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July 19, 2015
LOUDON, NEW HAMPSHIRE
THE MODERATOR: We are now joined by our race winning crew chief, Adam Stevens.
Adam, this is the team's third win in four weeks. You have won at a road course, mile‑and‑a‑half, now at a short track. Talk about the speed you've had in this car over the past few weeks and the team's performance today.
ADAM STEVENS: Yeah, you know, we've been putting good cars on the track. I think last week we arguably had the best car, certainly good enough to run with them. This week we definitely had a top two or three car. We had some misfortune turn into some good fortune with the way the cautions fell when there was oil on the track. He thought he had a flat right front.
You know, part of the game is about preparing a good car, executing all day, and putting yourself in positions to take advantage of things like this. Plenty of times you put yourself in a position like this, it goes against you. Today it definitely went for us.
THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up for questions.
Q. Adam, I know nothing is official until you can get into the top 30 in points. At this time, given your performance over the last month or so, is this a team that can win the championship?
ADAM STEVENS: Man, that's a tough one.
I think so. You know, I think it's all about how we prepare the cars and execute, like I've said. Even while Kyle was gone, I feel like we've shown that we have speed and we have solid cars. Since Kyle's come back, maybe it's put a little bit more speed in them.
To that point, with the Chase format, with the eliminations, then it all coming down to one race, if we can keep our head on our shoulders and get in first, then continue to prepare good cars and execute, I think we can.
Q. With Kyle missing the first 11 races, you didn't have the opportunity to work with him at the beginning, he didn't have any time on the track on this original rules package that has since changed some. Is there anything about his performance that surprised you?
ADAM STEVENS: Well, you know, one of Kyle's strongest suits behind the wheel is being able to adjust, being able to adjust at changing track conditions, to different cars, to different rules packages.
We're certainly behind the eight ball still with the number of laps we have versus the number of laps everybody else has with these packages.
So, you know, a lot of stuff changed. The spoilers changed, the splitters changed, a lot of the body panels changed. He got a carbon seat this year to meet the rules. All that changes the feel he gets from the car.
Then there's the problem with getting adjusted to his feet, and those things, still continuing to get better.
It's pretty amazing that he's been able to adapt as well as he has and still get everything out of the car with as much stuff that has changed and the leg up that the competition has just as far as number of laps with all this new stuff.
So, you know, I think he can do that because he's dedicated. He can do that because he has a very diverse background of cars. He's not used to everything feeling one way. If it doesn't feel just like he thinks it should, that's okay, it's just different.
Q. All three of these victories I think you can say you've played a big part in, whether it's the strategy call today, putting him in position to win at Sonoma, Kentucky. Does it give you a real sense of confidence that now you have Kyle back, you're maximizing those opportunities as a crew chief?
ADAM STEVENS: Yeah, it does. It's good to get victories, for sure. But, you know, so many things can happen that can turn a great job that you feel like you're doing into a really poor job.
I wouldn't hang my hat on anything in that regard. But it does go to show you, too, just how important every single person's job is on this team. That's the A team and the B team and everybody at the shop. If one person doesn't do their job to the level it needs to be done, the whole house of cards comes down.
You know, maybe I have two cards in that house of cards, but it takes all of us to get it done.
Q. I think this is the first time you've worked with Kyle on the day after maybe a frustrating Saturday for him in the XFINITY Series. Did you do anything to try to pump him up? How was his attitude after a frustrating day yesterday?
ADAM STEVENS: Yeah, you know, I spent plenty of time talking to him last night, as I would before any race. Now the topics of conversation might have been a little different. We had to wade through some of that.
In all of my experiences with Kyle, he's very reasonable and he's focused. Sometimes it just takes somebody to point a couple things out to him. I feel like we have a good enough relationship that I'm always able to do that.
But, you know, it was pretty standard, other than a little bit of the conversation covering his frustrations from the XFINITY race.
But, you know, Kyle, one of his greatest strengths, I've said before, too, is being able to focus forward. The more you put on him, it seems like the better he can perform.
