Joe Gibbs Racing driver Kyle Busch was made available to media prior to the Bristol Motor Speedway race this Friday:
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Crunchy Cookie Toyota Camry TRD, Joe Gibbs Racing
What are your thoughts on the track and the conditions compared to what it was last year?
“So far better I guess, but the second half of that practice you couldn’t see. You put one car in front of you, you can’t see. Two cars, you definitely can’t see. That’s going to be the toughest part – the dust. It looked like Truck practice went pretty well, but as the track started to widen a couple of those guys were a little tentative doing it the right way, and then once they started doing it, it was just dust off of the first truck that was running that high side burning it with the right rear.”
Were the screens working and could you tell any difference with the mud flaps?
“The track was dry our whole time, so the mudflaps were pretty irrelevant at this point. I’m overheating already. We don’t even have mud on it and I’m already hot.”
Is the new car handling differently than last year’s car did on dirt?
“More grip. I’m surprised about the amount of grip this car has. More drive off of the corners. I think most of that has to do with the tire. The tires are really wide. It has really good footprint on it based on looking at its tread pattern versus an open wheel tread pattern. It matches pretty well versus the truck tire, which is very rounded and crowned. I would say the tires a benefit, but the car everywhere we have been with this thing so far has had added grip. Plus, we are a 100 less horsepower than we were last year, so that’s going to help with the throttle on time as well.”
Toyota Racing PR
