JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S IMPALA SS MET WITH MEDIA AND DISCUSSED THE DAYTONA 500, HAVING DALE EARNHARDT JR ON BOARD AT HMS, HOW NASCAR INFLUENCED HIS CAREER WHILE GROWING UP IN CALIFORNIA, RACING AT LAS VEGAS AND MORE.

HOW DO YOU GET OVER WHAT HAPPENED AT THE DAYTONA 500 AND GO FROM THERE? “Daytona is huge for everybody in the sport. Everybody wants to run well there. But in the seven years I’ve raced in that race, I’ve only won it once, and I’ve had a lot of late race incidents pop up. So I guess I’m used to leaving Daytona and looking forward to the rest of the season. In a lot of drivers’ minds, I think if you don’t win, that’s one of 26 to worry about before the Chase and you kind of move on. And that’s really the way I’ve looked at it. We didn’t run like we wanted to. We put a lot of effort into it but we just didn’t get the result that we wanted, but we’ll move on.”

ON HOW THE RAINY WEATHER WILL AFFECT PRACTICE TIME AT CALIFORNIA “I think everybody wants more practice time. And if this keeps us from getting on track, that will have a lot of us scrambling. There were a few cars that seemed really strong in the test, and I’m sure those teams and drivers hope it rains, but the rest of us want to get on track.”

DO YOU SAY OKAY, LAST WEEK DOESN’T MATTER AND JUST MOVE ON? “Well it does matter. We want to run well at Daytona. It’s one of 26 to get us into the Chase and hopefully the 29th place finish doesn’t affect our transferring into the Chase. But this early in the season you just kind of move on and focus on the next race. We’re more worried about what the bulk of the season is built on, which are tracks like California and Las Vegas.”

MOST PEOPLE TRY TO AVOID TALKING ABOUT THE CHASE THIS EARLY IN THE SEASON. WHY ARE YOU ALREADY BRINGING IT UP? “That’s what it’s about. It’s all about being a champion. And the goals that we set forth at Hendrick Motorsports are to transfer to the Chase and then race for a championship. And that’s really our focus, not only for the No. 48 car, but for all four teams.”

HAVING WON TWO CHAMPIONSHIPS, IS YOU CONFIDENCE SKY-HIGH AND DO YOU THINK YOU’LL ALWAYS BE IN THE HUNT FOR THE TITLE? “Every year is a new year. The things that I look at are how our test sessions went when we were out here in California and Las Vegas. They were okay. They weren’t what we had hoped for. So I really just go off of the last test session and the last time I was on track. We have a little bit of work ahead of us, but it’s really early in the season to form too much judgment on either side, good or bad, and we’ll just kind of roll with it and see where we end up.”

CAN YOU GIVE US A PREVIEW OF WHAT TO EXPECT IN LAS VEGAS? “At the Vegas test, you could really attack with the car. It seemed like the track was getting a middle lane, if not an outside lane. So as we get into that weekend and all that activity on track, I hope that the track really widens out. I think it’s going to be a better show for us to put on because we can really be aggressive with the cars. At California Speedway, there’s not a lot of banking to tiptoe around, but at Vegas you can really charge.”

GROWING UP IN CALIFORNIA, HOW HAS THE HISTORY OF NASCAR INFLUENCED YOU? “It has been limited to say the least. I know plenty about dirt bike racing and off-road racing and all that stuff. NASCAR was just such a different world and so far away (while I was) growing up. Chevrolet really helped (me) to see what else was out there. I thought naturally that Trans-Am and then Indy Car would have been the road I would have taken. It ended up being mid-west-based off-road truck racing, into ASA, then into Busch, and then Cup. When I was a kid looking at NASCAR, it seemed like a world away and that I would never get there.”

WHAT TRACK DID YOU VISIT THEN? “Phoenix was one of the first tracks.”

CALIFORNIA TRACKS “California-wise, I didn’t tour a NASCAR track until I was racing in the Busch Series and came here to drive. The first time I ever drove a stock car was in North Carolina. I didn’t grow up racing on short tracks here in Southern California anywhere. I was off the road on the dirt, bouncing around (laughs).”

ON ADDING DALE EARNHARDT JR. TO THE MIX AT HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS, IS IT LIKE THE DREAM TEAM? “We certainly have big names with all four drivers at Hendrick Motorsports. It’s brought a lot of hype to the start of the season for us, but it’s not going to carry us through the season. It’s not going to cheer us the finishes we want or a championship at Hendrick Motorsports. It’s nice. It’s something to talk about. But we’re ready to get to work and get the season started. I think Junior is going to bring a lot to Hendrick Motorsports, which is exciting. The challenges that Jeff (Gordon) and I have had on track, and being teammates and fighting for wins and championships has made us both stronger.

“It’s helped us both look at each other’s set-ups and driving styles and has forced us to be better drivers. So I look forward to that challenge with Casey (Mears) and with Junior. Hopefully we have the four strongest cars every week.”

ON IF SOMEONE MADE A MOVIE ON HIS LIFE, WHO WOULD PLAY HIM: "I don't know. My wife says I look like Colin Ferrell because we both have eyebrows that are on different points. (Laughs) So, with that in mind, I would choose him."

ON ROBBY GORDON PENALTY: "I don't know anything about it but I find it hard to believe that you don't know what is on your car. That is the point of view that NASCAR has. It is not our problem; it is a problem for the team. We had an issue where there wasn't even a template made, they didn't like the way it looked. and we got nailed. That is why you keep hearing over and over crew chiefs talk about how scared they are and how nervous they are about their positions, their jobs going through that room that is right behind us. You just never know what is going to happen and the crew chief is held responsible for everything that is on that car. Again, I don't know what went on, it is the first I have heard about it. But I know it is not a fun roll to be in, I have been there twice and I hated it."

ON WHAT HAPPENED TO CAUSE HIS SPIN IN DAYTONA 500: "We were close together and the car got loose at first and then I got a little tap after that."

ON WHAT HE DOES TO UNWIND WHEN HE ISN'T RACING: "We race all the damn time, we don't have a choice. If I am not racing the Cup car, I find my way in to an endurance car or other things. Racing is what I do."

ON RECEPTION BY FANS AT CALIFORNIA SPEEDWAY: "Absolutely different for me here. Wherever we race, there are different reception. At Daytona, I was surprised on my lap around in the pace truck, no one flipped me off and there really wasn't a lot of noise, I don't think the hard core No.8-now No. 88 fans, knew what to do. They just kind of sat there and watched me go by. I am used to people hanging on the fence and flipping me off and booing me and it did happen."

ON MOVING ON FROM DAYTONA: "Daytona this year and really every year is huge for everyone in our sport. Everybody wants to run well there. But, the seven years I have raced in that race, I have only won it once and had a lot of late-race incidents pop up so, I guess, leaving Daytona behind and looking forward to the rest of the season. I think in a lot of driver's minds, if you don't win, that is just one of 26 to worry about for getting in to the Chase and kind of move on. That is really the way I looked at it, we didn't run the way we wanted to. We put a lot of effort in to it, but we didn't get the result we wanted. We will just go on."

