Kyle Busch visited victory lane in Saturday's NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) race at Atlanta Motor
Speedway after leading 33 of 130 laps, starting from the pole in Billy Ballew Motorsports' No. 51 Miccosukee Tundra.
It was Busch's second-consecutive NCWTS victory of 2009, also winning at California's Auto Club Speedway (Feb. 21).
Todd Bodine (third), Mike Skinner (fourth) and Terry Cook (fifth), Johnny Benson (ninth) and Brian Scott (10th) also
earned top-10 results at Atlanta.
Other Tundra drivers in the race included T.J. Bell, Jr. (12th), Tayler Malsam (13th), Timothy Peters (15th), David Starr (17th), Stacy Compton (19th), Max Papis (20th), Shane Sieg (23rd) and Gabi Dicarlo (24th).
Toyota Tundra drivers have opened the 2009 season with three straight victories. In addition to Busch's two wins, Bodine won the Daytona season-opener.
Tundra drivers have now won 54 NCWTS races since the start of the 2004 season (128 races).
KYLE BUSCH, No. 51 Miccosukee Resort Toyota Tundra, Billy Ballew Motorsportsleading 33 of 130 laps, starting from the pole in Billy Ballew Motorsports' No. 51 Miccosukee Tundra.
It was Busch's second-consecutive NCWTS victory of 2009, also winning at California's Auto Club Speedway (Feb. 21).
Finishing Position: 1st
How was your race truck today?
"This was a great race today - I had a lot of fun and hopefully the fans had a great time. I want to thank them for coming
out. That was a battle there with all those guys on that restart. I thought I had second (gear), I applied power and then it
snapped second so I had to go to fourth and just slugged it in fourth the whole start there. We fell back and luckily we had a
great enough Toyota Tundra here and we were able to drive back up through there and pass those guys. Can't thank Doug
George (crew chief) and all these guys on this team enough - Miccosukee, NOS Energy Drink, Toyota and everybody that
makes this program possible. It's hard and everybody knows that in today's world, but we're getting it done or we're trying
to."
How unhappy were you with your truck after the first pit stop?
"We made some changes there on that last pit stop with some air pressures and track bar, but the truck did not like it - it
hated it. We fell back and just barely hung on and battled through that. Then we were able to come in and make another
change and once we got it better we started heading in the right direction there. The final change we made a couple more
changes and got out in front of all those guys, but unfortunately the transmission blew. Fortunately for the fans they saw a
great race, but I would of much rather had second and third gear and made it a boring race there at the end instead of having
to race those guys. It got my blood pressure too high."
How did you handle the final restart without second or third gear?
"I got out of the way so those guys could go and race - I didn't want to block them up. We fell back, I don't know how far,
but it had to be eighth or 10th or something like that, but it felt like an eternity to get this thing up to speed and going. Once
we got there I didn't lift in those final 12 laps - I just stayed in the gas wide open, ran the middle groove and it prevailed.
That was pretty awesome to race those guys like that. I don't think we 'out-trucked' them today, but we out drove them at
the end."
Is there any possibility of you buying into Billy Ballew Motorsports?
"Nope, basically it's just a rumor. There had been talks that Billy (Ballew, team owner) and I would merge and I would buy
Billy's (Ballew) assets, unfortunately we tried working on that stuff this past off-season and nothing's materialized yet.
Really if you don't have sponsorship in this day and age then there's no point in owning a race team because all you're going
to do is just throw money down the drain. It could be for fun, but first you have to set yourself for retirement and then you
can go play. For me, I own a late model team and I know what it's like to spend money - we spent way too much money on
that last year. I told those guys that they need to start watching what they spend or else we're not going to have a late model
program anymore. It's just not the right time right now with everything that is going on and it's hard to find sponsors. At
this point it wouldn't be to my best interest."
How do you feel about Atlanta Motor Speedway?
"Atlanta is a great race track - it's fun, you can move around, it's enjoyable. When you get going on old tires, it is not that
much fun. It looks like fun for a lot of us, but we were just barely hanging on. It is so technical and so finicky - that's what
makes this track so good for all the drivers and shows what cars come out and what drivers come out. Atlanta is a great place
to race - it's probably top-10 on my list, but it's not in the top-five yet."
How loose was your truck in today's race?
"It was loose the whole race. We kept battling it and the farther we went into the run, the looser it would get. We just kept
having to make adjustments to it on every pit stop and we kept having to take air out, put air in here or there. We put some
wedge in and we moved the track bar and that made it worse. A lot of the things that we did the first stop just hurt it so we
went back and re-did some of that stuff the next time and took some of that back out and went another direction and that
made it better. Finally there at the end of the race it was actually pretty good and it was really decent to drive and that made
it a lot easier for me to drive back up through the field there and catch those guys."
