Daytona 500 - Ford Saturday Quotes

Dale Jarrett, driver of the No. 88 UPS Taurus, will be trying to become the third driver in NASCAR history to win the Daytona 500 at least four times. The others are Richard Petty (seven) and Cale Yarborough (four). He talked about his chances at media day.

DALE JARRETT - No. 88 UPS Taurus -- WHAT CHANGES DO YOU HAVE THIS YEAR? "A lot more continuity. Last year we brought on Mike Ford as our crew chief. Things were pretty much in disarray at the end of 2003 and Mike had quite a job of rebuilding our race team and he's done a terrific job of that, but we're much better prepared this year coming into Daytona - not only for Daytona but for the upcoming races. I've been very pleased with what I see within our team. We've added some engineering to staff and I feel like we can be considered a top-10 team right now. That's what I want is to get ourselves in a position to have a chance at winning another championship." WHAT ABOUT THE NEW QUALIFYING PROCEDURES? "I think it's a pretty cool idea. It's really about the races anyway. I think we put too much emphasis on qualifying up to this point. We've had more time on the race track for qualifying - actual time-wise, we probably don't run as many laps - but allotted time we've had more time to get ready to qualify than we have for the race and the race is what pays the points and pays the money. So I think it's a great idea. I think there are probably some ideas in there that it can save us some money because of the exotic springs that we were getting to try to get qualified and things like that. Personally, I like that idea. I like the idea that the top 35 are guaranteed spots. I think that's something these car owners and these sponsors need to have and I think that will probably entice some other sponsors to get involved, knowing that they can be involved in all the races." SHOULD YOU PRACTICE AND QUALIFY AT NIGHT IF YOU RACE AT NIGHT? "I think as much of that we can do as possible would be beneficial. The more we can simulate race times in our practice sessions the better the racing is gonna be. It gives us a better opportunity instead of guessing at what the track is gonna do. If we can practice during those times the day before, then we're gonna be much better organized and better prepared when the race starts, instead of having to make our car so adjustable going from an afternoon practice session to a night race. I think that would be much better for us, so the more the tracks and NASCAR can accommodate us with those situations, the better the racing is gonna be." WOULD IT BE SAFER FROM A SETUP STANDPOINT? "I think we can get better prepared and we won't have to make so many adjustments with the car to where we're taking a big chance. I think we're OK with the safety issue, but I think it's gonna make for better racing at the very beginning of the race. You're not gonna see good cars taking a chance of getting a lap down or putting themselves in some bad positions because of that." SOME GUYS LEFT CALIFORNIA AND VEGAS SCRATCHING THEIR HEADS. CAN YOU COMMENT ON WHAT YOU KNOW ABOUT THAT? "I'm not sure if they were scratching their heads because of that or because the wind blew 50 miles an hour for two days. It was one of the most bizarre things I've even been through and I've been in this a long time. I think that the new rules are gonna be a little bit different for everyone. The falloff of the tire is gonna be different. It's something that just two or three years ago we were accustomed not to having any falloff, but the tires were so hard that it made it interesting at times but it changed the racing so much that way. You'd have people pitting or not pitting or getting two tires. Now it's pretty much a four-tire deal again. We don't have as much downforce. The cars aren't gonna drive as good and be quite as stable in traffic, but that's how you adjust your race cars. I think what I saw there were the better teams that were prepared better found that out quickly. I think once we get into the racing we'll figure that out. There's always a lot more talk about it before we actually go do the racing and we see that maybe it's not quite as bad as what we thought it was gonna be. This is kind of what we've been leaning towards and I think we'll have to make some adjustments. Guys will have to make some adjustments in the way they drive the cars and you're gonna have to make some adjustments in the way that the cars are set up."

