I thought about going with Newman, but Elliott Sadler (who finished fourth) gave me such a good shove, I had to stay with him.

I thought about going with Newman there for a little bit. As soon as he pulled out, (Elliott Sadler) had a big run on me. I had to stay at the bottom.

I wanted to go with Newman as soon as he pulled out, but the 38 [Sadler] had a big run on me and I had to block the bottom. It's just tough to figure out who to go with at the end, but congratulations to Jimmie. He is a big friend of mine.

You can ask Jimmie that, I'm just happy I finished second.

The best thing I've done when Tony was doing his interviews, I gave him a hug and put the watch up to his face. He's a good sport. He's a guy that's going to get one of these one day. Tony can get mad sometimes, so I gave him a little bit [of ribbing] and walked off.

I had a really good feeling going into the Daytona 500. Throughout the whole week leading up to the 500, we just kept making more and more progress. We kept making the car better and better.