It's a huge challenge for us to get the (43) car back to Victory Lane, to get the car in the Chase, to get back to where I would love to see us win the championship, ... Is it a reality next year You've seen a lot of things happen in the sport and you look at it and ask 'How'd that happen'

All the championships Earnhardt won were won by his intimidation and his style of making the other guy always feel like the underdog. It's something people use, but the final line is you've got to have a great race car. A good driver wins it by staying within himself.

I don't know if 'expect' is the right word. I guess you hope it comes together. But our big test comes Sunday in the 500, and that's what we're looking forward to.

I probably used the word probably. It's a good time for me to reprioritize my personal life and get things figured out there.

I look at this kind of like they were my family business, and we've got to keep it going, ... And I'm just going in there to roll up my sleeves and do everything we can to move the thing forward.

In life, everything has its time, ... You'd like to think that something works forever, but it is a performance-driven sport and the bottom line is that you have to perform. If we were to get into the chase and win the championship, I don't see anything changing.

This is just another step toward what we want to do at Petty Enterprises. We keep trying to do it every day and keep getting better and better.

It's obvious those guys work well together, but that's no surprise. Jeff has known and worked with Steve for a long time. Both of them are smart and capable people and I think they are going to have a lot of success together.

It's one of those situations you'd love for it to be a storybook finish and you win the championship and walk off into the sunset,

are quite clear - get things stabilized, and then start the rebuilding process.