By Jerry Jordan, Editor
BRISTOL, Tenn. – Kyle Busch already had two wins on the season, so his big brother, Kurt, wasn’t worried that family time over the upcoming Easter break might be a little tense had he successfully tagged the rear bumper of the No. 18 Toyota as he intended – he was chasing a win.
“I wanted to be closer to my little brother to wreck him on the last lap because I thought I would have,” Kurt Busch, said with all seriousness even though he was smiling. “He’s already got wins this year and he would have figured it out. I just slipped up with about three laps to go, I couldn’t quite hang getting into Turn 1. This is my favorite track. We almost won but we know we’re still wanting some more.
“I told him how frustrated I was and that I was going to wreck him, he said ‘oh really, that’s great,’ and I said, “Yes, I was.”
Busch said it was a good run the No. 1 Monster Energy Chevrolet, something he didn’t feel the same way about on Friday when he had a disastrous qualifying run that forced him to start Sunday’s Food City 500 from the 27th position. In a very terse media interaction following his elimination during Friday’s first round of qualifying, Busch repeated the same statement, “The car was loose, we didn’t get a good time. I did one lap, that’s all I got.”
However, following his runner-up Bristol finish, Busch opened up a little more and explained that his team needs to work on the early part of race weekend because they have been able to pull things together on race day. And getting the win Sunday would have added to the six wins he already has at Bristol.
“Qualifying has been a disaster and I can’t lean on my right rear tire and we’ve go to fix that,” Busch said. “When we do that, we’ll restart better, too.”
Busch said he takes some momentum with him into next week at Richmond Raceway and is happy that his team is coming together. It’s Busch’s first year in the No. 1 car at Chip Ganassi Racing and despite a few struggles, he said the team is working together to overcome adversity.
“I just have to thank all my guys for the hard work and just filtering through the information,” he said. “It’s our first time going to all these tracks together and another Top 5 is a great result but there has to be that point where we are clicking on all 8-cylinders and nailing it.”
During his post-race interviews, the younger Busch laughed at the idea he had a target on his back and said he explained that now he knows what he has to do when he is running second behind him in the future. It’s something you can’t do because now, he knows what’s going to happen, so he has to be proactive.
“He told me in Victory Lane and I told him,” Kyle Busch joked. “I was like, you can’t tell people that you are going to wreck them before you do it, because when roles are reversed, that person is going to wreck you’ve already told them that you were going to wreck them. So, I guess if I am ever running second to Kurt I am going to wreck him.
“I am glad it didn’t turn out that way and he couldn’t get to me because I certanly wouldn’t want to be in that situation.”