It didn't have any bearing on anything we did today, that's for sure.
Q. For not just your team but all of Gibbs to come in here and perform the way you have this weekend, knowing this is the second track in the Chase, how much confidence does that give you and how much data were you able to collect to come back and do it again?
ADAM STEVENS: Wow, that's a good question. I didn't come here with any thoughts of this being a Chase track, to be honest with you. We are so committed to having to run good now, we probably didn't spend much time exploring or doing things. We did a couple things in practice, I guess, that we probably didn't need to to get a direction.
There's enough of us now with four teams that we can gather some pretty good notes. Always be a little bit better when we come back. I felt like all the Gibbs cars at times showed speed, certainly Carl did, in qualifying trim, all through practice. Matt and Denny did, as well. We have a good baseline to work from and some good ideas for directions to improve.
Q. After that caution where Kyle was able to grab the lead, what was the mentality for you over the last stretch of the race? How were you able to keep that lead throughout the rest?
ADAM STEVENS: Well, when we pitted there when we thought we had the flat and came back out, first it was a race to get the Lucky Dog spot. That happened pretty quick. Then it was a race to unlap ourselves. That happened pretty quick, thankfully.
So once that happened, I was hoping for a caution because everybody couldn't make it on fuel, we could, we knew they had to come down pit road. We got the caution, which was pretty sweet. We only had five laps on our tires. Obviously there was no benefit to us pitting.
A bunch of guys took two with 50 or 60 laps on their tires. Even if they had a better car, it would have been really hard for them to get around us with that many laps on their lefts.
From that point on, it was just a matter of not overworking the tires, because we were certainly done pitting at that time. Some took four behind the five or six that took two. You knew they were going to stay out the rest of the day. It was a matter of managing what you had and not pushing them too hard in case we got a caution again.
Q. Does it give you extra motivation, when it comes to beating the 2 team, the history between Kyle and Brad, does it feel extra gratifying knowing you've beaten what has been Kyle's biggest nemesis on the track?
ADAM STEVENS: I don't think so. What kind of makes me smile with regard to that team is we've just been to their two best tracks probably statistically, or certainly the speed that they've had in recent years. So to come out of here with two victories is pretty special.
I've spent a lot of time racing against some of those guys on the XFINITY side, continue to race with them up here. It's always fun. But, you know, they showed so much speed here, the Penske guys did last year. To come out of here with another win is something pretty special.
Q. Wanted to gauge, what was the reaction amongst you all in the pits when you saw Kyle execute that move to unlap himself?
ADAM STEVENS: Yeah, I thought he was another three or four laps away from being able to do that. They were slipping in the same stuff that he slipped in. It kind of closed the gap a little quicker than it should have.
Man, once he did that and then squeezed through the center, we knew that things were looking our way and we were going to have a good finish no matter what happened.
Q. You've had very good cars and things have worked in your favor the last few weeks. Are you starting to feel I don't want to say lucky but fortunate compared to maybe the first 15 weeks?
ADAM STEVENS: Yeah, I guess so. I guess, you know, we had some bad luck on the front side, and certainly some good luck here today. Certainly at Sonoma, as well.
It feels good. You feel like the scales are starting to balance out for you and for this team and Kyle himself. Certainly I think so.
THE MODERATOR: We are now joined by Coach Joe Gibbs.
Joe, three wins in the last four weeks, how has it been?
JOE GIBBS: I said before when we won Sonoma with Kyle, it was a great sports story. I think this only adds to it.
I think he's been on a tear. Mentally I think he's really been up on it. Ever since the injury, I think Adam will tell you this, he's really been after it. We've really been proud of him. The way he's handled everything, disappointments, handled that really well, too.
It's a tribute to Adam. Teaming them up this year has certainly meant a lot. I think Adam would tell you this. Our entire group of drivers and crew chiefs get along great right now. All of our technical meetings. It was great today for Norm, Interstate Batteries. Think about it, they're 24 years with us, our founding sponsor. We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for them. For Norm and Scott. All of the Mars family. We were fortunate enough to have Tracy here with M&M's. We've been blessed really. Got great people. Appreciate everybody back at the race shop, all of our other sponsors, drivers, everybody that's chipped in to make it a total team effort.
