Q:
What do you make of the current balance between East Coast and West Coast drivers in the Cup Series?
JB:
Anybody who thinks you have to come from the south-east to be a NASCAR driver is crazy. There are great drivers all over the country, all over the world. It is not something in the water in North Carolina or Virginia that makes you a great race car driver. I think you are born with it and I think you nurture it, you grow it and you make yourself better. I think the people that are here have natural ability, but the people who are able to stay here are the people who have harnessed it and tried to improve it and that doesn't matter what part of the country you are from. You have to be in a part of the country that allows you the opportunity to be exposed to it and be able to compete. Your level of success has nothing to do with where you are from.
Q:
What's the status on your crewman injured at Daytona?
JB:
It is really disappointing, [jackman] Josh [Yost] worked his butt off to get back, He has a long road to get back, it wasn't one of those overnight things, and he really had to work hard to get back. Then to blow out his other [ankle], is hugely disappointing. He is pretty down about it, but he has been through it before so he is smart about it. He'll fight it and he'll do everything he can to get back.
Q:
What is Mark martin's legacy to the sport?
JB:
For me it, is about a level of professionalism and respect he has brought to the sport. He has been a mentor, not so much in what he says but what he does, to a lot of young drivers. He is respectful, drives with respect, race hard, race smart, race people the way you would like to be raced. And he brings a level of intensity. I worked with Mark for a long time and, every race he goes to, he is really wound up about it and agonises when things don't go well. He is a true racer, there is no question about it. He is trying his best to do it the right way, there are not many people if you asked if Mark ever made them mad, there would not be many in the garage who said he had.
Q:
Are you looking forward to the upcoming Car of Tomorrow test?
JB:
Every team needs to evaluate where they are compared to the competition. You can test all you want by yourself, but until you get out in competition, you really don't know what you have going on. An evaluation of where you are on your speed compared to other people is really what we are going to take out of it. There are certainly some issues with the CoT that are going to come up - reliability and things we don't know about - but the main thing we want to take out of there is we want to be able to see where we are from a speed standpoint compared to our competition. We can't win races if we aren't faster than they are. We can't compete at a high level unless we can't at least run with them. So we have to go there to evaluate where we are, see what we need to improve and not worry about what we have done well. Worry about what we haven't done well and try to improve on it.
Q:
What percentage impact does a driver have on the success of a team?
JB:
That is a tough question and the way I answer that when I am asked is [to say] a great driver can't take a bad team and be successful. And, by the way, a great team can't take a bad driver and be successful either. It takes everything. The driver is obviously very important in the level of success a team has in other ways than just mashing the gas. But there are a lot of things that influence whether he can be successful or not. There is no room to just point to the team and say you need to do better stuff, nor is there room to point to you and say you just have to do a better job. It is all about them working together and finding out what that driver needs to do this job. Finding the right combination for that guy is critical and what works doesn't necessarily mean it will work for someone else.
Q:
What about safety in NASCAR? Is it good enough or can it be improved?
![Jeff Burton. [Pic Credit IMS Media/Chris Jones]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/252491.jpg)
