I felt a lot of pressure with the championship and my contract situation, ... To have one of them off my shoulders is a good feeling. |
I had a Sonoma race where I was disappointed in the result, ... I wanted to make amends for that. That was the longest period of time I've ever had between races. From the last race of the year to the first race of the next season is a long time. It felt a lot longer than that. |
I knew I had a chance to come back because you can come back on the superspeedways pretty quickly. |
I know it certainly didn't fare well for Scott Dixon, but I don't think that was through any fault of his own, ... That year, things didn't go their way. They had some bad luck. I don't think that was down to Scott. |
I look back to when I was a rookie. You're up against guys that have been around, for not just a year or two, but you're talking 10 years. |
I look forward to proving a point to him. |
I look forward to the rest of the season, but until it's mathematically impossible for anybody to catch me I'm going to keep trying to do the same. |
I must say my primary goal coming into the season was to win the Indianapolis 500, |
I seem to win a lot of Honda's special races, ... I hope (Honda) is going to sponsor the Indy 500 next year because I love that race. |
I think California is going to be a really good race because obviously the championship has been decided, but second, third and fourth are up for grabs. There's going to have to be some big things happen for those positions to change. Then I think you have the fifth through 10th pretty close. I think everybody's going to be going for broke. |
I think for sure being chased is the position I want to be in. It does add pressure to the situation, and it's (a matter of) having the right people around you to guide you in the right direction and maintain focus. When you're leading, it's certainly a nice feeling. |
I think Jenson somewhat screwed me up there, |
I think my hair is a little longer than it was in May. I think my PR agent is a little miffed at me because I forgot to shave, as well. |
I think this championship means a great deal to Kim, ... I came in relatively inexperienced with just a couple of races for Panther under my belt. I soaked info from my teammates and it's great to repay Kim's faith in me with this championship. |
I thought I could do it sometime in my career, but certainly not this soon. |