The difference is that he lets things roll off his back and keeps looking ahead instead of worrying about what happened yesterday or last week,

You can't work on a race team without (people) but there are days when you wish you didn't have any of them, as the old saying goes. In a lot of ways it's fun, but it can also be pretty trying. It's one of the things that I like the most but I hate the most. And sometimes it's so overwhelming that I feel like I haven't done as good a job as I would've liked worrying about my race cars.

I hope not. I just want to go out and do it.

I owe it to those guys to win the championship.

I'm 39 years old, but in dog years I'm really 55 or 60,

It's real easy to say, 'Hey, we're in this thing. We're OK, ... We've got to keep the intensity, the pressure on ourselves to perform, not slip up, not sit back and let your guard down.

It's real easy to say, 'Hey, we're in this thing. We're OK. We've got to keep the intensity, the pressure on ourselves to perform, not slip up, not sit back and let your guard down.

This is like a fantasy. I hope it lasts. Smoke has been just fired up. I haven't seen him this focused in the seven years I've been around him.

That'll come back around. Next week at Pocono, I guarantee you nobody gets a lap back if we're leading.

It's the most relaxed I've ever seen him in seven years. It's the first time in seven years I've seen him that he can enjoy himself and realize what he's capable of and enjoying his accomplishments.