How special is it to return to Texas, where you won your first Busch Series and Nextel Cup races?
“It’s very special. I always love running there. Texas was the place where I realized I could make a career out of racing. Before our Busch Series win there in ‘98, I wasn’t sure I was going to make it as a race car driver. I was living in a double-wide and trying to get my career going. I hadn’t had much success in racing up to that point, but we won that race at Texas, and it set the foundation for our championship that year.”

What are your thoughts on getting around Texas?
“It’s super fast. Takes a lot of guts to lay down a good qualifying lap there. In turns three and four you can run three-wide, move around a little bit, and run the high-line if you want to. It’s a lot of fun. In turns one and two, you’re forced to run the bottom with the springs we’re running in these cars now. Also there’s a huge bump between turns one and two over the tunnel. It gets worse every year. They need to do something about that (laughing). ”

After what happened at Martinsville, did you exercise any more patience Sunday at Atlanta?
“Our car was so good that we were in the top-five all day. That race to the finish with Matt (Kenseth) didn’t look very patient, because we were hanging on for dear life to third place. We can talk big-picture racing all day long, but at the end of the race, I want every position I can get and Matt wants every position he can get. I know we lost a lot of points at Martinsville because I was trying to get after it and ended up spinning out, but I’m not going to pull over and let people take the position either. We’re still racing hard and trying to win this championship. We’re up to fourth in the standings. Another good run this weekend can put us up to third or even second with two races to go.”

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