And it's been Grand Central Station for NASCAR ever since.

This is a great bike and a great cause, ... I'm proud to be the first bidder and get this auction started. Hopefully I can get other race fans excited about the custom chopper and raise funding for the important relief efforts being provided by The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

I don't think the track will be in the form it currently is the next time we race here (in May). I'm satisfied with what we have for Saturday night, but we'll make some changes before the teams come back next year.

I don't think there's anything wrong with the track,

I don't think there's anything wrong with the track. I think there's just an unfortunate set of circumstances that begot this. You can't hang it on Goodyear. I think there's probably been some experimenting down on the pit road.

I'm not saying there won't be caution flags. But many of them will be based on the intensity of the racing right now and will not be a result of the track surface.

It takes a lot of energy to keep (the all-star race) here. It's so important for the (following week's) Coca-Cola 600 to have it here, and it helps build momentum.

That kind of stuff was common back in the old days -- everybody was fighting back then, especially the women. But there wasn't the TV coverage we have today, so it wasn't that big of a deal.

It was a tough night for everybody. Nobody liked it, I certainly didn't. But we'll get back to normal next time.

You're talking about two guys who sell almost 70 percent of the souvenirs in the sport. To have them out of the picture was a real downer. Things like that happen once in a while, but when NASCAR started talking about the Chase, I don't think any of us ever thought the two most popular guys weren't going to make it.