Was this one of the more satisfying wins that you have had in this series?
"Anytime that you can win one in that fashion is pretty cool. It's not as good as the one here in the fall of 2005 when I
passed Jack Sprague and I brushed the wall and there was a big wreck off of turn four - that one was pretty cool. That was
with five (laps) to go and we just came in and got tires and restarted about 13th and drove back up through there. We passed
everybody and won that thing. That thing was probably a little more exciting than today's race, but for me, (Kevin) Harvick
had a really, really fast race truck today. I could keep up with him through (turns) one and two, but he would just kill me in
(turns) three and four. He was just so much faster than I was and had way more grip for some reason in (turns) three and
four. I've got to work on something for tomorrow whether its my driving style or its just that truck or what. We've got some
work to do there."
When did you lose third gear in the truck?
"There was a restart with maybe 50 (laps) to go - that's when third-gear broke. I went from second (gear) into third (gear)
and it started grinding itself and then I went to fourth (gear) real quick. That was when third (gear) broke. On that second-
to-last restart, I restarted in second (gear) and it made it through second (gear) okay and then I had to go to fourth (gear) and
it just lugged and that's when the 25 (Terry Cook) got by me and the 6 (Colin Braun) wrecked off of turn two. Then on the
last restart I stepped on it to go in second (gear) again and second gear broke just as soon as I stepped on it so I had to put it
in fourth (gear) and pray that there was even a fourth gear and lug it as much as we could to get it up to speed through (turns)
one and two - that was when we fell back to eighth or 10th- place and drove back up through the guys."
Did any of Billy Ballew's problems from earlier this week impact your race today?
"It certainly didn't look like it ruined any of the preparation - that's for sure. That was just what happened earlier in the
week and that had nothing to do with the race team, nothing to do with Miccosukee or NOS Energy Drink or anybody on this
race team. Unfortunately it was a personal issue with Billy (Ballew, team owner) and that's about all we got there."
Did you have a sealed engine in your truck?"I don't think they're doing that yet. I think they're going to start it at either the fourth or fifth race of the year. It was not a
sealed engine - since I didn't do a burnout, we might seal it because I couldn't do a burnout without second (gear) or third
(gear) or anything. I don't know, to be honest, if a newer engine would get better or worse gas mileage than a used one. I
would say because of my experience in my street Toyota Tundra that it would get better fuel mileage being a little more worn
out because all the mechanics move just a little easier. The piston rings aren't as tight in the cylinders and stuff so the engine
is more free-moving a little more. I would say they would get better gas mileage just by a tenth or two, I mean we're not
talking a gallon."
Were you saving fuel at the end of the race?
"We were saving. As soon as a caution comes out I am always saving fuel. I was running on the apron just to be sure that I
could run the shortest way around and I never shut it off or anything like that. I was just putting it in fourth gear and
chugging along and trying not to touch the throttle pedal as much as I could stand to stay off of it. We knew whenever we
came last for tires and fuel, which was with like 50-something to go that we could go the rest of the way. It was going to be
close, but we could go the rest of the way if we had a caution. We had two cautions in there and so we knew we were going
to be okay so we didn't bother coming back to pit road."
TODD BODINE, No. 30 Germain.com Toyota Tundra, Germain Racing
Finishing Position: 3rd
How was your truck in today's race?
"We made an adjustment on the first stop and actually made the truck worse. (Mike Hillman) Jr. (crew chief) went back and
un-did that and did some other stuff that made it good, but them it was a little tight off. That's why at the end I couldn't run
with Kyle (Busch) or Kevin (Harvick) from the center off. Kyle (Busch), he was hanging on for dear life on the long run and
that played right into his hand on the final run and he was able to haul the mail at the end of the race. It was a good race - the
Tilted Kilt Toyota was good and it's a first, second and third. We're probably 20 points behind Kyle (Busch) now and we
still have a lot of races to win."
Could you have caught Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch in the closing laps?"Kevin (Harvick) and Kyle (Busch) had the best trucks, well Kevin (Harvick) had the best truck and Kyle (Busch) had the
best truck on short runs and it showed. On that short of a run, he had it made. We just didn't get ours free enough.
Everybody on new tires can go good for about five, six, seven laps and Kyle (Busch) did it for nine (laps) and he hung on
because he was sideways the last two corners."
Will you be racing at Martinsville?
"I don't know. As of right now we are not going to Martinsville, as of this minute. We don't have a sponsor and if we don't
have a sponsor then we're not going. Hopefully we're going to have some discussions with Tilted Kilt this week and if
things work out - I know they like the series, they like NASCAR, they like racing and hopefully we can ink a deal and get it
done and go to Martinsville with a sponsor. It's a great company - it's a new restaurant chain that has opened up and it's
really expanding and growing and we would like to be a part of that. We took on Lumber Liquidators and helped them to go
public as a company and grow their chain so hopefully we can sign Tilted Kilt up and do the same thing for them."
