Latest / Kenny Wallace Media / Kyle Busch Says Daytona 500 Fuel Saving Was "Disgraceful" Racing

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Kyle Busch Says Daytona 500 Fuel Saving Was "Disgraceful" Racing · Kenny Wallace Media

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  Is it a problem? Is problem the right word or is
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  it? I believe it is.
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  I believe it's a problem. The start of the race last week
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  for the Daytona 500, we're all sitting around there running
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  half throttle, not passing, just riding in a line.
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  And I felt disgraceful, myself being a race car driver, wanting
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  to go fast and lead laps and and win the Daytona 500.
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  And that was our strategy that we had to employ at the start of
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  the race because everybody was doing, I mean, the pace, when
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  you're running wide open and you're in the draft, your pace
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  is probably a 4630. We were running 49 eighties,
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  almost 52nd lap times I was, it was pathetic.
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  I was like how slow are we going to go, you know?
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  And so I felt bad for the fans. I was like, this is this is not
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  good for them. It's not what I wanted to be
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  doing. But when you kind of get in that
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  situation that you can't, I don't know what you do, The 3rd
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  lane could have developed. It was so early in the race.
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  Nobody wants to develop a 3rd lane like we're riding.
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  It's a 500 mile race. Don't, don't blow everything up
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  in the first stage, right. So but somebody could have just
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  pulled out into the outside lane and literally just ran to the
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  front and done whatever the heck they wanted to do.
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  So I was surprised nobody did that.
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  And one of the last thing, thank you is when you say disgraceful,
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  I mean it's there are a lot of races where it's a 500 mile
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  race. You've got to, you know, like
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  say you can't lose it immediately.
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  You've got to take your time to kind of build up.
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  It's still cars are too wide. It's still I guess kind of looks
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  good visually in a sense. Maybe for a fan perspective, if
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  you don't have a stopwatch, can you really tell?
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  So there's no passing like people want to see passing.
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  The fans are all about, hey, we want to see racing, we want to
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  see that's not racing. You know it's riding And yeah,
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  back in the days, sure you had 506 hundred mile races where you
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  needed to ride for a while, but at least you're still trying to
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  coax 600 for instance, right? It's a long damn race, but
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  you're at least still trying to pass the guy in front of you and
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  get position as the day goes on. You're not just going to ride in
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  15th for the 1st 100 laps and be like, yeah, cool, I'm, I'm good
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  with riding 15th right now. No, you want to get further up
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  the ladder and and and run with speed and and your talent and
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  your car's ability and everything else and doing what
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  we did last week. You might as well pull the cars
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  out of the parking lot and run rental cars around.
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  Thank. You go ahead.
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  Jordan, Bianchi, the athletic, has there been any conversations
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  within your team of how you approach these first two races
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  in terms of car managing the cars and equipment, everything
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  of you know you leave Daytona, you're down a car, now you come
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  to Atlanta, you could very easily be down a car and how
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  that you guys approach that, especially with the West Coast
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  swing coming up? Yeah, our Atlanta car was a car
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  that we raced in the 500, so you know everything kind of got
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  pushed up a week. So the the 500 car that we
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  crashed, it went back to the shop and it'll be probably the
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  five. I think we're on a five week
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  cycle. So whatever the hell the fifth
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  race is will probably be where that one goes.
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  But yeah, I mean, so this week's car is was our slated to be our
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  Vegas car. And so it just kind of moves
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  everything up. The cars are all the same.
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  So there's really not much differences that you have.
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  I mean, you're talking maybe 100,000 on a body part that you
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  can push or pull or whatever that you can get through the
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  Hawkeye, but it's not a lot. And going back last week when
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  you had the the slow pits are the the issue with the tire on
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  the pit stop. Richard comes on the radio and
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  kind of tells everybody to get their head of their butt right
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  you. I don't if you had a car owner
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  say that before over the radio, like you know going.
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  Back. That wasn't on my channel, so I
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  didn't. He did.
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  Oh, he OK, well, he told the team the and not so direct words
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  to get their head to. Their butt.
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  Sometimes he needs to tell me that.
