Steve Letarte Quotations

We've spent the last three months getting ready for this race. If one more hour makes that much of a difference, then shame on us.

I am sure it affects people, but that was not our goal. I'm sure there's people that are bothered by it, but we've been preparing for three months. We attacked it like (Friday) was going to be our final practice and he had a good run. He came in and said he had a lot of speed and he knows best.

I look forward to it. I'm a racer, I've raced my whole life. When I lay down at night, there's nothing I want more than to know it was on you. I welcome the pressure. That's what I want to do.

I think it's a group effort. I hope that will show on Sunday.

Our goal is winning that championship. I'm here to support them in any way I can.

My responsibility is to all of the people who have invested money and time into this team. Jeff is a phenomenal talent and there's so much support here at Hendrick that I don't feel it's only on my shoulders. I think in the last 10 races of 2005 we showed glimmers of where we need to be. If we didn't set a goal to win a championship I'd be disappointed.

That's the most comforting thing in the world. He's the best I've ever seen. You know with Jeff Gordon what you need to fix. That's what we're all going to work for. When we do fix it, it's going to be a great thing, hopefully.

You know with Jeff Gordon what you need to fix. You don't know how to fix it that's what we're all going to work for but when you do fix it, it'll be a great thing.

We concentrated specifically on Richmond for only about 40 percent of that test. The remaining 60 percent was spent on 'generic' testing where we were gathering data that relates to Phoenix, New Hampshire International Speedway or other tracks.

We just haven't hit on something that Jeff can hustle and drive and feel comfortable with. This track is so fast, and so rough in the middle of both corners, that if you don't have the confidence to really put the gas pedal down, you really can't get anywhere.

There's no way to practice. You're either doing it, or you're not.

As far as pumping up the team, we reorganized a little personnel on the team. I'm excited with the changes we've made.

I'm just going to be me. I've learned from a bunch of great people and now I'm just going to be me.

In my opinion, the way to win a championship, the way to be successful, is you've got to be really good in every area, not great in any specific one. That's kind of what we're going to work on.

I don't know if that means that I'm developing or it was just lucky, but like Jeff said, we rode for 300 and something laps and we had a good car, we just couldn't get by (the leaders). I heard Jeff make a comment that he thinks our car would be really good in clean air, so we just stayed out.

All I did was work. And it's paying off for me now.