Kyle Busch is ready to race on the Indianapolis Road Course (Photo: Wayne Riegle | The Podium Finish)
SPEEDWAY, Ind. — Kyle Busch has found three wins in his first season at Richard Childress Racing and is hoping to add a fourth in the NASCAR Cup Series race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
However, that has historically been a bit of an uphill battle for the Las Vegas, Nevada native. After the Cup Series switched to the road course from the oval in 2021, Kyle Busch has failed to finish inside the top 10. He finished in 20th in 2021 and 11th place in 2022.
It appears the two-time Cup Series champion may have had the time he needed to figure the track out because Saturday kicked off much smoother than his previous two visits to the track. Busch qualified fifth with a time of 88.496.
Busch may have acquainted himself with the track and likes the track in general, but would still prefer to race on the oval, where he’s won twice.
“I think it’s pretty cool — kind of unique,” Busch said in a press conference on Saturday. “But you know, if I’m being selfish, I think many of us drivers, crews, and everything else, we’d rather be coming here and racing around the oval with the prestige and the history of what the oval is. Even though we’re at Indy, it just doesn’t really feel like it’s the same thing going the wrong way.”
Busch and other veteran Cup Series drivers undoubtedly have a lot of experience on the Indianapolis oval, but the 38-year-old will be racing against Australian Supercars driver Shane Van Gisbergen in his second Cup start. Van Gisbergen first raced in NASCAR back in July’s Chicago Street Course race and surprised many by taking home the checkered flag. Brodie Kostecki, another Supercars ace, is making his Cup debut on Sunday as a teammate of Busch in a third RCR car.
An interest many took with Van Gisbergen and other Supercars racers are their driving styles, which involve using their right foot for heel-toe braking. Van Gisbergen adapted quickly to NASCAR-style breaking, and conversely, heal-toe is something the Busch knows how to do but not well.
“I know how to do it and I can do it, but it’s very clunky,” Busch said. “I am not a smooth operator when it comes to having to do the heel-toe. I did it years ago when I first kind of came in — like I was learning from Boris Said, Ron Fellows and a couple of those guys, just talking with them. Wheel-hop issues with the old car, it would really kind of help subside that. But then we just went to work on the car, the braking and everything else. To me, every time I’m able to just maximize my left foot for brake, I’m way better off, so I’ve kind of gotten away from it.”
Busch will face off against Van Gisbergen and the rest of the Cup Series field at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC, IMS Radio Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Daniel Suarez is on the pole. Tyler Reddick won last year’s race in the No. 8 car and is starting second in his 23XI Racing entry.
