LAS VEGAS – Kyle Busch, driving the No. 18 NOS Energy Drink Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing, won the Boyd Gaming 300 on Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Daniel Suarez finished second and Erik Jones finish third to give Toyota Racing a clean sweep on the podium.
Here is what Busch had to say during the post-race press conference after the race.
How does it feel to win an XFINITY race at Las Vegas?
“We were worried about fuel, but more so we more so worried about (Daniel) Suarez. He was on me there at the end, he was really, really fast. I can’t say enough about all these guys, everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing prepares some really fast Camrys and this NOS Energy Drink Camry was the best. It felt really, really good. I wish for as good as we were at the beginning of the race in the beginning of the run and end of the run, I was hoping we’d have some long run speed there at the end. Just wasn’t showing. Suarez was definitely faster than us when he got clean track. If roles were reversed, he would have been pulling away from me and I wasn’t going to be able to catch him. All in all just a great day for us in one-two-three and for me to get a victory here in my home town, check one off the list – that’s pretty awesome.”
What does it feel like to get a win at your home town track?
“It’s awesome that they have always supported racing out here in Vegas. Fans have always supported the Bullring and then fans that always come out here to Las Vegas Motor Speedway. I love it and wouldn’t want to be doing anything else, so I’m glad they are out here supporting all of us, including myself and hopefully they’re buying some NOS here tonight.”
What does it mean to get your first NXS victory at Las Vegas?
“Certainly it was really cool to have the opportunity to win here. I’ve had many opportunities in the past or have come up short and haven’t quite had the day we’ve needed to get it done. Today, this weekend with Chris Gayle (crew chief) and everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing, they’ve been building some really good stuff. JGR Engines are fast as well, too. The NOS Energy Drink Camry was really good and I just can’t say enough about them and the work that goes into everything makes my job look easy. Today was pretty special to finally get a win here in my hometown and check that off the list. Really excited about that and being able to accomplish that and one last that is on the list is Watkins Glen and before that we have many more. Next week is another one we want to go out there and try to score a victory.”
What does it mean to extend the NXS record as the all-time lap leader with 16,084 laps led?
“Cool, I find out a lot of milestones after they happen. I’m not one that looks at them and sees what happens. Being the winningest driver, that happened a while ago. I think that was 2011. I’m getting old, I better quit (laughter). It’s just a unique opportunity for me to be in great equipment that I am in with Joe Gibbs Racing and Chris Gayle (crew chief) and all the guys. We come out here and try to perform and do our jobs. Our job is to come out here and win. We not only win for ourselves, but we win for our partners like NOS Energy Drink and our team and everyone back at Joe Gibbs Racing. The amount of laps led that we’ve had over the years has been a lot, being up front that much is pretty cool, but it’s been more fun to lead at Bristol because they go by in 15 seconds, so you can count them up pretty quick versus a road course or something like that. All in all, that’s a big number.”
Have you spoken with Daniel Suarez or Erik Jones after the race?
“I saw Daniel (Suarez), he came to victory lane and he congratulated us, the whole team as well as myself. I told him, ‘Man, that was all I had. Those last 10 laps, that was everything I could give.’ He was faster than us, he was gaining and he was closing. It seemed like my car could get through traffic a little bit better than him and then we were single file running lap time to lap time he could be a little bit faster than me. I was just a little too tight there at the end of the race. He was really loose in traffic around other cars. That’s the kind of thing you play with, it’s actually pretty unique where my car was tight enough and I was really good in traffic and he was free enough he could pass by himself. We kind of played a little bit of a cat and mouse game there towards the end there. The closer you get towards the checkered flag, lap cars tend to give more leeway for the leaders and that might have helped Daniel gain on us a little more where my advantage in the middle of the race where lap cars don’t give way sort of went away.”
Was this your biggest NXS win of your career, doing so in your hometown?
“No, probably not. I think this race is a big one, but I’d have to put it right up there with the Brickyard and being able to win at the Brickyard last year with Chris (Gayle, crew chief) and my guys with the 54 car, but also to sweep that weekend and win the Cup race the next day, that was a little bit sweeter and so much cooler. Maybe then this one, unless I win tomorrow and maybe we’ll talk about it again and see which one is cooler. Certainly the Brickyard has a little bit more history around it than Vegas does. For me, this is right up there with the top-two or top-three.”
What do you think about Daniel Suarez and his ability to learn on the race track?
“Daniel (Suarez) is one of the guys that probably calls me, talks to me more than any of the other drivers I’ve helped come up through the ranks. He always wants to learn, always wants to get better, always wants to get better and know what he’s missing in order to be better. I give him an A for effort, he certainly does everything he’s supposed to do to try to get better. I think he’s just getting more and more opportunities running the XFINITY cars and running the Trucks to be able to put that to good use on the race track and show that he has good skill. Obviously today they had a really good car like we did. He was able to know what he wanted in his race car to get through traffic versus being by himself and he was better than us when it came down to clean air. He’s obviously done a good job. I think one of the things that I think is most impressive if I remember back to the restart there, he fell back to maybe fourth or fifth and then mustard his way back up to second and chased me down. He certainly had some good speed and did a good job passing race cars to get to second and then again having to deal with lapped traffic. A-plus for effort, for sure.”
Transcript provide courtesy of Toyota Racing. Photos courtesy of NASCAR and Getty Images.
