NASCAR Winston Cup Teleconference Moments

Casey Mears, driver No. 41 Target Dodge Intrepid

Photo courtesy of NASCAR Winston Cup Series.

“It's not been one big thing, but tons of little things that I've learned over the year.”

A Zoomster question from Dwight:

“The fact that I just came over to stock car racing not too long ago, I came into this year with such an open mind, just expecting anything really. Nothing really stands out in my mind where I think, 'Man, that one thing right here has just been huge.' Or, 'I can't believe this happened.' There's nothing that's been really big like that. I just came in here knowing this was going to be a totally different deal. In some ways I knew what to expect, but in a lot of ways I had no idea what to expect. Having that in my mind going in, nothing really jumps out where I've said, 'Man, that really, really surprises me.' There's just been several things throughout the year - maybe a thousand little things - that I've learned like how the car responds to change, how the tracks respond to change, what tires wear at different tracks.”

“There's just been so many different things. Jimmy (crew chief, Elledge) has been really good this year, explaining a lot of things to me and helping me learn. I've had my teammates to lean on this year to learn a lot of things. Then there have been a lot of experiences out on the racetrack that have been little things that have helped. I've just had thousands of little things, nothing earth shattering or huge, that I've had to consume and learn. That's probably made the biggest difference in my learning curve this year. It's not been one big thing, but tons of little things that I