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NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES: CHEEZ-IT 355

August 9, 2015

Kyle Busch

WATKINS GLEN, NEW YORK

THE MODERATOR: We're going to roll into our post‑race media availability for today's Cheez‑It 355 here at the Glen. We've been joined by our second‑place finisher, driver of the No.18 M&M's Crispy Toyota, Kyle Busch. A solid second‑place finish for your team. You have now officially moved into the top 30 in the series standings. Just talk a little bit about your day here at Watkins Glen.
KYLE BUSCH: Our day was really good. You know, we had a really fast race car. I felt like we had one of the cars if not the car to beat. We just never really got to the front in order to show it. Even there early when we were up front, you know, we came to pit road for our first stop before I could quite get to the lead, and there again at the end of the race, we just got to the lead, just passed Brad on that restart there and was trying to check out and get as far out as we could and get as big of a lead as we could so when people started coming back down pit road, it would allow us to not lose as much time to those guys that were just going to take fuel only. Man, those cautions all in a row just killed us. That was our race today. Wasn't meant to be. Obviously there was just too many things working against us, and we weren't going to be able to get back through all of that and prevail.
We almost did. We probably had a shot to, but there at the end once I got past David Ragan I started to lose the rear tires a little bit but still felt like I was fast enough to catch the 22. Still ran him down, got by the 22, was within three car lengths of the 22, and that's about when I was probably told to‑‑ a few laps before that actually to start saving a little bit just in case guys started running out.
Just wasn't meant to be on what we needed today, and the M&M's Crispy Camry comes home second, so that's all right.

Q. Everybody talks about how they want a road course race in the Chase. How different would the strategy be and would you be able to stomach it if it was in the Chase?
KYLE BUSCH: I don't know what a road course race in the Chase would look like, but certainly I think it would be pretty fun. You always race them backwards, so everybody always tries to have that final pit stop within a window or even outside of their fuel window and they bank on cautions being able to make it, similar to today. It would be tough. I think you would see those guys that would play the strategy kind of more safely like we did and pit on their real number. Obviously you've got to have a fast car to be able to come through the field in order to be able to play that strategy. I felt like Adam did the exact right thing. I would actually kind of enjoy seeing probably this road race here in the Chase and maybe we add another road course to the schedule but not in the Chase, maybe mid‑year somewhere.

Q. We've seen two fuel‑mileage races in a row, next week a different package that you've never seen with drafting at Michigan. Will you have a good idea what your fuel mileage is by race day?
KYLE BUSCH: Good question. Probably. You will single car, but of course like you said, if you're going to be drafting and utilizing the draft and being able to roll out of the throttle and stuff, it's going to change a lot during the race. It's going to be quite drastic. From being by yourself in practice to then being in the race, it's going to be way different.
But we saw some of that at Indy, so you know, we ran up front. We ran by ourselves in practice and then we kind of ran up front and we ran within some other guys and drafted a little bit and whatnot so we were able to learn probably what fuel‑mileage numbers look like a little bit there to somewhat prepare ourselves for next week.

Q. Adam was worried about a green‑white‑checkered finish and kept telling you conserve. Did that play into it at all? If he just turned you loose do you think you could have raced Logano for the win?
KYLE BUSCH: Definitely. I was running hard. I ran hard that whole run to get myself up as far as I did. And then like I said, when I got past the 20, I still felt like I could catch the 22. I still felt like if I was given the opportunity to go up there and run with him I could have and would have and we would've been the race for the win. It would have been a tough race for the win, but when Logano would pick off a car, I'd pick off a car. When Logano would pick off a car, I'd pick off a car. I never quite got close enough to him in order to try to pick him off, but you know, that just didn't happen today.

Q. Is there any sense, it was a foregone conclusion, but getting into the top 30 and getting over that hump, is there any relief for you and the team that you don't have to worry about that?
KYLE BUSCH: Yeah, no doubt. I think that was some of Adam's worry, too. We couldn't afford running out of gas like we did last week and taking home an even worse finish this week because of how many cars finish on the lead lap typically at a road course. We'd be back in the 30s somewhere. I'm sure that was weighing on Adam's mind on being able to save it and make it to the end and just playing it a little bit more cautious, which is fine. I'm with Adam 100 percent of the way all the time. He's doing a great job right now. We've obviously got some things clicking and he knows what he's doing, so for me to argue that point doesn't make any sense. For us to be in the top 30 right now, that obviously allows us to change our mindset maybe a little bit here going forward. We maybe could have played this race a little bit differently if we were like the 4 car who had absolutely nothing to lose, and lo and behold, they run out and come home third. We run out and come home 21st last week. Just an overall good day for us, though, with our bunch.

Q. Given recent history here, were you guys surprised there was no last yellow on that long run to the finish?
KYLE BUSCH: Yeah, no doubt. I think everybody was. Rodney Childers probably called on the radio like he did last week‑‑ no, it wasn't Rodney, Rodney was gone. Somebody called on the radio last week and said there's a 100 percent chance we're going to have a caution in this last window. I don't know if it's ever 100, but it could be pretty close to that, and today same thing. It was just crazy how we ran all the way to the end like that and nobody had any troubles. A couple cars got off course, I think, but they were all able to recover and keep going.
THE MODERATOR: Kyle, we appreciate your time today.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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