Notes and Quotes from Martin Truex Jr.

At Chicagoland Speedway Friday

Dale Earnhardt Jr. has said that it matters a lot to him who replaces him at DEI. What sort of teammate do you want?

“I’d like to see someone that’s like him, that’s easy to work with, fun to be with, but is really good at what he does. It could be a great teammate to share information with. One of the best things we’ve go going on for us right now is our teamwork, through all the teams. We’ve got a great system going and it took us some time to get that going, it took a while for Jr. and I to get on the same page and its taken Paul (Menard) a little time to get on that page with us. So it will be a bit of a setback for us, I think. You know, someone who wants the whole company to be a success not just himself. That’s the way we’ve always done things. One of Jr.’s strong suits is he’s a team player he’s not out there just for himself."

With Jr. moving on you’re probably going to be the top driver at DEI. How does that feel? Does it bring a lot of pressure?

“It doesn’t really change that much. The only pressures I feel are the ones I put on myself to perform. They’re really the only ones that matter to me. Everybody’s got expectations – I’ve probably got higher ones for myself. I try to do the best job I can do. I love my team; we’re having a lot of fun right now and real excited about the future with Bass Pro coming back and all the stuff that we’re working on. It’s looking really good for us now..we’re doing really well; the racecars seem to be good everywhere we go. It just goes back to me and Bono getting experience and building up our notebook and it seems that every time we go back somewhere we know more and we’re smarter. Rick Schenk