-
Bob PockrassNASCAR
Most drivers in the NASCAR Cup series playoffs try to limit distractions. Kyle Busch, it seems, almost attracts them.
And as long as they are fairly drama free, he accepts them.
On the business side, Busch has a Truck series team that he has to help manage. On the home side, Busch’s wife Samantha is undergoing in vitro fertilization in the hopes of conceiving the couple’s second child.
In between trying to negotiate driver contracts for next year and helping Samantha through the IVF process, Busch has kept enough focus on racing for a championship. He will join Kevin Harvick, Martin Truex Jr. and Joey Logano among the four drivers with a shot at the title Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC).
He hasn’t felt overworked or distracted throughout the playoffs.
“During the week, away from the racetrack, I try to keep things going and try to take your mind off of some stuff and not get too caught up into the thought process of overthinking things,” Busch said.
Busch couldn’t avoid some distractions. If the couple wanted to have a baby around the summer off week in 2019, they had to start the IVF process (that requires a combination of medicines and surgical procedures) this fall. Their first child, Brexton, was born in late May during what ended up being Busch’s championship season in 2015 (and Busch was recovering from a broken leg and a broken foot).
“It’s about when it’s born — you have to back it up from there,” Busch said. “So we tried to pick the birthdate to be somewhere around the summer off week. To back it up from there, that puts it in November when it’s implanted.
“You’ve got to pick and choose your timing, which is going to be more stressful. It’s going to be stressful when you have a 2-month old, 3-month old, 4-month old, but I’ve been through that scenario before anyway and it worked out OK in 2015.”
The process hasn’t emotionally sapped Kyle. The couple went through IVF when they had Brexton, and their foundation now focuses on helping cover medical costs for others who are trying to have children.
“Not yet [is it too emotional], because you’re not to the point yet that something bad can happen,” Busch said earlier this month. “Samantha had a cyst that we had to basically go in and get removed, so that was tough for her thinking about it.
“She doesn’t like to go in for any kind of surgery. She made it through it OK, and everything is good and everything is on track.”
Maintaining his focus
As far as his Truck team, Busch wouldn’t mind if he could move some of his responsibilities from the past few weeks to beyond this weekend. But he hasn’t been able to — the NASCAR Silly Season continues to proceed.
“This is exactly the time of year that you don’t want to be dealing with [driver contracts], but it always comes up,” he said. “I get involved in driver lineups and trying to get drivers’ contract stuff and trying to make sure everything is the same and fair between all of them.
“Some of the stuff that I don’t do or worry about is budget stuff, what’s coming up for next year and all that stuff. It always seems like it’s a fight, and I don’t want to fight.”
What has helped Busch maintain his focus and perform his best on Sundays? He at least can give partial credit to a workout and nutrition program he is doing in consultation with doctors at Texas Christian University.
In the spring, some Toyota executives commented to Busch about how much weight he has lost, but Busch wasn’t all that excited about whether he was reaping any benefits from a fitness standpoint. The execs put him in touch with some people they work with at TCU.
“Since March, I’ve been kicking my ass working out and there was not a whole lot of change happening,” Busch said. “So we were wondering why I can go to the gym for an hour every day, bust my ass, sweat my brains out and not see or reap any benefits of it.
“I’m talking with them how to continue my nutrition and my planning on different workouts or different meals or whatever it might be to see a benefit.”
He believes that has gotten him stronger in the car and helped him win at least one race this year.
“I feel like I’m better in the car, for sure,” Busch said. “At Chicago, I was gassed once the race was over. I think I wouldn’t have won that race if I didn’t have the physical fitness I have now.
“You can get hot and get overexhausted and lose mental focus.”
At 33 years old, Busch sees staying fresh as vital.
“I feel like I’m almost getting to the point where it’s the Tom Brady factor — how do you carry on your career?” Busch said. “You better start in your 30s to be able to carry on into your 40s.
“You’re not going to be able to start in your 40s to be able to carry through your 40s. That’s what I started looking at. This is about the time frame I think Jimmie [Johnson] was doing it. … It’s obviously worked for him.”
If it’s working, then do it
One distraction Busch doesn’t have is racing in the Xfinity Series or the trucks. He can only do seven Xfinity races a season and just five in trucks thanks to NASCAR’s revised rules, and he can’t drive in any of the final eight races.
He’ll watch the truck races to see how his teams perform. Xfinity races? Not so much. He and Samantha find something else to do.
“We’ll find a gym somewhere and go work out for an hour and get back when the Xfinity series race is getting over and Brexton is getting up from a nap and go do something else,” Busch said.
That seems a little non-Busch-like. The driver who is known for all racing all the time shouldn’t be checking out and ignoring the Xfinity Series races where he doesn’t compete.
“I have not seen one Xfinity race this year,” Busch said about the races he hasn’t competed in. “I might check out the highlights.”
That’s fine with his crew chief, Adam Stevens, who will watch the Xfinity race and tell Busch anything he learned from it that could apply to Sundays.
Stevens doesn’t care if Busch gets away from racing on a Saturday afternoon. Even on a Friday morning, Busch and Samantha might go do something if practice doesn’t start until the afternoon and they have some free time.
Considering Busch has eight wins this year and 27 top-10 finishes, what is Stevens going to say?
“Whatever Kyle thinks is good for him, it’s working,” Stevens said. “If that’s what works for him, then absolutely [he should do it].”
We’ll see if Stevens is saying that next year when Busch hopes to be juggling another championship run with driver negotiations while also potentially bringing a larger family to the track.
And Busch has thought about that. No distraction.
“We can handle one pretty well,” Busch said. “Two is going to be … everything is going to be slowed down. When you go to the airplane it’s going to take longer, putting them in the car is going to take longer.
“Things are ever-changing and evolving. That’s good. We’ve been through the birth process before. We know what to expect and have a game plan that works for us.”