:28newspaper route. You are so talented.
- 12:35I've studied your driving technique.
- 12:37I've looked at in car cameras I say and I'm and I asked Tony
- 12:44Stewart this. I think God gave you a talent.
- 12:47I think you're gifted. No I don't expect you to say
- 12:53yeah I'm God gifted, but I I think you're God gifted and
- 12:57because from the get go from the days out in Vegas other people
- 13:03would spin a car out and you were just winning the races.
- 13:06Do you think you're God, gifted or or did you have to work at
- 13:09it? I think both.
- 13:11I think you can definitely have a gift.
- 13:14I think that you can also be taught somewhat.
- 13:18I think you can learn a lot and I think you know most of it just
- 13:21comes from those again that are around you and and that help
- 13:23you. My dad was a huge influence and
- 13:27and support and teacher in a lot of respects of the race car
- 13:31world and the car world and stuff like that.
- 13:33He was a car guy. His dad was a car guy.
- 13:35So when my dad moved out to Vegas, when he married my mom,
- 13:39they went out there for a honeymoon.
- 13:40They liked it. They said, you know what, we're
- 13:42moving from Chicago, we're going to Vegas.
- 13:44And that's. Chicago Now it makes sense, OK?
- 13:48Yeah, yeah. So they they moved out of there.
- 13:50My dad was a car guy, right? So what what happens in the
- 13:53winter in Chicago, salt and back in the 70s and 80s and whatever.
- 13:57Like cars were made of metal. So what did they do?
- 13:59They rusted and they hold and everything else.
- 14:01So he went to Vegas and you know made a made a life out there,
- 14:05but he went to the racetrack, he went to the local short track
- 14:08and was just kind of hanging out.
- 14:09And one of the guys that he worked with at A at a car
- 14:12dealership as a mechanic had a car out there.
- 14:15And the guy they were racing and they weren't really doing that
- 14:17great. They weren't lighting the world
- 14:19on fire. But my the guy was actually
- 14:20going to sell it and get rid of it.
- 14:22And he said, OK, well, my dad was like, why don't you let me
- 14:26do it? Like, let me, I'll take care of
- 14:28it. I'll house it.
- 14:29Like let me race it a few times. And they won like three of the
- 14:31last five races of the year in the car.
- 14:34And then he tuned it up, fix it up for the next year.
- 14:36They went out, won the championship and and he was just
- 14:38a racer, like he just loved the cars and racing and stuff like
- 14:42that. So I I say all that because that
- 14:46kind of gives you a little bit of who my dad was and how good
- 14:50he was at just what he was doing, amateurly.
- 14:53And I asked him one time I was like, well, how come you moved
- 14:56out West? Why didn't you go South?
- 14:58Why didn't you go to the east and try to make a career in
- 15:02racing and and whatever. And he was like, oh, we didn't,
- 15:04we didn't have any money. Like there was there was no
- 15:06money. And I was like, well, I hear all
- 15:08the stories of like Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt and all
- 15:11those guys that they didn't have money either.
- 15:13And he goes, no, we we didn't have any money.
- 15:15So that that was that was his excuse.
- 15:19But you know he worked for everything that he had.
- 15:22He worked for everything that we had that we were able to go race
- 15:24with. And he busted his butt really,
- 15:26really hard for us, for myself and my brother.
- 15:28So you know but that's where I was taught from.
- 15:31I I taught from coming from nothing, making everything
- 15:35ourselves, doing it all ourselves and and pushing
- 15:39ourselves to the limits of just everyday man, it's what you eat,
- 15:42sleep, breathe, blood, sweat, tears, all that stuff to to
- 15:46become a racer. So for me, like I was in the
- 15:48garage at five years old, sanding on the body of a 1933
- 15:52Ford that my dad was building and 32 Ford.
- 15:55And when we finally finished that car and got it done, it was
- 15:58Immaculate, like it was a magazine car.
- 16:00It was actually in the magazine, a couple of them.
- 16:03And when my brother wanted to start racing, we didn't have the
- 16:07money to for my brother to buy a car for Kurt to go to start
- 16:11racing. My dad had a car but nothing for
- 16:13Kurt. So my dad sold that 32 Ford for
- 16:17$32,000 and was able to take that money and go invest into
- 16:21some race cars for Kurt to get started.
- 16:24And, you know, so he he was making sacrifices left and
- 16:27right. So you're what I'm hearing is,
- 16:30even though I feel this is me, you have a God-given talent, but
- 16:35because of your father, you never, you never gave up on on
- 16:39the chassis, you you knew that, Earnhardt said to me.
- 16:43When you have a fast horse, you ride it and you can't win them
- 16:47all if if your car is not there. Am I saying that right?
- 16:51You were into your car. Yeah, no, definitely.
- 16:54And I think one of the lessons that our our dad taught us too
- 16:57was you know, you have to take care of your equipment and you
- 17:00have to make it to where you're not spending a ton of money
- 17:03every week to be able to go to the racetrack the next week.
- 17:05So not crashing, not burning up the tires, not over running the
- 17:10engine, stuff like that. So like when we would get out
- 17:13front, you know, dad had a rule. It was basically like pace the
- 17:16field. As much as you need to pace the
- 17:18field to lead the race, like that's it.
- 17:19You know there were times where we probably could have lapped
- 17:21the field, but we didn't do it because we didn't need to do it
- 17:24right. Like it's it's make yourself be
- 17:26the first guy to the checkered flag.
- 17:27So it was always about taking care of your stuff and and what
- 17:31you had so you can focus on you know other things to to make
- 17:34yourself fast, the chassis, the car, the setup to be able
- 17:37instead of fixing stuff. If you're always fixing stuff,
- 17:40then you're not working on your car to make it go faster.
- 17:42So that that was a big part of it.
- 17:45But back to your original question a little bit, where you
- 17:48know, is it God-given, Is it taught, Is it learned?
- 17:50Whatever. I think it's all like I look at
- 17:52William Byron, for instance, right?
- 17:53Like, I don't know that anybody would have ever expected a
- 17:57financial advisor who William's dad is to, you know, birth his
- 18:04son. That was going to be a
- 18:05professional NASCAR race car driver, right?
