“Completely different philosophy and concept”: Kyle Busch shares honest thoughts about Chili Bowl debut

Kyle Busch has shared insights into the difference he felt between his asphalt racing practice and the dirt track for the Chili Bowl Nationals. This is the first time in his career that he is racing at the Chili Bowl.

Busch was born in Las Vegas, Nevada, and drives the #8 Chevrolet ZL1 for Richard Childress Racing in the NASCAR Cup series. He is a two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion (2015 and 2019). The 39-year-old holds the record for most wins across all three major NASCAR national series with 231. He holds the record for the longest streak (19) of seasons in the NASCAR Cup Series (19) - a testament to his competitiveness, but he lost the streak in 2024, marking the first year of his Cup Series career without a win.

The 39-year-old finished seventh in the B-Main on Friday night and that resulted in him starting in the F-Main on Saturday. When asked about his struggles when he went up top in the race, he replied to Frontstretch.com by saying:

"Yeah well to switch back and forth and to just be able to hit it right away, yeah you gotta have laps in these cars and repetitions of being able to race at these tracks and bang up against the curb a few times and understand what it does and how it works but for me, this is my first time doing that, I mean I tested 150 laps or whatever but there was no curb there, it was literally just a flat track so completely different philosophy and concept and things that you gotta do to understand how to make that work"

The Nevada native was also asked about his expectations and goals for Saturday night's race. He replied:

"Coming in I would have said C main would be pretty good, pretty respectable but we'll be starting in an F tomorrow so F to E, that's a little lower than I want it to be but you know I think that's probably where we'll be."

Kyle Busch is making his Chili Bowl Nationals debut on Saturday and will be competing with fellow NASCAR Cup drivers like Christopher Bell (Joe Gibbs Racing), Kyle Larson (Hendrick Motorsports), Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (Hyak Motorsports) and Ty Gibbs (Joe Gibbs Racing driver and a fellow debutant). He will be hoping to make an impact on his debut and etch another milestone in his already storied career.

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When Kyle Busch reacted to a promising result in Chili Bowl heat race

Kyle Busch made his debut in the Chili Bowl Nationals on January 17, 2025, and had a promising performance in the Heat three race. He qualified in the race in the seventh place and despite suffering a crash, the Nevada native finished in the second spot. In an interview with Matt Weaver of Sportsnaut, he reflected:

"The initial start was fine. Actually, the couple of guys slid off the bottom, and I just told myself, make sure you wrap the berm and just stay on the berm and stay underneath it all. And was able to jump past a couple of guys there off of two and felt really good about where I was positioning wise, and then guy in front of me just lost it and won." [00:07]

In his attempt to catch the #11 car, Kyle Busch added:

"I wasn't going to catch the 11. He was really fast, really good, you know. So that just tells me that I got to get to work on myself and my pace, that I could be faster when it comes time where I get some open track." [00:30]

He acknowledged the speed of the leading car (#11) and emphasized the need for personal improvement. Before his race on Saturday, he might look back upon his accomplishment in the Heat Race and take some moments of encouragement.