MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
KANSAS SPEEDWAY
HOLLYWOOD CASINO 400
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
OCTOBER 18, 2019
KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 ADVENTHEALTH CAMARO ZL1, Media Breakout Session Highlights:
INAUDIBLE
“I feel like we’ve come such a long way at Ganassi from our first race at Martinsville. I’m looking forward to going back to apply all the season-long trends. Martinsville is so early in the year and we were such a new team. I think we finished 12th. We learned so much together as a group. That’s what’s cool about going back to these tracks a second time.
HOW TOUGH IS KANSAS SPEEDWAY? WHAT’S TOUGH ABOUT IT ON THE RESTARTS?
“The restarts are going to be pretty wild because we are able to hold it wide open through one and two. The shortest way around is on the bottom, but then you’re trying to position yourself for the high side through three and four. So, the restarts are going to be pretty crazy this weekend.”
ARE RESTARTS AN INSTINCT OR SPLIT-SECOND DECISION?
“Yeah, you just go with it. But, for us, I made a move on a restart in Vegas and our playoffs were pretty much ended with a tire rub. That’s the bad side effect, the hard part about the whole system.”
HOW DO YOU LOOK AT COMING OUT OF TALLADEGA?
“Yeah, I dodged three wrecks, but I couldn’t dodge four. It’s tough. Right now, the cars don’t draft very stable, everyone is out there on older tires just trying to do fuel-only to minimize time on pit road, and everyone is more aggressive at the end when cars are handling the worse. That’s the perfect recipe for some bent sheet metal.”
WE SAY A LOT OF DEALS GO DOWN THIS WEEK. ARE YOU GETTING CLOSER?
“When there’s something to talk about, we’ll give you the information.”
BACK EARLIER THIS SEASON, YOU WON AT KENTUCKY. THAT WAS A FUN BATTLE TO WATCH WITH YOUR BROTHER (KYLE BUSCH). IS THAT SOMETHING YOU CAN DRAW FROM FOR THIS WEEKEND AT KANSAS?
“Yeah, we’re hopeful that the setup we had at Kentucky to win with matches up here because this is the closest track to Kentucky; with the banking, the size, grip level, the tires, everything kind of leads and points to Kentucky. We are hopeful that things play out in our favor.”
YOU ARE THE ONLY CURRENT CUP DRIVER THAT RACED IN THE FIRST RACE AT KANSAS. WHAT ARE SOME OF THE CHANGES YOU’VE SEEN IN THE TRACK?
“There might have been a couple of us, I know I’m getting up there in years. It’s my 19th year on the circuit, maybe Kevin Harvick or Ryan Newman was around at that point. The grip level changes, where it had extreme grip when it was paved originally. The tire was so conservative, it was really a hard tire. As the asphalt kind of gave up some of that grip, they brought in a softer tire. I think we’ve seen a couple of epic finishes here. It’s all about the balance of how you get the car to run in traffic and out there by yourself. Now, with the aggressive banking, this is where I see the track at it’s peak. This is the best that it’s been in the last three to four years. Now, they’re starting to bring back a harder tire. Kansas Speedway is racing really well right now.”
TALK ABOUT PRACTICE, THE URGENCY WHILE YOU’RE OUT THERE.
“A couple hours in session, same as each week. It’s very heated time of getting your car dialed in, getting in and out of the garage, and also with the draft out on the track. You want to make sure you’re in the biggest group possible to learn the most about your car. There’s a lot going on in those couple hours of practice.”
“Right away, the car felt stable and it was quick. As the trends were on, we ended up on the tight side of things with building too much front tire pressure. So, we have to keep track of that to make sure we can get the front to turn, especially in the dirty air.”
HOW MUCH DO YOU REALLY FEEL THE WIND? HOW MUCH DOES IT EFFECT YOU IN QUALIFYING AND THE RACE?
“Right now, we’re wide open through one and two, and we are not through three and four. If you’re out there by yourself, the only eliminate you’re battling is track position. The wind can be a 15-mph tail wind into one corner and it can be a 15-mph head wind going into another corner. Add that up, that’s a 30-mph difference. That’s 190 into one corner and 160 into the other; that’s pretty big difference. When you add 40 cars out there together, that’s when the smart engineers, crew chiefs and driver start to rise to the top.”
Team Chevy high-resolution racing photos are available for editorial use.
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