DALE JARRETT CONTINUED -- DO THE EXTRA LAPS IN THE 150 CHANGE ANYTHING? "It doesn't change it a whole lot, other than it could change your pit strategies just a little bit - especially now that we have tires that are wearing more here. They have more grip to start with, but that means they're gonna wear out a little bit faster, so that could come into play late in that last 25 miles. It'll be interesting to see how that plays out." DOES KNOWING YOU'RE IN THE 500 GIVE YOU A DIFFERENT STRATEGY FOR THE 150? "I think that's always been a plus in knowing that you're gonna be in the Daytona 500. You could look at that differently, whether it was a case you ran fast enough or because of the rules now that the top 35 are guaranteed spots. I think it allows you to go into that race looking at things a little bit differently. Maybe you try something there that you wouldn't have in the past because you do have that guaranteed spot, and I think it's only right that these car owners and these sponsors have these guaranteed spots. I think it will probably make for a more interesting show." HOW WILL THAT 35-CAR GUARANTEE CHANGE THINGS? "I think it's a great idea, personally, because I think there have been times that sponsors that are either in the sport or wanted to get involved in this sport are a little concerned at spending the type of money that it takes and not really having those type of guarantees. I think these car owners spend a lot of money and a lot of effort and the sponsors put in a lot of time and effort. They come to these tracks with hospitality and large groups and there hasn't been any guarantees that on Sunday their car is gonna be there. I think it's time that we have that. Our sport has reached that level that we need to have that guarantee that we're gonna have these teams involved. If there are seven or eight other spots there and people want to come in and try to make the show, then they have the opportunity to do that, but I think it's a great idea." WHAT ABOUT HOW GUYS ARE GOING TO APPROACH QUALIFYING NOW? "I think we've taken a look now with the way things are set up that maybe qualifying isn't quite as important as what we thought. It's never paid any points and it doesn't pay a whole lot of money. We've gotten more time to practice for qualifying than what we actually got to practice for the race. Now it's the opposite. We're gonna get time to spend practicing for the race, which is what everything is all about. It's where the points are paid, where the money is paid and where the trophy is given. I think we're making a step in the right direction in making things more geared toward the races and allowing these teams that are involved and have been involved, and these sponsors that are involved, that they're gonna get that opportunity to race every week." WILL IT MAKE FOR BETTER RACING? "I think it's gonna make for better racing, yes." HOW MUCH EMPHASIS FOR YOUR LATE-SEASON TURNAROUND DO YOU PUT ON ELLIOTT AND HIS TEAM? "I'm not sure I can put a total value on it to where you would understand how much it means to have teammates like Elliott Sadler and Todd Parrott - that are willing to open their books and discuss anything and everything with you down to driving styles. I've been at this a long time, but I'm not above asking Elliott if there's something he does different at a track than what I do, and I'm not beyond telling him if there's something I do a little different. We talk about a lot of things and that's meant a whole lot to helping our program get back to respectability to where we are a contender again. Elliott and his team have been a big factor in that and, hopefully, it will benefit us both by getting into the chase this year." SOME OF YOUR PEERS ARE LEAVING AT THE END OF THE YEAR, BUT NOT YOU. "I'm not ready to quit this yet. I think that I have a few more years left of enjoying this. I still love to compete and I don't think that there's anything these 20 and 25 year olds can do that physically I can't do in a car. I keep myself in good shape and I love to compete. As long as you do that, I think that my experience will take over somewhere and maybe do things a little bit better than they do, so I'm just looking to get out and compete. I'm not looking to be out there and drive around. If I'm gonna do this and I'm gonna compete, I want to compete at a high level. I want to know that I have a chance to win on a regular basis and that we have a chance at running up front on a regular basis."

DALE JARRETT CONTINUED -- CAN YOU COMPARE THE NFL'S SUPER BOWL AND THE DAYTONA 500? "That's a great week and a great event that they have with so many things surrounding it. Then you come here less than a week later and start up for our initial event of each season. There are a lot of comparisons, other than the fact I think ours makes a lot of sense in having our biggest event be the first one of the year because everybody is the best prepared. We've had the most time to work and get ready for the Daytona 500 and it is our biggest race. What it does for your career is just incredible. Having the opportunity to have won it three times over a span of seven or eight years, I could see just how much our sport has grown and I would like to have that opportunity again to get in a very select group that has won this four times. I'm looking forward to that opportunity, but I found it kind of amusing to be at the Super Bowl. I don't know the exact figures of how many people were there, but I would guess it was somewhere close to 100,000 people that actually attended the Super Bowl - maybe a few more. But we're gonna have well over 200,000 people here at the Daytona 500 and we have 35 other races that have a lot of crowds, too. That's a great event and I had a great time there, but this is quite a spectacle of its own." HAVE YOU GOTTEN INTROSPECTIVE AT ALL WITH SOME OF YOUR CONTEMPORARIES LEAVING? "Not really. I think that everybody has their own timetable. I tell people that I started after those guys did, so I should be able to drive a little longer than what they did. But I think it's what drives you inside and what you're looking to accomplish. I would be kind of lost when I get out this. If it gets to the point where I feel like I'm not holding up my end of the bargain, then I think I'll be willing to hang it up then. But I don't see that happening right now. I love to compete and I think that I can still win out here. I know I can still win here and I'm looking to wrap up another championship here before I give this up." WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON RUSTY AND MARK LEAVING? "Those are two guys who have done a lot for this sport and help it get to this point. They're true racers. It's gonna be hard to replace guys like that and I'm sure that was said back many years ago when my dad retired and Junior Johnson and David Pearson later and Richard Petty and Darrell Waltrip. You always wonder how people like that are gonna be replaced and there will be young people to come along and take those places, but those guys were true racers and gave a lot to this sport. They got a lot back from it but it was because they gave so much. It's gonna be fun to compete with them in their last year and we certainly wish them the very best. I know neither one of them have had the experience of winning this Daytona 500, but if myself or Elliott can't get in Victory Lane, I'd certainly wish that one of those guys will have that chance."