- 18:07Like, the kid enjoyed racing. He watched racing.
- 18:10He grew up in Charlotte. So he knew what it was.
- 18:12He got on the simulator. He was playing on that and
- 18:16thought it was fun, thought he was pretty good at it and then
- 18:18kind of asked his dad to get a start into racing and go karts
- 18:22and legends, cars and that sort of stuff.
- 18:24And he won and everything that he was in and so his his dad.
- 18:30Had to find here we are busting our ass.
- 18:34Yeah, yeah, right. But I mean, William did too.
- 18:36William worked at it. But, you know, I think he had
- 18:39good people around him that taught him what to do about his
- 18:42dad was not a car guy, like he was not in the garage working on
- 18:45cars, figuring out cars, all that sort of stuff.
- 18:47But he still became a really good race car driver without
- 18:50having all of that knowledge in that background.
- 18:52So he was. He probably had a God-given
- 18:55talent that fortunately he found and was able to go do what he
- 19:00loved to do with that and made the most of it.
- 19:03I hear you now. You're you are saying that he is
- 19:05a God-given talent. I I want to brag on you a couple
- 19:09ways as I'm listening to you. I keep hearing the greats, the
- 19:13great quotes. You know, Dick Trickle would say
- 19:17you must first finish to finish first.
- 19:21And then you know, I've heard Mark Martin, I've heard Dick
- 19:23Trickle. You're you're talking like the
- 19:26greats. So let's turn the corner a
- 19:28little bit. Let's change the subject.
- 19:31It appears to me that when I watch your press conferences,
- 19:37the one great thing about social media is I get to see your press
- 19:42conferences. They they pop up.
- 19:44And I've never in my life since you've been racing, seeing you
- 19:49so happy. You're you're joking, not
- 19:52listen, I know you're very serious, but it seems like
- 19:57you're having fun with the media right now.
- 20:00You're getting the biggest laughs in the Media Center.
- 20:03What's going on there? What has changed to make you
- 20:06have so much fun? I don't know.
- 20:09You know, I guess I hate to say it, 'cause I don't want to say
- 20:16it, 'cause I don't want to admit to it, but you're in your later
- 20:18years of your career, right? So it's OK.
- 20:20You're still the man. Yeah, so I guess just, you know,
- 20:24trying to have a little bit of fun, even though sometimes the
- 20:27the results aren't indicative of having much fun.
- 20:30You know there's definitely weekends where we go to the
- 20:33track and we struggle and and that's no fun you know.
- 20:35But trying to have the most of what's left of my career in
- 20:40NASCAR however long that might be, is for me to enjoy, right.
- 20:46I look at some of the other guys who kind of finished out.
- 20:49Some of them were were old and wore out and just didn't want to
- 20:52do it anymore and and weren't having fun.
- 20:55And so to me I feel like it would be nice to just go out on
- 20:58my own terms and and when and when that time is right.
- 21:01And I don't know what how I figure that out but I'm sure I
- 21:05will. But also too you know I feel
- 21:07like I get to go to the race tracks now and maybe last week I
- 21:12was not in a good mood at Richmond because I was Braxton
- 21:15was racing and he was racing quarter midgets and he's he's
- 21:17not great at quarter midgets. He doesn't like them.
- 21:19I don't like them And so he was struggling.
- 21:21So I I wasn't in the best of moods but I I made the best of
- 21:25the media session. But sometimes when I'm able to
- 21:28go to these media availabilities or just be at the racetrack, you
- 21:32know, everybody's asking me well how's Brexton doing?
- 21:34What's he racing this weekend? How's he going And you know just
- 21:37it puts a smile on my face. It makes me happy to just know
- 21:39that people are paying attention to him and what he's doing and
- 21:41how good he is and how his development is coming along.
- 21:45So you know I think that that just kind of takes the edge off
- 21:48of exactly what I'm doing. And what I'm focused.
- 21:50On where you know years ago man. It was, it was, it was so
- 21:56cutthroat for me because we're in a performance based business,
- 21:59right. So like if you're not performing
- 22:01and you're not doing your job that you need to be doing.
- 22:03Like I always thought, man, I'm, I'm on the coat hanger of
- 22:07getting let go here. You know what I mean?
- 22:08So which wasn't, which wasn't fact, but that just pushed me.
- 22:12That just made me who I was to make sure that I was getting all
- 22:15I could get. So I've got a great opportunity
- 22:18right now with RCR and and Braxton's doing really good.
- 22:20So I just, you know, being a little happier these days.
- 22:23Yeah, I like it. Makes a sense too.
- 22:26So I'll do want to get to Braxton a little bit and I'm
- 22:29going to come with that. A a little different angle do
- 22:33this is pretty simple. Denny Hamlin has taken over your
- 22:38role. Do do you miss being the bad
- 22:43guy? I miss winning.
- 22:46I miss winning as much that that's that's where that's where
- 22:49most of it came from. For me was when.
- 22:53So when I came into NASCAR, I was booed from the start.
- 22:56You know, my first race was a Truck Series race at.
- 23:01Joliet or something like that. Close.
- 23:04That was my second one. It was actually Indie IRPI ran
- 23:08IRP for my first truck race and there was some booze in the
- 23:11crowd and I'm like, what? Like I didn't even do anything,
- 23:13you know? And so 6 truck races go by.
- 23:17And then I had to. I had to.
- 23:19I got kicked out of NASCAR, so I had to go run ASA and some ARCA
- 23:24races. And then when I came back to
- 23:25NASCAR, I came back in the Xfinity Series to run a part
- 23:28time schedule and I was in the 87 Ditech car.
- 23:31And by then, Kurt wasn't necessarily making the best of
- 23:34friends on the NASCAR level, right?
- 23:36I went through that with the Rusty.
- 23:37Everybody hated me because of Rusty.
- 23:39Now they hate you because of Kurt.
- 23:41That's right. That's right.
- 23:42So, you know, when I got driver intros for my first Xfinity
- 23:46Series race, I got booed out of there and I was like, what the?
- 23:49I I didn't do anything. It's Kyle, not Kurt.
