Kyle Busch: cars are maxed out in the chassis and aero, so engines and pit road are now speed keys

 

 
Kyle Busch, in victory smoke at Las Vegas (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
 

   By Mike Mulhern
   mikemulhern.net

  ATLANTA
  Pit road problems and engine issues have plagued NASCAR teams across the board the first few weeks of the season, and Vegas winner Kyle Busch says that's because "to me that's where your biggest gains are, with this car.
  "The biggest ground you're going to make up is on pit road and under the hood. 
  "Everybody seems to be about maxed out with the set-up, because we're in such a tight box that we really can't learn anymore. 
  "We've run 15 different set-ups at tracks that are all pretty similar and have always run the same speeds. 
  "Really, there's nothing we find that is a tenth better or two-tenths better. It's always pretty much about the same. 
  "At Vegas you can go from 160 mph to 200 mph, and the faster you go from 160 to 200 with your engine – with horsepower and torque – the better you're going to be down the straightaway.
  "That's where a lot of guys are going to start making up ground.
  "Cornering – we're about maxed out.
  "So guys are pushing the limits in the engines to try to get them to do that faster. 
  "The Toyota overstepped a little bit….but also they had a bad batch of parts.  So they had to detune a bit."