Dodge Charger 500 - Chevrolet Friday Quotes

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE'S MONTE CARLO SS:

WHY DO YOU HAVE SUCCESS HERE? "It's a track that I've always liked. I think it reminds me a little bit of my off-road days. A good advantage of mine is to manage the tires and that's really the bottom line. You've got to really take car of the tires and it fits my style."

ON HIS TEAMMATE JEFF GORDON AT DARLINGTON: "I think it's the same thing. He's very good at conserving his tires. You can't just ride around out there a half-second off the pace. I think the dirt experience that Jeff (Gordon) has had and (Tony) Stewart, myself, (Kasey) Kahne and guys like that (helps). You know how to just get enough out of a tire without killing it and abusing it and that really pays off."

DO DRIVERS APPRECIATE THIS RACE MORE NOW THAT YOU ONLY RACE HERE ONCE A YEAR? "I wish we came here four or five times. It's a great track. I think it's a track that the veterans really enjoy coming to not necessarily the rookies. I think I was one of the few rookies who came here and really enjoyed it and liked the track right out of the box. But the rookie class seems to be amazing everyone in producing it and really have shown a lot of maturity. This is a track where you have to race the race track and drive your car to its potential. You can't be caught up following someone and trying run their line."

DOES RACING ON MOTHER'S DAY WEEKEND POSE A CHALLENGE FOR YOU? "No. I would love to have a day off. I think we all do. We'd like to be home and celebrating Mother's Day with our mothers. We do have Sunday off so that's nice that we have a day off on the weekend."

WHAT'S THE BEST ADVICE YOUR MOTHER EVER GAVE YOU? "I should have thought about this coming down here knowing these questions would come. I would really have to thank my parents and my mom especially because I think you are a product of your parents. My parents taught me to be understanding, caring and treat people how you want to be treated. I really think that's the side of my mother that I've picked up and carried on in my life."

SOME PEOPLE SAY JEFF GORDON ISN'T AS COMPETITIVE AS HE USED TO BE. WHAT DO THINK ABOUT THAT? "He's a very competitive man. He's very focused on his racing career. I think he's more focused, committed and working harder than I've ever seen him work."

ON JEFF GORDON NOT HAVING THE SUCCESS HE'S USED TO: "I'm sure it's not easy for him. He's used to regular success, great equipment, and great people around him. He's probably one of the best drivers of our sport so I'm sure it's not easy for him to not have the success he's used to."

ON THE PROBLEMS WITH JEFF GORDON'S CAR IN RICHMOND LAST WEEKEND: "He was devastated last weekend. It was something in the distributor cap. It took him out of the race when he was running really strong. They're working hard to make their cars better. We were just talking a minute ago, he and the team have done so much to be competitive and they're really on the brink of success and literally a two cent part did it. They're doing their job they just need to get some luck back on their side."

ON THE ALL-STAR RACE: "It's really a lot of fun. I think it's one of the few races where everybody can let their hair down. We are there learning and we can carry a lot of stuff from the All Star weekend to the (Coca Cola) 600 weekend but the points really aren't on the line and I think everybody has a lot of fun."

WHAT'S THE ART OF RACING HERE WITHOUT GETTING SUCKED IN THE WALL? "To pull off a pass you really have to set it up and position yourself to get by someone and put the other car in somewhat of a disadvantage. Beyond that, you just have to race your own race. If people are running you down, you've got to let them go. You learn to give and take because you cannot run side-by-side around here maintaining any speed. You've got to execute your passes at the right time and if someone is on you you're better off letting them go so don't sit side-by-side for a lap or two and lose more seconds to the leader."

ON THIS TRACK POSSIBLY BEING REPAVED: "Don't say that word. Leave this place alone. Keeping patching it and make it rougher. I think the track is awesome and the reason we have such good racing here. If they repaved the current asphalt and we were running 190 around here, it'd be single file racing. It's not wide enough to run side-by-side. We need the drop off. We need the tires to wear out so that we can race like we do around here."