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  But. When you have a car owner like
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  that, and that's not slamming Joe or anything, but like when
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  you have a car owner like that, it was really involved.
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  What's that like? It like who's fiery and
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  passionate, maybe kind of takes it off of your shoulder so you
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  don't have to say that stuff. Well, I mean that's kind of what
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  I answered earlier to Bob's question was Richard is is very
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  involved and and wants you know any situation to get better.
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  If we're not winning every single race out of the year,
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  then how did we lose that one race, You know what I mean?
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  What can we do to make it better?
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  And that's that's a racer's mentality.
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  That's what we all try to strive for and try to be better at.
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  So you know, it's tough sometimes when you've got the
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  human element. I mean we all make mistakes.
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  I made tons of them last year and and you know my crew stuck
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  behind me and and you know was was passionate that I was their
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  driver and and wanted to go to the next week and figure out how
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  to win the next one. You know.
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  So I know where Richard's coming from, and I appreciate that, and
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  the emphasis that he puts on greatness and wanting to be
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  better is is what we all strive for.
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  Let's go to Charles. Charles Odom with The Associated
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  Press. It once was an annual tradition
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  to to hear drivers come in here and lobby for one more year with
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  the old battered track surface and and now that the resurfacing
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  came with a reconfiguration, I'm wondering if the warm and
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  fuzzies have all gone. Even William Byron with two wins
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  and the reconfiguration just said, I don't know if I'd want
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  to come here every week, but where does what have?
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  What has been gained, what has been lost?
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  Where does this new new track configuration wreck with you?
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  Yeah, any form of restrictor plate pack style racing is, is
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  not high on my list, you know. So I would say obviously as as
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  much as the surface deteriorated there's there comes a point
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  where something has to be done and and they went through it.
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  I just don't understand or appreciate why we we added the
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  banking and the stuff that they did here in the the
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  reconfiguration although it's the same wall outside wall
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  space. You know what would I have much
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  rather seen him just repave what we had probably because you
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  would know then that at least when it deteriorates some and it
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  gets, it can get back to the old Atlanta ways.
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  If this deteriorates here, I mean it's it's going to be fast.
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  It's going to be damn fast sliding around you know like 10
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  miles an hour faster through the corner sliding around than what
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  the old track would have been comparatively equal time frame
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  on asphalt. So I mean we're racers though,
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  as I said before, right. We all want to go fast and do
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  what we can to be the fastest ones out there.
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  So it's not that you're scared of that, it's just the hits are
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  harder. Let's go to Jonathan.
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  Jonathan VL The Racing experts Later today you're going to make
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  your first drafting track star in the lower series since 2015.
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  What was behind the decision to run the truck race here?
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  Well, watching the truck races here last year, well truck race
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  here last year that it doesn't necessarily fall in line or
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  orchestrate itself as a Daytona or Talladega style race.
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  It is different. So I kind of took that into
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  consideration that you can make some moves by yourself.
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  Yes, you're in a line, you're drafting, you're trying to hold
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  on to the draft and all that sort of stuff.
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  But it did seem like there was sometimes in which, you know,
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  handling kind of came into play and making some moves kind of
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  come into play and and whatnot. But it's definitely not like a
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  Kansas where you can be the leader and run away and and go
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  hide, you know, So wasn't my first choice.
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  Definitely wouldn't have been at all my choice, but thankful the
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  opportunity that Spire and Group 1001 gave to me to be able to
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  come out here and run the five truck races that I'm allowed to
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  do. And this was the fifth one that
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  was available on the list that I could do.
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  So I didn't have much pick. It's tough with the pick, with
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  all the regulations and things that I have with NASCAR and all
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  that sort of stuff, with the Triple Truck Challenge races,
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  the playoff races, I don't do Speedway, I don't do Speedway
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  races. So my pick of the litter was, I
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  think literally eight or nine races that I could do.
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  So it gets small. And there's been a lot of
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  discussion about recently, you know, the Truck Series, the
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  current state of it. What are your thoughts on just
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  the current state of the Truck Series?
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  You know, you could talk about the current state of NASCAR.
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  I feel like the current state of NASCAR is healthy as strong.
