We don't like how this season has been going so far. A lot of things have happened that we can't change, but now we're focused on the things we can control.
Talladega was a little disappointing, but at least we didn't wreck – which is a plus. We're trying to get some momentum back and so we can start making up some of these points we've given away early in the season.
The NHL playoffs have been a good distraction lately. Most people who know me are aware I'm a huge hockey fan, and I've been glued to the playoffs for the most part. I spent a big part of the off-week watching all the games, and especially with all the Game 7s going on tonight and tomorrow, I'm pretty stoked about that. All the games have been what you'd expect from playoff hockey – and then some.
Hockey is just so fast-paced. These guys play 82 games a year, and the physical aspect of what their bodies go through is amazing. It's the equivalent of a football player, except they play 82 times a year. On top of that, everyone gets a significant amount of playing time – from the first line to the fourth line. It's just a total team sport. You've got some players that are really stars, but everyone has got to be good.
I love the Carolina Hurricanes, but since they're not in it, I just want to see good hockey. I'm sure I'll pick a side when they get to the Stanley Cup Finals – maybe because of a player I have on my fantasy team or something. But for now, I'm just enjoying the games.
Since I was focused on racing growing up, I've never actually played hockey. I skated a few times, but that's about it. I think I started go get hooked on it when I had a hockey video game on Super Nintendo – I was probably 6 or 7 years old at the time. I'd play the video game and then started watching the games on TV, too. Usually, the Buffalo Sabres or New York Rangers were on TV back home. One thing led to another, and when we moved down here to North Carolina, the Hurricanes moved down here, too.
One other person who knows her stuff when it comes to hockey is Ryan Newman's wife, Krissie. She's really into hockey; not just a casual fan, like, 'Oh, ha ha, hockey is fun.' She really understands it and knows what's going on. I don't get into any conversations with her about it, but I just know she's pretty knowledgeable.
Though I love hockey, racing is my life for the most part. On the track, we've closed up some of the gap that we'd gotten there in points, and some of these cars are within our sights. Now we need to start passing them. There's a lot of cars directly ahead of us in points where I'm like, 'Man, we out-run them every week!' We just need to start finishing better.
I don't know that we can make the Chase, but we can get back in the top 20. That needs to be the immediate goal, whether it's five, 10 or 20 races from now. And then the new "Wild Card" can come into play.
We're absolutely looking at the Wild Card as our way into the Chase, to be perfectly blunt and honest with you. We started talking about it two weeks ago. If it comes down to the end of a race and it looks like we're 10 laps short on fuel, we're in a position where we can say, 'Hey, let's go for it.' A guy who is 15th in points and leading the race might not be able to do that – he'd have to say, 'I'll take a 10th-place finish and pit right now.'
We can basically gamble on everything and see how it works out for us. If you sneak a win somewhere – or even if you just get a win normally – then suddenly you can use the Wild Card aspect and say, 'Well, now we've just got to do whatever we can to get another one.'
We're still leading the Sprint Cup Series in average starting position, but our qualifying success has been a double-edged sword. There's definitely a sense of pride when you qualify good, but we could sit on the pole for every race this year and if you don't get the results at the end of it, it doesn't matter.
The one thing our good qualifying efforts tell us is we've gotten good speed out of the race cars. You can say that for most of the races. But ultimately, you need to have the stats on the finishes – that's when they pay the money and the points. And that's what we need to focus on now.