Kurt Busch, driver of the No. 97 IRWIN/Sharpie Taurus, has had a short off-season after winning the inaugural NASCAR Nextel Cup Series championship. He spoke about the last few weeks and his hopes for 2005 during media day Thursday.

KURT BUSCH - No. 97 IRWIN/Sharpie Taurus - IT'S A SHORT OFF-SEASON ANYWAY. WHEN YOU WIN A TITLE IT MUST GET EVEN SHORTER. "It definitely shortens it up and you have to know what you're gonna be doing each day to stay ahead of the game - working with NASCAR one day, going on a show the next, helping get back with the team and helping them go through the test cycles we had at Daytona, Vegas and California. You just have to stay on top of the game that much more and it seems like the off-season goes that much quicker when you are a champion." WHAT MAKES DAYTONA SO SPECIAL? "It's Daytona. It's the prestige, it's the history. It's building such as this that are created within the infield at Daytona to make you realize that this place is the birthplace of stock car racing. It's very special to all of us."

KURT BUSCH CONTINUED -- WHAT HAS THE REACTION OF HAVING CROWN ROYAL ON THE CAR BEEN? "The reaction with us is something that we're following through from what NASCAR has done as far as being a leader in this sport of marketing. The way that they're gonna be on our car is a perfect opportunity to use their tagline of 'Be a champion, drink responsibly.' That came from the IROC series. We were able to win the 2004 Nextel Cup Series championship, so with them wanting to come to us it fit perfectly. They'll be on our car a handful of times this year. The driver's suit makes me look like Barney, but we're gonna have some fun with the Crown Royal group this year." THOUGHTS ON THE POINT SYSTEM. "We think we know what to expect. We definitely had a superior group of 10 races versus the other competitors and one thing I think we can do better is to test maybe once or twice in the summer run just so that we don't go into the final chase seventh in points. I think we got behind a little bit, so if we can adjust to that and make sure that it comes into play, that would be great if we think we know what we need to do. Otherwise, you just have to adjust for what each track gives you each day and get the best points finish you can. We definitely set the template or the outline of what it takes to win the new points format, but I think we can adjust on it to make it better." WHAT WILL IT BE LIKE HAVING KYLE OUT THERE? "Having Kyle out there, it's not a stat or a special number that you can have. It's something very special between brothers and, of course, with the history of NASCAR and the group of legendary brothers that have come out of this sport is phenomenal. To have that stat and just to be out there competing against him - I can't wait to hang him out to dry in the draft at Daytona (laughing), but yet to help him out at a short track or something." HOW DO YOU VIEW DAYTONA? "It's by far the most important race that we run next to the Homestead finale with the way the new point system is. We have 10 races in the chase. We have our Daytona race. We've got Indianapolis and now we've got Charlotte and Bristol, so there are marquee events that we run throughout the year and this is the largest. It's the birthplace of NASCAR racing as well as the Daytona 500." HOW CONFIDENT ARE YOU OF WINNING ANOTHER TITLE? "If I trade the championship for the 500, Junior might not go for that (laughing). The way that we're gonna look at this season is it's definitely an opportunity to go against the odds. A champion hasn't repeated since 1998 due to the demands and the extra curricular things you do off the track, so the focus is Sunday and what we have to do to make the race car work on the race track and to get into Victory Lane every week that we can." IS IT A DIFFERENT APPROACH TO THE SEASON? "Our team can walk a little lighter with their footsteps knowing that we've won the championship, but knowing there is going to be a heavy weight on their shoulders because we are the defending champions, so we have to balance that out. Right now, the best way to do it is to stay ahead of the game and to have cars already built. Right now, we've got our cars built for Bristol, so we're ahead of the game so far and now it's a matter of staying there." WHAT HAS SURPRISED YOU ABOUT THE DEMANDS ON A CHAMPION? "It's not necessarily a demand, it's a perk. NASCAR has completely spoiled me. It's an honor and privilege to be such and the way a champion helps NASCAR and the cross references with the way you hold up your sponsors to NASCAR and vice versa, it's wonderful. It was amazing on Monday going to the White House, all the things we did in New York with the big TV production shows. It's been a great perk and I think that's the most unexpected thing about being a champion." HAS IT BEEN TIRING AT ALL? "It hasn't been tiring. It's been fun. I can't wait to get into the car, but yet there is still stuff to do off the track." HAVE YOU RE-CHARGED A LITTLE BIT? "I had a chance to re-charge when I did the Rolex 24 Hour race. I think I got a little sick from it - jumping out of the car at two in the morning and not keeping up with the dietary and nutritional part of it. And then with the temperatures being so cold, so right now, physically, no. Tonight we'll have a great rest and then jump into the weekend. We'll be driving normal stock cars so that'll be a good feeling once I finally get into my comfortable car."

