I was shocked that he did it so blatantly. An older driver (usually) knows a way to do it subtly.

I think any older driver would find it different than it was five years ago.

I do it because I want to continue to be in the driver fraternity, ... I was so happy at Martinsville last week. I had on my great big Toyota Tundra uniform. I've got my truck there. I've got my team there. I'm parked right next to Jimmie Johnson, and we're talking driver talk. Right next to me is Kyle Busch, and we're talking driver talk.

The only option a driver has is to literally not do it. If he (crew chief) says, 'Pit,' you drive by and say, 'I didn't hear you, what'd you say, come back.' And that's happened, and sometimes you wish you hadn't done that. Other times it works out.

Understand that the sponsors are the people that are making this sport happen. It's not the purses; it's the sponsors. The sponsors want to be in Texas, they want to be in California, they want to be in Las Vegas.

With a $16 million purse, it's pretty damn important. Just a few years ago, we only had a handful of big races that paid big money that you really wanted to win. It was Daytona, the Charlotte 600; they threw Indianapolis in there and the Southern 500. They paid you a $1 million bonus if you won three of those races. Those are the ones you set your sights on when the season started. Now, everything pays $1 million, and that has diminished the value of some of our bigger races.