You can say I had a gorilla on my back because it was definitely bigger than a monkey.

I told the guys it was like getting a monkey, and then I said a gorilla off our back.

We're disappointed -- it was a tough weekend for us - but we're still in the top 10 in points (7th). We'll just go on to Atlanta and start over. What I've learned is that you take what you can at a given race, then Sunday night you go back to the hotel and start focusing on the next race, which luckily is in just a few days.

Las Vegas is kind of like a home track for me because it's near California, where I live. Although we haven't won there yet, I always look forward to going back to Las Vegas. It's a newer race on the circuit (NHRA first competed at The Strip in 2000, the year the track was completed), and it's a first class facility. I always try to encourage fans and our sponsors to go there -- I like showing it off.

This definitely gets the monkey off our backs.

The monkey had grown into a full-fledged gorilla. This was our goal all along, and we played with a desire to win.