KURT BUSCH CONTINUED -- WHAT'S THE MOST ODD THING TO HAPPEN TO YOU SINCE LAST YEAR? "I've gotten that question a lot and I haven't been able to answer it in the humoristic tone I'd like to answer it in. Just being able to go and do all the different things. Of course on the TV shows and feeling as nervous as I did before I got on Letterman. Going back to Las Vegas and having a parade with the hometown crowd. Those were all great things, so it's hard to find the one goofy thing that's happened. I think the goofiest thing was an autograph session broke out in Hallmark when I went to go get some Christmas cards after my vacation." WHO HAVE YOU LEANED ON? JEFF GORDON SAID YOU TALKED TO HIM. "Yeah, those were a good few moments we had here during testing. I called him that night. To talk with Dale Jarrett. He was the guy that called me right away with some small things to do, and then Matt Kenseth - a champion that's right here at Roush Racing. He did it last year and he's a guy that's so easy to read for me. He might not be for some of the other drivers or some of the media, but with his dry, Midwestern sense of humor, he was a great guy to lean on for information. It's a learn as you go thing, but yet you're required to know quite a bit right out of the box." WHAT DID THEY SHARE? "To know what to look for and to be patient, and to dress for the occasion, and to really embrace it because it might happen only once." KYLE SAID HE HAD A LOT OF DOORS OPEN BECAUSE OF YOU. DOES THAT END NOW? "Not really. I still believe that you can always lean on your brother for information when you're having a bad day. A sibling rivalry will develop from it, but yet it will be a friendly one because we both know and respect one another on what it takes to get to this point. The doors may have been opened, but it was a matter of him walking through it. He's definitely made a name for himself and he'll create an identity for himself. The doors that I opened will still continue to be opened for him. I don't try to burn the bridges when I go through there, so I hope that I'm still able to help him out. It doesn't end today just because he made it to the top." JEFF GORDON TALKED ABOUT THE GRIND OF THIS SPORT. HAVE YOU GOTTEN A TASTE OF THAT AND HOW LONG MIGHT YOU DRIVE? "When you first jump in, and that happened five years ago for me, it looked like I could do 25 more years. That would get me into my late forties or early fifties. With the schedule and the demands and championships - hopefully more will come along - it's a matter of balancing it out to where you do take a day each week, where you get some time for yourself and make sure you're not in the hustle and bustle a full 36 weeks straight - that you maybe have a week here or two days there to not wear yourself out. For me, I'd say with what's happened with this new chase format and the years that it progresses on my body, maybe five years have been knocked off already. Forty-five years old might be the time when you call it quits, 40 years might be the time. I definitely don't see drivers going into their fifties like they do now." WHAT ABOUT THIS RACE? "Daytona is by far the best place to kick off our season. We couldn't do it at a Martinsville. We could do it even at a prestigious place like Bristol or Charlotte. You've got to come to where the good weather is and Daytona has that normally. It's just the way Daytona creates an allure, a prestige and the history value here where buildings such as this to come and do our media days in, this is a great place to get started." WITH A TITLE UNDER YOUR BELT, DO YOU TURN TO WINNING THE DAYTONA 500? "This year I can say we might not be disappointed if we don't win the 500, but we might be disappointed if we don't make the Brickyard 400 a competitive race for us. This is one of Jimmy Fennig's last two years and he doesn't have that on his resume, so that's one thing I'd like to give to him before he retires because he's given me so much. I'd love to get him the Brickyard 400 trophy. He's won the Daytona 500 before, so if we could do that for him, that would definitely be special to us this year." WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE SOME YOUNG DRIVERS THIS YEAR? "One thing is to be patient. One thing that I did wrong was to jump in too quickly and to try to learn too much too quick. Just pace yourself and to be able to be comfortable with your mistakes - to know that you're gonna make a few."

