Kyle Busch, Joe Gibbs Post Qualifying Quotes - Best Buy 400
TOYOTA NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS)
Race Notes & Quotes
Dover International Speedway -- June 1, 2008
Kyle Busch earned his fourth NSCS win of 2008 today at Dover International Speedway and fifth for Toyota.
Busch has won a total of 10 races out of 35 across the three NASCAR series in 2008 -- four in NSCS (Atlanta,
Talladega, Darlington and Dover), four in NNS (Texas, Phoenix, Mexico and Charlotte) and two in NCTS (California
and Atlanta).
Busch has led a total of 1,876 laps across the three NASCAR series in 2008 -- 786 in NSCS, 786 laps in NNS and 304
laps in NCTS.
Camry drivers have earned 16 top-five finishes and 26 top-10 finishes in 2008.
Busch extends the unofficial NSCS point lead with his win today at Dover. Busch is 142 points ahead of second
place, Jeff Burton.
Other Camry drivers in the top-20 in the unofficial NSCS point standings include Hamlin (ninth), Stewart (11th) and
Vickers (19th).
Toyota earned victories in all three NASCAR Series for the first time at Dover this weekend -- Busch (NSCS),
Hamlin (NNS) and Scott Speed (NCTS).
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 Combos Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 1st
How excited are you to get your fourth win of the season?
"It was definitely a great race for us. I've got to thank Combos and JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) and all of these guys from Toyota
that work on this thing and just do a phenomenal job for us. MacTools, M&M's, Snickers, Interstate Batteries. We didn't have
the car to beat today. Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle were better than us but we made it on the long run as good as they did and
we knew if we could get track position and get in front of them that we would be a little bit better. The guys on pit road had a
phenomenal day. They got us out front and kept us out front and that's what won it for us here today."
Did you approach this race any different early in the race?
"That was all I had. That was it. I was just riding, taking care of it and running 90 percent and not pushing too hard to try to do
anything stupid. That was about all she had. There wasn't much that I could have done. If I would've tried driving any harder I
probably would've just wrecked myself. I've got to thank all of the fans even if they're not Kyle Busch fans and the Kyle Busch
fans that come out and support NASCAR racing for us and watch the races every Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It's just
phenomenal to have their support here and put up with me and everything else that we've got going on."
Can you talk about how important your pit crew was to this win today?
"They should enjoy this win. This is their win right here. The crews win. I just drove a race car and drove a race that I just
needed to pace myself and just run around the bottom every lap and not really move around much. Even though I could, I just
didn't need to. The guys that pitted this thing on pit road definitely won it for us and they are deserving."
How critical was it today to be out front and not be behind guys where you couldn't really catch up to them?
"Well, I think it was pretty critical, definitely. There on that last pit stop, we come out of the pits behind (Martin) Truex there,
couldn't pass him. I rode behind the sixth-place car for 60 or 70 laps there and couldn't get by him. I just had to run my own
line, run my own pace, keep it glued to the bottom as best as I could, just keep going through the corners and not get too loose,
wearing out the tires or anything like that. Fortunately for me, it was all the pit crew that was able to gain us stuff."
Did you car react differently when you got behind other cars today?
"Yeah. I did experience it a little bit behind Greg (Biffle) there when we were running fast lap times up front at the beginning of
the race. He would pull away because he had fresh air. Myself, I couldn't really hold onto it. I think I was overdriving a little
bit. Then Carl (Edwards) got by me, I'd fall back by Carl (Edwards) a little bit just to get, you know, probably 7/10ths of a
second back is where my car felt comfortable. Once you get up into their wake, their buffer, the car doesn't feel as secure,
doesn't feel as comfortable without having the air going over it, the little amount of air that does go over it.
So, you know, it's kind of frustrating when you can't gain on somebody. You couldn't go to the top and try to pick up any time,
lap time, around the top, because it's just too long around and the cars are too tight."
How are you able to be so fast in anything you drive week after week?
"For me, I believe there's a way that you drive the trucks, there's a way you drive the Nationwide cars. That's full out, as fast as
you can go. The harder you go, the faster you can go. These cars here, you have to pace yourself a little bit. You have to slow
them down. You can drive them hard for the first three or four laps, then you have to start backing off, start slowing down,
slowing up your entry, slowing down the center, just kind of moseying around the corner, trying to make the thing stick in one
particular groove. I've found something that's worked for me here recently in the past few weeks. I found it at Darlington. I
won there. Then I finished third at Lowe's. Then we won here again today. You know, we're gaining on the car as well, too.
But I think a lot of it is a little bit of driver. You got to stay calm when you can. You got to get going when the time's right and
when you can get riled up."
Was this race exciting today?
"Turning as much right as I did today, yeah. It's kind of like next Wednesday, you turn right to go left. But I wasn't trying to
turn right, it just was what I had to do. It wasn't I guess all that exciting. You know, that's a product of what we've got going on
here. We're working on trying to make our cars go as fast as they can. The faster we make them go, the more aero-dependent
they're going to be. The more you put out on the racetrack, the more the air is going to get screwed up. You know, we're all
fighting for space. We're all fighting for air. We're all fighting for everything.
Sorry it wasn't exciting."
JOE GIBBS, Team Owner, Joe Gibbs Racing
What do you think about how strong the Toyota's have been each week?
"You're talking about fast Toyotas. I think our drivers -- I think the world of our drivers. To get Kyle (Busch), see the way he's
hit it off with Steve (Addington, Crew Chief), that is great chemistry. Also, as we mentioned, there are some very young guys
on our pit crew there with that group. I'm so excited about that. I think you got Tony (Stewart) and Denny (Hamlin) that are
good teammates. Obviously they can win any race, too. We've been blessed with good drivers. I think our crew chiefs have
just done a fantastic job. And the thing I like about this, it's a team sport. It's everybody back home working on everything.
Mark (Cronquist) and everybody flogging the motors. Everybody in every aspect of our race shop deserves a lot of the credit.
Certainly, Toyota and TRD (Toyota Racing Development) have been great partners for us. I think up here in pro sports, it's little
by little, it's everything. Certainly our drivers have a major, major deal in making it happen."
