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NASCAR CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES: NEXTERA ENERGY RESOURCES 250February 21, 2014Kyle BuschEric PhillipsDAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA KERRY THARP: Kyle becomes the first driver to win in the ARCA Series, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, the NASCAR Nationwide Series, and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series at Daytona. This also is the eighth straight win for Toyota in the Truck Series. This is Kyle's 36th victory in the Camping World Truck Series. Kyle, this had to be one of the more scintillating ones as it got very, very close down the last few hundred yards. Just talk about maybe the move you made there and did you think you were going to get the win? KYLE BUSCH: Yeah, it was interesting there when we were running on the bottom single file. I didn't know if the outside lane would get to us. Timothy did it earlier in the race and with six to go, Timothy did it again. He had a good push from behind, got to our outside, got down in front of us there. I wasn't sure we were going to be able to ditch that outside lane and have a clear opening for me to be able to make a move like that come three and four coming to the line. You know, all circumstances played out in our favor and it just sort of worked. But coming out of four, I looked up in the mirror and tried to see where the 98 was, see if he was close enough to push me or close enough to just go three wide on the both of us, and it didn't seem like he was. So kind of threw a Hail Mary out there and seen if my truck was faster than the 17, if it would pull up on it a little bit on the straightaway, then I'd duck out and see if I couldn't make up any ground, at least break the plane of his rear bumper start pulling him backwards with a side draft. Luckily it happened, it worked, the timing was good, we made it to the start/finish line first. Just elated. Really a special moment for this team, for myself. Biggest win for KBM, I believe. Little bit of sorrow with our truck driver Woody who is in the hospital tonight. Unfortunately he had issues earlier on yesterday, so he spent the night there last night and may have to spend the night there again tonight. Our thoughts are with him. We'll go over there later and maybe we'll throw the trophy on him and see if he can handle that for the night. KERRY THARP: Eric, talk about this win here with Kyle, starting off the season this way, just getting that victory, close win at the end. ERIC PHILLIPS: Obviously it's Daytona. It's the biggest race of the year for us. To come out here with a win, Kyle has been close. We've been close down here every year we've been here. He's finished second three times or something in six races. It's awful big, especially with this new Toyota, the '14 Tundra. Toyota has put a lot of effort into it, the look and the performance side. Everybody at our shop has worked on this thing for probably the last seven, eight months. It's a big win for us. We probably didn't get all the pieces and parts till the middle of January. To come down here and be as strong as we were with all the Toyotas, come out on top with KBM is really big. KERRY THARP: Questions for Kyle or Eric. Q. Kyle, this is one off the bucket list. Can you take a while and enjoy this or are you looking forward to Saturday and Sunday at this point? KYLE BUSCH: Both, yeah. Certainly we'll cherish this one. It's a big win for KBM, not necessarily just myself. But certainly great for Toyota, as well, too. Having Toyota Care on the truck with us, being in Victory Lane is pretty special. But tomorrow comes another day. We'll get down to business, see if we can't roll out the Nationwide Series. We started the Trifecta already. You got to win the first one to be able to win all of them. We'll see how tomorrow goes, and what we can do there. Believe we have a fast Monster Camry and looking forward to Sunday with M&M Peanut. Know we have a fast car. We screwed some things up in the Duel race, but everything is all right now. Q. Because Tim was the only one that could pull the outside line, would he have been better off staying out there instead of dropping down in front of you? KYLE BUSCH: The inside lane is always so powerful that he could have stayed up there. The outside lane accordions a lot, goes back and forth a little bit. I think it depends on who the second guy is on the outside, if he's a good enough pusher or not. I think Ryan was doing a good enough job of helping Timothy where he could get him up there like that. I don't know who was behind Ryan. Seems like they were trying, they were doing okay, but they weren't quite there like Timothy could do the outside lane. What Timothy was doing I thought was right. He was protecting the both lanes. He was doing the bottom, he was doing the top. When the top would get a run, though, it's not like a Cup car, it's not a slow run. It's a fast run. They're going to knock your rear bumper off if you block them too much. You got to be smart about it. I thought Timothy did everything he needed to do. If anything, he was just a little slow at blocking me to the outside. That was it. Q. Kyle, Timothy was obviously coming in a hurry on the outside. Johnny may have had a chance to slip in front of him and get pushed to the front. How certain were you that Johnny was committed to you or did you not even have time to think about that? KYLE BUSCH: We worked pretty good earlier in the race together. He was behind me. I said before the competition caution, Let's go with two to go, see if we can't make up any ground on the outside and do anything together. He worked with us there. I thought, Okay, he's a pretty good player. Both driving Toyotas, so that helps of course. There at the end, whether he was going to move out of line and go with that outside line or not, he could have, very easily could have, changed the outcome. That would have put a lot of Toyotas up front. Let's say Johnny, Timothy, then I was leading, I think Joe Nemechek was the next one on the inside, then the 88 was the next one on the inside. Could have been a race of five Toyotas up there for sure. That would have made things interesting. He stuck with us. I appreciate the support that he gave to us, staying with our rear bumper, helping what he could there on the last lap. Q. Kyle, at the end you pull out and Timothy starts pushing you toward the wall a little bit. Were you thinking there was no way he was going to back out of it? How far were