John Andretti Comments on UAW-Dodge 400 at Las Vegas:
“You know, I like the old Vegas. I thought it was more of a driver’s track. It was flatter- much more of a challenge. Any time you add banking, you make a wider span to get the car to work. Sure, it makes it faster, but I don’t think matters. People in the grandstands want to watch side-by-side racing. They go to local short tracks because they like the action. Think about it, Bristol’s not fast, but it’s wild because everybody is racing so tight. That’s the big thing. When people say, ‘The track is faster, so that makes it better,’ I’m thinking no. I like the old track better, but it’s just personal preference.

“Every week for us, being outside the top-35, is like starting over. Racing’s always been a matter of what you can do for me today, not yesterday. From that standpoint, being outside the top-35, it makes it real easy to go from the penthouse to the outhouse and back again. We’re just hoping to stay out of the outhouse.

“But, NASCAR constantly goes through changes to make it fair. I know some people are always saying, ‘That guy shouldn’t be going home.’ OK, so tell me who should be going home? Why not just make it a popularity contest and we’ll figure out who should be going home and who shouldn’t?

“They have to have some guidelines. I think NASCAR has always tried to make it about earning your spot. If you’re outside the top-35 and you’re complaining about the top-35, stop complaining. You’ve got your right to earn your way into that. Believe me, the first part of the season is very tough.

“A great example, you’ve got a flip-flop at Penske Racing. Out-qualifying Kurt Busch will probably be a whole lot different than out-qualifying a rookie plus he’s always going to take a spot because he’s a past champion. Those are the things that you probably pay more attention to and say, ‘Wait a minute, I don’t know if that’s right.’ I think it’s right to protect the people that are there and raced their way into the top-35.

“As far as the rain stuff, there’s probably fifty ways to cook something. I’m not going to worry about it. Whatever rule they make, you live by it and move on. I don’t think there’s a better way to do it. At this point, I think it’s about as fair as it can get, but I haven’t thought about really hard, either.