- 23:51Yeah. And and so from there on you
- 23:54know and I was bound and determined that I was going to
- 23:56make a name for myself and and make a name in the sport and
- 23:59certainly was able to do that. But you know winning, winning a
- 24:02lot. There were years 2910, eleven,
- 24:071213, I think I won 20 something races a year in those years, you
- 24:12know, with Truck, Xfinity and Cup and we were just knocking
- 24:16them down and people hated it, you know, they that's where the
- 24:19Kyle Busch rule came from because everybody hated it so
- 24:21bad that I was dipping in the trucks and Xfinity and winning
- 24:23all the time that now you're limited to your five starts out
- 24:26of the year. And so it's just tough to find
- 24:29that that chemistry and that niche with those teams because
- 24:33you're only there for five times out of the year.
- 24:34So I feel like nowadays it's kind of like nobody does it
- 24:39because it's hard enough as it is to win races at the Cup
- 24:42level, but now it's hard to win races at the Truck and Xfinity
- 24:45level because you're not doing it every week to build the
- 24:47program to where it needs to be. You're not involved in it enough
- 24:50to be there to to keep it the way that it needs to be with the
- 24:53people that you got. So yeah, I mean that that was, I
- 24:58applaud Denny for for taking on the role.
- 25:03And I I, it's fun to see it from another side because I I knew
- 25:08how to live it. And that's the thing, man.
- 25:10Like you just have to embrace it and you just have to roll with
- 25:13it and go with it and take it on, you know, and and say, like,
- 25:17yeah, I you hate me because I'm a badass and you're just
- 25:20jealous. Like, yeah.
- 25:22Yeah, I like kind of like Kid Rock out of Detroit.
- 25:25Don't come to Detroit. We're bad up here.
- 25:28But yeah, so you know, you brought up a good point just
- 25:31now. You single handedly created 2
- 25:36new NASCAR rules. One was you were so young that
- 25:41you won. What were you, 15 or 16?
- 25:45You won. And so NASCAR said no, that's
- 25:48too young. Well, so. 16 I was 16 running in
- 25:52the Truck Series and I was running, you know, with all the
- 25:55great Truck Series drivers of the time, the Jack Spraggs and
- 25:58the Mike Skinners and the and the Hornadays and whoever Scott
- 26:03Riggs at that time. I remember him being there being
- 26:05really good Mike Bliss. Anyway, the I was at mile and a
- 26:12half and two mile speedways and I'm 16 years old and people are
- 26:15like this kid hasn't even had a driver's license for three
- 26:19months. Peach fuzz on you, yeah?
- 26:23I mean, exactly. So they're they're they're part
- 26:27of it was I think they're thinking to themselves like
- 26:29damn, do we really need 16 year old kids going 200 something
- 26:32miles an hour or like probably not.
- 26:34But then the other reason was that we were at Fontana and
- 26:38Marlboro had sponsorship of the IndyCar weekend.
- 26:41And so I was in the newspaper at, you know, 16 year old Kyle
- 26:46Busch to participate in this weekend's Marlboro 500 driving
- 26:50in the Truck Series. Well, Marlboro had nothing to do
- 26:52with the Truck Series, but since it was painted on the grass in
- 26:54the infield, the state Attorneys General of California said no,
- 26:58no, no, we can't have this, send them packing.
- 27:01So you know, and of course at that time Winston was sponsoring
- 27:05the Cup Series. So because this was all prior to
- 27:082004 when Nextel took over? Wow.
- 27:11There's a lot more to that story than I thought.
- 27:13So, so you created that rule. That's the Kyle Bush rule.
- 27:17You start, you started doing good and NASCAR too young and
- 27:21then you created the other rule by winning too much in trucks
- 27:25and Xfinity and and I'm going to say this in a smart ass way, are
- 27:30you proud that you added two, two rules to the NASCAR rule
- 27:35book? Yeah, I I think, I think yes.
- 27:38I would say Smokey Eunuch and Chad Mouse and all the great
- 27:41crew chiefs are definitely proud anytime they can add a new rule
- 27:44to the rule book. So I I have to be the same way,
- 27:48yeah, as long as they don't revert on those rules.
- 27:50If Kyle Busch is gone and they revert on those rules, I am
- 27:53going to be pissed off and there's another Bush coming and
- 27:55he's going to, he's going to wax those rules back.
- 27:58I like that. OK, Change subjects a little
- 28:01bit. Again, we listen to you.
- 28:05You've earned it. You've done it.
- 28:07All your thoughts on the Denny Hamlin drama, the restart zone
- 28:14at Richmond on on Sunday night, we all understand it by now, but
- 28:21I want to hear your take. I've already given my take, but
- 28:24I want to hear yours. So yeah, when you, when you look
- 28:28at the rule, the rules black and white, you're supposed to
- 28:31restart in the restart zone. So to me, you got to call it,
- 28:34you got to officiate it. I don't know that it can
- 28:39necessarily be a black and white rule.
- 28:41Like you can clearly see the guy go early, right?
- 28:45But then when you take a step back for a second and you look
- 28:47at all of the outside variables that are happening around Denny
- 28:52and you look at Martin hanging back a little bit and you look
- 28:54at the two and the and behind him, the 22 and the five that
- 28:57were hanging back a little bit, they're all trying to time that
- 28:59role and time that momentum because they know the restart
- 29:03zone, they know where it is. So you're as the leader, you're
- 29:05already kind of at a disadvantage.
- 29:08They did extend the restart zone a couple years ago and make it
- 29:11bigger so you could go more within the zone.
- 29:15But those guys all still are trying to edge up and get that
- 29:19half a mile an hour advantage to just when Denny accelerates,
- 29:22they can accelerate and then they have the momentum, they
- 29:24have the run on him so they can put him in a bad spot getting
- 29:27into one. So I Denny is very smart, he's
- 29:30very calculated and he understands a lot of things very
- 29:32well and he's probably looking in his mirror and or looking in
- 29:37his his rear view screen and seeing this happening around him
- 29:41and and seeing it develop. And so he wants to go early to
- 29:44put those guys back on their heels and like that's I think I
- 29:50believe that's what he did and there was a a great explanation
- 29:53of it just yesterday. I think it was on.