you willing to go to the wall? What was the end point for you? KYLE BUSCH: I don't know (smiling). I don't know if he knew or if he could feel me already out there and that's why he pulled back down or what. But luckily he did 'cause we were pretty close to the point of where I could hook him, pull a Tony Stewart/Kyle Busch move coming to the checkered. I think that was what, '10 or something. I don't remember. Anyways, you know, you didn't want to have to do those stupid things. I'm just glad it worked out the way it did. I had thought if he was going to block me quicker, like I mentioned, I thought about shooting back to the bottom. By then I think the 98 would have been close enough to give me a help. His air would have pushed me forward sort of like an accordion deal and I might have been able to get by him on the inside. I had a couple ideas lined up, but I didn't have to go through all of them. Q. In that moment, are you thinking about what he's thinking about? Are you saying, I know him, he's probably going to fake me, try to play chicken with me or is it all happening and you're reacting to what's happening in front of you? KYLE BUSCH: Second part. I'm reacting to what he's doing. I wasn't thinking about what Timothy Peters was thinking. That's way too much for me to do. I don't have that much brain power at the end of a race. Just doing what I thought was right. Q. I'm doing a story about Victory Lane, you obviously have quite a bit of experience here in Daytona with that. Can you still remember your first time in Victory Lane here and how did it feel tonight compared to your previous wins? KYLE BUSCH: Yeah, the first time in Victory Lane here at the speedway would have been 2004 in the ARCA race. I think it was one of the last times of the old Victory Lane. I pulled into the old Victory Lane. It was a little quaint, but comfortable. Just didn't matter what size it was, as long as your car and yourself and everybody on your team fit in there. Gary DeHart was my crew chief that day. It was the '87 Ditech car I was running for Hendrick. We won that race. Just an amazing feeling of being 18 years old, pulling into Victory Lane here in Daytona was pretty awesome. I think my second win here would have been I want to say the Busch Series in '07, the doubleheader in July, I believe it was. Then almost won the next race the same day with McMurray. He beat me like two inches. Then I think I won the July Cup race here in '08. And today the Truck race. It's been pretty cool to win all three of them. I think today was a bigger win because I completed the quadfecta I think it's called. Being able to win all four here in Daytona. Just pretty special. Quad is four, right (laughter)? Pretty special to be able to do that. Which one means the most? They're all special here in Daytona. Come Sunday, that would blow all of them out of the water probably. Q.  Of the four that you won here, was there one that seemed to be more challenging, one that you weren't sure you were going to win till you got there? KYLE BUSCH: I'd say today I wasn't sure I was going to win at all. Even on the last lap, I wasn't sure what was going to happen. I wasn't sure I could make a move and get up alongside the 17. As soon as I broke the plane, I was like, Oh, boy, this might be it. I hope there's not someone below the 17 because if there's somebody down there they might beat us all to the line. Man, it worked out right. So pretty cool to win this one. I thought I was really going to win the summer of '10 or '11, then I almost ended up on my lid, so that one didn't go so well. Q. You used a pretty spectacular move to win the race tonight. It still seems to bother people for whatever reason. Why do you think it is? Is it because it's you or it's you in the Truck Series? KYLE BUSCH: Why people are mad? Q. Yes. KYLE BUSCH: Yeah, I mean, it's me in the Truck Series. People don't like it. I'm stealing candy from a baby. Till the rules are changed or everybody else grows up and can beat me, then we're racing, so... Q. But you didn't spank the field. KYLE BUSCH: No. Q. You used a move. It's not like you just dominated and crushed the field. KYLE BUSCH: Right. Q. In my opinion, this is a little bit different and you really put on a spectacular show at the very end. I don't get why the rage tonight. KYLE BUSCH: Oh, there's rage every night, in case you haven't noticed (smiling). Q. Are you okay with that? KYLE BUSCH: Yeah. There's a block button for a reason, so there you have it. I don't care. I just do what I'm supposed to do. I have a Truck team for a reason. If I didn't drive it in some races, it wouldn't be in existence. I appreciate the support of Toyota, JGR Engines, Monster Energy. Eric Phillips wouldn't be employed at KBM. He may be somewhere else, but I love having these guys that I have, doing the best we can with them. I'm going to enjoy watching Erik Jones race the truck as well when I'm not in it. Everything in life happens for a reason. Sometimes people aren't happy with the way life treats them. That's their problem. I'm pretty blessed and happy to be where I'm at. I appreciate the things I've got going for me. KERRY THARP: Eric ties Rick Ren tonight for the most wins as a crew chief in the Camping World Truck Series with 28. KYLE BUSCH: Better tell Erik Jones to get up on that wheel there at Martinsville, boy. Q. Kyle, you were in the same position a year ago and you said you had plan for the last lap, but the caution came out. Was tonight's night the move you planned last year? KYLE BUSCH: Somewhat maybe. It just depends on circumstances, how all that was going to line up off of turn four. But the thing about last year was, yeah, we weren't able to make it back to the checkered. I don't really know anything I'm going to do till I do it. So you just have to kind of play it out as it happens. It depends on what's going on behind you. If a guy behind you pushes up, gets to your rear bumper, if he's too far back, can't help you pass that guy in front of you. There's so many things that you're thinking, going through your mind. It's amazing the neutrons moving along in your brain that make you do stupid things. But it happens all for a reason sometimes. Last year wasn't my year. This year was. So it's cool. KERRY THARP: Kyle and Eric, congratulations on the win here tonight and the start of the season, obviously the start of the weekend. Continued best of luck the rest of the weekend. KYLE BUSCH: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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