He needs to get to Triple-A sometime this year. He's been banging around enough in the minor leagues.

They're itching to run against somebody besides their other teammates. We've been practicing since the middle of February. We've just gotten one official meet in, so they're definitely anxious to get some live competition.

There is no driver in the sport who carries the size of stick that Dale Earnhardt carried. Every sport needs its heroes and we have our heroes here, but there are heroes who are very much different than Dale Earnhardt. There just won't be another one.

I think he realizes he needs to be more aggressive. He didn't have to look for his shot as much last year because we had ( Kennedy ) Winston and ( Earnest ) Shelton . The team needs him to be a scorer and he's done that.

Texas' own view is this approach is meeting their needs.

What the game desperately needs is a sensible discussion about the way ahead.