WHAT’S YOUR OUTLOOK ON KANSAS?
“I don’t know. You know I haven’t even done a single lap so it’s hard to say our outlook. It’s been good. We normally run pretty good on the 1.5-mile tracks. This is pretty close to Chicago. We had a decent race there, not the best. We were I think top-10 there. You just got to see how good the car is. I think it’s a new car, I’m not 100 percent sure but I think it is. It’s one of those deals. I really just don’t know.”
CAN YOU TELL US HOW IMPORTANT YOU THINK IT IS TO HAVE A CREW CHIEF THAT REALLY PUSHES THE BOUNDARIES?
“You’ve got to have someone who is willing to go all the way. Of course within the regulations but you’ve got to have somebody that is determined as you are. You’ve got to have somebody that matches your style. I believe that every time I’m in the car I try to give 100 percent. There’s going to be good and bad days even when you do that but on the same side as a crew chief some weekends you unload and you’re going to have a great car and some weekend’s you’re just not going to be so good. If you work together well and you’re determined things will happen.”
LAST WEEK JIMMIE JOHNSON SAID THAT HE HOPE THE COMPETITION WOULD BE SCARED WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS?
“They did good last week but the last time they were there they did good as well so it wasn’t a surprise. You look at their performance in Loudon and it wasn’t that good. I don’t know. I don’t care. At the end of the day, and he’s probably thinking the same thing, you’ve got to run as good as you can and hope that what you do is better than anybody else. If it is great if it isn’t well.”
YOUR THOUGHTS ON CALIFORNIA NEXT WEEK AND IT BEING ADDED TO THE CHASE.
“I would rather have Atlanta to be honest. I always run really well at Atlanta. At the same time we ran pretty good there last time we were there. It was very early in the season and even then I think we had decent cars. Right now we’ve got much more competitive cars. Going to California it’s going to be exciting. You’ve got to be very open-minded. We’re bringing our best stuff every week and you’ve got to hope what you bring is good enough. Some weeks you’re good enough for a top-five and some weeks maybe good enough to win and some weeks you kind of look at yourself and you know finish 12th or 15th. Everybody is going to go through it right now.”
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT ANY INSTANCE RECENTLY WHERE YOU’VE SEEN YOUR TEAM STEP UP?
“I think everybody is just more relaxed. I think that the bigger thing. Everybody is calm and everybody knows what they’ve got to do. Being realistic our goal was really making the Chase and there was a lot of pressure on everybody to do that and we did. Of course you want to run well, of course you want to fight for the championship but this is a bonus for us right now. Everybody is pumped up about it and everybody is trying to bring their a-game every week and everybody is doing it. That’s the biggest difference. There were always people concerned on the pit stops oh let’s not make any mistakes and now it’s time to go. It’s exciting and the same with the driving.”
HAVE YOU DONE ANYTHING DIFFERENTLY THIS YEAR, MENTALLY OR PHYSICALLY TO PREPARE YOURSELF FOR WHERE YOU ARE RIGHT NOW?
“Not really. I’m flying planes, I wasn’t flying (biplanes) last year (laughs), that’s the only difference to be honest. No, I really don’t. Something that’s really good is having a family. When you leave the race track you have so many things to do that I don’t really think about the racing. I wake up every morning at 6:30 and I take my kid to school. Then I get home and get the girl ready and then you take the girl to school. My wife gave me a biplane for Christmas and I’m getting that ready and it’s getting pretty close and I’m getting pretty excited. So I get to the warehouse at 10:00 in the morning and its eight o’clock at night and I’m still there. So, you know what I mean? I’m always entertained so it’s pretty cool.”
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