ON SITUATION WITH SHORT PRACTICE TIME: "Everybody wants more practice time. This weather (referring to rain at California Speedway) if this keeps us from getting on track, that will cause a lot of scrambling. There were a few cars that showed really strong here in the test, I am sure those teams and drivers are hoping that it rains, for us we just want to get on the track."

MORE ON DAYTONA FINISH: "Of course it does matter, we do want to run well at Daytona. It is one of 26 to get us in to the Chase. Hopefully the 29th place finish doesn't affect where we are in the Chase, but this early in to the season, you just kind of move on and focus on the next race. Really, what we are worried about is what the bulk of the season is built on which is tracks like California and Las Vegas."

DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 88 AMP ENERGY/NATIONAL GUARD IMPALA SS MET WITH MEDIA AND DISCUSSED THE RAINY WEATHER AND LACK OF PRACTICE TIME AT CALIFORNIA SPEEDWAY, NASCAR’S PENALTY ON HIS NATIONWIDE CAR, JOINING HMS, AND MORE.

WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING FOR THE PAST SIX HOURS? “Oh, just standing around hoping we’d get some laps in.”

HAS THE JANUARY TEST BECOME MORE IMPORTANT NOW THAT YOU HAVEN’T BEEN ON THE TRACK YET TODAY? “It’s good that we got the test. We have an idea where to start. That’s good.”

HOW DOES IT AFFECT THE DRIVERS TO JUST STAND AND SIT AROUND WAITING TO GET ON THE TRACK? “We just get a day off (laughs). I don’t know. What are you going to do? Play some more video games?”

WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SAY TO THE NAVY OVERSEAS? “Well, we’ve got a great relationship. It’s been very strong for the last several years. We hope to continue that. We’re doing the best we can here with our race team to support the Navy. We appreciate what they do for us, and it gives us the ability to come out here and race.”

YOU WON YOUR FIRST TWO RACES AT DAYTONA. DO YOU FEEL PRETTY GOOD ABOUT HOW YOU ARE STARTING THE SEASON? “Yeah, we had a good start so I’m real proud of that. We’re looking forward to the rest of the year just trying to keep that momentum going and continue to have a good, solid season.”

HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO GET OFF TO A GOOD START WITH THE NEW HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS TEAM? “Yeah, a bad finish at Daytona, you can get over it. But it makes it difficult. It’s definitely not an easy hill to climb, but it’s doable. It’s just good to come out of there with a decent finish.”

WE ALWAYS TALKED ABOUT ENGINE DURABILITY HERE WITH THE OLD CAR. IS IT THE SAME THING WITH THE NEW CAR, OR ARE THINGS DIFFERENT? “I don’t know. We’ll just have to see. I’ve got pretty good confidence in everything we’ve got underneath the body is going to be durable. We should be fine. We just need to get some laps.”

JIMMIE JOHNSON TALKED ABOUT BEING YOUR TEAMMATE AND HE SAID IT WAS MOTIVATING TO SEE JEFF GORDON AND YOU, DALE JUNIOR, ON HIS TEAM AND RACING HARD “Yeah, it’s great to have teammates like those guys who are on top of their game and who are really talented. Friendly competition can be a really good positive to any team. What that is, is when you have a guy who makes everyone improve their game. We all hope that we can do that for each other. And it’s really similar with the Nationwide to have the No. 5 and the No. 88 work together. They each kind of ante up every week and it improves the program as a whole. So I see that too in the teammates I have on the Cup side with Casey (Mears) and Jimmie and Jeff. We’re all going to be able to help each other and be more competitive and stay up toward the front.”

ON JIMMIE JOHNSON’S FANS “I haven’t personally seen how fans treat Jimmie, but I think he’s hard on himself. I think he’s got more fans than he personally believes he has. But he doesn’t do anything to lose fans and he’s always had a good attitude and a good work ethic and always been pretty positive. I think that rubs off on a lot of people.”

WHY ARE YOU APPEALING THE NASCAR PENALTY ON THE NATIONWIDE CAR? “Oh, just probably the suspension is the toughest part for us, financially, to bring in a guy of crew chief caliber in a short period of time is pretty expensive. We’re going to see if we can get that part of it at least worked on a little bit. But I feel like the penalty itself is fair and the points and all that are pretty hard to swallow, but it’s fair. It is what it is. We got caught cheating and that’s the punishment we deserve. Personally I wish I would not have to lose my crew chief, but we’re trying to get that car in the points in the first five races and doing things like that. So we have our own initiative to appeal. It’s likely not to make any difference, but that’s what the appeal process is for and so we’ll see. We’ll try to just occupy those guys for a day or so. Rick (Hendrick) is real good, though. Maybe if he goes with me I might get it turned around. He’s got some kind of magic. Every time he goes down there, he tells me he’s got a pretty good record. So maybe I’ll send him or ask him to go in my spot.”

HOW IS IT DIFFERENT RACING AT CALIFORNIA SPEEDWAY VERSUS DAYTONA? “Oh, it’s way different. They are two different tracks on different sides of the country. Everything about it is different.”

ON A DAY LIKE TODAY WHEN YOU’RE NOT ABLE TO PRACTICE, DO YOU REFER TO YOUR PREVIOUS RACES HERE? “We did come here and test and that’s going to help us out a lot. So this is not a very big issue. We’ve still got tomorrow to get some time on the race track, so we should be fine.

“I don’t know what the hold up is. I guess the track is seeping. It hasn’t rained enough really; it should be ready at this point.”

WHEN YOU WERE AT DEI BATTLING GUYS LIKE JIMMIE JOHNSON AND JEFF GORDON, DID YOU EVER THING YOU WOULD BE TEAMMATES WITH THEM? “No, I never did. If somebody would have said I was going to be in a situation and position I’m in now, I wouldn’t have believed them a year ago. But fate played a big role in a lot of different things. It was a lot of hard work by a lot of different people. There was a lot of dedication by a lot of people who wanted this to happen. So, I feel real fortunate because I, myself, had no control really. I wasn’t the one that really convinced Rick (Hendrick) or our sponsors that we have now that this was the best scenario. They really had to learn that and understand that themselves.

“I’m really fortunate. It’s a unique situation and I’m going to enjoy it, I think. I’m going to have fun with it. It is unique and sort of unorthodox if you will. It may be uncomfortable for some people but I’m going to enjoy it. It’s a good group of guys. They’ve all got great attitudes and they’ve got great intentions and I’m okay with that. I’m comfortable with that. They’re taking great care of Tony (Eury) Jr. and he’s happy. The things that matter right now are all in good shape.”

YOU HAVE SUCH A LARGE FOLLOWING. WHAT DO YOU TELL YOUR FANS WHO HAVE ALWAYS FOLLOWED THE NO. 8 CAR AND THAT NOW FOLLOWS THE NO. 88 CAR? “It takes getting used to, even for me. I’ve watched the replay of the Nationwide race and it felt awkward to continue to have to remind yourself to look for the white & blue No. 5 car. It just seemed interesting and awkward. But it’s going to take everyone time to adjust and be comfortable with it and come to terms with it, even for people within the circle.”

