Tony Stewart Guys Quotations

For most part, the rule of thumb is pretty much you're going to race guys hard the last quarter of the race and for sure the last run of the day. You're still going to give and take until that last pit stop.

I am really happy. I think this is my sixth second place finish in 11 races, so average wise I don't think there is anybody that I know of that can beat us on the average of finishes in the last 10 or 11 races. So we are pretty proud of what this team has been able to accomplish here. It's been an awesome day. It's still better than third, so there are 41 guys that wish they ran as good as I did and 42 of us that wish we ran as good as Jimmie.

I feel like we've really taken our program to another level. It's not been because of me, it's been because of the two young guys coming in. Their attitude has kind of spread through the shop.

Guys are doing it in the middle of the corner, coming off it and coming on. It's softening the front bumper because it's the guys that are doing the hitting. Trust me, I did my share of it, too.

He didn't mean to do it. I said, 'At least you're man enough.' Fifty percent of the guys will wait for the phone call the next day. That's why I respect Mark Martin more than anybody.

He's a talented kid. He's one of those guys that when you explain something to him, he does a lot more listening than he does talking, and that's hard to find with guys that are really competitive.

I think everybody's pretty worn out after being in Daytona for so long. California means a normal routine and a chance for the crew guys to get back to their families for a couple of days before heading to another racetrack.

I wasn't going to wreck him. A couple of times I had him in compromising positions and I let him go. I didn't want to win that way. Jimmie understands that's just short-track racing. There are a lot of guys who don't. ...When you have a guy who understands and doesn't whine and carry on and complain, that makes it more fun.

Yeah, that was not too bad for a car that was just a little off, ... We had a setback in the practice session the other day and that got us off a little bit. But the guys rebounded really well. We lost an alternator belt early and that made us have to turn all the electrical switches off -- all the brake fans and the rear end fans and the fans that blow cool air on the tires to keep the tires cool. It hurt us because it lets it build air pressure a little quicker.

Yeah, there's really nothing decided yet. I extended my lead over Jimmie (from 15 to 43 points), but Biffle gained on both of us, and those guys behind him aren't out of it, either.

There are reasons these guys got to this level. They're great drivers.

There are guys you give the benefit of the doubt if they hold you up a little bit longer than normal, and you have that list of guys you kind of know are going to be a problem when you get there. The window of being patient with them is a lot shorter.

You're 11th, but a lot of those guys gotta stop, so we're really more like fifth... I may have over-adjusted on that last stop, so I'll take the blame, but the reason you may be loose is because your right rear quarter panel is hanging almost straight out after the 20 (Stewart) hit you.

I've just been a regular media darling this week, ... I know you've got a job to do. I promise to do a better job dealing with you guys next year.

It was a good race, ... That's awesome short track racing right there. They (the fans) got their money's worth today. That's the way the race to the Chase should start, just like that. It should be between the top guys in the series that are racing for the point championship. Ryan did an awesome job and we just couldn't hold him off there at the end.

A season's still a season. Let's not reinvent the wheel. We're starting this year with the same guys and the same attitude we did the year before, and the year before that.

It's nice that they don't have to talk about my behavior anymore, ... That's the biggest honor you can have, for the guys you race with to give you that kind of compliment.

That's still better than third, so there's 41 guys that wish they ran as good as I did. As volatile as this place can be ... to be able to get to second is something I feel we can be proud of.

It was done with the intent of intimidating us. But there are some guys you can intimidate and some guys where it works the opposite way,

Being in a group of only 14 guys that have won multiple championships here, that's probably going to mean more than winning the championship by itself,