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Texas: Winning team interview

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 NOS Energy Drink Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position: 1st What do you think about that race? "It's pretty cool. You know it was going to be a battle there if the caution didn't come out between (Brad) ...

Published: Jun 19, 2009, 7:49 PM

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KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 NOS Energy Drink Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 1st

What do you think about that race?

"It's pretty cool. You know it was going to be a battle there if the caution didn't come out between (Brad) Keselowski and me. He was getting fast there at the end so it was cool it was going to be a battle. I thought (Jeff) Burton was going to be up there. I really have to thank NOS, the fans, Z-Line, Toyota, Gillette, Direct TV and Marquis Jets. They've all done a phenomenal job putting this deal together. I can't thank NOS Energy Drink enough. This is two for two with the NOS paint scheme and three in a row at Texas so that's pretty special."

Did your victory celebration change today?

"You'll have to talk to NASCAR about that one. That's not anything we can do about it. I did (miss doing burnouts), that was one of the first times I haven't done a burnout after a race. I backed up because I didn't want to leave out the people down in turn one. I wanted to thank them for being here. I wasn't doing a Kurt Busch thing, I just backed up and got back to those guys and forwarded along the front straightaway instead of wasting a whole lap and not getting here in time."

How were you able to pick your team up after the disappointment from two weeks ago?

"We just had to talk about it. We had our problems at Bristol and we were fine for the next day on Sunday. We won that race. I just wanted to sit the guys down on Tuesday to talk to them and say; Hey, this weekend was a bad weekend. It was frustrating and of course we all let our emotions get out of control sometimes, especially myself.' But the guys were all cool with it and they understood where I was coming from. They know that I believe in them and ultimately they believe in me too so that's why this package always works."

What do you think about making history at Texas?

"It was for sure a phenomenal race car that helped me do that. This NOS Energy Drink Toyota was pretty awesome. I want to thank all the fans. It was a good day for us. I wasn't for sure how good our car was here because of the wind playing havoc with us on Thursday but we qualified on the pole and we beat that too. We won we love history we won from the pole today so that's cool, too. We got that out of the way so now everybody else can qualify on the pole and win races here in the Nationwide Series."

Was there a point in the race where you were uncomfortable?

"I was uncomfortable because of the handling of the car. It was just inconsistent sometimes sometimes tight, sometimes loose and the more we would go it'd get looser. Normally you tighten up so it was an odd thing for me. You expect that the more you go that you'll snug up and eventually be comfortable again but for us today it wasn't the case. That's what helped me get by (Jeff) Burton there, he got so tight that he couldn't step on the gas off the corner anymore and I was so loose keeping the thing wound up and going. We got back by him that one time and had pit stops. The 88 (Brad Keselowski) was coming there at the end and I was getting a little bit tight but I was still loose. You can have two characteristics like that at the same time and he was catching me there and if we didn't get a caution like we did it probably would have been a whale of a show because he was pretty good and I just felt like I needed to let my tires cool back down again and regroup to start over and get a fresh five or eight laps at the end of the race."

JASON RATCLIFF, crew chief, No. 18 NOS Energy Drink Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing

How did things go on pit road?

"I think we basically had the same set-up that we had last spring and last fall that had the same result with. The wind was pretty bad on Thursday so we didn't change a lot just because we weren't really sure whether it was the track or the wind that was causing our problems. We were pretty close to what we normally run here. It started off good. There were four or five cars that were definitely making their cars better throughout the day and it was confusing at times but Kyle (Busch) communicated well and we got a little too free there mid part of the race. We worked hard to tighten it up and probably got it a little too tight at the end of the race but it was a good day."

-credit: toyota motorsports

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