YOU SAID YOU FEEL FRESH NOW, IS THAT PHYSCIALLY AND MENTALLY?
“Physically I’m okay. My workout routine is on it.”
IS THERE ANOTHER PART OF YOU THOUGH THAT LOOKS FORWARD TO THOSE LAST FOUR RACES JUST TO GET AWAY FROM WORRYING ABOUT POINTS AND ALL THAT STUFF?
“Yeah, I’m tired of points. I ain’t tired of racing. Racing don’t bother me. I’m not tired of racing. I am tired of points which we’ve done this about long enough. We need to get a fresh outlook. We’ve got four more and for four more we’ll race for everything we can get, every point we can get because every position that we can get is valuable to us.”
DOES IT SEEM A LITTLE BIT SAD TO KNOW THAT THIS YEAR IS GOING TO COME TO AN END?
“Because of the points I’m glad that it’s going to come to an end in four races. Other than that I don’t care. This is exactly what I want to be doing. It’s been enough build up toward, there is a lot more pressure on me to make the Chase than it is what we’re doing now because I wanted to have a chance. We’re having our chance. We’re sitting second. We’ve done a great job. We’re a contender and that’s what I wanted to do. We’ll see how it all goes. I’ll look forward to starting with a clean slate in Daytona.”
YOU MENTIONED TENDONITIS THAT YOU ARE REHABBING, WHERE IS IT?
“It’s in my feet.”
IS THAT A CHRONIC THING, HAVE YOU BATTLED THAT FOR A WHILE?
“It’s not a big deal. I’ve had it for almost two years and it comes and goes.”
IS IT FROM YOU WORKING THE PEDALS?
“No. I think they say you’re unlucky when you get it. I don’t think they say there is something that causes it. I think they say you’re unlucky. Plantar fasciitis is what it called.”
YOU SAID YOU WERE ADDING ON TO YOUR WORKOUT ROUTINE TO HELP THAT CONDITION? “Well there’s rehab. I’m rehabbing the strength and flexibility in my feet, ankles and lower legs.”
OBVIOUSLY THE LAST TWO PLATE RACES HAVE ENDED WITH A LAST-LAP CRASH, I UNDERSTAND YOU PUT TWO GUYS AT ANY TRACK YOU CAN HAVE A LAST-LAP CRASH BUT THAT IT’S HAPPENED AT RESTRICTOR-PLATE RACES DO YOU LOOK AT IT AS A COINCIDENCE OR DOES THAT BECOME A CONCERN AND IF ITS NOT A CONCERN WHEN DOES IT BECOME A CONCERN?
“It is a concern whether it’s first or second or on back and the trend is there whether its first or second or a little on back. It’s virtually impossible to finish a restrictor-plate race without wrecking. Inside the last 20 laps I don’t see it happening. I see five cautions or more cautions just because you can’t let a guy have any space any more. You can afford to let them have space earlier and you can’t now. It’s unavoidable. It may not be first and second every time but you’re going to have multiple cautions at the end of a restrictor-plate race.”
I JUST WONDERED IF AT SOME POINT NASCAR HAS TO STEP IN AND PROTECT THE DRIVERS THEMSELVES, THEY SAY THE DRIVERS HAVE THE STEERING WHEEL, ACCELERATOR, BRAKE PEDAL HE HAS TO LIVE WITH THE CONSEQUENCES.
“Yeah, but you can’t help it if your five wide. Whose fault does the wreck become then? I’m sorry. You can’t blame it all on the drivers. You can’t. That’s not fair because of the circumstances that we are put into. You gotta go. It’s the end of the race. You can’t let anybody have any room. Where you’ve got three wide in Daytona or four, or five or six here how can it be somebody’s fault? What the last guy to make it five wide? Is it his fault when the hole was open? He’s gotta go. You shouldn’t be able to get five wide here. You wouldn’t if we didn’t have plates on it but we’d land in the grandstand when we wrecked then.”
THE LAST COUPLE OF RACES WE’VE SEEN WHERE TWO GUYS NOSE TO TAIL CAN KIND OF PULL AWAY FROM THE FIELD WHICH IS SOMETHING YOU REALLY HADN’T SEEN TOO MUCH UNTIL RECENTLY, DO YOU SUSPECT THE SMALLER RESTRICTOR PLATE MIGHT INHIBIT THAT?
“I don’t expect that to stop that from happening.”
SO YOU STILL THINK TWO CARS CAN MAKE A BREAK AWAY?
“It’s a phenomenon. I don’t know what it is. I’ve watched for two years on TV and then I was here and I didn’t do it but I saw it happen. I don’t think any of us really understand how you get hooked together like that and go away like that.”
IT GOES AGAINST EVERYTHING AS A VETERAN DRIVER THAT YOU’RE USED TO?
“Yeah, it’s some different phenomenon then there was before. It’s specific to the COT I think.”
DO YOU THINK NASCAR SHOULD REVISIT ITS POLICY ON DRIVERS WHEN THEY RUN INTO A SITUATION LIKE A.J. ALLMENDINGER RAN INTO THE OTHER DAY?
“I don’t think there is any problem with NASCAR’s policy and the team always does have the right at any time. It always has in the contracts they can suspend. I think it’s being handled fine.”
DOES STRATEGY COME INTO PLAY AT A TRACK LIKE THIS WHEN YOU CONSIDER YOUR PLACE IN THE CHASE?
“At this race track strategy might come into play a little bit but my strategy is finish as high as I can every time I go out. So we’ll do whatever we think will give us our best shot at the best finish we can get.”
THE FINISH WE HAD HERE BACK IN THE SPRING, THE CRAZINESS OF THAT, DO YOU THINK THIS TRACK IS A LITTLE SAFER NOW THAT THEY MADE SOME CHANGES WITH THE FRONT?
“Well they’ve worked on the fences and they’ve also put a smaller restrictor plate to lower the speeds of the cars which will keep them on the ground better. Unfortunately we needed to do that. We’ve got to keep the cars on the ground.”
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