“Carl knew things that he could probably look back at in the year and think 'maybe I should do this better'. There's a lot of things I could have done better. I've never been in a situation where I've raced for points. My rookie year as a crew chief I was fortunate enough to be with Danny O'Quinn; we won Rookie of the Year, but racing for points in-and-out against tough competition was new to me.

“There's certain things throughout the year that I look back on and think, man, we could have got five bonus points there or, man, I shouldn't have been that aggressive with that. I think the things I've learned over the last six or seven months on the #60 car have prepared me for championship battle.”