Each week, The Athletic asks the same 12 questions to a different race car driver. Up next: Kyle Busch of Richard Childress Racing, who has five races remaining to try and extend his NASCAR-record streak of consecutive seasons with a victory to 20 years. This interview has been edited and condensed, but the full version is available on the 12 Questions podcast.
1. What is currently the No. 1 thing on your bucket list?
Obviously, winning the Daytona 500 if it relates to our sport and racing. That’s probably high atop the list.
2. How much media coverage of NASCAR do you consume?
Zero. Probably anything that is on Twitter (X), but that’s about it. No shows, no podcasts, nothing.
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Has it always been that way? Or are you trying to disconnect from it more recently?
It’s how I’ve been for a long time. It started long ago where there were not-so-favorable comments being made by some journalists or reporters. Then I was just like, “You know what? It’s not worth my time. They can say whatever the hell they want to say and it is what it is. I’m not going to change it.” So I’ve just never really paid attention and just stayed away from it.
3. Beyond winning, what is the best way to measure success in racing?
Guys who do certain things in certain cars is a good way. What I mean by that is drivers who are in not-as-good cars, but yet they’re making a name for themselves or doing something in those cars. Where guys who get into good stuff — like take (powerhouse Joe Gibbs Racing’s) Xfinity cars, right? If you go and run third to seventh every week in a JGR Xfinity car, you’re just normal. You’re nothing (special). If you’re winning in it every single week, eight, 10, 12 races a year, now you’re something because you’re showing how good that stuff is. But if you’re like a (Ryan) Sieg, getting close to winning a few races this year (for the smaller RSS Racing team), I feel like that’s probably more impressive.
4. What is an opinion you have about NASCAR you don’t think is shared by the fans?
Generally speaking, I probably actually agree a lot of times with the fans. Sometimes they get a little overzealous on some things. But on-track product, commercial times, things like that — I agree with a lot of the stuff they say.
The only one would be I know how hard it is to be in this sport, to be a driver and compete at a high level and to go out there each week but not quite get the results that you want. And to then have fans tell you you’re washed up and you can’t do it and you should retire and you should just get out of it? I’m like, “Wow, OK, cool.” Maybe. Are they right? But you look at the other drivers who haven’t won … and some of the drivers who have won this year have won on situational opportunities. It wasn’t like they were a dominant force or anything; they just kind of backed into one.
5. What is the biggest thing fans don’t realize about what you do for a living?
How much you really do behind the scenes, whether it’s photo shoots or media stuff or sponsor stuff. (Points to firesuit covered with sponsor logos.) Sponsor stuff is a lot, especially when you have 15 of them that carry your year to get you through. Which is fine; I get it. I was spoiled for a lot of time at JGR when I only had two — M&M’s and Interstate Batteries. Now having the different partners we have this year with Zone or BetMGM or Morgan & Morgan or Rebel or FICO and everybody who is a part of our deal, you get pulled in a lot of different directions and go do a lot of different things.
6. This question is about a current topic related to yourself. I noticed you’ve been on this new NASCAR roundtable show, “NASCAR Inside the Playoffs,” a couple times. It seems like you’re enjoying yourself on there. Is the media side something you could see yourself doing after you’re done driving? Are you thinking you’d like to be in the TV booth someday or anything like that?
Maybe. I haven’t really given it a whole lot of thought. I’m just dipping my toe into this and giving it a shot and seeing what the networks think, what the producers think and everybody behind the scenes to see if I have a voice and an opinion later on down the road.
I see Harvick doing it, I’ve seen Darrell Waltrip do it and have seen plenty of other ex-drivers go into that role. One really good thing about that is how much you can talk up the drivers and how hard it is and about the things you love. I’ve made a great living here, so you’d love to be able to give back, where some of the other guys just disappear off into the sunset and you never really hear from them again.
But I also enjoy (9-year-old son) Brexton racing, and I want to be a part of that as well. I enjoy the dirt track aspect of that, being able to get out there and go race at the tracks where he’s racing. So as long as it fits within a schedule — I don’t want to stretch myself too much and put myself out there where I over-commit.
7. The next one is a wild-card question. On the topic of Brexton, he’s now 9 and it seems like he’s winning races regularly. What are the next steps between a 9-year-old and a 16-year-old, when he can get into the Truck Series for the first time? What happens between now and then for him?