ON HIS SUCCESS HERE: "I like the track. When I was racing in the Busch Series I didn't have a lot of success here. I was a fan of it and when I came back in the Cup car I started seeing some success. It's a tough track. It really makes you earn your money every lap. I enjoy it."

DO YOU CHANGE YOUR MINDSET AT A TRACK LIKE THIS THAT CAN BE DANGEROUS? "I come here every time and try to get a balance and not get caught up in lap times and try to make my car ride nice and not abuse the tires."

IS THIS A FAVORITE RACE TRACK FOR THE CURRENT GENERATION OF DRIVERS? "I think so. Everybody has a track that they prefer more than the other but I have heard quite a few drivers mention how much they enjoy coming here and racing here. I think it's more because of the challenge you have as a driver here. If you have success it really shows a lot for your driving skills and that you're really on top of your game."

ON TERRY LABONTE MAKING HIS LAST START HERE: "I didn't realize that I guess. I think back to Terry winning the last Southern 500 and how special that was for him. I think I finished second to him that night. I thought with new tires and a short sprint to the end, I might be able to pull something on Terry. He checked out and was gone and left me in the dust. I think back to that memory of Terry."

HOW HAVE YOU BEEN ABLE TO BE CONSISTENT AT DARLINGTON? "I think a couple of things. It's a track I like coming to. The second thing is technology. "The technology on this race track and the mile and a half's, it doesn't really cross over here. The same technology and everything that we're doing won't work here. Our winning set-up has been very consistent and it's always been a very good place for us. I give a lot of credit to the car and what I just mentioned. Beyond that, I've learned through some mistakes here. I had something with Sterling Marlin racing too hard too early. I learned and realized if I run my own race here and deal with my race car and not worry about things surrounding me, you'll have a better day that way. I think that's where my consistency has come from - staying focused on my car. It's a long race. People make mistakes and hit the wall. Somebody is going to be really fast but I need to worry about my car and my situation and forget about everything else."

WHY DOES YOUR TEAM REJUVINATE SO WELL? "I don't have an explanation why. I'm glad that we've been able to produce during tough times especially with the bad things that have happened with our airplane going down. We were able to produce on those days, that day in Atlanta. I don't know why it's happened. I'm not sure why we rebound back like we do. The only thing I come up with is regardless of the situation our guys keep their cool and we maintain. We know our potential and we go out and strive for that. We don't try too hard. We don't throw in the towel. We just go out and give 100 percent and have been able to deliver doing that."

IS IT A RELIEF FOR YOU AS A DRIVER THAT YOU HAVE A CONSISTENT PIT CREW? "First of all, you make sure you don't loose anything on pit road. That's one thing Chad (Knaus, crew chief) and our management and pit crew trainers work on is consistency. If a fast stop is 12.5, we'll take 13.0 all day long instead of a few 12.5s, 12.2s and a 15.0. Our first priority is consistency. From there we really start working on speed and the mechanics of the pit stop to try to get that to be competitive. I think my rookie year we had some issues and had some inconsistencies but since then we've focused on the consistency of our stops and we've been solid ever since."

ON A DRIVER'S ROLE IN A PIT STOP AND BRINGING THE CAR IN QUICKLY: "There are a couple of things. Depending on where your pit stall is you can hustle a little bit more. If you're coming to stop in a certain zone that is being timed, once you cross that line you can really hustle the car because you're coming to a stop. Bringing the car into the pit box with speed is really important and helps the stop. If you have an opening in front of you or not or you're coming around a car, you really have to get the car pointed in the right direction so you're not in trouble.

"That slows down the stop a lot more than you think. If the team has a good eye on the car and it's coming in straight, they know the steps they need to make to be in position for the car to stop at them. If you have to turn around someone and get pointed out, they're almost dancing trying to follow the car and you can easily lose two or three seconds doing that."

