People have opinions about everything and especially when you get into that world of animal rights or tree rights or whatever rights, they all have an opinion.

Being a girl, my parents could have discouraged me from racing ... but my family has such a passion and so much confidence in me, and that goes a long way.

I feel like with Indy cars, you can just show up - if you are equipped to build and make a nice car, then you could be competitive. But in NASCAR I don't see that even being possible for someone to just show up with a car. There's too much evolution of the tricks and bells and whistles and all the things it takes to be fast in stock-car racing that you wouldn't know.

I know what it takes to be fast and I feel like every year I learn valuable lessons about how to be better the next time.

Being nervous isn't always the worst thing for me.

Every single aspect of myself, let me put it this way, it's all about trying to incorporate. It's about trying to weave the web and keep everyone happy. And of course, it's about giving value to those people so they continue to sponsor me.

I've been fortunate Daytona is a place I've run better than anywhere else, and that's a big race. Maybe it has to do with attention and pressure and the drive to do well when a lot of people are watching.