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  You look at the Cup Series in the top and having all the
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  things that are kind of happening behind the scenes with
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  big team owners kind of coming in and being a part of all of
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  that and it just trickles down, you know, So being able to get a
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  new TV deal and all that sort of stuff with NASCAR and and the TV
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  networks, you know, we're all grateful and and thankful for
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  that and the hard work that was put in behind the scenes for
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  that. But you know it it, it trickles
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  down to the Xfinity Series, it trickles down to the Truck
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  Series. So would I say that there are
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  500 Fortune 500 companies that are all out here participating
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  in our sport? No, there there's not.
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  You know, so the sponsorship landscape is absolutely the
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  toughest landscape in our sport. But I don't know that that's any
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  different than what it was in the high time in the mid 90s to
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  the mid 2000s. I mean I I think you still saw
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  cars that were in the back of the field that were underfunded
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  or had a struggle some time being able to find big name
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  sponsors to be able to get them to the track or to get them a
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  better footing within the the series to withstand and and have
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  some some strength to their their company.
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  Go ahead, Jacob. Jacob's Going Race face Digital
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  kind of just expanding on the Truck Series theme just a bit in
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  racing with Spire this weekend. Obviously a lot.
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  It's assets that you were familiar with when it was KBM.
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  You'll be the first to say, I know that Jeff and TJ aren't
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  newbies at this, So what kinds of things are you in your
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  consultant and driving role looking for to help them improve
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  on? Well, I mean just yesterday, you
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  know, whatever the heck was going on, we unloaded and the
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  truck was wandering super, super bad.
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  It was really dirty and all that stuff.
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  So I do wish we had a, you know, 20 minute practice just to be
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  able to get out there and and roll around and you can feel
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  that stuff. Like we could have fixed a lot
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  of things in my truck just based off of me going out and making
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  some single lap runs in practice, not even drafting.
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  I didn't even need to get in the draft to feel that.
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  So but we we kind of just worked on some air pressure stuff to
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  try to help that. It helped a little bit but
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  there's definitely still some things that I'd like to make
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  adjustments on. But you can't you're locked in.
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  So I don't like that fact of not being able to to better your
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  stuff. You you won't see the changes
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  that I feel like you need to make until they come back here
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  the next time you know so but is what it is.
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  Yeah no I the business side, no, I I I don't necessarily feel
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  like I need to tell them how to run their business.
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  I can tell them all the things that we did that made us what we
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  were, you know, but there's a lot of different people there as
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  well too now. So you know, although it is KBM
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  assets and everything else, it's now Spire and you know Brian
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  Patty's the the only crew chief that's there.
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  I had Bono for a little while. Bono and I work together, we won
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  some races together. So he's there.
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  Congrats to those guys. They won last week, which is
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  cool in our stuff. That's the first Daytona win for
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  KBM equipment since I think I won there back in 13 something,
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  I don't even know when it was had to be before 15.
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  My legs are telling me that, but yeah.
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  Reed Spencer with the NASCAR wire service.
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  In terms of the Pit Rd., different speeds getting on to
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  PIT Rd., how do you manage to manage all of that at the same
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  time with the two different speeds?
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  You use? Two different sets of of lights,
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  different gearing from the time that you come off at turn two.
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  Could you go through the process of how that all works?
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  Yeah. So we'll most likely have two
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  pages, one for under green and then one for under yellow that
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  we'll use for the different lights of what we'll look for
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  with the gearing and the RPM ranges and whatnot.
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  So you know, if you're under green and you come off at turn
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  2:00, you got to make sure you're on page 2, whatever page
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  it is. And then you know you'll slow
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  down as quickly as you can as late as you can in order to make
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  it to the 90 mile an hour speed zone by the first line.
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  Carry that around the corner and then you'll slow down through
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  your lights and then run your pit Rd. lights.
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  There's different colors. You've got three different sets
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  of colors that you can go through.
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  So there's a pretty wide range of band and you know you'll run
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  probably all Reds. Actually you'll run probably 4
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  Blues through the corner and then you'll run all Reds on Pit
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  Rd. That's typically what we do.