WHEN YOU MAKE A MISTAKE ON PIT ROAD OR THE CREW MAKES A MISTAKE, YOU GUYS DON'T SEEM TO ARGUE A LOT ABOUT IT. "I know they are doing everything that they can. I'm confident in them. I know that they don't want to make mistakes. They know that I don't want to make mistakes and that I'm doing everything I can. If I get on the radio after a pit stop and get mad, what good is that going to do me? They're harder on themselves than I can ever be on the radio and that's how I am inside the car. There's a level of respect there that I'm not going to cross the line and disrespect those guys and it goes the other way too."

TERRY LABONTE, NO. 44 KELLOGG'S MONTE CARLO SS:

(YOU STARTED YOUR FIRST RACE HERE AND WON YOUR FIRST RACE HERE. DARLINGTON IS A SPECIAL PLACE FOR YOU, ISN'T IT?) "It's the place where I ran my very first race. Being from South Texas, I didn't know a lot about it. Otherwise, I probably wouldn't have picked this place to be the first one [LAUGHS]. It's always been a special track for me, to be able to come down here for that first event and finish fourth (1978). I think we were third the next year in the Southern 500 (1979) and then came back and won the next year (1980). A few years ago, we won the last Southern 500 over Labor Day weekend, so that was pretty exciting. It hasn't changed any. It's still a tough race track and not much different than it was 25 years ago."

(DO YOU HAVE TO SHOW A LOT OF RESPECT TO THE TRACK?) "Oh, yeah. It's a track where you always feel like you race the track more than the competitors. It would be hard enough to run around here for 500 miles or 400 miles by yourself without hitting the wall at least once. That's why I say you have to race the track here more than a lot of places. It's definitely a tough race track. It's definitely a pretty narrow track, then they put the SAFER barriers in. That took a couple feet away."

(BEING YOUR LAST TIME HERE, DO YOU HAVE SOME ADVICE FOR YOUNGER DRIVERS RUNNING DARLINGTON FOR THE FIRST TIME?) "If you finish the race and stay out of trouble, you can have a good finish here. I've seen races here where there won't be much trouble for the whole race and other times you have some trouble. It's a tough place to run, there's no doubt about it."

(WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER ABOUT YOUR FIRST START AT DARLINGTON IN 1978?) "We'd finished fourth and I had no idea where we'd finished because I was not used to running car No. 92. When I looked at the scoreboard to see how many laps were left, I never thought about looking to see if my car was up there. I had no idea where I was running, I just didn't know. I'd never run a race longer than 200 laps on a half-mile track, so this was a pretty long event. After the race, I remember Bobby and Donnie Allison came over to congratulate me after the race. I thought that was so cool. These were guys that I had looked up to for so many years and I thought that was pretty neat of them to come over and congratulate me on a good run my first time out. That was exciting."

(WAS THE LAST SOUTHERN 500 WIN YOUR FAVORITE MEMORY HERE?) "Oh, yeah, that would definitely be it. That was a day we came down here, we unloaded, we were fast in every practice, we qualified like third and just ran good all day long. I think we were up in the top seven or eight the whole race. We had great pit stops and beat 'em out of the pits on the last stop. We came out in the front. It was one of those days where the car was right at the end, those guys made some great adjustments on it and it was just fast. Were able to win the race and it was pretty cool."

(YOU'RE NOT TYPICALLY AN EMOTIONAL GUY, BUT DO YOU HAVE AN ADDITIONAL EMOTIONS GOING INTO YOUR FINAL DARLINGTON RACE?) "I just hope we run a little bit better than we did a minute ago. We kind of struggled a little bit in practice here. I hope that we can run good. If we can have a good run, I'll be happy. We're not near as good now as we need to be, that's for sure. You know, they don't have much practice anymore and you can't test anymore. I'm glad it's my last year [LAUGHS]."

(ARE YOU THE KIND OF GUY WHO THINKS BACK ABOUT ALL YOUR GREAT MEMORIES HERE?) "Nope, no, I don't [LAUGHS]. I have some great memories here, no doubt about it. It's always been a pretty special track for me, just because I ran my first race here and won my first race here. It's definitely a special place."