- 29:55I don't know if it was on NASCAR social, if it was on Instagram
- 29:58or what, but it was Steve Letarte and the old Pence.
- 30:02Todd. Gordon, Todd, Gordon, They were
- 30:04going through it and they were going over it and they explained
- 30:06it that way. And so to me, like, I
- 30:08wholeheartedly agree with him. So if you're the leader and
- 30:10you're in that and you're in that position, what are you
- 30:12supposed to do? Like if Danny just sits there
- 30:14and waits and waits till the end of the restart zone?
- 30:17The more you wait in the restart zone, the more and more those
- 30:20guys know you're going to go, right?
- 30:22Because the the flag man is going to throw the green flag by
- 30:25the time you get to the second line.
- 30:27So I don't know, like rules are rules.
- 30:30If if I'm a rule guy and everybody wants to go by black
- 30:33and white, and then you got to call it, you know, you got to
- 30:36you got to penalize the guy. So that brings me to I'm going
- 30:40to go somewhere that I probably shouldn't go.
- 30:44But you, you look at Carl Edwards, you look at Miami
- 30:49Homestead, where Joey's run third on the restart and you
- 30:54know it. It almost should be, in my
- 30:57opinion, as illegal to lay back because Joey Lagano at Miami
- 31:02Homestead lays back, gets the run on Carl Edwards, gets to the
- 31:06inside. They wrecked.
- 31:08Not long later, Carl says I'm out for all the reasons that
- 31:14I've already did a show on. I thought about that because he
- 31:18here's Joey laying back. Now listen, I don't blame Joey.
- 31:21We're we're all going to, you know, they're going to attack
- 31:23him. But I saw that.
- 31:26I agree with you. I mean, here we are now, Joey's
- 31:28laying back, he's going to get the run on him and now we're
- 31:32going to wreck in turn one again.
- 31:34I think that's what Denny was defending against.
- 31:37Exactly. The 1000%, that's exactly what
- 31:40what was going on there. So you're right that it was all
- 31:45it was all defense, you know. And then like I said as the
- 31:48leader you're, you have the advantage of being able to
- 31:52restart when you want to restart.
- 31:53But unfortunately it's in a zone and so they know that you're
- 31:56going to go within that zone. And with these cars and
- 31:59everything all being so similar now, it's not like restart
- 32:01ratios. You can have any sort of
- 32:02advantage or anything. You're all with the same stuff.
- 32:04So I I feel like even though Martin hung back a little bit
- 32:09and Denny went early, Martin still hung on his door and was
- 32:11still right there and able to stay side by side with him
- 32:14getting off into Turn 1. So it it Even though Danny got a
- 32:172 foot better restart, Martin was still right there.
- 32:20Yeah, I I, I think we exposed, I think the sport accidentally
- 32:24exposed a tough situation. If I'm in the drivers meeting,
- 32:28I'm going to say guys, if I'm, if I'm the leader at NASCAR and
- 32:31I'm looking at you guys at Martinsville next week, I'm
- 32:34going to say, listen, if you lay back, you know, don't make us
- 32:38because I I think it's that that creates the problem.
- 32:44Let's have a little fun I've been.
- 32:47Having fun. We haven't been having fun.
- 32:49Yeah, we're having fun. We're having more fun now.
- 32:53We are having fun. We really have a talk.
- 32:55Somewhere, right? Yeah, right.
- 32:57Since you've won at all the NASCAR Cup tracks, I see you and
- 33:04Sam, as you would say, or the guys at Toyota used to call her
- 33:08Sam. Since you've wanted all the
- 33:10NASCAR Cup tracks, what racetrack do you and your
- 33:14family? What racetrack do you look at?
- 33:16You go not because of a racetrack so much, but we're
- 33:19just excited to go to this, this city, this vicinity.
- 33:24Which one do you enjoy the most? There's there's a few of them of
- 33:29course, all the big cities, you know, that's always fun.
- 33:31We, we enjoy going out to LA. For as crazy as traffic is out
- 33:34there, LA was always good. So Fontana was was fun, LA was
- 33:37fun. Phoenix is probably our
- 33:39favorite. Me too.
- 33:41The, the hiking out there, Scottsdale, the food, all that
- 33:44stuff. Being West Coast, I'm, I'm from
- 33:46the West Coast, so that's always cool.
- 33:49You know, Miami's always great. You know I've got a a few
- 33:54friends down in in Georgia between Georgia and Alabama.
- 33:57So going down there to hang out with those guys is is pretty
- 34:00cool. And I guess if you're just
- 34:03looking to be kind of glamping at the race tracks, you know,
- 34:07you go to the short track, the Martinsville or or Bristol or
- 34:11even Richmond, you know, you're not in really these these big
- 34:14metropolis places. So you just kind of hang out in
- 34:17the bus and and you know, grill out and cook out and hang out at
- 34:20the bus to watch the kids scooter around and play with
- 34:22chalk or whatever it might be so.
- 34:27It has been said now, and I mean this in a positive way, I love
- 34:32my wife, she, she keeps me centered.
- 34:35It has been said that your wife made you a better person.
- 34:41It, you know, it was like, maybe we're a little crazy and then
- 34:44when we get married, has Samantha made you a better
- 34:47person? Oh yeah, 1000%, definitely.
- 34:50You know, I I, the rowdy nickname didn't come along
- 34:54because I wasn't, you know, So I did have a little bit of that
- 34:59before her. And then obviously we dated for
- 35:01a little bit and we've been married for 13 years now.
- 35:04So, you know, it's been a hot minute, but I would say the the
- 35:09kids thing kind of changes you a little bit as well, too, more
- 35:13so, you know, just I was still a hot head getting in trouble
- 35:16doing crazy stupid things, you know, with Samantha being
- 35:21married to Samantha. But when the kids came along, I
- 35:23think it kind of calmed down a lot more.
- 35:25So you know that I feel like that's probably the biggest
- 35:29sense. When whenever things would go
- 35:32bad at the racetrack, did you allow her to grab you by the arm
- 35:36and say, Kyle, calm down, it'll be OK?
