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France defends NASCAR decision about waiver for Kyle Busch: NASCAR CEO and Chairman Brian France defended NASCAR's decision to waive the 26-race rule on Wednesday and allow Kyle Busch to be eligible for the Chase. Although the sanctioning body granted the waiver, it doesn't mean the Joe Gibbs racer will automatically qualify for the playoff. That's where France says the challenge lies. "The real beauty in the way the championship is now decided, you have a little bit of flexibility to crown your champion," France said. "As opposed to the old days, when it was an accumulation of all the points. Now, you're resetting it any way. You still have to get into the Chase with a win. Once you get there, that's when the real work begins - those final 10 races and to survive that. I think the flexibility the format adds we're still rewarding the best driver in a given year is helpful for us and allows us when things like Kyle Busch happens or something else that are out of a driver's control we at least have a tool left in our tool kit so we can put them back in." Although France acknowledged that Busch's absence for nearly one-third of the Sprint Cup season played into NASCAR's decision-making process, with the new Chase format, the main emphasis is qualifying for and performing in the playoffs.
"What we determined in this case is you still have to finish strong in the remaining events leading up to the Chase, you have to win a race and you have to perform in the final 10 when it matters the most any way," France added. "There is plenty of merit if Kyle, in this case, is able to accomplish all that, then he will be a fine champion."(Motorsport / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)(5-16-2015)

Kyle Busch Happy to Return, Waits on Baby Busch: #18-Kyle Busch was happy to return to the seat of his race car on Friday as practice was held for Saturday night's NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race. It didn't take long for Busch to get back to form, but he was just as intently preparing for the birth of wife Samatha's first child. "I was optimistic about coming back and getting in some laps here at Charlotte Motor Speedway," said Busch. "Our car was fast. It was good to see all my guys, and just kind of get things to fall back in. You know, just trying to get a feel for the seat since I hadn't been behind the wheel in a while. As far as I was concerned, everything went according to plan. We made some adjustments to get in that mock qualifying run. We were able to put a fast time up, but I'm not sure everybody else made that kind of effort. I was definitely excited to see that seat."
Busch noted the biggest adjustment was getting acclimated back to the car. "I think the biggest thing was just getting back the feel of the race car," said Busch. "These race cars have been changing quite honestly. Just trying to get a feel for what all was going on there and what I had to drive. The seat was an adjustment for me. I'm not used to the carbon seat at all; I have never run one. We had to tinker with it a little bit there and tinker with it now to just try and make it a little bit better for me for the long haul, especially for next week."
Charlotte was also a goal for Busch to return to competition. "There were some nervous days in Daytona where I was counting the weeks," said Busch. "And I was like, 'I could probably come back at Talladega,' and that would definitely be pushing it. And then I thought that wouldn't be very smart of me to come back at Talladega. And then Kansas was the next one. And I thought, you know what, I don't know if I want that one either, so Charlotte looks really good. And so far it seems to be a good choice coming back here. I think it was always kind of a goal, just depended on how hard we pushed getting ready for it."
Busch also is excited about soon becoming a father. "Samantha and I got up together like we always do and had breakfast." said Busch, "I told her she better keep her legs crossed and do whatever she had to do today and tomorrow, so we could keep baby Busch inside for 48 more hours. Besides that, it was a nice moment as I was getting ready and what we had is all over with all the trials and tribulations, and learning how to walk again, it was all over. We could now get back to our normal routine."(CMS Pit Notes)(5-16-2015)