You don't go to a race track to finish second.
There's always room for improvement.
Just because I'm not coordinated doesn't mean I can't kick your ass.
My friends and family and team know who I am, and they have my back. So I don't let someone who doesn't know me affect me.
I believe 0% is luck. I think you create your own luck, so I don't believe in luck.
I have always tried to drive a car that was better than me, and race against people who were better than me. If you are surrounded by people who are as good as you, or not as good, how are you going to learn?
When you cross the line and you've won the race, to me, it's an amazing feeling.
I'm pretty conservative on a lot of things. I don't want to get hurt.
Some fans understand who I am and why I do things, and then there are some fans that have formed an opinion that I don't feel is who I am.
If you don't really know someone, everyone forms an opinion. That's part of life.
My reputation is different among different groups. You have your fans, your non-fans, your team, your crew, your family, your friends and then you have your peers. I think they're all different and each of them have their separate opinions about you.
You need to be sharp the whole race, and eventually you start getting mentally tired and make little mistakes over and over.
I have to win races. It's not even an option.
When I was three years old, I had race-car wallpaper, a race-car bed, race-car toys. That was all I wanted. And nothing has changed. Except I don't have a race-car bed anymore.?
I don't worry about anything but winning races.
I enjoy doing autograph sessions because I'm a people-watcher. I'm the guy in the airport who likes to just sit and watch people go by. So I enjoy just meeting people and hearing their stories.
I’m really proud of my team. They have given me great cars all year long. Today, we finally got to show what kind of cars they have been giving me. We were up front, leading laps and showing how good this No. 22 Ford is. Once again today, my team showed they have my back and that will only make us better going forward.
Obviously, the opinions that are most accurate are the ones that are closest to you - your crew, your friends, your family. Those people know who you are, and that's accurate.
I wash my cars and clean the garage a lot. That's kind of my thing.
Some of the fans look at me as a villain or not a nice guy for some reason. I don't feel like that's the case, personally.
Once the tires start to wear out the better car will prevail eventually. It might take a little bit of time, but eventually it will be the best. That’s why everyone is trying to make their car good on the long run.
It's funny how the whole team gets quiet when you're about to win a Daytona 500.
There are certain racetracks where I feel like I could run 1,000 miles.
I think our Auto Club Ford was very strong all day. I was very happy with the car we had. We were super fast (and) led a lot of laps. Nothing to hang our head down about, that's for sure. We were very proud of that. Doug Yates, thank you so much for the motor. That thing ran the last seven, eight laps with no water in it, just pushing water over 300-degrees. So it's really amazing for those guys. So thank you guys – everyone in the engine shop to get a solid run out here today. I look forward to (getting) back to the race track and try it again.