Do you expect to see less new teams hold on as the week's progress this season?
"In the truck series you cannot make a 'start-and-park' pay for itself. Any guys that are just trying to get started and maybe
just run some laps and see what they have, it's going to be hard. It's really going to be hard for anybody to do this without a
sponsor. You just cannot even come close on what the payoffs are. I think you're going to see the field dwindle down here
as we go along and I think the same thing in the Cup deal although if you finish last in Cup you can pay your way and you
can keep racing. It's hard and it's just tough for any of these teams to make it work without any sponsorship. Right now its
hard to get sponsorship. I think as the season goes on you're going to see it turn - it's going to turnaround. The economy, by
the end of the summer is going to start getting better. We might not see anything in our industry for this season, but I think
next year its going to be a lot easier to get a sponsorship. Corporations are going to open back up and start spending their
marketing dollars again - at least that's what I'm told."
MIKE SKINNER, No. 5 Exide Batteries Toyota Tundra, Randy Moss Motorsports
Finishing Position: 4th
Were you surprised with a top-five finish?
"We had about a ninth-place truck and we really missed it on the set-up. We knew we had done that earlier. We rode behind
Terry (Cook) forever and ever and he was just a little bit better than we were, especially on long runs. We just thought that if
we could finish in the top-10 it would be a good day. We had some fuel left so we got a good restart, but our Exide Tundra
just wasn't very good today. We feel like we stole one getting into the top-five."
TERRY COOK, No. 25 Harris Trucking Toyota Tundra, HT Motorsports
Finishing Position: 5th
How close were you to winning the race today?
"Danny Rollins (crew chief) made a hell of a call - we were trying to set up to win the race. We were just a little too high in
second gear and we were spinning the tires on the restarts. On that last restart we spun the tires all the way down the front -
stretch. I saw Kyle (Busch) laying back because he had trouble with third gear so I bumbled up the field coming to the start
and just spun the tires on the front-stretch. Both restarts we would run out of fuel right in the middle of (turns) one and two
and halfway down the backstretch. I'm happy but I'm disappointed. The Harris Trucking Toyota Tundra was solid all day
long and whenever you get yourself in a position to have a shot to win a race, you're disappointed when you don't get it. A
top-five finish is definitely something to go home and have an enjoyable drive back to Mooresville, North Carolina from
Atlanta and be smiling all the way. There's always that, 'What could have been?' Had we not had the motor stumbling
when it was low on fuel - once it got going it was fine, but we just couldn't put enough fuel in the little black box in the back
of the truck that picks up fuel."
JOHNNY BENSON, No. 1 Red Horse Racing Toyota Tundra, Red Horse Racing
Finishing Position: 9th
BRIAN SCOTT, No. 16 Albertsons Toyota Tundra, Xpress Motorsports
Finishing Position: 10th
How exciting were the closing laps from your vantage point?
"The closing laps were definitely more exciting than the first three-quarters of it. We qualified bad and worked our whole
way to get up front so it was nice to finally get there at the end and it was kind of exciting. We thought we had a chance for a
win, but we were way too tight. We had as good of tires as anybody, we were just empty on gas and we should have
loosened it up a little bit and didn't. Ultimately that cost us because (Todd) Bodine was able to get under us in turn two and
then (Kevin) Harvick made it three-wide in (turns) three and four and just kind of sucked us around and held on, road around
and finished 10th."
T.J. BELL, No. 11 Red Horse Racing Toyota Tundra, Red Horse Racing
Finishing Position: 12th
TAYLER MALSAM, No. 81 One Eighty Toyota Tundra, Randy Moss Motorsports
Finishing Position: 13th
TIMOTHY PETERS, No. 17 Strutmasters.com/Hair of the Dog Energy Toyota Tundra, Premier Racing
Finishing Position: 15th
DAVID STARR, No. 24 Zachry/Harris Trucking Toyota Tundra, HT Motorsports
Finishing Position: 17th
STACY COMPTON, No. 60 Wyler.com/Melling Engine Parts Toyota Tundra, Wyler Racing
Finishing Position: 19th
MAX PAPIS, No. 9 GEICO Toyota Tundra, Germain Racing
Finishing Position: 20th
SHANE SIEG, No. 15 Phoenix Construction Toyota Tundra, Billy Ballew Motorsports
Finishing Position: 23rd
GABI DICARLO, No. 90 Great Clips Toyota Tundra, Stringer Racing
