Telcel-Motorola 200 - Kyle Busch Notes

KYLE BUSCH
NO. 5 LOWE’S / HITACHI POWER TOOLS CHEVROLET
MEXICO CITY PREVIEW

Kyle Busch visits the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez road course for the first time this weekend. Last season, Mexico City native Adrian Fernandez piloted the No. 5 Lowe’s machine to a 10th-place finish in this event.

Q&A WITH DRIVER KYLE BUSCH:

ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GOING TO MEXICO? “Yes, I really am. I’ve talked to some guys who went down last year, and they all had a great time. I’ve been told the people are very enthusiastic about NASCAR and that everyone is very friendly. I enjoy road course racing, so it should be a lot of fun.

“It’s going to be cool to see what it’s like to be there with Adrian (Fernandez, who will drive a second Hendrick Motorsports entry), too. The guys on the team have told me from working with him last year how incredibly popular he is there, so I’m looking forward to seeing it for myself. I hear it’s amazing to see how the fans react to him.

“Hopefully, with me being Adrian’s teammate, I’ll have a built-in fan base. I could do a lot worse than to be associated with the biggest sports star in the country.”

HAVE YOU HAD MUCH ROAD COURSE RACING EXPERIENCE? “Yes, I do. I’ve only had two road course races since I’ve been in NASCAR, but we did a lot of road courses out west in the Legends cars. I also went out to the Bondurant racing school about a year ago. I really enjoy road courses. I’m not that great at it, but hopefully I can learn some stuff that will help us in our Nextel Cup effort, and at Watkins Glen in the Busch car later this year.

“I’ve heard there aren’t many places to pass on the Mexico track, so picking up spots during pit stops is going to be very important. Otherwise, I just hope we can get acclimated to the track and qualify well, stay up front and out of trouble and stay on course. I really hope we can pick up some points positions this weekend, so having a clean race is going to be key.”

Q&A WITH CREW CHIEF CHAD WALTER:

YOU DIDN’T GO TO MEXICO LAST YEAR. WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN TOLD ABOUT THE TRACK? “Everyone says it’s very flat and doesn’t have much grip. That, combined with the restrictions NASCAR has put on gears and transmissions, means there are very few passing zones. With all that, the most important thing is for a driver to stay on track. With Kyle never having been here before, that’s going to be key.”

WOULD YOU EXPLAIN THE RESTRICTIONS NASCAR HAS PUT ON GEARS AND TRANSMISSIONS? “Basically, NASCAR gives you two options for gears and they pretty much mandate the transmission you get to use. It’s taken almost all of the guesswork out of the driveline, and at a road course race, the driveline is probably 50 percent of what it takes to be successful.

“Since no one tested down here, NASCAR pretty much mandated what you can run. Only one car tested here (Jeff Burton tested an RCR entry), and the data set gathered during that test has been made public to all of the teams.”

THE TEAM IS 22ND IN POINTS AFTER TWO RACES. WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE SEASON TO THIS POINT? “Well, we definitely aren’t where we want to be, and we know we’ve got a lot of work to do. As far as Daytona, I’m disappointed about where we finished, but I’m not disappointed in the way we ran. We were in the top-10 all day there, but we just had a couple of things happen that were kind of out of our control.

“Even after we got our car damaged and had to make repairs, I think we were going to be able to work our way back up into the mix. Then we had a little engine problem there at the end, but that’s going to happen every once in a while. I’ll put it this way – even if I didn’t work at Hendrick, I’d still say there’s no one else’s motors I’d rather have in a car than what Hendrick builds for us.

“California was definitely frustrating for us. I do think we had a top-10 car, had we not hit the wall during one of the green flag runs and ended up going a lap down. The setup we had on Friday just wasn’t working for us. I came in on Saturday morning and talked with the other Hendrick crew chiefs, and we ended up going in a completely different direction. We qualified pretty well with that setup, but it didn’t work in the race like we wanted it to.

“We have more work to do, and we know we’re not there yet.”

TEAM NO. 5’S HISTORY AT MEXICO CITY: Adrian Fernandez made his NASCAR Busch Series debut in this event one year ago. On the first day of practice, Fernandez posted the fastest lap time of any driver in the field. During his qualifying run, Fernandez crashed and the No. 5 team had to bring out a backup car. In the race, Fernandez started in the 40th position and led several laps before being penalized in a controversial call for pitting too soon during a caution period. Fernandez rallied from the penalty to post a 10th-place finish.

CHASSIS INFORMATION- Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 368 – This chassis is brand new and has never been driven in a race. Hendrick Motorsports built new primary and backup (Chassis No. 369) road course cars for Kyle Busch during the off season.

POINTS STANDING: Rick Hendrick, owner of the No. 5 Lowe’s / Hitachi Power Tools entry, is 22nd in the NASCAR Busch Series owners’ points standings after the second event of the 35-race season.

RADICAL ROOKIE: