Same attitude, whole new team

By Brian Hilderbrand

Friday, Feb. 1, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Kyle Busch has been called — by friends and detractors alike — one of the most talented drivers in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series garage.

At 22, Busch literally has grown up on the national motor sports stage. He made his debut in NASCAR’s Truck Series at the age of 16 and graduated from Durango High School a year early (and with honors) to concentrate on his racing career.

He has won four races in NASCAR’s elite Cup Series, 11 in the Busch Series (now called the Nationwide Series) and six more in the Truck Series. Yet for all of his success on the track, Busch joins his older brother, Kurt, as one of the two most disliked drivers by fans from Daytona to Fontana.

He has made mistakes, he admits, and his brash attitude has rubbed fans and competitors the wrong way. After winning a race last year at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway in what was the first race for the “Car of Tomorrow,” Busch used his post-race interview to blast what he perceived as the inadequacies of the new car. His tirade reportedly angered and embarrassed his team owner at the time, Rick Hendrick, who later announced he was dumping Busch for the 2008 season and signing Dale Earnhardt Jr.

This season, Busch begins a new chapter in his young career as he joins the Joe Gibbs Racing stable to drive the No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Busch took time out from a test session this week at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to talk with the media about his past, present and future.

Q: How difficult has it been growing up in the spotlight and having to mature with millions of people watching you?

Well, it’s different, you know, growing up not as a normal guy or a normal person having to go to work every day. My jobs are on Sunday and on TV, so it’s definitely different. It’s something that you take for granted sometimes, but you try not to. The thing you do is just to make the best of the situation you possibly can and when there’s stuff going wrong or there’s stuff going haywire, you try to calm it down and weather the storm, per se. I’ve been getting better at that.

Do you plan to change your attitude off the track now that you’re at Joe Gibbs Racing?

My attitude’s pretty much the same — to go out there, to do my best, to win as many races as I can, to lead as many laps as I can, and to go after the championship, ultimately. The other side of things, as far as the off-track stuff, is just about trying to make some friends and throw out some M&Ms, of course, this year and some Snickers and whatnot, but to also help out with some (charity) stuff and do a little bit more with that.

When you go out and do your charity work, what surprises people most about you once they get to know you?

Some of them see what I’m like on TV or what I’m perceived as in the media and stuff and I get there and I’m hanging out with them and they’re like, “Who are you again? This isn’t exactly what we expected.” It brightens my day a little bit, makes me feel a little bit better that people can sense and see who you are, so it makes it cool.

How has it been working with your new teammates at Joe Gibbs Racing? Has the communication been any different from what you experienced at Hendrick Motorsports?

Well, the communication has been awesome. It’s been really, really great between not only myself and Denny (Hamlin), but of course Tony (Stewart) as well. It’s been cool because Denny and I, we’re real close friends and it’s easy to talk back and forth with them. I’m not saying that it’s a challenge, but I knew the harder part was going to be to get Tony involved a little bit more and stuff like that and he’s been great, too.

Of course my guys, we’ve been communicating all the time. Steve (Addington, my crew chief) and I haven’t stopped talking to each other or texting each other at night and stuff so we’re back and forth all the time. I think it’s just going to benefit the organization more to have us that close together.

Last year, you led a ton of laps but had a tough time finishing that and getting into victory lane. How frustrating was that?

Last year, there were a lot of times where I made the mistakes and yet the team stuck behind me and then the team made mistakes and I stuck behind them. We did what we needed to do, especially in the tough circumstances when I was leaving the race team. This year it’s all going to be different. It’s a whole new team, it’s a whole new process of learning those guys on pit road and them learning me. I can’t wait to get going and get down to Daytona.

Do you see this season shaping up as a Toyota vs. Hendrick Motorsports situation because the Toyotas look like they’re going to be strong this year?

It’s probably going to be the Joe Gibbs vs. Hendrick Motorsports arena here. There are still great race teams out there like Evernham, like Childress, like Roush and those guys and they’re going to be right there, too. They’re going to be fast and they’re going to want to take the spotlight away from us, too. We’ll see how all that plays out, but all I can do is go out there and worry about myself and my No. 18 M&M’s Toyota team and try to kick some butt.