KURT BUSCH CONTINUED -- BUT THE TRUCK SERIES WAS A GOOD FOUNDATION FOR YOU? "It was. I wish I had more time. I wish I had two years in Busch to go through some of the pitfalls and, of course, to be able to see more before the intense focus of Nextel Cup racing was upon me." WILL RACING BE BETTER WITH THE NEW QUALIFYING PROCEDURE? "It definitely will. With the impound we're going to have at later tracks, this track with the way they're splitting us up, I see two main reasons. One is to create two good shows in the 150s. You've got all the odd guys in points from the previous year and all the even guys in another. No matter where they qualify, that's the show. Then what you create is where you have the guys that are worse than 35th in points, they will be spread among the shows in the 150s. So you'll get two or you'll get three out of each of the races. Instead of having all six in one and none in the other, both shows will be identically prepared with quality cars as well as cars trying to make their first start." WHAT ABOUT THE REGULAR SEASON? "What I noticed so far with our test in California, because that will be our first impound race, is that you can just make the adjustments you can make from your race setup and you just deal with it in qualifying. Now we'll see what happens two or three times in. Do guys just go for qualifying and track position early on in the race and try to hold that throughout the race, or will they try to completely work on their race setup, take a provisional to get in, and then work their way towards the front. Obviously, at the end of Sunday is when you gain your points and that's what's gonna weigh more heavily is your race setup."

JOHN ANDRETTI - No. 14 VB/APlus at Sunoco Taurus - WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT DAYTONA? "Way back when, we're an open-wheel racing family, but Mario actually won the Daytona 500 in '67 before he won the Indianapolis 500 which is a little bit odd I guess. But you always look forward to it. It was like the racing fix to get the year started. You tend to see racing a lot on television and now all of a sudden you can turn it on and see the Daytona 500 and see all the great names that you heard about - the Pettys, the Allisons, the Yarboroughs and all them. I think Cale Yarborough kept winning because they were on TV, so that even elevated what was going on so you started learning more and more about what was going on. Even when I made the switch, I think my uncle was probably the only one that could understand what I was doing. My dad was like, 'What are you going racing there for?' I could do sports car racing. I could still do Indy car racing, but when I got to do some racing I thought, 'This is like an all-out war. This is like Saturday night racing that we grew up in when we raced sprints and midgets in USAC.' I really loved it so it all starts up again with the Daytona 500. What made it great is it started NASCAR. It's the pinnacle of all the races. It's the one you feel like that if you come out of here and do well, you carry that for a long time. If you come out of here and do poorly, you carry that on your shoulders for a long time as well." WHAT ABOUT THE DEI CARS HERE? "I don't know. I think that things change. I think for a while it was Hendrick or Yates and DEI has been very, very tough. DEI is a great organization. There's no doubt about it. I was in a DEI car last year and obviously one won the race, so they're gonna be very, very tough. We saw Hendrick gang up on them in the July race here, I think, so as long as you've got a teammate or a partner - somebody that's gonna push you - I think that's gonna be the key. Michael and Junior work awfully good together. They're both awesome drafters. That's been part of DEI's success, but part of it has also been the work they do behind the scenes. They don't take anything for granted. They work extremely hard and spend an awful lot of money to make this program successful. I got to see all of that and I actually have a couple people from that program working on my program, so we know how intense that is and we know what the battle is. We're not there, but we're gonna take as much of the fight as we can to them and then, who knows? I mean, you can come down pit road with a flat tire. I mean, I've done it before here and lost this race, so it would be OK if somebody else did it other than me if it helps me (laughing)."