(SO YOU'RE NOT GOING TO BREAK DOWN ON THE STAGE?) "I'm pretty sure I'm not [LAUGHS]."

(DOESN'T THIS TRACK KIND OF FIT YOUR PERSONALITY?) "I've come down here for so many years and had some good runs. I don't know why, I've just seemed to always run pretty well here over the years. There were times when we didn't run good. Like everyone else, you miss the setup from time to time. But overall, it's been a pretty good track for us. And I like running here. I like running here because it's a tough track. It's really fun to run if your car is working good. If your car is handling good and working good, you can pass people and have a good run."

(WHAT IF YOUR CAR ISN'T RUNNING WELL?" "It's not much fun."

(DID YOU EVER HAVE ANY BAD CRASHES HERE?) "I broke my shoulder here, my scapula, in 1989. We went through the corner, somebody dumped oil out and everybody wrecked. I think Ricky Rudd hit me as I was sliding down the track."

(ON COMING BACK TO DARLINGTON.) "I'm kind of old fashioned. I still like it. I'm glad they're running here at night. The only thing that would be better is if it was on Labor Day weekend and real, real hot."

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT MONTE CARLO SS:

ON THE DIFFERENCES OF RUNNING HERE AT NIGHT VERSUS THE AFTERNOON: "Any track we go to where you run at night there's a different in track temperature from day to night. The track speeds pick up and the balance of the car changes a bit. This is a fast race track. It's just that the surface wears the tires out so fast that the race drops off. At night you don't see as much of that drop off which is kind of nice."

ON THE CHANGES HERE AT DARLINGTON: "Just today when I pulled onto pit road for practice I saw the new grandstands. I was like 'Man they have new grandstands at Darlington, that's awesome.' I'm happy because I like this race track. I've had a lot of success at this race track. I think to grow this sport we do need to make changes."

WHAT WERE YOU THINKING IN THE CAR LAST WEEKEND WHILE THEY WERE TRYING TO FIX IT? "I was just trying to think of all the things that went on and how I can help them try to resolve what happened and try to find the problem. I'm thinking basically the same thing you are all thinking. I'm not that smart to think some of the things you're thinking but I'm thinking how to find it, what it is and let's get it fixed."

WHAT WAS THE PROBLEM? "It was a rotor distributor that either broke or came loose."

ON THE DIFFERENT TURNS AT THIS TRACK: "The thing that makes this track so unique is that they're exact opposites. Turns one and two are extremely fast, pretty high-banked, running right up next to the wall and really rough. The track has gotten extremely bumpy and rough over the years. Turns three and four you have to slow down a lot more to the entry of three. You can still run up next to the wall but only in the middle or part of the corner. Again it's rough. It's just a different type of banking and radius. Everything is different here."

ON THE POSSIBILITY THAT THEY WILL REPAVE THIS TRACK. DO YOU THINK THEY SHOULD? "Halleluiah. Oh my gosh, yes. It's not because of the grip level. The grip level is going to fall right back to where it is. Every time they've ever repaved this place, I think they've done it once or twice since I've been in this sport; it goes right back to where it is. But they've got to fix the foundation underneath the race track to get rid of the bumps and the things that are occurring. You go through these hot summers and it just doesn't flex to move and be able to expand the way it needs to expand to prevent those things from happening. That's why they keep having to patch the corners. They need somebody to do it right. I think there are also some things they may be able to do from technology that's come along and things they've been able to do at some other tracks that they might be able to incorporate and would only make this place better."

ON HOW TO KEEP THE SAME TRACK CHARACTERISTICS IF THEY REPAVED IT: "There's not even a way to not do that here. With the atmosphere we're in and this area and the sand, there's no way you're going to take that characteristic away from Darlington. They don't need to rebuild Darlington. They just need to resurface it and primarily get rid of the bumps."