- 35:38Did did she ever help you in those moments?
- 35:41Yeah, definitely. I feel like anytime, you know,
- 35:44you go back to the motorhome and your wife's there, your dog's
- 35:47there, then your kids are there. How?
- 35:48And you know, however, it might be like even now on a tough day
- 35:52or a tough race day or whatever, I I walk in the bus and
- 35:54Braxton's there and he's like, he gives me a hug and he's like
- 35:57sorry dad, you know, you just you didn't have the car today,
- 36:00you know, something like that. So that's that's always you know
- 36:05it's super sweet super nice if you've got a shoulder to to lean
- 36:08on and at times there's been you know shoulder needed to cry on
- 36:12and whether it's been her or whether it's been me and so yeah
- 36:16it's it's definitely been great having them come around as much
- 36:20as they they do. You know, when with Samantha,
- 36:23she was at every race all the time, like spent every weekend
- 36:26just, you know, put her life away and and followed along with
- 36:29my stuff, you know? And now that Braxton's getting
- 36:33older and and getting to where he races a bit more, she'll go
- 36:36with him to his races. So sometimes I bet you they
- 36:38don't come to six or seven of my races.
- 36:42I mean, they still come to a lot, but like Braxton's doing
- 36:44his thing, so they go, do they go do that with him?
- 36:47So we're still together as much as we can be together.
- 36:51I'm a big fan of your wife on Instagram and she exposes how
- 36:56much fun you are. I I think it's awesome.
- 37:01I think social media like I said earlier when used right it is
- 37:06just awesome. I like the one on Instagram
- 37:10yesterday where it it's the same thing as my wife.
- 37:13They never quit spending money fixing the house up and and and
- 37:18and she she's going to she's going to repaint the house and
- 37:21you're like here we go again, you know.
- 37:25Yeah, it looks to me like you have a lot of fun when she
- 37:29because you guys do small skits and I enjoy them.
- 37:33It. It's like you're you're
- 37:34creating, you know, 30 minute skits.
- 37:38They're fun. Do you enjoy it?
- 37:40Yeah, no, I it is it is fun, you know, and it gives it gives a
- 37:44greater sense into our personality and then to to
- 37:47really what's going on behind the scenes in our life.
- 37:49You know, people are always seeing us at at the racetrack,
- 37:52during racing, going between garage areas, this or that,
- 37:55being pulled in a million different directions.
- 37:56And so it's always kind of kind of crazy.
- 37:59But when you're at home, yeah, there's there's times where
- 38:01you're at home, you're just kind of sitting there chilling,
- 38:03you're watching TV, you're looking at your phone, you're,
- 38:05you're working on emails, whatever it might might be.
- 38:07And then I mean that that is a real life situation.
- 38:11Like I even posted in her comments, I was like, this is
- 38:13real life people. Oh, no, I saw it.
- 38:15That's why I asked a question. I I can have the same, yeah.
- 38:17I mean, she goes walking. I don't even know where she got
- 38:20the paint book from. Yeah, but I got to find that
- 38:23thing and throw it away. She hides shit from me.
- 38:26So then I can't throw it away because she always needs to
- 38:28revert back to it. Mikey Walter made me laugh.
- 38:31When you were a baby his his, you know, Buffy was his first
- 38:36wife and of course Schrader and myself.
- 38:39We're all having a good time and and we're drinking and and and
- 38:42Michael Walter says. Yeah, Buffy's a really good
- 38:45decorator, I told her. Try decorating with no money
- 38:49now, William. Try decorating somebody else's
- 38:53house. Yeah, a lot of fun.
- 38:56We love our wives, no doubt. But but as they say, men are
- 39:00from Mars, women are from Venus. We are from two different
- 39:04places. I want to talk about Braxton a
- 39:07little bit. Now, I know that people do ask
- 39:09you questions about him because it does make you happy.
- 39:13But I was listening to Bill Elliott years ago and Bill said
- 39:22here's what Bill said, he said, I sat down with Rick Hendrick
- 39:26and I, we formulated this plan and this, and this is where I
- 39:31want Chase to be. And it it happened, I believe
- 39:37you might have said something about Richard Childress and
- 39:42Braxton. Do you have a plan formulated,
- 39:46you know, with Richard Childress and and Braxton?
- 39:50No. So when I got hired on by RCR
- 39:53and we went through our press conference and stuff like that,
- 39:56Richard brought $100 bill with and and signed it and gave it to
- 40:00Braxton as basically his his commitment to Braxton you know
- 40:03I. Love it and so.
- 40:05Richard's committed to him and and just you know, they they
- 40:10help us out a little bit here and there with some stuff.
- 40:12You know we get you know some some drinks from them.
- 40:14We also bring some of our cars to their paint shop and and they
- 40:18get painted and stuff like that. So it's it's a little bit of
- 40:20stuff here or there, which is great.
- 40:22Just kind of helps us out because since I sold KB MI don't
- 40:24I don't have access to all of that stuff anymore you know.
- 40:27So we have to go to outside vendors more.
- 40:31But yeah, Braxton's development and his path and everything like
- 40:34that, I there is no, you know I haven't gone that far with it.
- 40:38Where I've sat down with anybody.
- 40:39I feel like he's still too young.
- 40:42He's only eight. He'll be nine in May.
- 40:44So by the time we get to about 12 is really when I need to
- 40:49figure stuff out with him because 12 you can get into late
- 40:52models you know TA2 cars, Rd. course cars stuff like that is
- 40:57right around the corner, super late models is right around the
- 41:00corner. All that sort of stuff.
- 41:02So want to make sure that he still enjoys it, he still likes
- 41:06it, he's still going to do it. There is a plan just in my mind,
- 41:10like I don't even know how to get there.
- 41:12But when Brixton's 14, I'd like to run a full Truck Series
- 41:19schedule to try to go after a championship, to win a
- 41:21championship, give it one shot, try to go get it.
- 41:25And then when he turns the next year, he'll turn 15.
- 41:28So he and I split the truck because he can run under a mile,
- 41:32races at 15. So we'd split it for two years
- 41:36and then when he turns 18 he gets the truck full time and and
- 41:39he's in and I'm out, you know what I mean?
