I definitely find myself, as I get older, a lot more aware and concerned with the health of the sport.
I keep sour grapes in the fridge all the time. And I eat those all day long, all week long, all month. All the time.
I love running good because it meets expectations, whether it's the fans' or my own. And I know that they come to be entertained: they pull for a particular driver to be entertained by that driver's success and that driver's personality, and they relate to that individual.
When I run a race, I, maybe inadvertently or unknowingly, concern myself with whether the fan was entertained or got what he expected or whether they got what I think they deserved out of me and out of the race.
I would give up barbecuing for a championship.
I would have loved to race from 1970 to 1980.
The Dodge Charger in the late '70s at Daytona, that looked like an awesome car.
Winning the championship is more than 50% driver. It's probably 60% driver, 40% car. I don't really know where luck fits in there - over the course of a season, everybody catches their breaks.
When you're around a sport awhile and sort of get to know everybody, you start to appreciate people more instead of just seeing a number and a sponsor and a competitor.
I used to have stomach ulcers and stuff when I was in the 10th grade. I'd be doubled over on the floor, I was hurting so bad. I was on Tagamet before it was over the counter.
I use my notes app on my iPhone religiously, and I have one note just for movies. Every time I see a movie I think I'm going to want to watch, I'll put it in there.
I've always felt like a lot of people's misconceptions of me have to do with how I grew up. I grew up poor, and I grew up rich.
I think some people who have never met me have a misconception that when I was living with my father when he was successful, that I was somehow adversely affected by his success or the money he had and was making at the time.
Everything we do needs to be geared toward making the sport more accessible to the fans - the rules of the sport, how the race plays itself out, how people qualify into the races - everything needs to be as easy to understand as possible.
I wish I'd a got married sooner. I wish I'd a had kids sooner. I wish I'd a figured all that out sooner.
I was way behind in my maturity. I was a 30-year-old acting like a 23-year-old. So when I was 21, I was probably acting like a 15-year-old.
I like Joe Buck. I know there's a big divide on people that like Joe Buck and people that don't like Joe Buck. But I love his cadence and tone and professionalism, and he's smart.
When someone tells me they've never been to a race, I tell them that the first one they should go to is Bristol, Tennesee. The shape of the track, the energy, and excitement under the lights is similar to what you might get at a stick-and-ball game in college football or the NFL.
I know a lot of Cup Series champions, and they each have a very different personality. They all go about handling adversity, their challenges, and even confrontation a little differently.
I think that our personalities and our souls have so much - we're so much more than just blood vessels and bone and muscle.
