It's not like they're just throwing me to the wolves and saying, 'Here's a girl, let's give her an opportunity.' Ray's really behind me, so he's put Bill with me and some of the top engineers, so I'm very thankful.

Ray Evernham has given me a great opportunity and I have good people around me, so it makes things a lot easier, ... I'm very excited. It is a big step and I don't have that much stock car experience and I can't wait to get that first one over and done with. It's the opportunity of a lifetime.

A lot of people are saying we have a weak league. We're not going to play against the other team, we're going to play against ourselves and try to play better to each game previous. We've been competing against our best, and to go one step higher than that.

I think it's good to get in the truck and get a little bit familiar with it before we go full time. I want to have a strong finish and a good performance but mostly I just want to improve. If I feel like I come away from this race having learned a lot and improved and passing cars, then I'll be pretty happy with it.

[Bill Elliott] just tells me a lot of different things about the car,

I think Danica's doing a really good job but I don't necessarily understand why -- just because we're two women -- that we're always being compared,