A lot of different things can happen. That’s what we’ve actually been looking at. He races in junior sprints and micros and Bandoleros and stuff like that now. When he turns 10, he can run Legend cars — so we’ll add that in next May. And then at 12, you’re allowed to run the CARS Tour Pro Late Models. So he’ll probably get into some of that at 12.
We also need to get more road racing experience. I don’t feel like he’s got enough road course stuff yet. So we need to do some karting, and we’re going to do some of that this offseason and work with Greg Ives and Max Papis and some of those guys who have done a lot already with their kids. There’s a road racing series, Trans Am TA2, and he’ll probably get into some of that at 14.
He’ll probably also do some Late Model Stock stuff and some Super Late Models at 14. I want to keep him on the dirt and asphalt realm; I don’t feel like you should go one way or the other. I like what we’re doing right now: He gets in his Bandolero car and he knows what he’s got to do on pavement; he gets into his dirt car and he knows what he’s got to do on dirt. So I really like that. We’ll probably stick with some of that mixture. And then by 16, he’ll be ready for some Trucks.
8. What do you like about the place where you grew up (Las Vegas)?
I loved the weather, for one. It’s hot, but it’s a dry heat, so it feels like it’s a little bit easier to tolerate. Having your spring start sooner and your summer last longer, you’ve got more time to go do stuff.
But growing up out West, the racing scene was already light to begin with and I feel like it’s getting even lighter. Especially because California is so challenging and there’s so little car count now in California. It’s just so darn expensive out there for people to live, let alone be able to go race. So that’s really tough.
Arizona has gotten that way; three racetracks in Arizona have been shut down because there are homes built around these racetracks that have been there, and then they complain about the noise and they get the racetrack shut down. It’s like, what are we doing? That’s the world we’re in.
But I loved just being out there. I was a kid who only went to school because I had to go to school and then when I got home, I did whatever homework I had and then I was in the garage working on cars and just doing me.
9. What personality trait are you the most proud of?
Probably just my OCD, honestly. It’s not that hard to have things go right and be orderly. You just to think a step ahead and be ready for what’s next. That gives you the mindset or the demeanor of trying to make sure you do things to the proper level as much as you can.
10. Which driver would you least like to be stuck with on an elevator?
All of them. I have a lot of information that could be useful to a lot of people if they would just spend the time. Which I don’t want to spend the time with anybody stuck in an elevator, so they would have a hard time getting me on that.
11. What is a run-in you’ve had with a driver that TV or the media missed?
I’m pretty sure I’m on TV a lot. (First-year Fox Sports analyst Kevin) Harvick told me, “TV always has a camera on you. Just remember.” And I was like, “Thank you very much. I appreciate that.” So I don’t know there is one anybody has missed.
12. Each week, I ask a driver give me a question for the next interview. The last one was with Noah Gragson. He has a two-parter: “Do you enjoy the Cup Series as much as you thought you would when you were a kid? And at what point did it become a job for you, instead of just for fun?”
When I was a kid, growing up watching racing on TV, it was always a dream just to race on Sunday, to race with Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt and Mark Martin and all those guys. So when I was able to get here, it was an awe moment. Like, “Oh, damn. This is really cool. I made it. I’m here.” But then you’ve got to win and you’ve got to perform. It’s like, “Man, this is not as easy as it seems the greats are making it look on television.”
I had a lot of great years running for Hendrick, running for Gibbs and then last year at RCR and being able to win in all of those years. In 2008, when I first joined JGR, I won eight races before the playoffs started. And (now-Spire Motorsports owner Jeff) Dickerson and I, we looked at each other — because he spotted for me back then — and we were like, “See? This is what it’s supposed to be like. Damn, this is easy.” And then you go through the years of having one win and you’re just pulling your hair out. Like, “Damn, why is this so hard? It’s not that hard.”
It becomes a job when you then have to explain yourself to the media a lot. Winning is fun, right? Racing and competing is fun. But then when you’re battling and you’re head-to-head with somebody, that’s when it becomes a job because now you’re having to overthink your answers. You’re having to make sure you try to project yourself the way you need to and not come off as a jerk or a butthead or a whiny baby — which I’m all of those, apparently. (Smiles.)
But a lot of times the things I’ve said, when you go back and you look at it, and you’re like, “He’s not wrong.” You know? But in the moment, when people react to it, “They’re like, ‘Damn, what is wrong with that guy?’”
Do you have a question I can ask the next person?
What has been your favorite combination of place with a racetrack while also being able to do cool stuff outside the racetrack?
(Top photo of Kyle Busch last weekend at Talladega qualifying: Sean Gardner / Getty Images)
