NM:
Oh, sure. I've got a 22 year old grandson. I've got a son J.D.'s age. You know, we're all human. We know things are going to take place. I met Kyle a while back here, but I got involved with him just one night in Arena Racing. He was just a nice, polite young guy, excited about racing. So we're happy with that. We want everybody to be their own person. Along with the opportunities, as with everything, comes responsibility. With exposing yourself to different situations or being exposed to different situations, you learn. So we think Kyle's going to be great. I really do. I'm excited to present him as a sponsor to all of our constituency.
Q:
Kyle, I get the sense you feel you're somewhat misunderstood by the public. Can you talk about what you feel like public perception is versus what reality is with you?
J.D., you keep talking about his wonderful sense of humor. Could you give us an example of where he maybe surprised you with that?
KB:
I think I've done a very good job at tricking everybody, that's for sure. You know, I show them the bad side. I don't show them the good side. Why show the good side? Then I'd be Carl Edwards or something. Just kidding. See, there's some sense of humor. They're laughing, good. No, I'm kidding. You know, I don't know, with all the money I guess J.D. says he's paying me, I guess I’ve got to go pay some more people to help me out and polish me up a little bit and give me some buffers here or there. I just like hanging out. I like to go wake boarding. I'll go skateboarding with my friends. I wear the messy hair just because I don't care what it looks like. I've got a lot of people that I've grown up with, a lot of people I've actually met from just out here. People ask why exactly they picked me up and took me on as a driver. What's the problem? He's just a guy that we work with. Really I guess I've got a few edges here or there, but hopefully none where I can't just grind them down a little bit and soften them up some. I know there's a lot of people that are anxious here at Joe Gibbs Racing to try to work with me. I'm sure hopefully I'll be able to show them the real side of myself. Of course, there’s a lot of people that I've got still over at Hendrick Motorsports that may or may not still want to work with me. That's completely up to them. From what I've heard, they're optimistic about being able to stay with me and stay a company.”
JDG
“Really for us, what you kind of get in Kyle, again, I didn't know him that well before we started this process. He's got that quick wit you kind of see in Tony. Denny has it too, in a more quiet way. I think when you do a job that's as stressful and as difficult as we do week in and week out, and as long of a season, you’ve got to have that sense of humor. You have to let that stuff roll off your back at times. Getting to know Kyle, I kind of get the feeling he wants to really have fun and enjoy what he's doing. The way he kind of cuts up with the guys around him, I really appreciate that. I think he'll fit in here well. I will say one thing, too, as far as our relationship with J.J. We love J.J. J.J. came in dominating the open wheel stuff. We ran in ARCA. We ran in Busch and in Cup. I really think a lot of J.J. and really wish the best for him. He's been a great partner here. It's never one piece of the puzzle that is all of the issue. It's a combination of things. I think we just couldn't figure things out really for J.J. and his style. We probably couldn't give him what he needed to really go fast. I know he can. I've seen him do it. Again, like Kyle said, we wish him the best in the future. He's been a good partner for us and we wish him the best down the road.
NM:
I want to say the same thing. J.J. has fulfilled all of the off track, non racing responsibilities of being associated with Interstate and the No. 18 car. He's just as disappointed as we are that we haven't been able to turn out the finishes that all of us want. With Kyle, the opportunity came along. It's also an opportunity where we just expressed that we're going to look for a partner to be involved with us. So all of the ramifications of that have brought this situation to where it is today. We appreciate very much his efforts. We, too, think that he has a winning talent. In all reality, our prayer is that he'll do great. We want him to be very successful in racing. We wish him the very best. We really hope so for the next 14 races. He's still driving the green No. 18.
Q:
The rumors of a possibility of Joe Gibbs Racing going to Toyota next year. Kyle, how much did that factor into your decision? Did you take that into consideration? J.D., can you address that?
KB:
I did. I took it into consideration. But as I looked at it and I thought about it, I thought, ‘Well, Joe Gibbs Racing, they've done pretty well at what they've done so far.’ I feel like they'll make the right decision in choosing the company that steers their company in the right direction. Do I feel like Toyota has struggled a little bit this year? Sure, I have. Do I feel like Joe Gibbs and everybody here can try to turn that around? Certainly. If they're looking in that direction, more power to them. I'm going to let the man over here answer all those tough questions.
JDG
Really for us, there’s not much change in the past several weeks. We had some great conversations with GM (General Motors) here. We’ve obviously had a great partnership with them over the past 16 years. We've been great partners as well. I think going forward, we're just going to sit down. We're going through a process with all of our technical guys, figuring out where we need to be. GM, I think, just got a verbal agreement with Hendrick – the first team to kind of re-sign for next year. We're kind of in the same phase as I think a lot of the teams are. In the next several weeks, we're going to have to really figure out where our future is and our direction.”
Q:
Along those lines, Kyle, would your expectations for next season be different if JGR does go to Toyota?
KB:
“I don't think so. I think Joe Gibbs Racing will come out of the box strong. They wouldn't make the decision if it wasn't right for them, if it wasn't economically right for their sponsors and the success rate. You know, I've got a lot of great friends over at Chevrolet and have developed a strong relationship with those folks. Hopefully I can still have that whether or not we do decide to switch over here at Joe Gibbs Racing. To me I feel like Joe and J.D., here are going to make the decision that they feel is in their best interest and how they feel the competitiveness will stay and where it won't mess any of that up.”
![Kyle Busch at Indianapolis. [Pic Credit IMS Media/Dana Garrett]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/252485.jpg)