THE MODERATOR: We'll continue with questions.
Q. You see in other sports, particularly football, teams kind of get their backs to the wall and make a run to a championship. Do you feel like, A, that's possible in NASCAR, and B, that you might be getting a little bit of that vibe right now?
JOE GIBBS: For me, I think obviously you get on a roll if you got real good teams. In pro sports what you find is if you have a weak link, you're not going. Over here you have to have a great driver, pit crew, support team back at home. In our sport you have to have other drivers to add information and crew chiefs that add information.
It's total team. Very unusual team sport when you think about it. You have four entities at the racetrack, but everybody is one big team back at our race shop. We work together.
The other thing about this sport which I love is the fact you can't race without a great sponsor. Other sports, you don't need sponsors. Football, basketball, baseball. Over here, a big part of the team is the sponsor. So today is Interstate Batteries, M&M's, a big part of that car.
It's a very unusual dynamic, and certainly in sports we all love it because, what, you can have great victories, you can have great defeats. We had a real terrible thing happen to us at Daytona. We come all the way back after 11 weeks. To be able to get three wins here is really special.
Appreciate our partner Toyota, all they do for us. We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for them. So I really think what I'm proudest of is everybody together as a team. I think we're really pulling hard together. As everybody knows, we were down for a while, particularly at intermediate tracks. We worked real hard to try and get back.
Q. Coach, I think it's like 121 points out of that 179‑point deficit, how confident given this hot streak that you can get there? Do you feel more confident now that it's more in sight?
JOE GIBBS: I think it's sure helps. If you can see it, it's a lot better than where we were before when we started being way back over 100 points.
I think Kyle seems to just be still very, very aggressive. He's not points racing. He's after it. Probably he and Adam have talked that over. Adam can probably answer better than I can. But I think they're trying to keep themselves up front and trying to get good finishes.
Anything can happen in sports. So I'm always nervous about it. You can break a part. You can have wrecks. You can have freaky thunderstorms and stuff that's already happened to us.
I think you just have to keep your head down and keep digging.
Q. Over the years as a football coach you saw great athletes make remarkable comebacks from serious injuries. How does this stack up with Kyle coming back and having as much success as he's had?
JOE GIBBS: I think it's a great, great story. It's a personal story for him because, you know, you see somebody like that suffer such a tough, tough injury. We were really worried about Sonoma, even being able to drive the race.
I will say this. I went over to his house. Adam was over there visiting right after the surgery on his foot. He was bright eyed and after it. He was already working out. He was trying to get out of the bed and everything else.
In sports you do see stories like this where somebody is really hurt, then to be able to come back in this amount of time, it's a special story.
Q. What do you think the ingredients to that are?
JOE GIBBS: I think probably the reason why we admire great athletes, a lot of us dreamed about being a great athlete, and we weren't good enough. Then you see the people that are good enough. But then there's only a few that are really, really special in a sport.
I think Kyle is one of those in racing because he has an unusual ability, but also has a real fire and a passion for what he does. So that kind of comes through. I think it showed up over these last five weeks.
THE MODERATOR: We're joined by our race winner, Kyle Busch.
Kyle, talk about how important it was making that pass on the leaders about 50 to go.
KYLE BUSCH: Well, the pass for the lead there coming out of turn four, it was real important. At the time we weren't sure how important it was going to be, but it certainly turned out to be the pass of the race.
I knew coming out of turn four those guys in front of me were all on old tires, kind of slow. I didn't want to waste too much time with them. I saw the lap car up on the high side. I knew that Brad was going to try to box me in behind him, not let me through, make me wait for another set of two corners.
I just kind of bulldozed my way through there a little bit, moved them down the frontstretch, the 2. There was just enough gap for me to fit between the 2 and the 4. When I did that, I got on the inside of the 4 getting into turn one and cleared them both on the front straightaway.
