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NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES: FORD ECOBOOST 400

November 20, 2016

Kyle Busch

Homestead, Florida

THE MODERATOR: We're joined now by the driver of No. 18 M&M's Toyota, Kyle Busch. Kyle, very interesting end to tonight's race. Talk to us a little bit about that.
KYLE BUSCH: Yeah, it certainly was. We had a few moments there throughout the day that we thought we were kind of on the outside looking in and didn't really see a very good shot of winning it, and then all of a sudden it seemed like we had a really good shot to win the thing. We were up front and kind of driving away from those guys behind us, then Carl got back to me and then passed me, and we were out of it again.
All in all, we fought hard tonight. We gave it everything we had. We didn't come in here with the greatest race car today, but we knew that we had enough of a one that we could run with those guys, and we showed that when the lights came on.
The M&M's team and Adam Stevens and all these guys made some great calls, great adjustments all night long, kept us in the game, and there on the last couple restarts, just didn't quite go our way. I'm not sure how we were third or whether we were fourth or whatever. Certainly gave Johnson, I guess, a better lane there, and I didn't get the best of restarts on that one second from the end, and Logano got a really good one and drove right up through the middle and got to my quarter and got me really tight, then really loose, then sucked me backwards and got me alongside a couple other guys. Then there was a spin and a caution behind us, and from there we knew that we weren't going to be able to go back and out‑race those guys in front of us because Logano had better tires than we did.
But came, tried to get tires on the thing, and everybody else had pitted the previous time. So it just set us too far back. We were able to persevere there from 13th or whatever it was back up to sixth, I guess. So all things considered, we had a really good run tonight, just not good enough.

Q. Kyle, the restart after you pitted, was the fact you didn't get a good restart there a consequence of you being back in the traffic, or was it Logano coming through or all of the above?
KYLE BUSCH: We didn't pit on that one. What are you getting at?

Q. When you pitted, and you talked about you didn't get the best restart‑‑
KYLE BUSCH: No, that restart I restarted fine. That's the one that Carl and Logano wrecked.

Q. But when you started back in the pack was it a consequence of there being a lot of traffic around, Joey came through?
KYLE BUSCH: So we pitted, and we had a restart where I restarted sixth on the outside, and Logano and Carl were on the inside, and Jimmie, I think, was right behind them, as well, too. And those guys crashed and I got clear of Jimmie, I guess, getting into 1, and then when the caution came out, that gave me third. So then the next restart we were still out there on one corner tires, but I just didn't get the best of restarts right there on that one, and you don't on the inside. I was third, so I restarted behind the 4. We had to wait for the 42 to go. Johnson timed it well enough with the 42 to kind of get his jump, and Logano timed it however he did from behind me, I don't know, I didn't see that, and got shot right through the middle of my two teammates that were behind me, the 20 and the 11, and then just got to my quarter, getting off into Turn 1 and just got me real tight, then real loose just being real close to me.

Q. Today was really unusual in that you, Carl and Joey at one time were‑‑ you kind of had it, and then it kind of got away, then you had it, and it got away. Jimmie never got really involved into it until 10 laps to go. Have you ever remembered a day emotionally like that that you're aware, that things came and went so quickly and so surprisingly?
KYLE BUSCH: Yeah, it was certainly up and down, but I just tried to keep an even head and know that there's something else coming, you know? You're just not sure which, so you've just got to make sure that you keep focusing on what you're doing and what's ahead and what's going on in that moment.
When we had that long run when I got in front of the 19 and the 22 there and we kind of checked out on them, I thought we were going to be in a really good spot, and we had 47 laps to go or 55, whatever it was. I thought we got a big enough gap there that I could stay out there and stay in front of the 19, but he ran me down. He was really fast and he passed me and put him back in the lead.
But yeah, you're right, when I looked in my mirror all night, only early on in the night when the sun was still out did I see the 48 in my mirror, and every time we drove away from him on the long runs.
Crazy that they were never really in the game, but there they are all of a sudden every chance they get. They get in the right time or the right lane or have a good restart or just do the things they need to do, and they make the most of it.

Q. It was an intense affair, and obviously we're not race car drivers, so we don't know what's going through your mind, but when Carl caught you there, was Richmond at all in the back of your mind, or was it completely out of your mind, you're just focusing on the task at hand?
KYLE BUSCH: No, I was just focusing on the task at hand. There's plenty of room, plenty of lanes, plenty of opportunities that he didn't have to do any of that stuff, so it didn't bother me.

Q. Could you see what happened with Edwards and Logano, and what did you think of that? And is it also kind of surreal that Johnson isn't there all day virtually until the end of this thing?
KYLE BUSCH: Yeah, I didn't see what happened with the contact with the 22 and the 19 because as I was on the outside. I saw the 19 go down the block, and they went out of my peripheral. I couldn't see them anymore, and then all I heard was caution, and I didn't see those guys come off of 2 in my mirror.
That was pretty interesting. It was really, really crazy that then we had that red flag and we all kind of sat there, and then Logano and those guys sixth on back, I guess, they came in and pitted and put tires on. We had one straightaway on our tires and they came in and put tires on in order to go back out, and they just blitzed right up through the middle there and got to us before we even got to Turn 1. So that kind of just killed it and ruined our race.
But yeah, the 48, as I said before, they were nowhere all day, and just kind of ran around, I don't know, probably, I'd guess sixth, but never really showed their hand at all and didn't really show any speed, never really led in the laps until the last one, and that's the only one that really matters.
THE MODERATOR: Kyle, congratulations on a great season, and we look forward to seeing you in 2017.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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