MORE ON THE NASCAR PENALTY ON THE NATIONWIDE CAR “I think the penalty was fair. The suspension is tough for my crew chief. I need my crew chief to be working on his car and going to the race track. Everybody on that side of the garage is sort of pinching pennies at this point because of just how difficult it is to get sponsorship dollars over there. But we’re just going to try to see if we can get them to reduce the suspension side of it for our sake.

“But that’s not likely to happen but it’s worth a shot. Otherwise, the points and everything were totally a fair penalty and we’ll move forward with that. Maybe we can get them to move the suspension maybe something a little bit less.”

“The key here is how (crew chief) Chad (Walter) responds in a situation like that. He has to show his ability to lead and his response and his actions will prove he’s capable of doing that. I want to help him a little bit. I consoled him a little bit and told him that I knew he was just trying to give me the best car he could give me for the race and we are all out there taking chances in areas like that with the spoiler at those race tracks. We’re all down there tweaking on those things all week long. So it’s unfortunate we were the ones that got caught and we’ll deal with the penalty because it’s fair. But Chad’s actions are what matter right now for that team and how he responds and whether those guys will respect him after he handles his business and how he returns after his suspension if the appeal goes against us. That could be a stain on his career or he could turn it into a positive in terms of how his attitude is.”

IF HOLLYWOOD MADE A MOVIE ABOUT YOU, WHO WOULD PLAY YOU AND WHY? “I don’t really know. I’d let my fans vote on it. I get asked that question a lot and I don’t know. I don’t watch enough TV I guess. I don’t think it would be a tough job. Why couldn’t I play myself? (laughter)

JEFF BURTON, NO. 31 AT&T IMPALA SS MET WITH MEDIA AND DISCUSSED THE DAYTONA 500, HORSEPOWER IN THE CUP, NATIONWIDE, AND TRUCK RACE VEHICLES, UPCOMING RACES AT LAS VEGAS AND TEXAS, WHAT HE EXPECTS TO SEE AT THIS RACE, AND MORE.

DO YOU WANT TO PUT A RIBBON ON DAYTONA AND WRAP IT UP FOR US? THERE IS ONE HAPPY GUY AND 42 UNHAPPY GUYS, I’M SURE A LOT OF GUYS ARE STILL KIND OF LOOKING AT IT AS THIS IS THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY. “Certainly it was a real competitive race. Any time you get all those cautions at the end of the race, there’s probably 15 people that can look themselves in the eye and say hey we had a chance to win and all those people are a little disappointed.

“Some people really didn’t have a chance to win until late in the race, they had to look at it from a more realistic standpoint. When you are at Daytona it’s the biggest race of the year, when the Daytona 500 is over then it’s just another race and that’s really what happens.”

AS WE COME HERE WITH THE OLD CAR, ENGINE DURABILITY WAS ALWAYS AN ISSUE. ARE THERE SIMILAR ISSUES WITH THE NEW CAR OR DID THAT CHANGE A LITTLE BIT? “It’s still a long race and its 500 miles and none of that changes. I don’t see how the new car affects the engine thing at all. This is one of the hardest race tracks on engine because of the amount of time you are at a higher RPM so I don’t think that this car really affects that more than the other car.”

A LOT OF PEOPLE WERE ASKING ABOUT THE VIDEO OF YOU AND CLINT BOWYER AFTER THE DAYTONA 500 AND THEY COULD SEE IT BUT NOT HEAR IT. CAN YOU TELL US A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT THAT AND WHAT HAPPENED AND WHY YOU GUYS WERE MAD? “Clint and I were mad, but we weren’t mad at what people thought we were mad at. The conversation that Clint and I had we’ll keep to ourselves. There’s no strife amongst the drivers, there’s none of that. We did have a discussion and it is clear that you can’t have productive conversations as soon as the race is over. That just can never happen, never has happened, never will happen. But there’s nothing leaving Daytona that we have any concern about whatsoever.”

COULD YOU TWO HAVE HELPED EACH OTHER MORE COMING DOWN THE STRETCH? “To be honest I haven’t watched a replay of the race and until I go back and really analyze what we could have done differently I don’t know. I never at any point felt like Clint did anything to jeopardize my opportunity to win the race. That’s all I know.

“On the surface of it when the race was over I never once felt – I think everybody thought I was mad at Clint like Clint did something to me that I thought he shouldn’t have done but that was the furthest from the case. I never once felt like Clint did anything to negatively affect my race. And by the way, you know I’ve said this for years I don’t expect my teammate to help me if it’s going to hurt him. I never expected it and I don’t expect it now so any thought that I was mad at Clint and that I felt like Clint could have done something to help my cause – that’s totally misconstrued. I don’t think Clint did anything wrong in that race at all in regards to running with me.”

HE HAD A FRUSTRATING RACE AND IT WAS HE WHO WAS PROBABLY FRUSTRATED “I think we were both frustrated. I’m sitting there leading the Daytona 500 with three to go, he’s leading it with 20 or 25 to go. Clint had a good car and I finished 13th and he finished 30 something. I think we were both frustrated and we should’ve been. If we’re going to skip out of Daytona finishing where we finished and be happy then we are in the wrong business.

ON THE FINES AND PENALTIES ROBBY GORDON RECEIVED FOLLOWING THE DAYTONA 500 “NASCAR is in a tough spot there. I’m sure in the panic to get everything switched over, I’m sure it was an honest mistake. But at the end of the day, NASCAR cannot concern themselves with whether it was an honest mistake. If you break the rule, you break the rule. That goes for anybody. The problem is who’s ever going to raise their hand and say, ‘I did it on purpose? I meant to cheat.’ Everybody always didn’t mean to do it. In Robby’s case I’m sure that is true. I’m sure it was an accident. Can you imagine going through what they had to go through to get ready?

“That was a difficult situation but NASCAR is in a tough spot too. They can’t look at stuff and say we think he might have not meant to do it in that kind of a situation. There are situations where NASCAR can look at people’s intentions and make a decision but on a technical standpoint on something like that it’s hard for them to take any stance but one and that’s if you’re wrong, you’re wrong.”

WHERE CAN THEY LOOK AT INTENT? “Racetrack stuff, stuff that happens on the racetrack. We have seen occasions where we have had post-race issues in tech where there was a legitimate reason where the intent mattered. Jeff Gordon’s rear shock at Daytona a couple of years ago comes to mind. I think you have to look at each situation independently but as a whole intent can’t matter, but there are situations where it does matter.”