Good maneuver. I felt like that was a smart move at that time. I keep saying we got to pick and choose our battles, and that was a battle right there that obviously we were in a hurry and we needed to do the right things to be on the lead lap, if there were a caution to come out with all the oil that was on the racetrack.
Q. Kyle, could you reflect on the streak that you are on right now, having won two in a row, three of the last four races. Does this give you the sense that this could be a special season for you given the way it started, what you've had to come back from?
KYLE BUSCH: Yeah, no doubt. This is pretty special. This is something that I'm not sure we ever would have expected, you know, Adam, myself, Joe, the team, anybody, the organization for that matter. It certainly is nice. It certainly has been a perfect storm, if you will, you know, to come back, to get back into fast racecars.
That's what has meant the most. To have that opportunity, I thank Joe, J.D., everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing for that. Everything is working in our favor right now. We're doing the right things at the right times. Adam is making some really good adjustments and some really good calls.
Today we may not have been the best car, we were early, but towards the end I'm not sure that we were. We put ourselves in the right spot to be able to capitalize. Sometimes in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series you got to be able to do that. Today was one of those opportunities for us.
Q. Coach, you mentioned earlier about being down earlier in the season. Given the last couple weeks, do you feel the organization has turned a corner?
JOE GIBBS: Well, I think we're certainly back closer. I don't know that we've turned a corner. I think we've got a lot of intermediate tracks in the Chase. We'll see when we get there.
But certainly I think we're in a better position now. I think we worked extremely hard. To show you how hard this sport is, it took us a year and a half, realizing we're behind where we were, then to put everybody to work trying to catch up.
I think last week was good, although that racetrack, it's a heck of a racetrack with a lot of different lanes there and different ways to race. So we'll have to see.
But I think certainly we're a lot closer.
Q. Kyle, when you first came back, you talked about a lot of the kind of issues you would deal with. You hadn't worked much in Cup with Adam. You had no experience, no track time with the rules package. During these eight races so far, have any of those proved to be difficult?
KYLE BUSCH: No, I don't think so really. I was just making excuses at the time in case I sucked, I guess (smiling). But fortunately I haven't had to have any excuses lately. That's a good thing, I guess.
No, I mean, to your point about Adam, we've worked together for a few years on the XFINITY side. Normally when I'm done driving the racecar, I talk to him for probably 10 minutes, then he's on doing his own thing. He doesn't need me anymore. On the Cup side you are definitely with each other a heck of a lot more, and you do have to give more feedback. This is a higher level. So to be able to give better direction for your crew chief to make smart calls for the race day on Sunday, whatever it might be, it's obvious that we've been able to click and he understands what I'm saying, what I'm talking about. At least I think he does. So far he's made some good adjustments for me. It's all come together.
The cars, you know, I think that's just a product of all of us at Joe Gibbs Racing getting better. Anytime you can have good stuff, obviously the cars will drive well or better than the other guys. I wouldn't say ours was perfect all day. It certainly felt a heck of a lot better in the beginning of the race than it did towards the end. But we had enough speed that we needed there at the end anyways.
Q. After Sonoma, you talked about you wouldn't have to take chances to win, you could maybe be a little bit conservative. Now being 58 points out of 30th, can you be unleashed in a way? Can you take more chances? Is there any relief in that?
KYLE BUSCH: I felt like I took a little bit of a chance there today, you know, with the move down the frontstretch. But that was a calculated risk that I felt like I needed to take at that particular moment.
I don't know, if it were lap 100, then, no, I don't think that would have happened. I would have just waited it out and let the thing play out.
What I was racing for at that time was my life, to get back on the lead lap. We needed that. That's when you got to make those moves.
That's why I say, you don't know what situations are going to come about. You just have to take those moments as they come to you. Really you can't think about it. You just got to react and do the right thing, or hope that it turns out to be the right thing. Fortunately for that situation, it was.
But I'm not sure we've unleashed the beast at all. We're just taking one race at a time and doing everything that we need to do to have the right opportunities come our way like today.
