Physically, I have been working out since July -- really, really hard wanting to be sure that I was physically prepared for this race,

It's hard to have a good time and do your job. We'd get our cars inspected; we'd cover the car up and go to the beach. We'd go to the liquor store and buy a case of beer and sit on the beach or go sit in the lounge at the hotel maybe until it was time to come back the next day.

I had doubts. I didn't know for sure. I prepared better than anytime before. I worked very hard through the summer on my speed and flexibility. Overall, I'm happy with my performance thus far this season.

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.

We could have had media day in a pup tent. You came down here to race and you went in the garage and worked on your car. They tried to hype it up and add TV. There wasn't the intensity that you have in the sport now. People are getting pulled in so many different directions; it's hard to have fun.