ON THIS BEING A FAVORITE TRACK AMONG DRIVERS: "I think it's a favorite among all drivers because you get to drive this track. No matter how you set that car up the driver plays a very significant role as to how he gets around this track. This is one track that the real drivers in the garage area always seem to like and always seem to find their way to the front someway somehow."

ARE YOU CONCERNED SOMEONE WILL WIN THAT DOESN'T HAVE THE BEST CAR? "I think that's happened for everybody at any track. There have been times that you've won a race where somebody may have had a better car. The majority of the time we've had the best car here. We won the million here and Jeff Burton had a better car at the end of the race. He had a better car than us and it didn't help that I hit the wall on turn two to make mine worse. But we won that race. This is a track where throughout your whole run you might have the best car one time, someone else will have the best car through the middle part and somebody else will have the best car at the end."

YOU SAID PREVIOUSLY THAT TOO MANY CUP DRIVERS ARE DRIVING IN THE BUSCH SERIES BECAUSE THEY NEED THE MONEY. CAN YOU TALK MORE ABOUT THAT? "I didn't say they need the money. I said a lot of them are doing it for the money. There's a big difference. I think there are some guys that are doing it because their car owners are involved in the Busch Series or if they have a want or need to go out there and run in the Busch Series. Some of them are getting pressure to be there because their car owner has a program. And I think some of them are there because they think it will help them on Sunday. But I think the majority are there because they are getting paid pretty good money while they are there. I'm not saying that's the only reason that they're there. I'm just saying it's playing a pretty big role."

DO YOU THINK IT'S FAIR WHEN THERE ARE BUSCH SERIES DRIVERS WHO MAY REALLY NEED THE MONEY VERUS REGULAR CUP DRIVERS WHO WOULDN'T NEED THE MONEY? "I don't think so. I think there are a lot of guys that are still racers. It's different when you see Dale Earnhardt Jr. racing at Daytona. He didn't race every Busch race. He ran the tracks he likes to race on. There's a difference there. You've got guys racing 15 or 20 Busch races or the whole series and I find that hard to believe that those guys are doing it for the pure joy in racing because that's a lot of hard work and headache. To me there's a much bigger challenge of taking your focus away by running that many Busch races than just focusing on Cup."

WHAT DO YOU THINK THE DIFFERENCE IS IN DALE EARNHARDT WINNING HERE NINE TIMES AND DALE EARNHARDT JR. SAYING HE HARDLY LOOKS FORWARD TO COMING HERE? "It could be driver preference. It could be that Dale hit on something real early on in his career with the team he was running for that made this place enjoyable for him. It's hard to say. I'm sure he said the opposite about that when he's going to Richmond, Phoenix, Daytona and Talladega. You have to ask what it is about those places that make Junior like running there."

WHAT'S THE IMPACT OF TOYOTA COMING INTO THE SPORT? "I think for the most part they're going to elevate the level of competition. Right now there's some negative things going on because they're out there trying to steal a lot of people from teams to field good teams. It's also very natural and comes along with it but a lot of teams aren't happy about that. I think the biggest challenge is just trying to break into a really hard-core based American sport that has a lot of American products in it. The reason why they're coming is because they broke into the sales market of it to sell a lot of their cars. I think that they have a right to be here but I think they definitely have a tough road ahead of them including getting the right teams and drivers. I would guess that they're probably going to come in and do it right and get as many good people as they can knowing it will take them a few hard years to get their program together and research what they need and then they're going to go after a lot of the top teams."

HOW WILL THEIR RECRUITING AFFECT THE HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS ORGANIATION? "Our philosophy is this - if you don't want to be part of an organization that treat their people right, pays good money and has a really good shot at wining races and championships then you don't belong there anyway. If you're questioning going some place else and if it's just about the money, then I hope they leave."