BUT IN SITUATIONS WHERE THEY ARE CONSTRUCTING BODIES AND PRESENTING THEM FOR PRE-RACE YOU CAN’T MEASURE INTENT “We can’t bring a car – Earnhardt Jr.’s last year at Darlington they said they put the wrong rear wing brackets on. It was something they have or tested, they put them on and they were wrong – what do you do about that? They got penalized even though they said it wasn’t on purpose, that they didn’t meant to do and that it was a testing piece they had made it didn’t fit the rule. NASCAR came down hard on them and at the time I thought that was the right decision and looking back on it I think it’s the right decision. When we submit a car to tech especially in today’s world with this car, when we submit a car we know how tough they’re going to be. There is no wiggle room anymore.”

WITH THREE LAPS TO GO IN THE DAYTONA 500 YOU WERE LEADING THE RACE. EVERYBODY WANTS TO SIT AROUND THREE OR FOUR DAYS LATER AND SECOND GUESS THE MOVES YOU MAKE. “Armchair quarterbacking is honestly what makes sports fun. I’m watching basketball and I’m watching an 18-year-old playing and I’m thinking what a dumb ass, how can you be that stupid to make that kind of play and he’s an 18-year-old kid. We are professionals and we get paid to do the right thing at the right time and when we don’t its okay to be scrutinized because that’s what we do. You are always going to be second-guessed, people are always going to say I would have done this different. That’s part of sports, that’s part of business, that’s part of anytime you do something and people are watching. That goes along with the territory. What’s key is knowing when to pay attention to that and knowing when not to.

“I’ll be honest, I felt stupid after the Daytona 500 because we were leading the race with three to go and you finish 13th, why wouldn’t you feel stupid? In the situation we were in, had I just taken off and got a normal restart we weren’t going to win. I tried to do something and shake things up to confuse people to try to steal a win. We didn’t have a car fast enough to win, and we put ourselves in a position on that last restart that made it harder for us. What’s interesting about our sport is I did the same thing on the last restart as I did on the next to last restart and on the next to last restart it worked. On the last restart it didn’t. At the end of the day you are only judged by the result and I didn’t get it done.”

FOR THE AVERAGE GUY TO BE SITTING THERE AT HIS HOUSE AND BE THINKING, THIS GUY IS LEADING WITH THREE LAPS TO GO, THIS COULD BE THE BIGGEST WIN HE’S EVER HAD AND HE’S LOOKING BEHIND HIM AND HE’S GOT TO BE THINKING, I’M SCREWED. I CAN’T MAKE MY CAR WIDE ENOUGH TO BLOCK BOTH LANES. TAKE US THROUGH YOUR THOUGHT PROCESS. “My thought process was that I knew with who was behind me that they were faster. My thought process was number one if they make a move, put them in a position where they have to make a decision about going below the yellow line or not, number two was if I get to far out in front of them, half way down the back straightaway they’re going to blow by me, so my thought process was to try to keep them close to me prior to getting to the start/finish line.

“Kyle (Busch) did a really good job of slowing way up to extend the amount of time he had to accelerate after he got past the start/finish line in which at that point he could pass on either side. When you’re the leader of a race, your friend is the start/finish line. Now we are in a single-file restart. In a single-file restart you can’t block the inside because there is nobody there, you can only block the outside. My only choice was, I knew if they got away from me they were going to freight train me down the back straightaway so I tried to keep them to me. I just slowed up too much and Kyle (Busch) did a really good job of moving it back further which put me closer to the start/finish line when he could start accelerating. That’s what happened.”

SO YOU TRIED TO PUSH DOWN TO THE LOW LINE AND THAT OPENED UP THE OUTSIDE LINE “Yeah, the only thing I could do at that point was to defend whatever I could defend. I had no way of defending the third-place car I could only defend the second-place car. It’s pretty ironic, when I won at Daytona whatever year that was I had the same exact situation. I had Dale Jarrett behind me on a restart and I pulled it off. But I didn’t pull it off this time. But it was a different situation, that was much more of a single-file kind of a race, this was much more double-file.”

WHAT’S THE BEST CASE SCENARIO FOR YOU THERE? “I don’t know. You have no way of knowing. Had I not done anything what would have happened was it would have eventually gotten double-file. Kyle (Busch) would have either got on the inside of me or the outside me and it would have eventually got double-file. Then it would have depended on what the next group did. Whoever picked me up, did they pick me up or did they three-wide me. There’s no way of knowing.”

YOU HAVE TO GO BACK TO WHAT’S IN YOUR ROLODEX OR MIND, EVEN IF IT DOESN’T WORK OUT THAT TIME, YOU’VE GOT TO GO BACK TO WHAT YOU DID BEFORE. “You do. All you can do is the best you know how to do. Nobody really wanted to be leading the race that late. I know I didn’t want to be. As soon as I got the lead, I hit the radio and said oh that wasn’t a good thing.

“And then the caution came out and we got that next to last restart and we ran along there for a lap and nobody made anything happen and I’m like wow then it got double-file behind me and I started thinking we might have a chance to win this thing, because if they are double file behind me we are all running at such a close space you never know what’s going to happen at that point, but that last caution pretty much did us in. I don’t know I haven’t watched a replay of it but I know what happened and I played it over and over and over in my mind and certainly I would still do something that wasn’t ordinary, but I probably wouldn’t do the same thing that I did if that makes sense.”

DID YOU EVER LET YOURSELF ENTERTAIN THE IDEA THAT YOU COULD WIN THE 50TH RUNNING OF THE DAYTONA 500? “I never thought about winning the Daytona 500 until that next to the last restart and we ran for about a lap and it was single file, three or four rows, three or four cars, and then it was double file behind them. At that point, I thought, wow, this could work out. And then when the caution came out, then I kinda went, all right, now I’ve got to change the game plan.”

AFTER A RACE LIKE THAT, HOW LONG DO YOU TYPICALLY DIGEST ALL THAT AND THINK ABOUT IT? “I have a time. If it’s three o’clock on Monday afternoon and I’m still thinking about it, I’m spending too much time on it. That’s me. I was still thinking about it Monday night. And it was time to move on. And I woke up Tuesday morning and was on to the next thing. But the hardest thing to be perfectly honest, was when we were going home, it tore my son up. My son loves racing. And he thought his dad was going to win the Daytona 500. And he cried for hours. And trying to grab him and hold him and say it’s going to be all right, his response was, ‘Well it’s the Daytona 500!’ And I wanted to say, yeah, you’re right (laughter). And my daughter was disappointed. But what a great experience at the same time, to see your dad have a chance to win the Daytona 500 and then blow it (laughs). That’s my dad! (more laughter).”

HOW OLD IS YOUR SON? “Seven.”

THERE ARE SOME DRIVERS THAT WOULD BE EATING ON THIS FROM NOW ON. BUT YOU HAVE A WAY OF COMPARTMENTALIZING THIS STUFF. IT’S GOT TO BE HARD. “Listen, it’s 100 percent the truth. It’s the biggest race of the year. It’s the biggest thing going on in everybody’s lives until it’s over and then it’s only the biggest thing to the guy that won. Everybody says, well, it’s just another race. And that’s how it’s been since I’ve been going down there. I went to Daytona understanding that it is our biggest race of the year, but also that it’s the first of 36 races.

