I'm disappointed that we weren't quicker, to be honest. The Target car is really good on the long runs but I just couldn't get it up to speed quickly enough in qualifying trim.

We had an aggressive setup and were very quick in traffic. Once underway, the car was very, very good. This is a fun place to race and win and to take Sam's record is truly special.

I had a Sonoma race where I was disappointed in the result, ... I wanted to make amends for that. That was the longest period of time I've ever had between races. From the last race of the year to the first race of the next season is a long time. It felt a lot longer than that.

It wasn't as good a throw as the one I did at Shea Stadium; it was a little high, ... This was more of an English cricket throw than a pitch. I was throwing it a little high on purpose to show them I had a different pitch than the one I did at Shea Stadium. It just dropped about 10 feet too late.

I think California is going to be a really good race because obviously the championship has been decided, but second, third and fourth are up for grabs. There's going to have to be some big things happen for those positions to change. Then I think you have the fifth through 10th pretty close. I think everybody's going to be going for broke.

The St. Pete race was very, very good from that standpoint. Certainly, living there you can feel the buzz about people wanting the race to come back. That's what you have to have at each track we go to. With Danica [Patrick], and the fact that she's generated so much interest, I think the races are going to get bigger and better.