CONCORD, N.C. — Kyle Busch passed the test.
Busch, a two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, got his first taste of nitromethane on Friday afternoon when he warmed up the dragster of 2018 NHRA Funny Car champion J.R. Todd at zMAX Dragway.
“It was a unique experience,” Busch said. “I think the last time I was at an NHRA event was back when my dad was still a Mac Tools distributor. So I think I might have been 16 or 18 years old, somewhere in there. So it’s been a little while.”
The experience was eye opening for Busch — figuratively and literally.
“It was really, really cool. It started on gas, everything was fine. Then we pulled the nitro lever and that’s where it all went bad,” Busch said with a laugh. “Guys did a great job, the team was fine, everybody was good, J.R. was fine, but the driver seemed to tear out a little bit.
“We timed it, it was about a minute and 15 second warmup. If they gave me another 10 seconds I was going to be out. That’s all I had left in me.”
Todd, one of three Kalitta Motorsports drivers this season, couldn’t help but poke a little fun at Busch.
“He passed the initiation test and he’s here to talk about it,” Todd joked.
Busch quickly followed up with a joke of his own.
“It’s kind of like when you go fishing for the first time and you catch a fish, you’re supposed to jump off the boat,” Busch said. If you don’t do that, then they smack you across the face with the fish or something. I got smacked.
“It’s a COVID killer for sure,” Busch added. “I’m clear now boys, I’m good. No testing on my behalf.”
Busch has never hidden his interest in trying other forms of racing. He admitted that someday he’d love to try taking a Funny Car or Top Fuel entry at speed down a drag strip, though he acknowledged that he’d have to get permission from two very important people.
“I’m down for about anything,” Busch said. “It’s all about getting it approved by Coach (Joe Gibbs) and the wife. I don’t think either of those are going to allow me to jump in anything these guys (the Kalitta Motorsports drivers) drive.”
When discussing which car, Funny Car or Top Fuel, he’d rather drive, Busch remembered a conversation he once had with his father about the sanity of Funny Car drivers.
“My dad and I, we kind of joked with each other for years, we always kind of talked about how the guys that race Funny Cars must be the crazy bastards because they’re sitting with everything right there in front of them,” Busch said. “Now we kind of get a better understanding of what makes John Force who he is.”
Should Busch ever decide to make a professional pass in the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series, he wouldn’t be the first member of the Busch family to do so. His older brother, 2002 NASCAR Cup Series champion Kurt Busch, competed in the Pro Stock division at the Gatornationals at Gainesville (Fla.) Raceway in 2011.
Kyle Busch admitted he wasn’t sure what class he’d compete in should he decide to try drag racing, but since he was sitting beside the Kalitta Motorsports trio of Todd, Doug Kalitta and Shawn Langdon, he said he’d probably lean toward something with a little nitro.
“Since I’m here sitting with these guys I’d go the dragster route,” Busch said. “I don’t know, maybe I’ve got to give every one of them a shot, how about that?”