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| Kyle Busch has finished third or better in past six races, won last two. |
What are your thoughts going into Richmond this weekend?
“I’m looking forward to Richmond. We’ve kind of lost a little bit of what our handle was there a few years ago when we were really good. More rule changes to create parity takes away advantages from other teams and that kind of knocked us back a little bit. We haven’t quite figured out what it takes to get some of that back. We’ve been third to sixth to seventh there the last two or three years, so the last six times. Hopefully, we can get a little bit better and I know (Matt) Kenseth was really good there a few springs ago and that was under the lights, and we’re going back under the lights, so that should be a little different feel for that race. We’ve got the M&M’S Flavor Vote scheme on our car this weekend and hoping fans get a chance to try all three flavors – Crunchy Espresso, Crunchy Raspberry and Crunchy Mint – and get on social media to vote with a hashtag for their favorite. Of course, hoping we can put the M&M’S Toyota in victory lane at the Toyota Owner’s 400 and make it three wins in a row, as well.”
What does it take to get around Richmond?
“Richmond is getting a little trickier, it seems like, just with the asphalt kind of getting older and the way the cars are. The consensus at Richmond is, of course, just trying to get your car to turn, but also having really good forward bite. You have to be able to get off the corners at Richmond. You have to have good brakes, as well, and be able to turn the center. All of it correlates. Everything you want as a racecar driver, you’ve got to have most all of it and, if you don’t, then you better hope you have more forward bite than the rest of them. That’s sort of the equation of Richmond. It’s a fun place to race. It’s really cool. As a driver, you wish it could widen out and give you more options of being able to run around in different grooves, but it hasn’t shown us that the last couple of years. We’re hoping to get our M&M’S Flavor Vote Camry back to form there. We were very good last spring, but we’d like to get another victory there, for sure.”
What is it about Richmond that suits your driving style?
“I love Richmond. It’s one of my favorite racetracks and one of my best racetracks. I love being able to go there and, of course, we put on some pretty good races there. We won four spring races in a row and I would have loved to have made it five or more. It’s a neat racetrack and it’s certainly an excitement track and there is a lot of action that happens there.”
Can you compare Bristol and Richmond?
“There’s really no comparison between racetracks, honestly, because Charlotte, Texas, Atlanta – they all look the same from overhead, but they all drive not even close to the same. Richmond and Bristol are more than oil and water, more than day and night. Bristol is an attacktype racetrack yet, when you attack, you can get yourself in trouble. Richmond is a very methodical racetrack and you have to be very – you’re very on edge there all the time, especially corner entry, getting into the corners. You’re always loose there and you have to be able to be loose there in order to carry the speed through the middle and have good drive off. We’re back to two night races at Richmond again and sometimes nighttime just feeds itself with not as much grip and makes it to where the bottom is the preferred lane. Daytime allows the racetrack to widen out and be hotter where, on a cooler racetrack, you’re looking for where the rubber is for at least a little while until the whole track rubbers in, and then you have to go back to the bottom, anyway.”
Do you enjoy the atmosphere at Richmond?
“I think the coolest thing about Richmond is the atmosphere they have there with all the fans really getting into it. People love coming there and supporting that racetrack. It’s been around for a long time. It’s a fast racetrack. It’s only a three-quarter-mile oval but it has really high speeds that makes it fun for us drivers and makes excitement that’s fun for a fan. Martinsville is a short track and it’s slow, but Richmond is pretty quick.”
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