BUSCH: Time to shake Daytona 'bridesmaid' tag

"We're about ready to grab fourth gear here. It's time now," said Kurt Busch this afternoon while getting prepared for tonight's Can-Am Duel at Daytona International Speedway. "We have the qualifying race later today for the Daytona 500 and I'm ready to get going."

Yes, the 37 year-old wheelman from Las Vegas, Nevada is ready. Coming out of a season of accolades – and one that actually started auspiciously with Busch on the sidelines and out of the Daytona 500 – the 2004 Cup Series Champion kept the hammer down, winning twice and finishing in the top-10 21 times before rolling out of Homestead-Miami eighth in the final points chase. All things considered, certainly no mean feat.

So now here he is in this Atlantic seaside town in an all-systems-go state of mind. Quite confident in his Monster Energy/Haas Automation Stewart Haas race team and equipment – not to mention the current reality of all his surroundings – Kurt Busch enters the new NASCAR Sprint Cup Series as a dark horse (a term he likes) contender for his second Sprint Cup title. A few hours before heading over to the garage to begin suiting up for tonight's 150-mile high jinx qualifying race, RACER spoke with the No. 41 pilot.

Can you actually plan for one of these 150-miles races or is it just a lottery out there where you try to get to the front and ride it out?

KURT BUSCH: The strategy is to protect the race car, because you want the best piece that you spent all the time on during the off-season building. You want that for the 500. It's a fine balance of trying to get the starting position bumped up versus protecting the car because you need it for the 500-mile race. It's kind of going with the strategy that's worked before and that is to protect the car, and if the car is fast, it'll go to the front all on its own.

How was the Sprint Unlimited from you and the team last Saturday night? Did you learn anything from that race or was it more of a go-through-the-motions deal?

KB: There are times when you've got everything you need to win it and then there are times when you try and do a little bit of research and development to try and get better prepared for the Daytona 500. For us, we were showcasing Monster Energy on the hood of the car and we were just kind of going for it and we got clipped early in the race and had damage so we were just kind of hustling our way around there with that extra baggage with the damage all race long.

How was the off-season for you and the team? As we spoke about a few times over the winter months, 2016 will be a total continuation of Monster Energy/Haas Automation race team. In other words, your house is totally in order and all of you guys are totally in step, aren't you?

KB: Yeah, the off-season was wonderful. I was training hard and getting into more detail with all the different departments at Stewart Haas to make sure we're bringing the best pieces to the race track. I feel great. Me and my fiancé spent some time down in Florida and now I have that feeling of, "man, I want to go to the track! I want to get out there and make some laps and it's time to win!" All this preparation that we put into the team, the cars and everything else, there's nothing else left to do but win.

You're coming off a 2015 season in which you had two wins, ten top five finishes and twenty one top ten finishes. That's a lot of positive centrifugal force heading into the opening phase of '16, isn't it?

KB: Oh, for sure. We want to win more often and to do that you have to put yourself into position to win more often. Last year we had two wins, and I would say we had three that slipped through our fingers, and so that's five. We need more. We need double that. We need ten shots to win and then that way we can cash in on five wins.

In this Chase for the Sprint Cup era we are in, do you want to get a win as quickly as you can and perhaps take a little bit of pressure off as the season moves forward? Or, having said that, do you want to just go out and win as many races as you can?

KB: You want to do both in that question. You want to win early and you want to win often. For us, we're not holding back at all here at the beginning of the year. We're pouring everything into it like it's The Chase. And then, yeah, we want to make sure that we learn things through the summer months that get us best prepared for when the playoffs and The Chase starts back up in September. Every race is important and every race is a chance to win. You know I've got my goals, Stewart Haas and Hass Automation has their goals. Everybody have their goals and the easiest way to accomplish all of that is to be prepared to win every week.

What's your masterplan? What are your goals for the new season?

KB: Well, I mean I'd love to win a restrictor plate race, and I may as well do it here in Daytona and win the Daytona 500. I want to go back to Vegas, my hometown, and hit that track hard and try to win. Again, you always want to show your versatility and that's to win at a short track, to win at an intermediate, to win at a road course, and a super speedway. Last year at Sonoma just slipped through my fingers when Kyle won the race and we finished second to him. I'd like to go out there and win or at Watkins Glen. There are so many different goals and objectives and I'm glad that we have this many on our board that we are targeting.

I always thought it would be cool for NASCAR to create some sort of bonus for a driver who wins on, like you said, a super speedway, an intermediate track, a short track and a road course. If a driver could pull something like that off he should be rewarded big for it. What do you think?

KB: Yeah, there's those objectives and then there's majors like tennis or golf has. Like the grand slams. We have Daytona, we have Charlotte, we have Darlington and we have Indianapolis.

You missed the Daytona 500 last year. Does that make you all the more amped up to be out there on Sunday afternoon?

KB: Oh, there's plenty of motivation. I finished second here three times. It's time to break through and get through and get rid of this bridesmaid tag that I've got.

In your opinion, does the Daytona 500 overshadow every other race? Is it more special than all the others?

KB: What it is, like you said, it's special. It's the first race of the year. There has been two months of off-season work that goes into this car. Is it the biggest? Homestead, the final race of the year when you have the championship on the line, is the biggest. Like in supercross, you have the Anaheim season-opener and then you've got the Vegas finale and both of them are very important races and you want to win them both.

On the eve of this new season there has been a lot of things swirling around. Tony Stewart is trying to heal up before his final season as a competitor, your brother Kyle comes into Daytona as the reigning Sprint Cup champion. However, you're a little bit more on the down-low and I kind of have the feeling that you might like that. Thoughts?

KB: That's all what it is about for me. It's about going out there and racing hard and posting results and letting those numbers speak for themselves. You know, Tony [Stewrt] had a bummer accident this off-season and he's injured, but he'll come back. Kyle proved that you can miss portions of the season and come back and race hard for the championship. Kyle, I'm real proud of him. He's now a champion in NASCAR at the top level and he's got so much ahead of him as well. Lots of good stuff going on for everybody that's in my immediate circle.

I recently read something in the media where you mentioned that winning one Sprint Cup championships is awesome, but to win the two is the stuff of legend. To your way of seeing things, is this true?

KB: Well, it puts you in more of an elite status. To win the Sprint Cup title, that's the rarified air that all of us have as our goal when we are kids or when we're growing up through the racing ranks. We want to be a champion in NASCAR. To be able to repeat, to be able to do it a second time, I think that just puts you in that more elite group that really defines a racer's career when you're able to back up results from years before.

Come Sunday night when you walk out of the pit area at Daytona, what will, realistically, make you a happy man?

KB: Realistically, a good solid top ten finish, All in all, I've been here 16 years and I've yet to get the trophy for the Daytona 500. I won't be disappointed if we don't get it, but I want to give everything I've got and pour it into it and try to get that trophy. It's a championship weekend right away to start the year and so it's neat to have all the right people here.