“I’m disappointed because I would have liked to have; well, I think that we did a great job in running our race and if I had it all over to do again, there are two things I did wrong: I missed my pit box on our first pit stop and that got us back. But the whole rest of the race, I had a strategy to be in the right place at the right time and I think I executed that for the most part. So, for the majority of the day, I thought I did a really good job. I missed pit road. I don’t know why I did that, but I did. And then at the end, I have to go back and try to learn from that. That’s how I look at it. I thought I did a great job. There is some of it I didn’t.”

HOW DO YOU LOOK AT THE WEATHER HERE WITH THE RAIN AND PRACTICE AND QUALIFYING? “I think we’ll be okay. I think it looks okay for today. I’d be surprised if today’s schedule isn’t impeded a little bit, but I don’t think it’s going to be impeded a lot. And tomorrow looks good. So the biggest thing is practice time. It looks like some possibility of rain on Sunday. There is nothing we can do about that. The only thing we can do is prepare for the race whenever it happens. The only way to do that is to have practice. So, tomorrow looks good. I think it’s going to be interesting. With this car, do you work on qualifying today? Do you work on race trim today? I think it’s going to be pretty interesting to watch that. With this car, with no more knowledge than we have about this car, we’re going to work on qualifying trim because we think that we need to learn quickly. But I want to be working on race trim because that’s when they pay points. So, you’re going to see a lot of different strategies today, I think.”

IT LOOKED LIKE TOYOTA HAD A BIG HORSEPOWER ADVANTAGE AT DAYTONA. HOW DO YOU MAKE A GAME PLAN AROUND SOMEBODY THAT’S GOT A BIG EDGE? OR, DO THEY JUST HAVE TO MAKE A MISTAKE LIKE THEY OBVIOUSLY DID? “Well, it’s hard to beat horsepower at Daytona and Talladega. It’s hard at Talladega. It’s a little easier at Daytona. The only thing we can do it be the best we can be. And if Toyota has an advantage on us, and we’re doing the very best we can, then it falls in NASCAR’s lap, unfortunately. I hate to even say that. I think it’s been wonderful the last however many years we’ve had, where we haven’t had to have the, well we’ve got to take this from Chevrolet and we’ve got to give this to Ford and it’s been great not having to deal with all that. And in NASCAR’s defense they did make Toyota change some stuff from last year. Part of this sport is doing it better than everybody else. And Toyota, on the plate stuff, right now, they’re doing it better. So we’re not the best Chevy team right now on making horsepower. Until we do that, we don’t have a dog in the fight to complain. We’ve got to build the most horsepower out of the Chevy camp first and once we do that, then we have a dog in the fight.”

CHEVROLET WANTED A NEW MANIFOLD AT DAYTONA. TOYOTA GOT ONE BECAUSE NASCAR DIDN’T LIKE THE ONE THEY HAD LAST TIME. NASCAR SAID CHEVY DIDN’T NEED A NEW MANIFOLD. IS THAT A DISADVANTAGE? “I don’t specifically know the steps in the engine process. I’m kind of out of touch with the engine thing. So I hate to comment knowing only half the facts.”

DO YOU THINK TOYOTA HAS MORE HORSEPOWER HERE IN CALIFORNIA? IT’S SUPPOSED TO BE A MICHIGAN-TYPE ENGINE “I don’t know. I honestly don’t know. I think it’s hard to make a correlation between Daytona and here. I can tell you that in the Nationwide Series last year, the Toyota’s were ridiculously more powered than everybody else. But we didn’t see that in the Cup side last year. I honestly don’t know. Until we race on Sunday I don’t think anybody knows.”

GOING TO THE NATIONWIDE ENGINE IN THE NATIONWIDE SERIES, PEOPLE ARE SAYING THAT YOU ARE 10 MPH SLOWER ON THE STRAIGHTAWAYS AND 14 MPH FASTER IN THE CORNERS. “It’s an interesting mix. The data we showed was 14 mph slower on the straightaway and 14 mph faster in the corner. Honestly, going into this race, the Nationwide race and the Cup race, there are more questions than I can ever remember at a race track; and the truck race too. The trucks are dealing with less power and we’re dealing with a different car. It’s going to be interesting to see what happens. I’m looking forward to it. I like it when things are different because when things are different, that’s an opportunity.”

WHAT’S YOUR BIGGEST CONCERN GOING INTO THE NATIONWIDE RACE ON SATURDAY? “My biggest concern is understanding as quickly as we can how the power affects how our car drives. We won the last race here. I’m suspect that that same stuff isn’t really going to work when you’re dealing with that much of a different power curve in the way you accelerate and the way you decelerate, I think it’s going to require some different stuff. So my biggest concern with that car is making sure that we get to those conclusions quickly.”

IN THE VEGAS TEST, THEY WERE SAYING YOU WERE ABLE TO HOLD IT WIDE OPEN GOING INTO THE TURNS. HOW IS THAT GOING TO AFFECT IT HERE WITH THE SPEEDS YOU ARE CARRYING? “How do you run wide-open here? You may, but I don’t think so. I’d be surprised if you can run wide-open here. At Vegas, there’s a lot of grip; it’s an extremely high grip race track. I’m not sure. And you could run wide open at Vegas, but not everybody can run wide open at Vegas and it wasn’t always in your best interest to run wide open at Vegas.

“So anytime we start talking about wide open, the truth of the matter is that everybody lies. And that a lot of people think they’re running wide open and they’re not running wide open. But I will tell you that I did make laps in Vegas wide open, for sure. But I don’t think you can run wide open for 40 laps or anything.”

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE SUCCESS YOU’VE HAD A TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY? YOU WON THE FIRST ONE AND YOU WON THE LAST ONE “Well, it’s been one of those races that has driven me nuts because we’ve run really well at times and run really poorly at times. It meant a lot to me to get back in victory lane because we’ve kind of struggled there to be quite honest. I’ve struggled there in the recent past. And so it meant a lot to me to get back in victory lane. One of the tough things about Texas is it seems like every time we go, it’s different. And of course now, with this car, it’s going to be different again. We’ve had a lot of changes at Texas and that’s made it hard to keep up. That’s why I think we’ve seen so many different winners.”

MARK MARTIN, DRIVER OF THE NO. 8 THE PRINCIPAL FINANCIAL GROUP IMPALA SS, met with media members on Friday at California Speedway and talked about making his 700th start, his career, the IROC Series, his chances in Sunday’s race and more.

ON MAKING HIS 700TH START THIS WEEKEND “That’s a lot of races. It’s amazing to reflect back. It’s made me reflect back on my first race back in North Wilkesboro in 1981. I’ve been real fortunate, worked with a lot of great people, drove a lot of fast race cars. To me it’s not so important how many times I’ve started but how fast I went when I started them. I managed to go fast a lot with the help of a lot of great race teams and good help.”