HAVE YOU HEARD IF TOYOTA HAS PUT ANY FEELERS OUT TO INDIVIDUALS AT HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS? "Well I haven't gotten any feelers. Nobody has talked to me about driving a race car in the Cup Series for about eight or 10 years (laughs). I think they know where I stand at Hendrick so that's not going to be an issue but I'm sure our other drivers probably have been (approached)."

WHAT DO YOU THINK IF DALE JARRETT ENDS UP DRIVING A TOYOTA? "I think it's a smart move. He has a really good head on his shoulders. I think he's a great representative of this sport. He's obviously got talent because he's won championships. I think that experience is going to pay off. I think it's a smart way to get themselves in there. You look at Ray Evernham and what he did with Bill Elliott. I think it's kind of the same thing."

WHY DIDN'T TOYOTA USE THE MONEY FOR THEIR ORGANIZATION SO THEY HAD SOMETHING READY-MADE? "I think they were a little concerned that if they come in like that, they're going to burn a lot of bridges with fans and race teams and that people would really look down on that. That's my opinion because in a lot of ways that is the way to do it. I'm not saying that's still not going to happen in about two to three years."

DO YOU SEE YOURSELF AND OTHER DRIVERS SITTING ON TOP OF THE BOX WATCHING YOUR CARS GO AROUND 15 YEARS FROM NOW? "That's why I am where I am, because Rick Hendrick offered me the opportunity to be partners in an organization where I have equity and I have a bonus chip there. It's a lot of pride there. It's a lot of hard work that I put into the organization. A lot of that is for my future, not for what I'm doing now. I can see that being something very exciting. l take a lot of pride right now going to victory lane and seeing Jimmie Johnson win the Daytona 500 and battling for championships. I can only imagine what it would be like when I'm not a competitor up against him."

DO YOU SEE YOURSELF COMING TO THE RACE TRACK EVERY SUNDAY AND WATCHING YOUR CAR? "I can't answer that because right now today I'm doing 38 weekends out here. There's going to be a time when I will enjoy not being at the race track. Maybe you take a break away from it and come back strong and be there all the time. I don't know. Rick and I have discussed it very few times and haven't gotten serious into that. I don't even know if there's something I would have to offer them in that way. I would hope with the years experience maybe I could. I think when that time comes is when I'll take a serious look at it."

ON NOT FOCUSING ON THE COMPETITION HERE: "That's why they always say race the race track and not the competition. You've got to be careful being the rabbit out there running hard trying to get away from the guys behind you, you can use your stuff up and fall back 10 or 15 spots. I think you've got to be real careful at this place. That's why I think the drivers that have a good feel and really can be smooth and run consistent laps are the drivers that excel here."

HOW DO YOU BE CONSISTENT HERE WHEN YOU'RE RUNNING SMOOTH? "You hit your same marks every lap. You're smooth on and off the throttle, on and off the brakes. The biggest thing about being smooth is the car not getting out of control. When you run the car straight you see some guys in there bringing the car up off the corner. You do that lap after lap you're killing your tire."

KYLE BUSCH, NO. 5 KELLOGG'S MONTE CARLO SS:

ON THE NEW SURFACE AT LOWE'S MOTOR SPEEDWAY: "It's a great pavement job. The guys did a great job doing that. The transition into Turn 1 is a little different than what it was last time. There is more of a hump -- kind of a jump-off in there. But overall, the pavement job is great. It's real smooth and real nice. We're looking forward to getting out there and running the race. The tires are something different. They're very hard and they're very hard to get a hold of. If you've got your car too loose, you're way loose and if you're too tight, you're way tight. It's hard to find a good balance."

DID YOU FIND THAT THE TRACK IS MORE SENSITIVE FROM DAY TO NIGHT? "We found that too. In the daytime, around 1 - 2pm, just after lunch, it was very warm out and very slick and you were really loose. After dinner came around, you were very tight. There is definitely a lot of adjustability that's going to need to be built into our race cars."

