We had a fast car on the track but we stopped and put on tires and we got too tight. On long runs we were really good. It was a solid day for us. We were our best when it counted and that is a good thing. |
We have drivers who think it's OK for them to do something, but it's not OK for somebody to do it to them. |
We knew we had a fast car [Saturday], we just didn't know how fast these others guys really were. |
We lost three very young, very talented drivers in a really short time and that had a lot of influence, too. Certainly Dale's death was a huge smack in the face to everybody, but all those deaths in such a short period of time was awful. It forced people to look at it and say, 'Hey, this isn't a coincidence. There's something going on'. |
We ran mostly right around 10th all day, then the pit crew picked up four spots at the end and got us a sixth. We needed it - a gold solid run with no problems. And the way we've been snake-bit, I was damn glad to see the race end. |
We're going 200 mph. We're not thinking about being safe or we wouldn't be going 200 miles an hour. |
We're not where we need to be just yet. But we can see it from where we are. |
Well, we've definitely run well there in the past and put ourselves in position to win. I've run second at Bristol and fourth at Bristol with this team. Every time we've been there we've been very competitive. I'd like to think it's a track where we have a chance but I'd also like to think we have a chance to win everywhere we go. Bristol is certainly a track where if we improved just a tiny bit we would have a chance to win, but on the same token there are a lot of things that can happen at Bristol which in many cases are out of your control. Hopefully we can pull it off. |
When I came into the sport, rookies didn't drive good race cars. You drove junk. Rookies don't step in driving junk anymore. They step in driving top cars because there is no junk. They step in driving really, really good stuff. |
When you first make the initial impact, it still is big and it gets your attention. It's how you feel 30 minutes later that the big difference comes in. |
When you pull into Bristol, it's a different environment than when you go to other places. How you have to drive the racetrack is so intense and so aggressive. Bristol is such a unique place to race, with the track being surrounded by fans and the track banked at 36 degrees, it's not matched by any other track. |
Without a doubt, there's a lot of car owners and drivers right now that are thinking, 'Hmmm, am I behind on this thing?' ... These issues have indeed changed the landscape. No question. |
Yeah, we needed it. It was a good solid run with no problems, and that's what we needed. The way we've been snake-bit, I was damn glad to see the race end. |
You question yourself. You question everything. But I'm proud of myself. I stayed focused through all of it. We're working really hard and trying really hard to get back to the top. |
You're looking at teams that are going to do tire tests. There were teams that went to do tire tests the last two days. We're not testing anywhere, and with the limited testing, that is a huge disadvantage. |