![Kyle Busch does not believe the heel-and-toe is an advantage in NASCAR, at least for him. Image: Jeff Curry/Getty Images](https://speedcafe.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/GettyImages-1495647863-1200x800.jpg)
Two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch is not sold on the benefits of the heel-and-toe despite the sensation which Shane van Gisbergen caused in Chicago.
Even before stunning NASCAR by winning on debut in the Windy City, van Gisbergen attracted attention when an in-car camera captured him right-foot braking.
The New Zealander quipped that the paddock had developed a “foot fetish” over a technique which is the overwhelming norm in Supercars, but a foreign concept for NASCAR.
However, there are at least two right-foot brakers in the Cup Series field this weekend, with van Gisbergen back in the Project91 Chevrolet and Brodie Kostecki making his debut as a team-mate of Busch’s at Richard Childress Racing on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
‘Bush’ believes that the heel-and-toe gives drivers such as himself an advantage on road courses, but Busch, who drove a VF Commodore Supercar with Kostecki earlier this year, is not convinced.
Asked if he knows how to do it, the #8 Chevrolet pilot replied, “No, not successfully.
“I know how to do it and I can do it, but it’s very clunky. I am not a smooth operator when it comes to having to do the heel-toe.
“I did it years ago when I first kind of came in; like, I was learning from Boris Said, Ron Fellows, and a couple of those guys, just talking with them.
“Wheel-hop issues with the old car, it would really kind of help subside that.
“But, then we just went to work on the car, the braking and everything else.
“To me, every time I’m able to just maximise my left-foot for brake, I’m way better off, so I’ve kind of gotten away from it.”
Van Gisbergen believes the heel-and-toe helps him control the rear locking of the car, but Busch does not think it would be worth trying again to learn.
“For me, no,” he said.
“The Chevy guys – thanks to Chevy for letting us come over here – we ran some street Camaros around here and I tried it.
“Like, I tried to do the right foot over, brake, use the clutch, do the downshifts and stuff like that.
“I was, like, a half-second slower than just using the brake and matching the RPMs for the downshifts.”
Busch qualified fifth, van Gisbergen eighth, and Kostecki 11th, although the latter will start from the back after crashing late in his qualifying group.
Race start is due tomorrow at 14:30 local time/04:30 AEST.