- 41:41So like that's the kind of idea, the play that I have, but I
- 41:46don't see, I don't forecast or I don't see anything where he and
- 41:51I race each other on Sunday. Yeah, that's awesome though.
- 41:55They say to to be good. You got a dream and and man,
- 41:58what a, what a wonderful dream that is.
- 42:02So when I look at you, I say to myself, my gosh, what else does
- 42:09this guy need to do? Obviously there's things you
- 42:12want to do. But in racing, when you know I
- 42:16read your stats, they're unbelievable.
- 42:20So in your mind, what else you know, I mean, we all know we
- 42:25want to keep winning, but what is it that drives you?
- 42:28What? What is the next
- 42:30accomplishments? We just heard some of your
- 42:32dreams with with Brexton. What are your dreams with you
- 42:35left. I mean, you still got a lot of
- 42:37time. You're young.
- 42:38Yeah, yeah. Thanks.
- 42:41Daytona 500 obviously is top of the list.
- 42:43That's, that's number one. I want to be able to win the
- 42:45Daytona 500 and have that accomplishment checked off.
- 42:49But that's the last box essentially that's empty.
- 42:53Of course there's there's adding to the already checked boxes
- 42:57that you want to add to, right? You want to win the Coke 600
- 43:00again, you want to win the All Star race again, you want to win
- 43:02another championship, that sort of stuff.
- 43:04And I think with the championship, you know, for me,
- 43:06like I would, I would love nothing more than to bring home
- 43:10a championship to Richard Childress Racing with our #8 car
- 43:13and to be the first guy to do it since Dale Earnhardt did it in
- 43:161994, you know? So to me, like that would be I.
- 43:22That would be icing on the cake for me and my career, even
- 43:25though it's only one more and it's only three for me.
- 43:27Like that's that sets it for me where I won two at JGRI, moved
- 43:33on to a different team with RCRI, won another one at RCR and
- 43:36then I could probably just, you know, walk away and and and be
- 43:40done and happy with that. Yeah, understood.
- 43:43So I want, I want to, I want to say to everybody listening right
- 43:47now that you're good to me. You call me couple times a year
- 43:53looking for race tracks, dirt tracks for your son.
- 43:56You're you're calculated and and I know this about you.
- 44:00So I just wanted to preface this so you don't think I'm attacking
- 44:04you. The racer in me just looks at
- 44:08your teammate Austin Dillon and they're they're changing crew
- 44:12chiefs around and they're trying to get your cars faster.
- 44:17So it's no secret right now that RC Rs cars are off a little bit
- 44:21your A racer, is what I'm trying to say.
- 44:25What area do you think that needs to be worked on in your
- 44:31Cup cars at RCR to to get a little more speed?
- 44:35I mean that's that's a great question.
- 44:37We talk about that every week. The short track stuff has
- 44:39definitely been our struggle and we everybody nowadays relies so
- 44:43much on simulation and all that sort of stuff.
- 44:45But the SIM stuff has kind of thrown us the wrong way and and
- 44:50has LED us to down the wrong path a couple times like we
- 44:52tried. We went to the simulator for
- 44:56Richmond last year for the spring and we built a setup
- 44:58based around what was fast on on on the SIM and we ran it and we
- 45:03ran 20th. I think we finished 18th or
- 45:05something in the spring race and then we went back there in the
- 45:08fall and we literally just copied.
- 45:11Thankfully we have our key partners with Chevy, with Team
- 45:14Chevy and the Hendrick guys, and we just copied the Hendrick guys
- 45:16setups for when we went back there in the fall and we ran
- 45:19third. I ran third, Austin ran 8th, I
- 45:21think, and we took those same exact setups from last fall and
- 45:26ran them again this time. Because we're like, surely if
- 45:29we're going to be any any worse, we're going to run 10th, you
- 45:32know what I mean? But if we're still going to, if
- 45:33they're still going to be what they were, then we're going to
- 45:35run top five And we ran 20th like we were not even in the
- 45:39ballpark. So it's crazy that that stuff
- 45:42like that happens, like what's tried and true, don't screw it
- 45:47up, dummy. Just run it again and lo and
- 45:50behold, it doesn't work. So you always got to be on the
- 45:52forefront of new ideas and fresh ideas and you just got to be
- 45:55smarter and better. So I think some of it is set up
- 45:57stuff, Yes. I think some of it is car build.
- 46:01You know, just having the splitter in the right position,
- 46:04having the floor in the right position, the body in the right
- 46:07position, like all that sort of stuff and being able to get
- 46:09everything right with that. And you know what's next on the
- 46:13forefront of, you know, little chassis tweaks that you can do.
- 46:18And where do you put this washer?
- 46:20In that spacer for your Ackerman or for, you know, your bump
- 46:23steer, or do you bump steer the rear, all that sort of like,
- 46:26there's just so many things now that that you have at your well,
- 46:30you have at your disposal, but everybody has the same stuff.
- 46:33So it's really, really hard to find that advantage.
- 46:37Yeah, I understand. I I was at Bristol and I was
- 46:39looking at the cars and I thought to myself, my Lord, you
- 46:45know it it and you're right as the same as they all are.
- 46:49There's a lot of adjustments and I I get it and the.
- 46:53Littlest of things can make you a hero or make you a zero.
- 46:57I mean, it is so small it's crazy.
- 46:59Yeah, yeah, it it, it is. It is unbelievable.
- 47:03I get it. I totally get it because I I
- 47:06build my own race cars and you and I are the same.
- 47:10Well, we have an hour and here we are already 47 minutes.
- 47:14So let's end this the way that I do with the other greats.
- 47:21You've been in NASCAR a long time and you've done it all and
- 47:25I've said that's my second time. So that qualifies you to tell me
- 47:30what you think about NASCAR right now.
- 47:33And we can discuss it a little bit in its totality from what
- 47:36tracks they're going to, to rules to restart zones.
- 47:41What do you think about NASCAR right now?
