Photo Credit: Noel Lanier
Kyle Busch is starting out this season better than last. Last season, he broke his leg during the Daytona 500 race weekend and had to come back and win races just to make the chase. But this season, Busch has won a race and as long as he stays n the top-30 in points, he will make the chase.
“There were times where we came back and we knew we had to run strong and we were crashing out a couple times and it was getting pretty stressful that we weren’t going to make the Chase and that was one of the things where I kind of had something reset and click and turn into something different when we got to Sonoma,” Busch said. ” We won Sonoma and stuff like that just a week after crashing, finishing last at Michigan, so there’s times where it just seems to work and there’s times when it doesn’t. It’s way more fun when it is working.”
There is still a lot of things left in his NASCAR career that he wants to do; for example, winning at every single venue they race at. He also wants to win a Daytona 500, an all-star race, a Coca-Cola 600, as well as getting as many victories as possible and continuing the legacy of winning at more venues.
“Just building that win column – it’s at 35, but to be able to build that to 100 or something like that, I think that would be pretty special,” Busch said. “Whether 100 is reachable or not, I doubt it, but we’ll give it our best shot. There’s no reason why to not try and we’ll just – hopefully the championships will pile in there as well too. Whether seven is achievable, probably not, but I’d like to say it is and we’ll give it our best. I’d like to have five, how ‘bout that?”
Busch was able to check a track off his list last weekend, making his first trip to victory lane at Martinsville Speedway. It wasn’t without discussion from the fans afterwards, though.
With 10 laps to go, Busch was leading and took the bottom not letting teammate Matt Kenseth in, to which Kenseth fell back to 14th place whereas Busch won the race. After the race he sent Kenseth a text message, to which Kenseth replied and then later on in the week they talked it out during the team meetings at JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing).
“Well I figured he knows, but I did – I sent him a text afterwards to kind of make sure and he responded back, so it was fine,” Busch said. “We then talked on Tuesday with our meetings and stuff like that at JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) and he was probably disappointed down deep, but overall he was probably more disappointed in his finish. I think they’ve just had a tough go at it this year. I’ve been in that position before. I think it was 2012 maybe – that season that I had it just seemed like nothing was going right and it has all turned around and gotten better since, so it’s just a down spot. You’ve got to fight through it.”
The race winners at Martinsville Speedway get a grandfather clock, in which as Busch stated in victory lane, he knew his wife had a spot for it. It was just a matter of finding a spot for two now, though, as he won both the Truck race and the Cup race.
“One’s at home in the foyer and I had to turn off the buzzer because it’s close to Brexton’s (Busch, son) room, so we don’t get to hear it,” Busch said. ” We heard it a couple of times while it went off, but then I turned it off. And then the other one we’re just going to unpack and leave at KBM (Kyle Busch Motorsports) and have it there.”
