When I was 20 and ran my first race, I told myself I don’t know how I’m going to do this for a living. I don’t have the money to do it. But it is what I want to do.

You can’t get a friend more loyal than your dog.

The first couple times we raced there it was pretty tough, because it was a one-groove track. It's obviously come a long way.

The changes that were made have made this a better-balanced race car for us, so therefore we might not have to try to trick the car as much as what we had to with the Taurus at times. Obviously, a lot of guys figured that out a lot of different times, but the Fusion should make our jobs much easier in that respect.

The first two cars last week are so obviously doing something on the race track that is of benefit to them, then they don't pass inspection and they're allowed to sit there and jump up and down on their cars and do whatever they need to do to get through?

A good run in the Bud Shootout doesn't guarantee a good run in the Daytona 500, but it is a nice indicator that this part of the program is at least headed in the right direction. The extra seat time is always good to have, and I think there are things you can learn by participating in that race that the teams who aren't competing don't have the opportunity to learn.

The guys are sure that they have a leader that's gonna be behind what they're doing and when they're not doing it right, he's gonna make sure that it is getting done properly.

This has generally been a one-lane race track, and it remains to be seen what we're going to be able to do when we get back here, ... But we should have more racing room and better competition.

This is our first opportunity to see how our cars are gong to handle in the draft in actual race conditions. We've been to test, but this is an actual race.

If Dale could see what has happened, he would have a huge smile on his face. Even though there's nobody to take his place, the sport has done exactly what he wanted it to do. It's gone right to the top.