ON BEING ABLE TO HAVE FUN “I think it’s because I’m getting to run the schedule that I really want to run and I’m working with really great people and that’s real important to me. I was in the garage at 8:00 this morning because there’s nowhere else I rather be than around my extended family. Tony Gibson and the guys that work on this car, that’s one thing that is really important to me is the camaraderie that we have and experience. That part of it I really enjoy. I love going fast on the race track and these guys are going to give me a great race car this weekend. We had a good test out here that also makes it fun.”

ON WHO WOULD PLAY HIM IF A MOVIE WERE MADE ABOUT HIM “Gosh, I don’t know. I have no idea. I couldn’t tell you.”

TOM CRUISE MAYBE? “He’s way too cool to play me. It’s hard for me to think of the right person. Maybe the guy who played Napoleon Dynamite.” (laughter)

ON WHAT RACES COME TO MIND WHEN REFLECTING ON HIS CAREER. “I can go on and on and on about races and I’m sure you would be surprised about why I remember those particular ones. I can wear you out with them. The first race, I had never experienced putting the green out when it was sprinkling. NASCAR does that; you know the green and the yellow. They start the race under caution; I’d never experienced that. Well I almost had a heart attack. I qualified fifth. I had never driven a car that had a rear end cooler fan ever, so I didn’t take this as a serious thing because we weren’t really going. I didn’t turn it on when we started the engine and of course I burned up the rear end gear. They did finally throw the green flag but I didn’t remember to turn the switches on and burned up the rear end gear, for example.

“I remember Martinsville that year because I ran third. This won’t tell anything to anybody except the guys in this garage. I ran third at Martinsville with GM brakes. Single-piston brakes with a 3/8-inch brake pad. Now they’ve got about a 1 ¼” brake pad. Something that no one ever thought you could do or could ever do again. I know I could never do it again, I tell you that. I don’t know how I did it.

“For example, just a lot of great things in my career something that comes to mind that wasn’t prior to NASCAR was not running the right rear spring. Running three springs, setting the track record and winning at Winchester with my late model and becoming a late model legend because I could run a three-spring race car. There’s just been all kinds of stuff. There’s all kinds of weird stuff. I don’t believe I’ve mentioned a trophy yet, did I. The trophies are okay and they were great and winning is great but there’s a lot along the way.

“Lots of big disappointments as well, I remember a lot of those. I remember running out of gas at Daytona with ten laps to go, which is 25 miles. I never knew anybody could miss it that far. I hadn’t had a win yet. I remember running second six times before we got our first win and that could have been it but we ran out of gas 25 miles too soon.”

DID THE GETTING CLOSE BUT NOT WINNING GET AGGRAVATING? “It did not. What got aggravating was, this group (the media) asked me every week, when are you going to win and that was ridiculous. How was I supposed to answer that? I mean we were trying as hard as we could and that was frustrating. I wanted to win bad but I was happy that we were running and if you’re knocking out a second every two or three weeks you’re going to win and its going to happen. So I was okay with that part of it. It wasn’t running me up the wall near like going broke, bankrupt and having to go back short track racing to start over again. I still felt I was in a lot better shape than that.”

ON HIS FEELINGS ABOUT THE IROC (INTERNTIONAL RACE OF CHAMPIONS) SERIES “First of all let me tell you something, I am not special. I’m nothing special, I haven’t done all that much. I don’t consider myself a great driver. I don’t put myself in that league, not in the same league with the great drivers of NASCAR. My credentials just don’t warrant that. Now, that being said, I ran IROC seven years in a row that I was invited to run and I finished first or second seven years in a row. Nobody could do that. Am I proud of that, yes. Am I proud of what I’ve done in Cup racing yeah, but I’m not in Jeff Gordon’s league. I’m not in Darrell Waltrip’s league. I was in Rusty Wallace’s league but he won more races than I did, you know what I mean. I’m not in Dale Earnhardt’s league in my eyes. In my eyes, I’m not in their league. And as bad as I wanted to be, I just never laid down quite enough to be there. So am I proud of IROC?

“I did that against Jeff Gordon, I did that against Earnhardt, I did that against Al Unser, Jr. I did that against the best of the best. Not only did I win them most of the years but the ones I didn’t, I got second. It was awesome. I think the last year was the only year that I didn’t run second beside the first year and I was fourth. I think I was fourth, third and one and then like for nine years I was like first or second. It was unbelievable that I got to be in it, I didn’t get to be in it every year. So, yeah I’m proud of that. That’s the only thing that I ever really did that was in the league with the greats.”

ON THE IROC SERIES GOING TO THE WAYSIDE AND HOW HARD IT WAS TO GET ALL THE DIFFERENT DRIVERS FROM DIFFERENT SERIES TO COME TOGETHER IN ONE PLACE TO COMPETE. “It really was, especially in the earlier years. Because in the earlier years it truly was, it got harder and harder to get the guys from the other divisions to come. In the early years it wasn’t because it was the International Race of Champions. It was a big deal for a long time. Eventually it got to where you couldn’t draw those people to come do it.”

IF YOU DON’T PUT YOURSELF IN THE CATEGORY WITH THE GREATS, WHERE DO YOU PUT YOURSELF IN NASCAR AS A WHOLE? “I’m a blue collar man. That’s where I place myself in Sprint Cup racing I think. I was the guy who struggled real hard to get here, fell on my face and went home and struggled real hard to get back. Thanks to Jack Roush I had a chance to show what I could do and that ranks where it ranks. You know I never really reached the kind of success that Dale Earnhardt or Jeff Gordon. Rusty Wallace won more race than I did all though I had a lot of success. I had a little more success than a lot of folks that have been involved in this sport, but I don’t put myself up there in the category with the greats.”

AS A RACE CAR DRIVER AND A COMPETITOR YOU HAVE TO HAVE SOME KIND OF COCKINESS. I SENSE THAT WHEN WE TALK TO YOU, WHERE DOES THAT COCKINESS COME FROM? “You need to ask the rest of them that. The guys that know me, I can’t tell you that. You ask Jeff Burton, you ask Matt Kenseth. Some of the guys that know me, they could probably answer that. Pride is a big part of everything in racing and every driver in here has a big ego including myself. Don’t think I’ve ever done anything but at the same time I have not done what Dale Earnhardt did and I have not done what Jeff Gordon has done and a number of other drivers. But on the other hand I have done some pretty cool things. I’ve been very fortunate to drive a lot of fast race cars and work with a lot of great people in a lot of different divisions and I’ve had a lot of success. It’s just some guys have had a lot more.”

ON WEATHER AND OTHER CONCERNS FOR THIS SUNDAY’S RACE. “With the kind of test we had here I don’t have any concerns for Sunday other than they are predicting for some rain. That’s my only concern. Gosh, really good car here for the test. It felt fun to have the garage looking at the No. 8 you know thinking that we were the No. 8. That’s cool.”

ON EXPECTATIONS OF HOW HE EXPECTS TO RUN IN SUNDAY’S RACE. “I think it’s going to be a great race, I really do. I think we’ve come light years with the car of today from where we were a year ago and I think we will continue to get better. But I think it will be a really good race.”

