JDG
I think for us, what people love about our sport is that it is kind of every man's sport. None of these drivers have gotten to where they are without someone busting their hump to get them to this. I don't care if it's a family member, a local businessman. None of them got there by themselves. Whereas other sports, you can kind of say, ‘I got there by myself.’ I think what I love about our sport is that these guys get here and they realize that it's not three strikes and you're out. They’ve got to be careful about the way they act. How do you balance being careful of what you say and the way you act with really showing who you are? That's a hard thing to figure out. For Kyle, he came into the sport as young as he was, that takes a while. I'm still figuring it out and I'm 38. I think for those guys to really kind of get a feel for ‘How much do I show of my own personality versus how much can I control and be careful what I say?’ That's hard to do. I do love the fact that we let our guys be themselves. I would say this for Hendricks’ guys, too. I think they're themselves. Jeff, Jimmie, that's their personalities. They’ve got neat personalities. Our guys have got neat personalities. Don't try to change the way you are. You might have to be careful what you say. Just because you're thinking it doesn't mean everyone needs to hear it. I learned that from my dad. I still need to work on that one. I think for Kyle, again, getting to know him the way I have the past several weeks and months really, I think what's impressed me most is when you get to know him is he's got a great sense of humor. He makes me laugh. He’s the kind of a guy that you want to hang out with. I know guys that have worked with him in the past feel the same way about it.”
Q:
Can you be the real Kyle here?
KB:
“I hope so. I mean, obviously like I need to learn from Coach Joe. But I say a lot of things probably I shouldn't say. I need to learn how to keep some of those to myself and not let everybody else know about it. The biggest thing is I'm a passionate person. You know, I really like to win races. I really like to bring home trophies and stuff like that. When I don't, I'm upset about it. I'm not going to be happy for finishing second. I'm not going to be happy for finishing third. I'm going to be very disappointed in myself for whatever happens when I wreck a race car or something like that. So, I'm not going to be the guy that goes, ‘Oh, shucks, darn. I guess there's next week.’ I'm going to be the guy that's rearing to go and is ready to get back in that race car. For me that's something that I've got to tame. I've got to learn to tame that. But, like this past weekend, Jeff Gordon is the same way. He was upset that he spun himself out. We all are. But there are ways to show it. There are certain things to say. I guess I just haven't learned the charisma to be able to do that. Hopefully I can work on that. But hopefully the real Kyle Busch will show his true colors here at Joe Gibbs Racing and we can go further.”
Q:
Norm, a couple years ago you were selling some of the hood space off the 18 car. With this deal, are you going to be able to be the sponsor for the entire season? Do you have to do the same thing to help raise the level of this team financially?
NM:
“We're on the contract for '08, but we are also open to develop some type of partnership. We're talking with several people. We're hoping to get the best we can out of it all, and come up with a good partner. But if push comes to shove, we'd be delighted to ride with Kyle here through the whole season. We're hoping that we can work all that out. Cards are kind of up in the air right now. They're going to settle down here hopefully like within a month that we'll know exactly where we stand.”
Q:
Maybe a 10 race deal?
NM:
Gosh, we're talking right now anywhere from six to 15. Something like that.
KB:
I just drive the thing, so I don't care who sponsors it. I like Norm, so I'd be willing to work with him.
JDG
Free batteries.
NM:
We're happy to be hooked up with him. Seriously, whatever we can get on the car here, we'll be delighted. We'll be excited. Our people, we have a million people that are engaged in selling Interstate Batteries as far as the businesses we're related with on a regular basis. So they're excited about the opportunity for the No. 18 again to have a chance to run up in the top-five consistently. So we're excited about it and happy and looking forward to the future.
Q:
Norm, the other two have addressed this. Are you, as a sponsor willing to let Kyle be Kyle? Are you okay with everything that comes with him?
![Kyle Busch at Indianapolis. [Pic Credit IMS Media/Dana Garrett]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/252485.jpg)
