Obviously, you have days like this, but I don't think we were doing anything out of the ordinary or out of our limitations. It's just a surprise because we normally don't have engine failures.

I think what Chad did is nothing new in the garage.

I really think that'll happen. I've informally talked to Richard (Childress), just so he knew I wanted to do that. I'll drive the No. 3 car toward the end of my career if I've done what I wanted to do at DEI, and that's win championships and win races. And I'll stick around as long as it takes to do it.

I think it's best left in the driver's hands and the crew's hands on how they handle this issue. I don't think NASCAR can step in and make any improvements. They'll probably make the situation a whole lot worse for all of us anyway.

'The thing about Bristol is you can be really good but still caught up in a wreck. That's probably the main concern. Even if you're the leader, it's hard to miss wrecks sometimes because of all the lapped traffic. That's just Bristol. You can't take a break at any time. The moment you think you're doing good, it'll jump up and deal you a nasty blow.

Working with Tony Jr.'s going to be a lot of run. We've already tested with each other, and we've got a good mentality ... This is a new start. We've always been close, but the working relationship is definitely improved.