Tony Raines Quotations

With what they're going through and what they have at their disposal, it's going to get us pointed in the right direction sooner than later.

We ran some good laps on it. We were not able to get back to it. We haven't solved the puzzle.

Obviously, you want to run well here. It's a good pressure.

My finishing position in the points is secondary this season. Finishing in the top five in the owner's points is the most important thing. Wherever I finish in the points is just a bonus.

I don't know anything officially, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed. It's an opportunity of a lifetime. I think these are the right guys at the right time for me.

I don't know what Jamie was thinking or doing. He was driving kind of aggressive all night. I think I had less to do with affecting the outcome of the Chase than he did. We'd been struggling with the brakes, and he checked up in front of me. I had no intention of wrecking him.

I don't know what Jamie was thinking or doing,

I have a few jitters about doing well here in Texas. We wanted to qualify well, but if we race well on Sunday all will be forgotten.

Fridays and Saturdays haven't been too bad, but Sundays have been real tough. I've been here every step of the way. I'm getting ready, I just haven't been sweating on Sundays so I am anxious to get going.

Knowing how we ran early in the race and how I think we could have run, I was disappointed. But at the same time, I went there knowing I was going to race for a finish. I didn't race anybody.

Our goal is to win races, be fast, and try to win that owners championship,

Sure it's disappointing not to be running the full schedule, especially after the momentum we built at the end of last year. But you can't be ruled by emotion, or you'll find yourself out of this sport in a hurry.

I was there at all the races. Terry just kind of was, you know, like a father figure there. He just kind of got everybody kind of going the right direction. It was a slow building of momentum.

That was our main goal. You've got to finish first, and we need to get in the habit of that before we can start racing well and getting up in the points. It's not the prettiest 21st, but we'll take it and build on it to Texas.

You kind of get a read on your car. We'll keep working on it.

Without a doubt, this is the best opportunity of my career. I kept pinching myself to make sure it was real.

We've got our eye on that 21 car in the owners points. It will be hard to beat those guys because Kevin has had some strong runs and Childress has dominated the series over the last several years,

Troy and Roger aren't getting into this just to be there. They are successful people who are doing this to be competitive and win.

We're not throwing in the towel. I wish we were running a little better.

To me, it's like a ramp up. This is the high point. Get past Texas and as a team and as a driver, we'll be able to develop on racing and developing a team. ... Just coming out of the gate, get through Texas in good shape and the rest, I think, would be a breeze.

It was a tough day. We started off OK, but it seemed like we could never get the car to handle the way we wanted it to. I probably drove more defensively then I should have, but that's what I wanted to do this first race run the race and finish.

It's definitely the best opportunity that I've had. This is a huge leap forward. When I walk in, I see more than four guys working on a race car. I see more than two race cars. I see equipment everywhere. I see engineers.

Once I get past Texas, the rest of the season will be a breeze. Everybody's pretty excited to race here, but there's definitely some anxiety, some added pressure to succeed. You've got the fans, the sponsors, they all want a good show.

If you give up a lot early, it is really the last 50 laps where you can gain a lot of spots if your car is in one piece. There are going to be incidents throughout the race, and you just have to stay focused on saving your equipment.

I'd really like to run top 10, and I think maybe we can do that. It's just how soon, I don't know. I think if everything lines up right, you could possibly win a race.