- 47:47Yeah, I mean I feel as though we've we've definitely gotten
- 47:51away from the racing product and the competitive nature of our
- 47:56business. Although we all race every
- 47:58weekend, I feel like and NASCAR said it like we need butts in
- 48:02the seats. We're an entertainment business.
- 48:04You know, I feel like in the older days, you know, 70s,
- 48:09eighties, 90s, people came to see the competition, people came
- 48:12to see the competitors race and who was going to beat who and
- 48:16who might get into a tangle with who and that sort of stuff,
- 48:19right? And now we're an entertainment
- 48:22business. We want to see more cars on TV,
- 48:24more racing, more passing, more this and that.
- 48:27I mean, everybody talks about how great Bristol was.
- 48:30That was an epic disaster that turned out to be a great race.
- 48:34I mean, just because of tire life and saving tires and this
- 48:37and that, like it gave now, was it extreme?
- 48:39It was. It was extreme, right?
- 48:41Like if we could have had tires that went 50 laps no matter how
- 48:45hard you ran them, but they would burn off at 60, that would
- 48:47have been great. But literally we were burning
- 48:49them off at 30. So I feel like there is a lot
- 48:54more pressure that can be put on, on Goodyear to making the
- 48:58product better. I do feel as though the the
- 49:01avenues that we've gone down with the technology in the car,
- 49:04with the arrow stuff that we've done with the underbody and the
- 49:08and the diffuser and all that doesn't work in our landscape
- 49:11because to me, we're all we. We race in circles, majority,
- 49:16right? And when you're in people's
- 49:18wakes and when you're racing around you hear this arrow tight
- 49:21or this this downforce talk all the time, you've got to create
- 49:26less of that. So when you lose it, you are
- 49:28losing less of it. We we, we shouldn't have more of
- 49:31it. And the thing about our cars is
- 49:33when we're in traffic and you're behind somebody, you're going
- 49:36through the corner and you get tucked up behind somebody.
- 49:40You're the overbody air that's going over the car in front of
- 49:43you is now not pushing down on your car downforce, right?
- 49:47It's not pushing down on your car.
- 49:48But the air from underneath that car in front of you is now going
- 49:52underneath your front splitter. And when it comes out from the
- 49:54back of the car in front of you, it starts this upwards twirl.
- 49:58And that upwards twirl to me catches the front splitter
- 50:01because our front splitters are now two inches off the ground to
- 50:03get air underneath them. Well, now it's creating lift.
- 50:06So that's what we call blowout moments.
- 50:08We have blowouts where the front of our car shoots out from
- 50:11behind the guy in front of you. So we we need to eliminate that
- 50:16stuff and get rid of that stuff. And that's my take on it.
- 50:20I think you're always going to have a product of Arrow issues
- 50:25because, I mean, I love Mark and Mark Martin and talking with
- 50:29him, he was like, if you're moving, air is involved.
- 50:35No matter what. No matter what.
- 50:37No matter. What?
- 50:38So, like those guys were looking at that stuff in the 70s, racing
- 50:41those arrows with all the blown out fenders and the big old
- 50:44spoilers. Like they knew what was up.
- 50:45Oh yeah, And so yeah, it's just air is important.
- 50:50So we're all trying to utilize it way too heavily.
- 50:53Yeah, you know, as they would say back in the day, I'm not
- 50:56ashamed. But you know, and you you were
- 50:58involved in this, you know we were moving the noses you know
- 51:03to the right which made the defender straight which made you
- 51:06get in the corner better put more angle on the left front,
- 51:09pull it. Yeah.
- 51:10You know, Mark is right. You know sometimes we don't say
- 51:15it in a fancy way. Nevermind.
- 51:18I got to tell this quick story. You just got me going.
- 51:21You know my brother Rusty is an incredible chassis man.
- 51:24He he's as good a chassis man as he is a driver and they're
- 51:28they're brisked on their test and and you know it's Penske
- 51:31shocks. Well Rusty's owner is Rodger
- 51:33Penske so they have a Penske guy come and Rusty kind of builds
- 51:38the shocks on his own. You know he don't build them but
- 51:40he tells them what he wants. Looks at the graph.
- 51:43Penske guys goes let me build you some shocks for Russell.
- 51:47Rusty puts his big paw right in front of the guy's face.
- 51:50He goes, I got this pal. You know so it it it's chassis
- 51:55our whole life and I don't think the fans understand how smart
- 51:59you are. And and I'm glad that you really
- 52:03explained all that Arrow stuff because there's not many drivers
- 52:07like you. Mark Martin, Rusty.
- 52:11You know I. And then I think about how great
- 52:13that makes Jeff Gordy, because he don't know.
- 52:16Hell, he couldn't Weld two pieces of metal together, but he
- 52:19still gets it done. He's a four time champion.
- 52:22He he definitely got it done. He knew what he was doing in
- 52:24that time. I mean you know to me I feel
- 52:26like some of the some of the older stuff like late 2010, 1213
- 52:33era like I really knew what was going on.
- 52:36I could tell the guys what was going on with the cars and
- 52:38stuff. And then we got the bump stops
- 52:40and I, you know we're on Coalbine first and then we got
- 52:43the bump stops and I still felt like I had a good sense of what
- 52:46was going on. And then we got to this car and
- 52:49I'm, you know, I don't know if it's the, if it's the
- 52:52independent rear or what's happening.
- 52:54That's kind of throwing me off a little bit of of the true rear
- 52:57feel that I'm getting because like I can burn through a set of
- 52:59rear tires faster than anybody. Where the old car I was fine,
- 53:03Like I didn't have that problem with the old car.
- 53:04Like I could OverDrive the tire, OverDrive the car and that's was
- 53:08that was where I made my speed. And now it's like whenever I do
- 53:11that, whenever I OverDrive the tire, I can make speed doing it,
- 53:14I can run up to the next guy and catch him.
- 53:16But when I get there, I got nothing to pass him with, you
- 53:19know what I mean? So like I just feel like that's
- 53:22kind of been my struggle recently with this car is just
- 53:25having having the, the, the knoweth all to what limit and
- 53:30how hard and fast you got to drive the thing.
