Kyle Busch (Ronda Greer Photo)

Are you going to be running Nationwide and Craftsman Truck Series events this year?  "It's going to be a busy year - we've got the whole cup schedule which is obviously priority with the M&M's Toyota - but we've also got the Nationwide Camry with Joe Gibbs Racing as well as Braun Racing.  So it's a busy year there and then of course I'm racing in the Craftsman Truck Series as well.  We're going to run races with Billy Ballew Motorsports and we're still looking for sponsorship for that deal there.  I don't have anything but a Tundra on that one.  It's going to be fun though I'm looking forward to it and it's going to be a busy year and a hard year, but the more track time you get the better is what I always say."

How did you begin racing for Billy Ballew Motorsports?  "The connection is pretty much through Richie Wauters, he is the crew chief on that deal.  A few years ago I raced in his late model cars, a short track program.  Richie was at the Snowball Derby and we kind of built a relationship there and then he was crew chief for Blue's stuff in the truck series.  I kept begging them to let me run a race and finally they offered me a race. We ended up winning the first one, and when we went to the second one, and we won the second one and so ever since then we've always been together."

What's it like racing with the NCTS veterans?  "It's fun to race in the truck series anytime, but when you're racing against old Wile E. (Coyote) veterans like Skinner, Musgrave, Sprague, Hornaday and all those guys it's pretty cool.  It's fun to race with them as well as the new guys that are coming up through the sport.  There's a lot of competition over there so it's not real easy."

Since you're not racing for points, does that give you freedom to race your heart out?  "I always have anyway so it's always been cool to do that, but we still have to play it safe and finish races up front that we can finish up front. We try not to push it too hard, if we're running seventh, try to finish seventh maybe sixth, but don't push too hard for a fifth or a fourth or anything like that.  We just have to do what our equipment can give us and have fun doing it."

Is there a translation between the Trucks and Cup race car?  "Not much, really.  In the Trucks they've been cut down on horsepower this year so that's going to be a big deal, as well as the Nationwide cars being cut down from the Cup cars.  The Cup cars are really, really fast still even though they are bigger and bulkier - they're still fast at the places we go to.  What's going to translate isn't going to be much because these cars are so different with the way the springs are and the bump-stops and the front-ends and stuff in the Cup car.  The trucks are still probably the most fun to drive and yet the most challenging to drive - yet the Cup cars are their own animal, too."

What's it like to race with guys who have kids older than you?  "I've been with that my whole career really.  I've raced in legends cars at home, modifieds and late models where there were guys I was racing against who were 45 and 50-years-old that had grandkids older than I was.  I've been with that my whole life.  It's just something that it doesn't matter who you are racing with - it just matters who they are as a racer and not necessarily their age.  There are plenty of them that have talent and are up there in the years.  Dale Jarrett sure hasn't given up much, Mark Martin is sure right there and all those guys that sure love doing it."