NASCAR CUP SERIES: M&M'S FAN APPRECIATION 400

July 24, 2022

Kyle Busch

Pit Lane Interview

Q. Kyle Busch led the most laps with 63, had a dominant race car through the middle but didn't quite have enough to beat the 11 there late. What more did you need?

KYLE BUSCH: We were trending loose there that run where the 1 car was trailing me and keeping up with me. Figured that was our hindrance, and we snuck it up a little bit and overjumped it too far and was just way tight that whole last run.

When the 1 and the 11 were out in front of us, I was falling back from those guys, so we were lucky to get a couple cautions there, lucky to keep pace like we did there at the end to the 11. We didn't have a shot there. We were just too tight.

I hate it that didn't adjust right or didn't call something right there, but thanks to all my guys. Appreciate Ben and everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing for what they do, all the work, all the hard work, the Toyota Camry I get to drive.

M&M's, being the Fan Appreciation 400, this was somethings special. We wanted to go out and honor all of our associates, honor all of them. Come up one spot short qualifying, one spot short in the race. So that's definitely frustrating, and hate it for all them, too, but we'll go next week, I guess.

Q. What can you learn from a day like today where maybe it's just that one adjustment that takes you out of being the winning car?

KYLE BUSCH: Yeah. If we left it alone, there was too many laps to go, we would have trended loose and probably lost it loose.

I don't know, we need to go back to the setup sheets and look and see what maybe was different in the 11 and their adjustments that allowed them to be just that much a tick better at the end, but man, we're talking half tenths. It's all so close.

Here at a racetrack like Pocono, if you're not a half a second faster than the guy in front of you anyway, you're going to have a hard time passing him regardless.

Even if we would have had a tenth or a tenth and a half better than them at the end of the race and ran up to him and caught to him, I don't know that I would have been able to maneuver around him.