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  John Newby. John Newby, NBC Sports Obviously
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  this isn't as much of A concern since the sale of KBM, but when
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  you were scouting talent for up and coming drivers, just curious
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  what were the factors you're looking for besides just wins?
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  I mean for us it was you know the the skill level and and
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  there their background of where they come from.
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  You know racing in the Super late model ranks was kind of
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  where I got my best sense of racing against some of those
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  younger guys and and got to pick up on some of those guys.
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  Brian Eichler was one of our early guys at KBM and then you
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  know we obviously got Eric Jones from when he beat me in a race
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  in a super late model race down in Pensacola.
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  So you know you look at those characteristics, I don't know
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  that we ever necessarily looked at their persona or relied on
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  that a whole lot or their media training or anything like that.
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  We'd we'd always just kind of help them through some of that
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  stuff. Once they got to us and Toyota
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  and and TRD and and their workforce of what they all did
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  was a huge part of all of that as well too, 'cause I had a
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  couple guys that I really liked that I picked that I sold them
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  on and we were able to to bring in.
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  And then they had a bunch of guys that that they wanted and
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  basically said hey, we're going to run these guys and you know
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  we're we all kind of agreed and work together on it.
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  Let's go to Bob Parkers and then Dustin Long.
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  Bob Parkers, Fox Sports You have a new Jackman this week on your
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  car. I'm curious, I don't know how
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  involved you get in those decisions at all, but do you
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  like the fact that, hey, let's try something different after
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  struggle in the first week? Or did you and did it surprise
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  you at all? Because teams tend to kind of
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  work with the same people, at least for a little bit, before
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  trying something different? Well I the Jackman we had was
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  the the same Jackman that we had all of last year.
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  So you know we were trying to redo a few different positions
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  over the offseason and you know some of the talent that we were
• 15:07
  scouting and talking to and and giving offers to they declined
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  them and and went somewhere else.
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  So we kind of we're just had what we had and and we've been
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  working through that. So it's tough out there.
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  You know it's it's really hard to to recruit and and get guys
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  especially where RCR is based and where they're at.
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  It's a long road to hoe to to get up to welcome to do pit stop
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  practice sometimes 3-4 times a week, whatever it might be.
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  But you know, I know that Ray and all the guys there in the
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  pits in the pit crew department are are working super hard.
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  I mean, we've trust me, they've, they've heard it not from me but
• 15:44
  from Richard week in, week out. So their ears are bleeding.
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  But you know, I I know they're trying and I know we're working
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  hard. And trust me, there were plenty
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  of offers over the offseason to try to get different talent up
• 15:55
  there and we just weren't able to secure it.
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  Dustin Long, NBC Sports. There's a lot of talk since last
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  week's race about the fuel saving and how obviously that's
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  always been an important part, but how much it's grown even
• 16:07
  more so, particularly that race the last couple years.
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  What can be done, if anything, in terms of taking emphasis off
• 16:16
  of that and allowing you guys to do a little bit more or race a
• 16:20
  little bit more as opposed to riding around or is this what
• 16:23
  you've got And is could anything change for this weekend?
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  Yeah, good question. We kind of talked about it in
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  our Chevy meeting last week amongst the other drivers and
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  there was really no no solution that came to the forefront.
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  The only one that that I really had was to reduce the fuel cell
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  size to in half to just create more opportunities of coming to
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  Pit Rd. to just break it up more.
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  But then you put your your pit crew and the guys on Pit Rd. in
• 16:52
  more danger. You know you put twice as much
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  emphasis on on doing all of that.
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  But you know that that when you come to Pit Rd. it kind of
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  breaks up the field for a little while, right?
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  Like you take about 10 laps to kind of get it all sorted back
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  in and get going again. Well, we go what, 30, 33 laps on
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  fuel. If you go 15 or 16 and it takes
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  10 to bunch everybody back up, well now you're getting ready to
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  pit again. So you're not going to sit there
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  and say if you're going to be going all out as much as you can
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  and making sure that you're not breaking, that you're not fuel
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  saving in order to do the leapfrog strategy.
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  I mean couple guys said no, you'd still do the same thing.
• 17:31
  I I don't know that you would.