Don't matter what I do, what I say, how much I try to change. You don't change perception.
We're at the top echelon of motorsports, and we've got guys who have never won Late Model races running on the racetrack. It's pathetic. They don't know where to go.
A good driver can make up for bad equipment way more than a good car could make up for a bad driver.
I don't know that many guys have ever been able to accomplish being able to win at every single active track that they've made starts at, and I look forward to trying to complete that feat.
You've got to be able to take the highs and the lows, and certainly I am not very good at taking the lows. I'll be the first to admit it. But when the highs come your way you've got to treasure them because you never know how many more you'll get.
Toyota is competitive in anything they do.
When I jumped ship from Roush Racing to Hendrick Motorsports, I couldn't believe the amount of personnel here that get along with each other. It's pretty amazing that there are so many people under one roof, where Roush is more spread out and it feels so different.
I think if you're a race car driver you want to succeed and be the best in your realm of racing.
There can be an easy way to interpret things some times and it seems like maybe I'm on the wrong side of those interpretations a lot of those times.
You've got guys out there that are good spokespeople for their sponsors or whatever. They do a good job of selling merchandise and all that. And then you've got guys that are just good wheel men.
You don't really get it from NASCAR that they want you to be the bad guy or the good guy. They'll kind of joke around with you and be like, 'Hey, that was really good this past weekend. You did a great job for us. Ratings were up.'
I watch football all the time. I enjoy getting home on Monday nights and watch 'Monday Night Football,' and 'Sunday Night Football' when we get home early enough on Sunday nights.
You pretty much know as a driver what too fast is.
Hendrick definitely realises that we're young and trying to learn - and wrecking cars is part of how you learn. Jeff Gordon went through 20 something clips in his first season, but Rick Hendrick realised he had to take a chance on Jeff Gordon. They wrecked a lot of cars, but Jeff Gordon has given him four championships.
I try to keep at least one or two of my firesuit designs every year.
I've never been very good at slowing down.
I love racing and I've always enjoyed racing. I love to try and go back to the local short tracks and do those races. And sometimes I do.
You know, I wish I had more time in the week.
I like running my Super Late Models here and there and there are times when you go to those events and they are for $2,000 or $3,000 to win. There's no money involved in that; you're basically spending your money to go racing in those things but it's so enjoyable. For me, it's kind of like a golf game.
As far as fan perception, it's probably worse than it should be. I think it's getting better, but I think I still get perceived based on the things I did earlier in my career.
