Kyle Busch on working with Toyota, Adam Stevens & his upcoming NASCAR races

Kyle "Rowdy" Busch is a full-time competitor within the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and a part-time driver within the NASCAR Xfinity Series. He holds several records within NASCAR competition and is one of only five drivers to have won a championship in both NASCAR's Cup Series and Xfinity Series. Notably, he is the all-time wins leader within the Xfinity Series and recently won the 2018 Coca-Cola 600.

Beyond winning, Kyle Busch is also synonymous with Toyota cars. He is currently known as the driver of the No. 18 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing. He was the first driver to win a race and a championship in a Toyota vehicle within the Cup Series. In turn, it is not particularly surprising that Busch is who Toyota is working with to unveil the news that the Toyota Supra is coming back to American racing.

I had the pleasure of conducting an interview with Kyle Busch, who was joined by Ed Laukes (Group VP of Toyota Division Marketing for Toyota) and David Wilson (President of Toyota Racing Development), about his career and more. Busch keeps a home online at www.kylebusch.com, while more on the Toyota Supra can be found at www.toyota.com.

You’ve been with Toyota for many years now and are one of its most successful drivers. What’s it like to have the opportunity to drive this iconic car in the NASCAR Xfinity Series?

Kyle Busch: Yeah, it's really really awesome. It's a huge opportunity for myself to get behind the wheel of a Supra and have Supra back in the sports arena for racing and back at the racetrack... I'm ready to put my colors on and race that Supra and get it back to Victory Lane.

For being part of the announcements as well, too, it's a huge thing between myself and Toyota, the relationship we've built over the years. There wouldn't be Kyle Busch without Toyota within the sport of NASCAR. So obviously we have a great relationship and a lot of race wins. To be able to add to that legacy with the Tundra and with Camry, and now Supra, is even more special.

Is there a career accomplishment you are most proud of?

Kyle Busch: I would say winning the championship in 2015 has got to be one of the highlights of my career. That's the mecca of motorsports in America, being able to win a NASCAR Monster Energy Cup championship. So to bring that home in 2015 meant the world to me.

Also, winning the Bristol Sweep a couple of times, being able to win a Truck Series race and a Cup Series race the same weekend, it's only been done twice. It's been done by me both times at the same racetrack in Bristol. So that's pretty, pretty special.

What do the next few months look like for you career-wise?

Kyle Busch: We've got Michigan coming up again. We go back to Bristol, which is my favorite racetrack. We won there in the spring, we want to go back there and win again. We've got Indianapolis coming up later on in September for the final race of the season, before the playoffs start in Las Vegas. So a lot of really good racetracks coming up, we've won at all of them, which is pretty cool. But certainly we want to go back to these racetracks and show our strength.

Myself and Adam Stevens, we've been working really really well together this year. We've got five wins, a lot of top 5's, a lot of top 10's, we've led a lot of laps. We want to make sure that we keep that trend going through these hot summer months, getting ready for the playoffs to show that we're not slouches. We're gonna be ones that everybody has to go through if you're going to want to win this championship.

When not busy with NASCAR, how do you like to spend your free time?

Kyle Busch: Free time away from the racetracks is with the family. My son Brexton is three years old, my wife, of course, we go all over the place. We went down to Miami, we were checking out fireworks on the beach for the 4th of July, [and] doing some different architecture things with a new house we're going to be building here shortly.

So we're all over the place, but we just try to enjoy family time as much as we can. They go everywhere with me, so we're fortunate enough to have that. We're looking forward to the beach this afternoon in Daytona and heading there and playing in the ocean.

Is there something you wish more people knew about Kyle Busch?

Kyle Busch: People only really get to see 30-second tidbits on television each and every weekend of who I am. I'm a fierce competitor and a dominator in our sport of NASCAR and winning races.

But when you're away from the racetrack and you're at your home or having birthday parties or having fun, you're a family guy. You're down to earth and you talk to your friends and you have friends actually. People don't think that I do [have friends], but I do. (laughs) It's a lot different when you're away from the racetrack, when you're away from competition.

Any relation to actor Adam Busch? Or musician Neil Busch?

Kyle Busch: You know, I don't even know who they are. I don't know. I've always kind of joked I'm 16th cousins to the Anheuser-Busch family, so I'm still wondering why I don't have that beer sponsorship on my car. (laughs)

Finally, Kyle, any last words for the kids?

Kyle Busch: Absolutely, I think the best advice is to be true to who you are, be true to yourself. Obviously for me, when I was a kid growing up, I chose Jeff Gordon to follow. He was a huge inspiration to me and he was the one who got me into racing and how I wanted to be a racecar driver, so I had to work so very hard to become a racecar driver. There was a lot of dedication and perseverance that you have to have.

There's some things you have to give up on the side as well. My dad was like, "We can either go play baseball or go racing, which one would you want to do?" So you have to have some give and take in some things that you do throughout life.

Basically I had a dream, I reached for that dream, I worked as hard as I possibly could, and I still do that today. You don't ever want to give away any dedication or any hard work to someone, because you want to be the best you can be at what you're doing.