Alex Barron Quotations

It's fair to say there is a lot of uncertainty right now.

I just think the dates didn't work out for the IRL coming here in the middle of the season like that, ... The schedule didn't play out properly for the series. I'm glad to see they want to come back here. It's a great event, and we always have a lot of people who come out and watch the race. It's getting stronger every year.

When you go into a new market, you have to have either the right people, who are knowledgeable about the region, or the right relationships. You either hire those people or acquire a local builder. And you have to have sufficient scale. Otherwise, the risk is not worth it.

I've heard some of that talk going around but nothing has progressed for doing something next year. With Sam leaving, it's the start of the 'Silly Season' and there will be a domino effect. We haven't talked yet so there is nothing going on but I expect something to happen in the next few weeks.

That's very special, and he's been a real integral part of our offense the past three years. To work with him one last time and working with the other All-Stars in the state is an honor.

It was a long day for us. Nothing seemed to click once the race started. I'm not quite sure what it was, but we just need to go back and look at the data to see why we weren't quick, especially at the beginning of our stints. I was sliding around quite a bit, and had a couple of long slides on restarts. We had a bit of a problem early making a wing adjustment during our first stop, and I spun late. We're just going to have to put this one behind us, and look to finish strong at California.

The biggest thing was traveling around with the team. It was a little different than this level. It was more family-oriented. It was a smaller group, and everybody was always looking out for one another. At this level, it doesn't happen that way. There are so many people and so much turnover, it's different than a steppingstone like that. That's what made that step so genuine; not only were we winning, but we were all really tight together.

Chicago is a lot like the other 1.5 mile ovals that we've run this year. The banking and length of the track always make for really close racing, which the fans always enjoy. If you look back on some of the races this year, some of the closest finishes have been on these tracks. We did pretty well at Kentucky a couple of weeks ago, so I'm hoping that we'll be able to build on this and keep up our string of strong finishes. I always enjoy going to Chicago because there's always a lot to do away from the track. From having great dinners to shopping, I always have a good time there.

They've kind of turned this series into what the IRL didn't want to happen,

I don't understand having no races in the Pacific Southwest. The region has always been pretty good to us. Hopefully, it's a one-year thing.