We were so used to winning in those days, I didn't see any reason we wouldn't just continue right on doing that at least a couple of times each year, ... But over the past couple of years ... we haven't been in position to do that as much. I think we've got some more victories to go, but in case that doesn't happen we'll make sure we enjoy this one. |
We're late in the season, and a lot of things happen here, so I don't think that the close and hard racing is over, ... I think you're going to see a lot of it. |
Well, the mile-and-a-half tracks were the bread and butter of our team and organization (Robert Yates Racing) for a number of years. We kind of lost touch with that part of our program and really haven't got back to where we once were. I think we can get there again. We just have some work to do on our race cars, specifically in the nose and front end of the cars. |
When we used to drive out of the garage at night and go through the infield, you would make sure the van doors were locked, and your kids weren't looking. Now you see some of the stuff fans are getting to do and the vehicles they are camping in and you want to stop and hang out with them. |
When you get to this point of your career, you're not exactly sure when that last victory is going to be there so you learn to cherish each one, ... It is very emotional. When I was coming down that backstretch, it was very emotional. |
You can make life a little more difficult for somebody here than other places. If you keep them behind, you can make life miserable for them. |
You can't get a friend more loyal than your dog. |
You can't lie about anything. Everything here is captured on film and tape. |
You have the ability to keep that thing right around the bottom, then you can get off the corner good enough and that's what a lot of people work on. |
You know, driver-crew chief relationships, if you get six good years, that is longer than a lot of marriages, ... We do have a huge amount of respect for each other, and Todd has brought back a leadership that we haven't seen since he left, really. |
You like to think every time you come here you have that opportunity at least, but you look at it and we've had kind of a dry spell as far as running well here. We've won some poles and things, but that's not really what we're after. |
You still have to beat everybody to win a title, but the level of competition has changed. In '99, if we had an off day, we could still run in the top 10 most of the time. Now, if you have just a little bit of an off day, you're going to finish outside of the top 20. You have so many teams that can make you go from a reasonable day to a really bad day with either just missing the setup or having a slight problem. |
You wouldn't have thought it would have spread out quite this much, as far as just how few drivers are from North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. We still have some, but the majority are spaced out throughout the United States. I think it's just a credit to the sport and how much it's grown. |