ON THE NATIONWIDE CARS BEING DOWN ON HORSEPOWER AND HOW THAT AFFECTS DRIVING THE CARS. “You hold your foot down longer. Those cars have always been underpowered as opposed to Cup cars. So this is more like the old days. More recently that gap between was closer, now it’s more like it used to be. My specialty for some reason is limited horsepower vehicles like the Trucks and the Nationwide cars. I don’t know why that is. I’ve had more success in those divisions than I have had in Cup racing. I look forward to it. I look forward to being in a cooperative effort between Jr. Motorsports, Dale, Jr. and Rick Hendrick. If Dale, Jr. doesn’t win in it this weekend, I sure would like to be the first one to do it for those guys and I look forward to it. Can’t wait.”

ARE YOU RUNNING THE NATIONWIDE RACE THIS WEEKEND? “No, not this week. Next week in Vegas we’re going to be in the No. 5 car.”

ON HOW A DRIVER SHOULD EXPRESS HIMSELF AND WHEN DOES HE CROSS THE LINE. “I don’t know. If I punched somebody out there in the garage I’m sure I’ll pay dearly. I don’t think they’re going to let that go. I don’t know. I don’t much have to worry about it to be honest with you.”

WHY DO YOU THINK NASCAR IS SAYING WE NEED TO SEE MORE OF THE DRIVERS PERSONALITY? “Listen, I appreciate what they’re saying but here’s what I say. One of the big reasons you don’t see the drivers personalities is because this thing has been allowed to make points in the championship everything. It’s not about the superheroes the he-men anymore, it’s did he score five points or not. It’s a bunch of bull. What was great about this sport when I came into it was Cale Yarborough man. It was Jaws. It was David Pearson, the silver fox. We have those guys here.

“We have those kind of people and personalities in the sport, but it’s not covered. What’s covered is how many points did somebody score and whose the champion or who might be the champion. So that’s kind of what they are saying, I’m just saying it in a different way. I’m saying that it’s here but in order to grow the sport they figured out a way to make points racing draw media and grow the sport. In over 20 years of doing that they lost covering the real heroes the real he-men of the sport, the individuals, the personalities. A little scuffle is not going to fix that. I don’t know what will fix that but there are those kind of personalities in the sport today that were in it when I came in, but they’re not covered. So the fans don’t know about it.”

DO YOU THINK THE MEDIA COULD MAKE IT BACK TO THE WAY IT WAS? “It would be an uphill battle for the media to do that because of where we are today; because of the importance that is put on the Sprint Cup and all that. I’m not laying that blame on the media. I think it was a direction that the sport headed when it needed to grow and it was started that way for a good reason. It was headed in that direction and somewhere along the way we forgot to exploit the character that Terry Labonte was, the character that Rusty Wallace was. At the end we missed that. The individual that Matt Kenseth is, instead of he’s boring. That makes me mad. It’s only because the coverage of him is boring, it’s not because he’s boring. He’s a cool dude and there’s a lot to him. Each one in this garage is a different individual. That’s the part to me that I have trouble with.”

IN 699 STARTS WHICH ONE DO YOU WISH WOULD HAVE NEVER HAPPENDED? “I’ve done so many stupid things. I need to put about 50 of them in that category. I don’t know that I could just put one. I’ve had a really lot of disappointments and a number of painful races. In ’99 the July race in Daytona, on Friday night I broke my wrist, rib and knee and I raced Saturday night with a cast on my hand and it hurt so bad that I got them to get me a pair of scissors during a caution which is really safe by the way so that I could try to cut the cast off during the race. That’s one of those 50.”

CASEY MEARS, DRIVER OF THE NO. 5 KELLOGGS/CARQUEST IMPALA SS, met with media member at California Speedway and talked about his performance in the Daytona 500, his teammates at Hendrick Motorsports, racing in California and on the West Coast and much more.

ON HOW HE FELT HE DID IN DAYTONA AND HOW HIS TEAM IS APPROACHING CALIFORNIA. “First off, I’m very excited about the beginning of this season. I had a great race in Daytona and was real happy with the way things came together. Unfortunately, not happy with the ending. We were running third there with six to go and made a move to try to win the race and it didn’t work out for us. The thing I’m very excited about is how well we ran, how fast the car was. We were in a position to win. It seems like all the tests and everywhere we’ve been, we’ve been pretty fast. We struggled a little bit here at California in the test itself but the guys felt like they found something on the seven post that was pretty valuable. We’re looking forward to hopefully getting out at some point and seeing how we are.”

ON HOW HE WORKS WITH HIS TEAMMATES AT THE RACE TRACK. “Our sport is a unique sport with the way that we are a team, but at the same time we are looking for individual success too. Where we work really well as a team is the days leading up to the racing event. In practice, the meetings that we have, after practice to get ready for Sunday. We usually go to each other’s cars at times throughout practice just checking to see how their cars are handling. So we work together as a team leading up to the race. Now when we get to the race we work as a team as well on the pit box. The crew chiefs and engineers are constantly exchanging information. You know what changes worked for them, tire pressure changes, that scenario. When we are on the track at places like Talladega and Daytona we work very well together where we can bump draft, we can hook up and really make a line move. Other than Daytona and Talladega we’re pretty much racing against each other. The only thing you do do with your teammate is maybe give them a little more room. You give them that extra inch that you wouldn’t give another competitor. But when it comes down to the end and comes down to winning the race you treat them like you would anybody else.”

ON JUNIOR JOINING HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS: “Well for me I’m very comfortable with it because it doesn’t affect anything that I do. Other than media asking me whether or not I think it’s – honestly. Media asks me a lot about it and fans ask me about it but outside of nobody asking me that question there’s nothing there other than the fact that we’re four race car drivers all trying to achieve the same goals and work together. I think that those guys obviously have a lot of media attention surrounding them which is well deserved in a lot of aspects. I respect the fact that they get that attention. I’m striving not to get that attention but to get that success that breeds that attention myself. I just feel fortunate to have three guys that I can really pull good information from and we can work really well together as a team. The valuable part of that is the fact that we do all work well together. It’s not four egos in this team and we can’t share information and what breeds that is having four confident teammates. If they weren’t confident in their abilities they would be less apt to say hey here’s what I found because they want that advantage. They know that on any given day they can beat me and I feel the same way. When you feel like you have the talent to be able to beat your teammates is when you have the confidence to go ahead and share that information. The best scenario at the end of the day could be all four of us fighting each other for the championship. That would be a good kind of problem to have, so we’re striving for that.”

