NASCAR Q&A: Kyle Busch talks Fontana win, viewing his legacy, and son's racing career

Apr. 20—Kyle Busch turns 38 on May 2, and wouldn't a win at Talladega make a nice birthday present?

Busch has accomplished so much that his lone Cup Series win at Talladega Superspeedway almost pales in comparison to all of his other numbers.

He has two Cup Series championships and 61 Cup wins, which ranks ninth all-time, trailing eighth-place Dale Earnhardt Sr. with 76. He also won the 2009 NASCAR Xfinity Series championship and is the all-time wins leader in that series (102), including a win at Talladega. He has an all-time best 62 wins in the Truck Series, which includes two Talladega wins.

As an owner, he has led Kyle Busch Motorsports to 98 career victories and seven owner's championships — both are Truck Series records.

His one Talladega win on the Cup circuit came in 2008, when he first joined Joe Gibbs Racing. Now, he is racing the local superspeedway for the first time with Richard Childress Racing. He is driving the No. 8 Chevrolet, after spending years in the No. 18 Toyota car.

He is eighth in the Cup standings and placed third in the season-opening Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum in Los Angeles.

Busch took time recently to field a few questions about his racing career, his considerable accomplishments, and being a father to a 7-year-old boy (who drives the No. 18B car in the Beginner Box Division) and a 10-month-old girl:

Question: You've built an incredible list of accomplishments in your racing career. In the Derek Jeter documentary, he said when he accomplished something in his sport, he immediately said, "What's next?" Do you find yourself doing that, too?

Answer: Oh, yeah. That's definitely my mindset. It's interesting how some athletes go about stuff and how similar they are or sometimes a little bit how different they are, but for me, I don't necessarily set out a whole lot of goals.

I just know if I go out there and give it everything I've got, do my best and study hard, and preparation is good, never give up on anything, then you'll achieve greatness. You'll have success, and then the records will speak for themselves. So, that's always been my philosophy.

Q: You won the February race in Fontana. What did that mean for you, considering you're with a different team than in past seasons?

A: That win for us at RCR was huge. For me being able to come out of the gate strong at the Clash and run well, and then have a shot to win the Daytona 500, then go on to Fontana.

I was really optimistic about the year and how we started. Since then (at Fontana), it's been hit or miss, with a little more miss, unfortunately. So, we're still working through some of the processes of what we do and how we go about the setup stuff and what we do to build fast race cars. So, we're working on that to try to get better.

Q: You've done well at Fontana, and you got your first Cup Series win there. Is there anything that 2023 winner Kyle Busch would say to 2005 winner Kyle Busch, if that were possible?

A: Yeah, trust me, it's not just a sentence or a paragraph or a page. It might be a book. There's a lot to be said to a young Kyle Busch.

I've had a great career. We've had a lot of success. I've worked with a lot of great people over the years, and I'm thankful for all the opportunities I've been given.

Now, I have that chance to be able to talk to a young Kyle Busch, and that's my son, Brexton. He's only 7 years old, but he's giving it all of everything that he's got, and doing a lot of work behind the scenes, too. He goes out there on the race track and puts in full effort and gets a lot of wins. It's been awesome to see him and his progression and what he's been able to do.

I've always said, "Do as I say, not as I do." He's a good listener.

Q: You've spoken before about how proud you and your wife Samantha are to be parents. You two have two children, including a boy and a girl, who was born May 10. How has being a girl dad changed you, if at all?

A: Definitely have to not be so rough and tough. Playing around with Brexton, we give it everything we've got. Certainly, Lennix, she's still a baby girl, just 10 months old, but soon she'll be 2 years old, 5 years old, 7 years old — as old as Brexton is now. Still, a girl is way different than a boy. You've got to talk to them different. You've got to act a little bit different.

Q: You've got several nicknames, including the most popular, Rowdy, which I'm told you got because you began driving car No. 51 in the Truck Series in 2006, and the 51 car was driven by the character Rowdy Burns in the movie "Days of Thunder," played by Michael Rooker. Who was the first to actually call you "Rowdy"?

A: I would say there were definitely some moments in 2006 and 2007 where I did a few rowdy things and got myself in a little hot water sometimes. So, that was just kind of the nature of how I was brought up and how passionate I was, and how much success I wanted to have so bad right away. It pushed me to be a little rowdy. I don't know who the first person to call me that name was, but it's been fun to carry on that persona. The real Rowdy, Michael Rooker, I've met him a couple of times. He's a super cool guy. He's become a big Kyle Busch fan, so that's cool.

Q: You've discussed before that you are an NFL fan and an NHL fan. If you hadn't gotten involved in racing, what sport do you think you would've gravitated to?

A: I was playing Little League baseball as a kid. Then I got to the age where I was able to race as well and was still playing baseball. My grandmother was running me around everywhere — baseball games, baseball practice, to the race track for practice and to the race track for races. So, it became a lot.

My dad told me, "Man, you've got to pick one. Which one do you want to do?" So, I was like, "I'll give this racing thing a shot." I really enjoyed it. It's been great, but I certainly miss the game of baseball.

I feel like I was just hitting my stride and kind of figuring out what I needed to do to be a better player and a better teammate. I probably missed out a little on the team aspect of team sports. I wish I would've had some more of that.

Senior Editor Mark Edwards: 256-235-3570. On Twitter: @MarkSportsStar.