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.

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.

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,

I come from a sprint-car background where the cars weigh about 1,200 pounds and have about 850 horsepower, so this car has less horsepower and weighs three times as much, so it's a big difference to me.