Q. Kyle, we had a few drivers treated for heat‑related illnesses after the race. Something you wouldn't necessarily expect to see in New Hampshire of all places. How bad was the heat out there for you?
KYLE BUSCH: Yeah, I'm definitely warm. I'm still trying to cool down right now, as cold as it is in here. You get that brisk when you walk through the door, but after that you're like, Okay, I need more.
It's warm. This is one of the warmest days I think I've ever remembered up here in this part of the country. Fortunately for me, I was all good. I've got a really good team of guys that work on my seat for me. I've really been nitpicking them a lot this year to try to get more and more comfortable each week. It's really paying off now hopefully that they see us winning some races. I'm thankful to them for giving me the right cooling and everything I needed. That was good.
Q. About Adam, this is a different level for a crew chief not just on the adjustments but the strategy, you see a lot where crew chiefs or drivers take themselves out of the game. Seems like he maximized your position to win in each of the three victories. That must be a lot of confidence for you that he can do that.
KYLE BUSCH: I was the pit strategist today. I wanted to pit. He was like, All right, bring it to me.
So, no, it worked out for us. We didn't call that one. But he has done a really, really good job. He's been very smart and very calculated.  He knows what we're racing for. He knows what circumstances are built around us, what other guys are doing, as well, too. He can take in the whole big picture of what's going on.
Certainly there's going to be times where it bites him or bites us. We may look like we're idiots. But as of late, you know, he's still calculated and does a really good job. You know, appreciative.
Q. Kyle, how were you able to build the lead you were able to have there at the end? What did it mean for you to get another win under your belt?
KYLE BUSCH: Yeah, I had a really fast car on that restart. I think it may have been the scuffed tires we had. We ran five laps, they got a chance to cool down. Essentially they were scuffs. Everybody else were on their stickers. They were sliding around back there. I was able to get away a little bit.
I wanted to build up probably a bigger lead just in case. But I also wanted to save my stuff. I was just kind of riding out there once I got to about one and a half, two seconds, just kind of riding, trying to save myself. I don't know if I saved enough, or if I didn't get a big enough gap.
Brad was fast at the end. He started to run us back down. We've got work to do to get our stuff better, I'm not sure we're maximizing everything we need. I think I've got some good ideas about that.
We'd like to get our cars better on the long run. That's what you see here at Loudon, a lot of long runs.
Q. Kyle, it seems like some drivers have a very good track that they feel really comfortable or are at home with. Loudon seems to suit your style, you seem to excel here really well. What is it about Loudon that suits your style?
KYLE BUSCH: You know, that's a trick question because when I ran here for Hendrick, I really struggled the first year. Then the second year I won a race here. I was running up front, running third, whatever. I seemed to struggle for a long time, finishing up with Hendrick, then going to Joe Gibbs Racing. Didn't have a lot of good finishes here.
As of late, we've really put some good finishes together and had some strong runs with Darian Grubb coming over and helping on the 11 car. I feel like maybe that was a little bit of it.
But Dave also. We just kind of completely revamped what our thought process was for this place. When we did that, it seemed to really help us. You definitely have good racecars that can make your job a heck of a lot easier. That, too, qualifying up front seems to help us as well, just not having to battle through the field, take chances with our racecars on beating it up.
Q. Kyle talked about after the race, Hey, I'm surprised we won three out of four. Are you guys surprised? And how do all three of you feel about the fact you've chopped 121 points out of that 179‑point deficit? How confident are you to get to 30th?
ADAM STEVENS: Yeah, I'm really surprised that we've won three out of four. That's tough to do given any set of circumstances that's tough to do. But, you know, it all goes back to putting good cars on the track and executing well and being able to take advantage of some situations. We've certainly been able to do that.
As far as getting in the Chase with the points deficit being down to 50 something, I guess, man, I thought we would have chopped more off than that today.
Q. 29 points.
ADAM STEVENS: 29 points. Anyway, that's manageable. The whole thing has been manageable. When it started, we had to average 13th or 14th. That is certainly within the capabilities of the team. It's about not having a bad day. Unfortunately we had a couple bad days right off the bat.
