From the Mississippi Mudflap to the Kentucky Waterfall, to the Tennessee Top Hat and the North Carolina Neckwarmer, nothing says freedom like a mullet blowing unfettered in the wind and I can't wait to restore it to its rightful place in the NASCAR garage.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
I grew up wearing free racing T-shirts.
There are things I like about fancy Southern food and there are things I really love from just down-home Southern cooking. So mixing those two together would probably be right up my alley.
Anything that we can do to bring the fans closer to what we do each and every day I think is a good thing, and if it wasn't for fans, we wouldn't be able to be out here doing this sport.
I got baptized in June of 2001, I think. But I always went to church camp, went to church every Sunday, went to Bible class.
In NASCAR, we pride ourselves on being accessible to fans.
All of our fans are passionate and each driver that they want to cheer for is really respectful of all the other drivers - it's a really cool sport to be around.
I think to downplay a woman's role in sports is not a good idea because a lot of women love sport, whether they watch it, report on it or work on a team.
I think our fans and NFL fans are very passionate about our country and our men and women who fight for our freedom, our freedom to free speech and free protest for that matter.
It's funny, I can talk to Dad about races we ran, or I can remember some races he's raced when I was there working on the car. I'm sure other athletes are the same, where they can remember what pitches they threw or what plays they ran.
Oh, I don't really celebrate too much.
Elliott Sadler races really clean.
I really don't get nervous too much.
I'm a typical dirt racer that wants to go try different lines. When the line goes to the top of the racetrack, I feel like I'm a little bit better.
Even though I grew up racing short races and sprint car races, I really enjoy the long races. And if your car is good, you really enjoy it.
Honestly, I feel nobody can drive a race car better than I can. Driving-wise, I feel like I can out-drive anybody.
For me, I feel like I've always driven the same, it's just depending on what situation that I'm in, depending on what I want to do. So, I'll always race hard.
To win on a mile-and-a-half is big for me.
My family has sacrificed a lot.
I am out there to put on the best performance I can for my sponsors and my team and my fans.
I am out there to do my job.
I feel like what I have learned in my career in racing is that anytime you are happy off the race track it tends to show up on the race track.
It's nice to kind of feel wanted.
I definitely got things to prove and prove people wrong.
Yeah, that's been my style to drive as hard as I can.
I feel like I've definitely let some good finishes go because of pushing too hard at the wrong time.
It's about making sure we're there at the end of races and we get the best possible finish we can. What comes with that is being able to have realistic expectations and not trying to do something more than what the car is capable of, so it's a team effort for sure.
I do my own deal and I don't really care what anybody thinks.
I try to respect everybody around me, especially at speedway races.
You don't want to put somebody in a bad spot because you'll put everybody in a bad spot.
In 2011, 2012, running for those championships, every point matters.
You can have a great car in the Sprint Cup Series and run 15th with it. It's super competitive. These guys are just really good.
I put a lot of pressure on myself to perform, go out and win races.
I like to drive hard, and obviously when you get to this level, especially running for points - you've got to make sure when you have a car that can run 10th, that you run 10th with it. You can't sit here and try to make it go from 10th to a win and end up 30th. That's just something I had to figure out.
I didn't really ever race for points growing up, and so I had to learn that.
I've enjoyed coming to Talladega since 2008 when I was in the ARCA Series.
As stressful as it can be trying to plan out your moves and think about the race, I think I do better when I'm hanging out with friends and family and just jump in the race track and go for it.
Anytime you can start the season off with a new organization and see all the work they put in - guys in the shop that I don't even know are working late nights.
On the driving side, I think I grew in the Nationwide Series to a point, but then coming over to the Cup side, I kind of had to grow in different ways as far as the work ethic that I had to put back into talking to my engineers a lot more and talking to my crew chief a lot more.
It kind of came a little bit easier in Nationwide once I figured out what I needed to do driving-wise.
Growing up, I was always a big fan of Jeff Gordon.
Oh man... growing up, I played everything. I played football, basketball, baseball.
Being under the lights makes any race track that much better.
The cars are always changing. The competition's cars are always getting better. Sometimes when you try to make them better, you make them worse.
I've never really been worried about being in the spotlight. I could care less.
Let's be honest: Parents like me.
It's tough being a racecar driver and being a Christian and going to church.
My granddad was an elder at our church, so it was a big part of my life growing up.
My dad raced so we were out at the racetrack late at night on Saturdays, getting up early on Sunday morning going to church.
It's a dangerous sport - we all know that going in.