JOHN ANDRETTI CONTINUED - AS A NEW TEAM HOW DO YOU COMPETE AGAINST DEI? "You take the people that you have and two people that are quality people - that have been a part of DEI and are part of this program are Dave Charpentier and Vic Radisi. There are a lot more tricks. DEI has got great horsepower. They do a lot of work on their bodies. They did a lot of testing this year that people don't know about, but we know about it. They're focused in on winning the championship, it's not just the Daytona 500. Let's not give up winning these races because we can't give up winning these races either is their attitude. They're a tremendous organization. Just like when Ray Evernham and Jeff Gordon got going in this sport they raised the bar. DEI has raised the bar, so it's a good place to go because it just makes you work harder. We're working as hard as we can. Whether you can compete against them or not, you don't know but you know what? Five hundred miles is a long race and some things do have to go your way. You have to come to pit road a few times, too." WHAT ABOUT YOUR CONFIDENCE LEVEL? "I think that last year we really struggled because we never really race that much, but I think the year before that when everything happened to me it caught me by surprise. It was sort of like getting hit in the head with a baseball bat. It was something I didn't expect and it gave me a lot time to reflect on racing and if I wanted to do it and how much I missed it. I described it a little bit because lent is coming up. You give up something for lent and then you find out how much you miss it and that's like me. I gave up something and I had the ability where I could stand back and see my kids do things and try to become a dad, but still there was a part of me that was crawling away and dying. My wife is happy that I'm doing this again. Even though the fight is tough and we know we're gonna get beat up and our nose is gonna get bloody a lot, I like that kind of fight. I like being in a battle and I love every part of it, so I had to come back. I don't care about the bad days because they just make us work harder for the good days and appreciate them all that much more." WAS IT A HARD DECISION TO COME BACK? "No. I mean, it's easy to want to do what you've always done when you love what you do. I always said that I was lucky. I went to work and looked forward to going to work. I hated the days off, so now I'm back at it. I guess you can't call it work if you love doing it because work is something you're supposed to hate doing. I guess I was working staying at home and I guess just watching the races on TV was work to me. Now I'm back doing what I love to do." CAN NASCAR DO ANYTHING TO LEVEL THE PLAYING FIELD? "I think they do everyday and I think they work hard at it. Sometimes it's almost like the playing field gets so even that it changes everything. Our times here now at Daytona are more like Bristol was three or four years ago. It's so tight. I think the only thing left to do is just give us a car and tell us to run it. Here's a car. Bring your decals and put it on. They're doing a great job. They actually have a much harder job of making it be a fair playing field, so I commend them for the work that they do because I wouldn't want to be on that side." WHAT ABOUT THE NEW RULES AS A NEW TEAM? "I think you spend so much time living in your own little world that you only see how it impacts your world. It makes my world cloudy and rainy with some snow and a little bit of hail with the new rules. Two or three years ago it would have been great for me because there was no problem to fit into the new rules, but I look at it and say that I think it was probably something that was overdue. I think it's good that they protect the people that have been a part of this sport and us new guys have to fight our way in. If we fight our way in, then we deserve to be in. We'll come back next year and if we get out of here with our heads chopped off or get out of here looking good - either way - I think NASCAR was taking care of who they need to take care of, so we'll just go with that. Next year we'll come in here and say that we feel sorry for those guys because they've got to do what we did last year."

JOHN ANDRETTI CONTINUED -- THOUGHTS ON MARK MARTIN RETIRING. "Mark is a racer. I think what he's gonna do is he's gonna draw back and do other racing. He's gonna do what Bill Elliott is doing - he's gonna do things like that. Mark isn't giving up racing, he's just giving up the pressures and the travel and the schedule and all of that with Nextel Cup, which, I think a guy like Mark, in reality, I can't judge Mark other than I know Mark is as fierce a competitor as they come. I think a competitor like him is like my uncle and my uncle is gonna be over 60 this year. I mean, if you just mention a race car his blood boils and he's ready to get back in. That's Mark Martin too. I think right now it's easy to say. He's getting ready to start a whole new season. But I think it's gonna be much tougher for Mark next year when this time comes and he's not in the fight because Mark's a fighter and a challenger. I'm not saying that he hasn't evaluated it correctly. I hope it all works out for him, but personality is pretty hard to turn off."