- 53:33Yeah. This is going to be brutal, what
- 53:35I'm going to say, but as you're talking, I'm thinking this this
- 53:40car technically stopped your brother Kurt Busch's career.
- 53:47It was so stiff that when he wrecked it, it hurt his brain.
- 53:52And you're, you know, obviously your brother.
- 53:54I'm not telling you anything. I'm just saying for the fans,
- 53:57Kurt Busch, your brother said that, listen, I just can't get
- 54:01back the way I used to be now to solidify this.
- 54:07You know, I've looked at the cars and now NASCAR's went to
- 54:10all the rear bars in the back and cut slots in them to weaken
- 54:14the rear clips. A lot of people.
- 54:18I guess my question to you statement, I want you to respond
- 54:21is there's been a lot of people that have paid the price with
- 54:25this car. Yeah, well, I mean, I don't know
- 54:29that it's just this car. I mean, look back in history,
- 54:31right? Like when you had the the cars
- 54:34off the streets, you know, the showroom cars that they put bars
- 54:37in and they went to the racetrack with.
- 54:39We were hurting people back then as well too.
- 54:41So safety initiatives have definitely come a long ways
- 54:45always and need to always be at the forefront to to keep drivers
- 54:49safe. So yes Kurt, you know he did get
- 54:52hurt in his car and it and it was made too stiff and all of us
- 54:54drivers talked about it. I think Ryan Newman voiced it a
- 54:58lot of times and he he probably had a little Bush in him also
- 55:03where he didn't quite give it the in the nicest way take to it
- 55:09as well as they probably should have.
- 55:10But they they they, Ryan didn't say anything wrong.
- 55:14He just might not have said it the right way.
- 55:17But you know they have done some of that work where they've
- 55:21softened up the front clip they've softened up the rear
- 55:23clip. They've tried to add some some
- 55:26crush zones to the car so it doesn't all boom go to the
- 55:30driver because our seats are mounted they're they're they're
- 55:32hard mounted, right. Like we're not on air.
- 55:35We're not on air. We're not in rubber.
- 55:36We're we're nothing like it's just the anything of the shock
- 55:40of the car goes through to the driver.
- 55:41So trying to take some of that away has certainly been
- 55:45beneficial. And yeah, I mean we, we just got
- 55:49to keep working on it. Do you like same subject?
- 55:53Do you like NASCAR going to the Chicago St. course?
- 55:57Do you like them trying new things?
- 56:00Yeah, I I think the Chicago thing, you know, I I liked it,
- 56:05you know in in 2018, I think it was when I became the only
- 56:08driver to ever win at every track that was on the schedule
- 56:10because the schedule had stayed the same for.
- 56:13Here we go. And so that's why I got that,
- 56:16like, that was great. And so now we go to all these
- 56:19different tracks and I've never wanted any of them.
- 56:20So no, I don't like those tracks until I went at them.
- 56:24But Chicago I thought was great. I mean, as much as it was, the
- 56:28weather didn't play well with us and we had to deal with the rain
- 56:31and the flooding and all that sort of stuff.
- 56:32The fans were still there. It still turned out really well.
- 56:35I hope that we've got a bright, nice 85° day when we go back
- 56:39this year and it's awesome for everybody to come up there and
- 56:41enjoy a nice venue at the the concerts, going on and barbecues
- 56:46and whatever else. So that's 4th of July weekend.
- 56:48It's a great weekend to be up there in in Chicago and enjoying
- 56:51it outside. So that was fun.
- 56:52Can we do some more of that? I think so.
- 56:55I've heard Long Beach talks, I think that would be fine.
- 56:57The the only corner that concerns me there is obviously
- 57:01the last final turn, the hairpin before leading onto the front
- 57:03stretch. It's so tight over there and our
- 57:05cars like when we turn, they don't turn far enough.
- 57:08Like the steering boxes, don't don't turn the tires far enough
- 57:12in order to get around some tight turns.
- 57:14Like you know, we used to be able to turn in and out of the
- 57:16garage areas with our old cars. Fine.
- 57:18Now whenever we go in and out of the garage areas, we have to
- 57:21pull up to the next door, back up and pull back in we got to
- 57:23do. A wide you.
- 57:24Know, so I think that might be an issue but we we proved at the
- 57:29Coliseum that it was fine. So, you know, I think it'll be
- 57:32good. That's good stuff, that that
- 57:34reminds me of Juan Pablo talking about racing at Monaco, that
- 57:38that one where they go around the, he says.
- 57:40You get to a point where if you don't do it right, you can't
- 57:43make the corner. Right.
- 57:44Yeah, that. That's what I'm afraid of.
- 57:46Somebody won't do it right and they won't make the corner and
- 57:48then it's a it's a log jam backwards.
- 57:51Well, you you you brought up something really exciting.
- 57:54Let's end it on that, Kyle. So Long Beach, maybe that's what
- 58:00they're going to announce. I've.
- 58:00I've been looking at social media.
- 58:03You've given me a little nugget there.
- 58:04Let's see if it turns out to be true.
- 58:06Maybe it's going to be Long Beach next year and that would
- 58:09be exciting. Nice area.
- 58:11You and Samantha would like that area out there, I guess.
- 58:14What do you know about it? I know nothing.
- 58:17I know nothing. All I know is it was the Toyota
- 58:20Long Beach Grand Prix for how many years?
- 58:23So being a part of the Toyota family, I'll have to reach out
- 58:27to my friends over there to get some passes for some friends
- 58:29that are in the area, I'm sure. I like it well, Kyle Busch.
- 58:32Listen, this was wonderful. I think the fans have learned a
- 58:36lot about you. You are right there at the
- 58:40greatest, one of the greatest of all time.
- 58:43Your numbers are incredible. That's why we started to show
- 58:46off like that. Listen, everybody, we are in
- 58:48podcast form. Check this out on iTunes,
- 58:52Spotify and Kyle Busch. Thank you so much for being on
- 58:57Kenny conversation. Absolutely, man.
- 58:59Yeah, happy to do it. Glad we covered a lot of
- 59:01different topics. So good.
- 59:03Good going man. All right.
- 59:05Thanks a lot. All right, everybody.
- 59:06Until next time.