I can assure you that most of the drivers have a lot of things they'd like to do, but racing keeps them from doing that. We're so restricted because of our long season. We have a one-and-a-half-month period where we get to do what we want - that's shorter than any other sport. It makes it tough, for sure.

It's an amazing confidence boost when you have that swagger of knowing when you pull on the racetrack, all eyes are on you because they know you're the best.

Definitely the road to the championship gets much easier when those type of guys are eliminated early.

It's just all about opportunities, knocking doors down and see who answers.

The Showdown is a great way to bring attention to these historic Virginia tracks where many NASCAR drivers cut their teeth in stock car racing, including myself. Tracks like South Boston and Langley are the heart of the sport and draw a great crowd to our Showdown events.

It makes me very hard on myself when I don't achieve the goals I want to achieve. But I feel like that's what makes me as good as I am at times - I push myself to be better, constantly.

I can spend the hour before the race cracking up with all my friends and joking around, but as soon as I get around that race car, I completely change. The focus changes. The competitive juices get flowing.