But, you know, kind of what goes around comes around. So I don't have any fears of being able to close that gap. But we can't get back on our heels either. We still have to approach each weekend like we have been.
JOE GIBBS: I just think I always worry. I never go to the racetrack saying, Hey, look, we got this thing. I think in pro sports, what's happened to you, as a matter of fact last week, I called one or two of our drivers, they said, Man, we're not real good. I've done the same thing with Kyle from time to time, you know.
For me, being in pro sports, I think that's why we love it. We don't know what's going to happen. Anything can happen from any week.
I would say this. This has been a pretty amazing thing, what Kyle and Adam have been able to do with our entire team. There's one thing to one race and get on a hot streak, but to come back. You think about our team, for 11 weeks, those guys going over the wall and everything. I'm looking at their face, their eyes. It was just extremely hard for everybody, including our sponsor.
So you put all that together, to be able to bounce back from that, have a chance to call the sponsors today, talk to them, it's one of those things that can happen. But you don't get many of them. So we're going to enjoy it.
Q. Kyle, are you surprised at these three out of four, this streak that you're on?
KYLE BUSCH: I never would have guessed it. You know, if somebody would have said, You're going to come back and you're going to win three of four, how many have I raced now, eight, whatever, I would have said, Yeah, right, you're crazy.
But it's certainly doable. Like I said, I got to give credit where credit's due. Our race team is really good right now. Joe got on them a little bit a while back and told them, Let's fix this. They listen. When Joe talks, they listen. You need to talk more often (smiling).
We've been doing a really good job. I think the organization has as a whole. Carl was really fast this weekend. We kept ourselves up front today. Our pit crew did a really good job. We executed. That's what you've got to do on these days.
The 2 car should have probably been the fastest car, was last week, was a little bit this week, yet somebody beat him. They executed just a little bit differently and we were able to win the race. That's going to happen to us, too. We got to take what we can get when we get it, take those opportunities and make the most of it.
Q. Kyle, could you compare and contrast your feelings about in your comeback when you had the two wrecks in the first four races, you're staring at that points deficit, did it seem insurmountable to you? To contrast that with just the roll here, do you feel like now you've left no doubt you're going to make this Chase?
KYLE BUSCH: I mean, when the deficit was as big as it was, we certainly wished it was smaller. But I could have come back later and the deficit would have been bigger, too. So who knows.
I feel like there's a plan in this world for all of us. God certainly put one on my table this year that I don't know that I've had this big of a challenge before. That was in the injury and now, getting back in the racecar, getting back in the Chase.
You know, in my mind, the opportunity I got put in front of me was to run 20 championship weeks from here on out till the end of the year. That's what it's going to be for us.
We're making the most of that right now. I certainly didn't do a very good job of that at Dover and Michigan. We'll continue to make sure that we're smart.
Q. I asked coach this as well. For you guys, in other sports you see teams get their backs to the wall, make a run. Do you have like you are getting into that groove right now?
KYLE BUSCH: Yes and no. I mean, sometimes I always haven't been the smartest points racer out there. I put myself in some bad spots.
You know, I don't know that our backs are in a corner, but certainly we're not like the rest of everybody else. We're not in that same position as they are. I've made mistakes in the past. Hopefully I don't continue those same mistakes this year. Who is to know. We'll just continue on and try to strive and do the best we can and do the best each and every week.
I've had really good partners stand behind me this year with Interstate Batteries, M&M's, Monster, Toyota, helping me with my recovery, but having good racecars on the racetrack when we returned, that we're able to do this, have the success we're having. There's no better way to chop off a deficit than winning races.
This certainly feels good. I'm probably running 100%. I don't know if everybody else is running at 100%. But if they are, then we're beating them. My 100 is better than theirs. If there's guys out there only running at 80% and they're finishing third, fourth, fifth, we better watch our backs for when they do turn up the wick and Chase time hits.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you for joining us today and congratulations.
KYLE BUSCH: Thank you.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
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