Talking Points

"I want to make sure that we don't get complacent in it, but that we just continue to push and run our races the way we have all year. I feel like this team has been consistent because we have been very smart, we haven't tried to exceed the limits of what we are capable of. If we go out there and we have a fifth place car, it is important for us to bring home a fifth place finish. I think that is why we have been able to be very consistent. We when do have the cars capable of winning, we have been able to capitalize o�n that as well. I am not focused o�n trying to demoralize anybody; I am just focused o�n trying to get the most out of our car and our equipment."

NASCAR Nextel Cup points leader Jeff Gordon comments on his latest success in a press conference, as quoted by Paddocktalk. Gordon, who drives the No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet, is very close to winning his fifth Cup title in the sixth of 10 Chase.

Talking Points

"It was crazy. I think the racing was not very good. I think the racing was disappointing. To see single-file racing and the guy that wins the race is sitting in the back all day just lounging around. That's not racing to me. I hope it wasn't what NASCAR intended with this car."

--NASCAR driver Ryan Newman, as quoted by FanNation.com, expresses his disappointment over the nature of racing in the debut of the Car of Tomorrow at the UAW-Ford 500 last October 7.

Talking Points

Bob Osborne (left) with teammate Carl Edwards

�Well it's nice to have a teammate that's under the same pressure and in the same situation. Someone who understands the circumstances you're in is a great asset. We can talk about game plans and come up with strategies; two heads are always better than one.�

--Crew chief Bob Osborne of Roush Fenway Racing, speaking on having his teammate Carl Edwards back at the Chase in an interview with Nascar.com.

Talking Points

"I've been told that I will be wondering what this bunch of lunatics is doing out there running so close to each other the whole time. Just like kids I suppose. But it should be fun. I am probably going to stay in the back and watch what happens."

--Former Formula One world champion Jacques Villeneuve, who is moving to NASCAR next season, on his expectations of the NASCAR races.

Talking Points

�I think it's kind of over, if you want my honest opinion. I think all race car drivers, whether they're open wheel drivers or what, realize it's not just getting into a car and driving it. It's so much about the team you're with, and the people. It's so much more than just coming over from one series to another. It's about your entrance exam and your warm up program�are you going to Busch, an [ARCA, Busch Series, Cup] program? Do you step right into the car? All those things. I think a swell of interest in terms of other drivers is over. I think it's, maybe, six months over.�

--NASCAR and IndyCar team owner Chip Ganassi, speaking to reporters Monday on the planned switch from IndyCar to NASCAR of open-wheel ace Dan Wheldon, who recently expressed interest in racing on a stock car. Ganassi added that Wheldon's present interest was winning a second IndyCar championship. Wheldon won the 2005 IndyCar championship, then surrendered last season's title to Sam Hornish Jr. by way of a tiebreaker.

Talking Point

�It's huge. I would say right now it's the biggest thing I've done. In open-wheel, that's what I was meant to be winning in. In stock cars, I wasn't. To get our first win in our first year is huge. We know we're a little bit behind on some of the ovals, but I think this is a big boost for everybody working in the shop.�

--Former F1 ace Juan Pablo Montoya, speaking to reporters after his first NASCAR victory at the Infineon Speedway. The Colombian qualified for the Nextel Cup through a disappointing 32nd finish in a 43-car field, but came out strong on a twisting road circuit to win the Toyota/SaveMart 350 in Northern California. Montoya, with an Indianapolis title under his belt, signed for NASCAR team owner Chip Gassani last July, and joins Mario Andretti and Dan Gurney as the only drivers who have won races in both NASCAR and Formula One.

Talking Points

�In the past the road racing guys had the advantage, I don't think that's so anymore. In a road racing car you have to go right and left, accelerate and brake and downshift, [while] dirt track racers have good car control skills, they know how to manage the vehicle, they have a good sense of when it's going out of control and how to keep it right on the edge.�

--Mike McGovern, head instructor at the Bob Bondurant Racing School in Arizona, on the Toyota/Save Mart 350 this weekend at the Infineon Raceway, one of the two road courses of the Nextel Cup race this season. Some NASCAR teams hire "road course ringers" to replace regular drivers during the often pivotal road course events to help the team accumulate points.

