On paper it looked like it was going to be a pretty tight dual. Merrill beat us up through the middle and that was the key.

It showed us some of the things we need to work on. And I think it's motivation.

There's nothing more gratifying to our seniors who have been workhorses for us the last four years. For some of our younger guys, it's showing them the way and hopefully giving them experience for what could be a lot of successful years to come - at least that's the goal.

They are strong up the middle. They had a good run of guys there.

Sponsoring a race helps us foster corporate alliances with other entities and it gives us a pretty significant amount of plugs during NASCAR week. It's a big deal for our local Sam's Town customers and it allows us to do something for them. It also provides us an opportunity to do something for customers from our other properties as well.

We're feeling pretty good. I don't want to hype us because people usually play better without pressure. But there is a lot of pressure with the amount of athletes we have on the team.