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT HAVING THE ALL-STAR RACE AT LOWE'S MOTOR SPEEDWAY EVERY YEAR INSTEAD OF MOVING IT TO OTHER VENUES? "I like it being at Charlotte because with the Hall of Fame going to be at Charlotte, you've got people that are going to be coming in to the All-Star event and they'll stay that week. They'll spend that week down there in Charlotte and visit the race shops and stuff. To have the Hall of Fame down there now is going to be something extra special for them to be able to see. And it's nice for the teams and the guys and the truck drivers. They don't have to go somewhere else. They don't have to spend another weekend away from home. They're able to at least sleep in their own beds."

IS THIS ONE OF THE MORE INTIMIDATING TRACKS FOR THE YOUNGER DRIVERS? "I wouldn't say it's intimidating. It's definitely a fun place to race. It's very difficult. Maybe for a rookie it's probably pretty intimidating the first couple of times. But I've been here a few times so far and it's a great place to race. I have some fun here. It's very difficult to try to run fast around here."

DO YOU NOTICE THAT MOST OF THE DRIVERS EITHER REALLY LIKE DARLINGTON A LOT OR THEY DON'T LIKE IT AT ALL? "Yeah, there's not a whole lot in the middle there. There's not people that go well, we're going to Darlington... okay... either they love it or they hate it.

"But there are a lot of guys who have been coming here for a number of years who never liked it and maybe now, like it. Other guys that have come here for not many years still like it even though they haven't run on it too many times. I don't know; maybe they haven't had too many Darlington stripes. Once you get it enough times, you probably get tired of it then."

HOW WAS THE CAR IN PRACTICE? "Terrible. The Busch car is all right, but the Cup car is terrible right now. We've got to figure it out. The Busch car is running well. We've got a great race car. It's handled well right off the truck. It's very fast. We made a qualifying run first thing and then put it in some race runs. We probably have a top five car."

CAN YOU WIN IN THE BUSCH RACE TONIGHT? "I think so. We just need to keep all the fenders on it and stay out of the wall."

WHO LOOKS GOOD IN CUP? "The cars that look strong are Kasey Kahne and Mark Martin."

HOW ARE YOUR TEAMMATES? "Brian (Vickers) is not looking too bad. He's right there with us -- maybe a little bit further off, but I'm sure they'll get something figured out."

WHAT KIND OF AN IMPACT DOES THE HISTORY OF THIS RACE TRACK HAVE ON YOU? "It's not so much the racing history that's been in the sport. It's more the later history. This is one of the first superspeedways -- I guess you could call it that -- from the '50's and '60's that was built. A lot of guys had some good times here and a lot of guys had some rough times. I remember seeing old footage of people running around here just putting their cars up against the guardrails and letting it rip. So it's just one of them places where it's been this way for years. It's not built for the way that we run around here today, but it's still a fun place to race at and more so than not, everybody enjoys it."

DALE EARNHARDT JR. SAYS THAT ALL THE YOUNG GUYS HAVE TO ASK A LOT OF QUESTIONS AND JUST RESPECT THE TRACK. DO YOU FEEL THAT WAY? "Yeah, so far today it hasn't given me a very nice time. So we're trying to figure it out and get it right. But our Busch car seems to be running well. But overall, it's a good place to race.

"You definitely want to come in here and learn the place and try to understand it and have the respect in the beginning and then once you develop that, you develop a good rhythm for this place and you can try a little bit harder and stuff like that. But anytime you try to jump too far over the boundaries, you end up finding the fence."

NASCAR DOESN'T DO THE PODIUM FINISH -- THE 1-2-3 -- HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THAT? WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE NASCAR DO THAT? "I thought about that actually a couple of weeks ago. I was kind of curious as to why they didn't. It doesn't really bother me. I think it's more about the prestige of winning and not necessarily who is second or third. That's why they've been trying to put more points for the winner because that's what it is. It's about winning. It's so hard now to do so that when you do (win) you want to savor the moment. You know, it's all by yourself. So you don't have to deal with second or third."