ON JIMMIE JOHNSON’S COMMENT ABOUT HOW IT IS MOTIVATING AND ENCOURAGING TO RACE WITH HIS TEAMMATES AND HOW IT BRINGS OUT THE BEST IN HIM. “I think it just breeds a competition within a team that’s a very healthy competition. Obviously we all want to see each other succeed, but at the same time I kind of view it as anybody whose got brothers and sisters. You know you love your brother or sister and you don’t want to see them get hurt and you don’t want to damage them in anyway. But if you’re going to go race against them in a go kart at a local park or something like that you definitely don’t want to be the one that comes home in second because then you have to deal with them all day long. It’s a very healthy competition and I really enjoy it. A lot of people say if you’re such good friends with these guys, how do you race them so hard. Shoot you race those guys harder because you got to see them all the time and deal with it. You don’t want to look in those guys eyes and say hey they know they beat you that day. You want to be the one that looks at them and say hey I got you today. It really makes it fun and I got to tell you I feel like this team that we have is in a lot of ways one of the best teams you will ever see. You got four guys that work really well together, obviously talented, obviously got the equipment. It’s just a lot of fun. I look at Jimmie Johnson and shoot I’ve known him since I was 12 years old. I consider him one of my best friends in the world if racing wasn’t there so to have him as a teammate. Through him I met Jeff and became great friends. I met Junior as soon as I moved back to North Carolina about seven years ago. We’re not real close but very friendly obviously. We’ve been buddies for a long time. We’ve got a very unique situation over at Hendrick Motorsports right now and it’s a lot of fun.”

ON RACING IN HIS HOME STATE. “I tell you what California it’s different. I had someone come up to me today and they go how does it feel, it was a typical reporter form L.A. that wasn’t a big race fan, just knows what’s going on in L.A. and came up to me and said you know racing is not that big in California how does that feel? I said you’re just outside the loop, racing is huge in California. The majority of the racers inside the Sprint Cup Series are from California. I mean you just got to look at that. There’s a lot influence form California, a lot of good racing that happens here that get overlooked by the general population in California. I love coming here. I think it’s great to come back and see a lot of the fans that have been here for years. You had Ontario, Riverside, Ascot Park. There’s a lot of good racing that’s gone on in California for a lot of years and I think its just kind of slipped away for a while in the general public’s eyes. I think this is a great racing state and to come back and see friends and family. I’ve got a lot of people coming up to me saying hey I’m friends with so and so, we raced with your dad back in the off road or I was here when your uncle did this and that. When your grandfather first came back I was racing with him man it’s so great to see somebody still carrying the Mears name and for me it’s a lot of fun.”

ON TRYING TO BALANCE WORKING AND VISITING WITH FRIENDS AND FAMILY WHILE RACING IN CALIFORNIA. “You know it is. I think in some ways it’s great to see everybody and in other ways it's difficult because I am working. We very rarely have time to hang out but I do the best job I can. I typically try to get back to Bakersfield when I’m in town. I’m not going to be able to do it this time but I have so many friends and family that come to hang out we typically stick around on Sunday and hang out with all those guys and catch up with them. It is a tough balance because you’re here to do your job and you got to focus on what you are doing but you have a limited amount of time to spend with them so it can be difficult sometimes.”

ON IMPROVEMENTS HIS TEAM AND ALL OF HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS HAS MADE SINCE LAST YEAR. “I think that Junior winning those first couple of races is showing that hey they’ve come in and done a good job. I think the equipment is there. The No. 5 and No. 88 side has definitely stepped up and matched that of the No. 24 and No. 48. The meetings that we had in Daytona were very encouraging. To see all four drivers really interacting and working well together, we didn’t have that before. It was the same idea, but it didn’t seem like it went as smooth. Junior has done a really good job of coming in and fitting in really well, so that was encouraging too. The biggest thing that I’ve pulled away from, the first couple of events when I look at the events and the races, the 150’s and the Shootout from my side of things, I’m in a very good position as opposed to last year. It was a great team, a great group of guys that I had last year but we came in last minute and changed the crew chief the week before Daytona. There was just a lot of unorganization, we were building a team. This team is established with the No. 5 team. This group of guys have been together now for quite a while. To have that continuity and to have that base underneath you is definitely a good feeling and right out the gate I thought Alan (Gustafson) and I would have a lot of learning to do to try to figure each other out, but man we hit is off great right away. I feel like he really understands what I’m needing and what I’m wanting. We didn’t have a great car in the middle of that race in Daytona. He made the proper adjustments based on what I was saying to have a really good car at the end of that race and to put ourselves in position to win. We didn’t have the finish that we wanted obviously, we made a move there that didn’t work out for us but I’d been second there, I’ve been in the top five. I’m not there to finish second anymore, we’re there to make a move to win. I was just very encouraged with our communication and how well it is. I feel like we are so far ahead of where we were last year. Obviously the No. 24 and No.48 are trying to maintain that success on the No. 5 and No. 88 side we’re trying to bring it up to their level. I think that so far, we’re there.”

ON HIS THOUGHTS ABOUT THE FUTURE OF NASCAR RACING ON THE WEST COAST. “I don’t know. It’s definitely the progression of coming out to the West coast has grown a lot. I don’t think I would want to rush that. It’s got to be accepted. I think it has for the most part. Phoenix is unbelievable, I think California has continued to have some good crowds. I think they had trouble when it was 120 degrees at that last race. That was difficult. It would be tough to sell that but we put on a great race here, we put on a great race in Phoenix. Sonoma is a lot of fun in a totally different venue. I wouldn’t mind seeing a couple more west coast races. It’s a long trip for the guys but we’ve got to come here anyway and if they plan it right it wouldn’t be a problem. I’d love to see us personally, and this is just selfish reasons because I love Laguna Seca, but I’d love to see us go to Laguna Seca. That market is very close to Sonoma, so I don’t think that would probably ever work out but it’s such a beautiful track. It’s a great area and I think as far as road courses go it would be a lot of fun. It’s kind of a home track for me. I raced there for about four years in a formal Mazda series so I really enjoyed that.”

ON AN ADDITONAL DATE IN LAS VEGAS? “I think if Vegas does well and is well received if we had a second race in Vegas, I think it would be fun.”

ON WHAT THE UNVEILING OF THE CAR OF TOMORROW MEANS. “They took the cover off of it. Last year we obviously ran a limited number of races in the new car and it was a test run and a great way of doing it. We all got to get our feet wet with it a little bit. It was tough and it was difficult going back and forth between the cars. It was hard for the teams to build two cars at one time. I think that NASCAR got some negative reaction because of us going back and forth between the two cars. You drive the old car and it had more grip, more down force and naturally as a driver you’re going to get into this other car that doesn’t have that it’s not going to feel as good. Your first reaction is hey I don’t like it as much. But when it’s all you have and you’re racing against everybody that has the same thing it’s just like anything else. It doesn’t matter if its tricycles, go karts or what you’re racing as long as they’re the same and you have the same competitive advantage as everybody else, it makes it fun. So far, Daytona I think was a great race. Obviously the car wasn’t built to go faster it was built to be safer and hopefully as we go down the road the fans continue to receive the car well and we continue to make it better. I think this year running it all season long is making it easier on the teams and it’s forcing us to go okay let’s focus on this and make it work. When you have that as a task I think you put more effort into it and make it work and so far things have been going well.”