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| Kyle Busch is the 6/1 co-favorite to win at Brickyard. |
But just one year after adding his name to the list of winners of one of NASCAR’s crown jewel events, Busch will hope to become only the second driver to win back-to-back Brickyard 400s at Indianapolis. The only other driver to do so, six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson, accomplished the feat in 2008 and 2009, becoming the first and only driver to win two in a row at Indianapolis.
Busch, driver of the No. 18 Skittles Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR), is determined to join Johnson as a back-to-back winner at Indianapolis in Sunday’s Brickyard 400. In fact, there are also very few winners of multiple Brickyard 400s in the race’s 22-year history. Just four drivers reside on that list, and Busch, who loves being a part of history, would love to add his name. He would join multiple Brickyard 400 winners Jeff Gordon, who scored his wins in 1994, 1998, 2001, 2004, and 2014); Johnson the 2006, 2008, 2009, and 2012 winner; Tony Stewart, who won in 2005 and 2007, and Dale Jarrett, who won in 1996 and 1999.
While Busch has an impressive nine top-10 finishes in 11 starts at Indianapolis for an average finish of 9.7 – second among active drivers – he has always been a front-runner there. But until he led the final 19 laps in last year’s race, Busch had led just 42 laps there prior to 2015. Busch was finally able to get over the hump and into victory lane by outlasting Kevin Harvick in the closing laps of last year’s event to secure his first Brickyard 400 win. In addition to his strong Sprint Cup record at Indianapolis, he also has two wins and three top-five finishes in the four Xfinity Series races he’s contested at Indianapolis thus far.
Sunday’s race at Indianapolis also marks the return of the popular, red Skittles paint scheme for the No. 18 Toyota. Along with Busch’s hopes of kissing the famed Yard of Bricks yet again Sunday afternoon – a tradition for the winning driver and his team at the century-old speedway – fans will also be able to “Taste the Rainbow” one more time this season as the Skittles car will be on track in September at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois. Busch, who counts Green Apple Skittles among his personal favorite, already competed in the red Skittles scheme at Phoenix International Raceway and Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway this past spring.
So it goes without saying, now that Busch got a “Taste of the Bricks” one year ago, he would like nothing more than to repeat his win and again enjoy the taste of Skittles along the famous “Yard of Bricks” once again.
KYLE BUSCH, Driver of the No. 18 Skittles Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing:
Is it still important to a driver that, before you leave NASCAR, you win a Daytona 500, Southern 500 and Brickyard 400?
“It is. It certainly was for us last year. I think that, for myself and the 18 team, winning there (at Indianapolis Motor Speedway) with Skittles last year was pretty awesome because it was our first Brickyard 400 win for me, and for Adam (Stevens) as a crew chief, although he won there as an engineer a couple of times. It was really special as a whole team and they treat it very special there, as well, with the whole ceremony post-race and everything that goes on there with taking the ride around the track and the owner being with you – J.D. (Gibbs) was there last year. That was pretty cool. It is a big deal. I feel like it is for us. For our team, we circle it on the calendar every year – that’s one we want to win. We always circle the Daytona 500, the Coke 600, the All-Star Race, the Brickyard 400, the Southern 500 and Homestead. There’s probably a couple more in there that you want to win, such as any one race within each round of the Chase. You want to win any of those to get yourselves locked in and moving on to the next round just to solidify your chances for being able to win a championship. But, it’s obviously a big race and I guess it still pays pretty decent, so you might as well win it.”
What makes the Indianapolis Motor Speedway so special for you as a driver?
“I think the biggest thing about the Brickyard is the prestige, the track’s history and quality of racing – all the historic finishes it’s had over the years, whether it has been IndyCar or NASCAR. To me, it’s a special place to go to because of its heritage of being Indianapolis. Every guy in NASCAR and, especially every guy in IndyCar, they want to win there. Getting our Skittles Camry to victory lane there two years in a row would be special for a lot of reasons.”
What’s your favorite Brickyard 400 moment from either watching or participating over the years that didn’t involve yourself?
“I think my favorite moment from over the years, besides our win there, was probably the first one. I just remember Jeff Gordon being my favorite driver. It was his second full-time season in 1994 and he went to victory lane there in the inaugural race. I think that was pretty cool and pretty special for someone who grew up being a fan of Jeff Gordon.”
What does it mean to you to race at Indianapolis?
“Indianapolis is a really cool place. It’s got a lot of history. I know the history is not all NASCAR – most of it is IndyCar – but it’s one of America’s oldest speedways. The prestige of winning there is a big deal. It’s a unique place to race. If you are back in traffic, it’s a little more frustrating because it can be hard to pass there. But, if you have a fast racecar, being able to cut the middle and get down the long, fast straightaways is important there. We’ve run well there the past couple of times. We haven’t qualified well, though, and I think we need to focus on qualifying when we get there and, if we can do that, we will be a heck of a lot better off for the race with our Skittles Camry.”
What does it take to be successful at Indianapolis?
“Indianapolis is probably one of the trickiest places we go to on the schedule – Pocono being one, Darlington being one, Indy being another. It’s so hard to find a particular line that really, really works for you, or really works for your car, because the groove is so narrow. It’s plenty wide for one or one-and-a-half cars but, the line you run around there, you vary 6 inches and it feels so different. You really have to be particular in hitting your marks and getting your car set up. The way it changes throughout the weekend, going from practice, when there’s not much rubber on the racetrack, and then to the race, with a lot of rubber on the racetrack – the trajectory of the corners changes. How wide do you enter the corner? How long do you stay out? How sharp do you turn down? Indy’s definitely a particular racetrack and it’s exciting for us all to go there, especially with the history there and the prestige of winning that event. I’d love nothing more than to win there again on Sunday with my Skittles Camry.”
What is it about Indianapolis Motor Speedway that makes it unique compared to other tracks the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series visits?
“It’s very tight down the straightaways. You roll through (turns) one and two and there are people on the inside, there are people on the outside, there are people in the grass, just sitting along the back straightaway on the inside. You’ve got the golf course there, and fans sitting on the hills underneath the trees. You start back up into turn three, with the grandstands going around (turns) three and four, and then down the frontstretch and, again, there are two tunnels. There’s a tunnel at the (turns) one and two side, and on the (turns) three and four side. There’s a center road that runs all the way through and then, coming down the frontstretch again, looking on both sides of you, you’ve got the pit road, which is really narrow and really tight, and the grandstands on the inside and the outside. So, you’re going down a ‘V’ of just people – a sea of people. Coming to the Pagoda and the media center, the way it is, and of course the scoring pylon being as tall as it is, you come down there and, if you’re leading the race, sometimes you can’t see that high, so you’re kind of wondering who is second and third, or who is behind you. It stinks when you’re running in the back because you can see yourself (car number) right there.”
- True Speed Communication for M&M’s Racing/Joe Gibbs Racing
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