Among all those wins at all those tracks, one stop on the circuit seems to be a cut above the rest for the M&M’S driver when looking at the overalls statistics – Richmond (Va.) International Raceway, site of Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400.
A quick look at the stat sheet at Richmond for Busch, driver of the No. 18 M&M’S Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR), can easily make the case he is most consistent at the .75-mile short track in Virginia’s capital city. Along with four series wins there, Busch has amassed 15 top-five finishes and 17 top-10s in 23 career starts at Richmond.
Additionally, the Las Vegas native has an average finishing position of 7.0 at Richmond, tops among active drivers. Next best is Kevin Harvick, whose average finish there is 8.2. Busch has completed all but one of the 9,223 laps available to him in his 23 Richmond starts. Of those laps completed, Busch has run in the top-15 for 8,139 laps, or 88.2 percent, which is second-most among active drivers.
Sunday afternoon, Busch and the M&M’S team look to get back to victory lane, where Busch ended up after four consecutive spring-race wins from 2009 to 2012, besting Richard Petty’s previous record of three Richmond spring-race wins in a row from 1971 to 1973. Last April, Busch almost brought home his fifth Richmond win, but teammate Carl Edwards bumped and slipped past the defending Cup Series champion on the last lap. With those impressive statistics and records to back him up, it’s little wonder that a visit to the “Capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia” is one of Busch’s favorite stops on the NASCAR tour.
So, as the series heads back to Richmond for the first time this season, Busch and the M&M’S team look to bring home their fifth career win there. Whether or not they make it back to victory lane, history has shown they’ll be anything but average, and they’ll be the driver and team everyone will be on the lookout for.
KYLE BUSCH, Driver of the No. 18 M&M'S Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing:
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 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.”
Why is Joe Gibbs Racing so strong at Richmond?
“I think a lot of it comes from Denny (Hamlin), being that it’s his home track. I’ve been good there in Hendrick and JGR cars. But Denny and I really feed off each other an awful lot at Richmond. We use each other a ton there, just to be sure we can beat the rest of the competition, of course. We do like similar setups there, unlike some other places we run. Richmond is one of those places where we both know what it takes to get around and we’re both similar to one another in that we both run well. Matt (Kenseth) has only added to our information there and, with Carl (Edwards) on board the last couple of years, he was a guy who was very good over the years there, as well.”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. This place is an attack-type race track 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. This place isn’t quite like that. With the day race now versus night at Richmond in the fall, I think it’s kind of the same play as any race. Sometimes nighttime just feeds itself with not as much grip and makes it to where the bottom is the preferred lane and 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. It’s just a matter of trying to put on the best show for the fans. They’re the ones that pay their hard-earned money to watch us race and we want to make sure we do our best. I think that’s a lot of the consideration to how many day races there are compared to night races, but still I think you need to have your fair share of night races, for sure.”
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.”
.@KyleBusch back in the @mmschocolate #Camry this weekend @RIRInsider! #NASCAR #TOYOTAOWNERS400 pic.twitter.com/ZXVOlwJVTF— Joe Gibbs Racing (@JoeGibbsRacing) April 26, 2017
Team Release
Related Posts:
- In Their Words: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Rick Hendrick on Retirement (3)
- Navy F-18’s to Perform Flyover for TOYOTA OWNERS 400 at Richmond International Raceway
- In Their Words: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Rick Hendrick on Retirement (2)
- Checkered Flag 5K and Kids Fun Run at Richmond International Raceway
- In Their Words: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Rick Hendrick on Retirement (1)
No comments:
Post a Comment