It's hard to place blame on anybody when you're racing in a pack that is that close with the speeds those guys are running out there. For the most part they all do a pretty good job. All it takes is one little slip-up by somebody or by two or three people, you're going to have a heck of a crash. It's just unfortunate. |
It's very cool and there is a lot of tradition here and I love to come here. I really like Darlington and Charlotte and tracks like that better, but I'd really love to win at Indianapolis. I'd like to win and go through all the stuff of kissing the bricks [at the finish line] and all that stuff and roll on. |
Jimmie and I have never been more committed to each other, to the team and to winning a championship than we are right now. |
Just because I wasn't at those race tracks doesn't take anything away from what we've been doing. When I wasn't here, I was just as happy for this team winning races as I was today. |
Man, it was tough. But it is what I had to deal with. |
Maybe there were some people below minimum inflation tonight. If they were, and they had a tire issue, it cures itself. You're only going to go out there a couple of times and have a problem. They do what they do to make sure we have a safe and competitive race and that the drivers are able to walk away. |
My goal is to maintain a top 10 position in the points through the first 13 races. From that point on, I want to make sure we are running in the top five. I want to end the first 26 races in the top five in points, and then go into the Chase. Once there, we can turn it on. |
Obviously, we're parked right next to each other in the garage, |
Robbie has been a huge asset to me more so than anything else with the race car. He's a very calming individual and he has a good sense about him and he has been through a championship chase. |
The crew chief nowadays ... it's not just setting up the car. It's watching the guys, making sure they're all doing it, making sure this guy is dressed right and he's clean-shaven and all that kind of stuff, all those little things that truly contribute to the performance of the team. |
There's fear at first, but you only understand what's happening for a split second. Then, it's over. Plus, if you hit something hard enough, it'll rattle your head, which means you don't really remember anything from the crash. |
This is probably the best chance we have to make it happen. This is the strongest our organization has ever been. Now its up to the teams to make it happen. If we don't make it happen, its our own fault. |
To build a good super speedway car, it will take you about three months' time. We used every bit of that to try to get this car built. … Literally, the paint was still wet on it when we loaded it on the truck Thursday. |
We just had a little problem with the chain that holds the droop on the right rear. NASCAR didn't like it the way it was. It wasn't a big deal. We were trying to fix it and we just didn't have time. |
We pushed it a little too far. We got caught with something NASCAR didn't like, they imposed a penalty on us, and we have to accept that. |