Talking Points

�I don't want to take his father's place, but I think we offer something that both of us are missing. It's not that he's looking for me to be his dad, or I'm looking for him to be my son [but] we have a common bond that we both lost somebody... so there's something there.�

--Rick Hendrick, speaking to reporters on the acquisition of Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick, who lost family members and employees in an October 2004 plane crash, signed up Junior following a falling out with the DEI, a team Earnhardt Sr. had built.

Talking Points

�Every sport needs a strong leader at the top in order to be successful, and no organization had a man that stood taller these last four decades than Bill France Jr. We will truly miss him.�

--Team Ford racing technology director Dan Davis, on NASCAR chairman Bill France Jr., who died at 74 Saturday in Daytona Beach, Florida after a long battle with cancer.

Talking Points

�It's funny. I went and saw Michael Waltrip before the race started. I think everybody knows what those guys are going through [at Michael Waltrip Racing]. We went through the same thing at Petty Enterprises; I went through the same thing at Petty Enterprises, missing races. And I told him, 'You didn't forget how to drive a racecar. Michael Waltrip has not forgotten how to drive a racecar.'�

--Cup driver Kyle Petty on Michael Waltrip, who crashed during the qualifying stage and had to forego of his 11th consecutive Nextel Cup race, after Petty won his best career finish Sunday in the Coca-Cola 600 at the Lowe's Motor Speedway.

Talking Points

�NASCAR�s move to run the Car of Tomorrow in all of the races in 2008 is great for the teams, drivers, sponsors, race tracks and, most importantly, the fans. In the first five races the Car of Tomorrow has run, the average margin of victory has been a half second, more than 19 cars have been on the lead lap and 40 percent of the races have been won by a last-lap pass. By any standard, that�s great, breath-taking racing. And the car is still new. Can you imagine how much better the racing will be after they work the bugs out? NASCAR deserves high marks for the success of the Car of Tomorrow. I can�t wait to see it on the high banks at �The Great American Speedway� in front of one of our Texas-sized crowds.�

--Texas Motor Speedway president Eddie Gossage, speaking before reporters after the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing announced on Tuesday that the racing body will fully implement the Car of Tomorrow races at the 2008 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series, including stops at Texas Motor Speedway for the Samsung 500 and Dickies 500.

Talking Points

�The Pass in the Grass�

--The NASCAR art (above) by Gary Hill, featuring the classic move Dale Earnhardt pulled off at the 1987 All-Star. The Pass in the Grass was voted first in the all-time best seen in the races.

Talking Points

�At 32 years of age, the same as my father was when he made his final and most important career decision, it is time for me to compete on a consistent basis and contend for championships now. It is time for me to continue his legacy, and the only way I know I can [is] by taking the life lessons that he taught me: Be a man, race hard and contend championships. Since that is what I plan to do, I feel strongly that I would have my father�s blessing.�

--Two-time Busch Series champion Dale Earnhardt Jr., son of racing legend Earnhardt Sr., announcing his decision Thursday to leave his father's DEI race team. Junior has raced for DEI in his entire career, and opted out after months of failed negotiations with DEI officials and disputes with stepmom and team owner Teresa Earnhardt.

Talking points

"It�s just amazing that on a 2.66-mile track, with the wind and everything else that comes into play, that a Ford and a Chevy can run that close. It�s pretty wild."

--M&M's Ford driver David Gilliland, 31, said of Saturday's Aaron 499 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup race at the Talladega Superspeedway, after he ran neck and neck with eventual winner Jeff Gordon. Both Gilliland and Gordon ticked in a race high of 192.069 mph. The Bud Pole was awarded to Gordon on account of his first-place standing in the points. It was Gordon's fourth pole position this season.

Talking points

"I hit the wall at both ends and I was sliding all over the place... There was nothing else I could do. I hate it when you get beat by a hundredth of a second or something like that. There was no question about this one."

--Fenway Roush Racing's top driver Jamie McMurray, speaking to reporters after losing pole position Thursday to Jeff Gordon at the Phoenix International Raceway.

Talking points

"Sort of like, implants for a track,"

--Nascar driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., speaking to reporters about the $50,000 repair job of a 200-foot section of the Texas Motor Speedway.