Kyle Busch says team has exceeded its own expectations in 2008
NEW YORK - With a series-high eight wins this season, Kyle Busch seems to be the odds-on favorite to win the 2008 Sprint Cup Series title.
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver has won on intermediate tracks, restrictor-plate tracks, road courses and nearly won on two short tracks.
He’s led laps seemingly at will on occasion and has at times been downright dominant.
But success during NASCAR’s 26-race regular season doesn’t necessarily guarantee the same measure of success in the 10-race Chase For The Sprint Cup that begins with this Sunday's Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Busch is well aware of that. Still, the first-year JRG driver isn’t losing any sleep over how he’ll fare in the Chase – even if he is a popular choice to claim his first Cup crown. In his mind, he and his team have already exceeded their own personal expectations for this season.
“I’m not really putting any pressure on myself, but I think a lot of other people are expecting us to win the championship [because of] how we’ve run this year,” Busch said during Wednesday's Chase media day in New York City. “But to us, this year was supposed to be a building year. Being a part of Joe Gibbs Racing, just joining Joe Gibbs Racing and working with [crew chief] Steve Addington and Joe Gibbs Racing just joining Toyota, this was all supposed to be a building year in getting ready for next year and going after the championship then, but things have come along really, really fast, and it’s happening this year.
“So we can only go out there and run as well as our cars will allow us to run and be as good as we can be, and whatever we’re given that day, we’ll have to take, and hopefully it’s good enough.”
Busch, who spent his first three Cup seasons in the No. 5 car of Hendrick Motorsports, stepped into a ride this season that hadn’t won a race since 2003 with Bobby Labonte. Prior to this season, Busch himself had just four wins over his three years at Hendrick where his Cup career began full time in 2005.
At JRG he teamed up with Addington, a crew chief with no prior experience as a Cup pit boss, and joined an organization that switched from Chevrolet to Toyota for the 2008 season. That chemistry and success came so quickly was a surprise to the Busch.
Even if the Las Vegas native doesn't win the championship this season, the year won't be a total loss, he says.
“It’s been a great season, and we’ve had a lot of success this year and really we thought it was going to be a building year,” said Busch, who opens the Chase with a 30-point lead over second-place Carl Edwards. “We thought this year was going to be the year to come out and build our relationship. … Everything has just been kind of thrown together, and we’ve been here to compete for the championship. So it would obviously be great to win the championship. It’d be very gratifying. … But still, you know, there’s plenty
more years that we can look forward to being able to have this much success, hopefully.”
How many more years does Busch have to compete for championships? The 23-year-old says he hopes to race until he is at least 40. And he smirked at the notion that he is already in the prime of his career.
“I’m 23 years old. I hope I still have 17 more years left here,” he said. “I’m hoping I’m not hitting my prime or if I am, then I’m hoping my prime is about 16 years long.
“You’d always like to do well every year, but, I mean, looking at it, 17 more years, that’s a lot more years to try to win championships, so there’s plenty of opportunities that will arise in the future. Hopefully, this is the first of many.”
