NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race Announcement

Topics:  Sprint All-Star Race

Steve Byrnes
Steve Gaffney
Ryan Newman
Robin Pemberton
Marcus Smith
March 25, 2009

STEVE BYRNES: Hi, everybody. I'm Steve Byrnes. Thanks for being here as we celebrate the 25th running of the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race. Speed, NASCAR, Lowe's Motor Speedway, and Sprint gathered here to talk about some exciting information about this big race.
I was driving on the way up here, and I was here in 1985 for the very first All-Star Race. To give you an idea of how big of an event - and I say event because it's more than a race - in '85, the race didn't even have its own weekend. I believe it was run right after what was then the Busch Series race that afternoon. Jay Howard says yes, so that's an affirmative.
It has been hosted every year but one here at the Lowe's Motor Speedway, and they've been tremendous hosts and have done a wonderful job in promoting the event. Again, from 1985, I remember it was a warm afternoon. To what it has become now is nothing short of spectacular.
The other big thing about this race is it was created for the fans. I can remember back in '85 interviewing drivers, Elliott, Darrell Waltrip, about the All-Star Race. They said the same thing, two things: It's about time we had our own All-Star event. The other thing was that it was, in fact, for the fans. It's not a points race. I would argue that by comparison to other professional sports, this is one event that really is significant, in that the effort is always there.
Another thing about this race, there are always memories made, whether it's the Pass in the Grass or the Tide Slide, fans certainly, whether they're here or watching at home, remember this race. There have been some great moments. Let's take a look back at just a few of the exciting moments from this All-Star event.
(Showing video.)
I happened to be at Dale Earnhardt's farm a couple nights after the first night race here in '92, which was billed as One Hot Night. I said, Dale, when you dropped to the bottom on the back stretch and then going into 3, I said, There was no way you were going to come out the other end.
He said, Byrnes, it pays more to win. I think that kind of sums up the All-Star Race and the attitude that the drivers have.
I want to acknowledge Hunter Nickell here. He's the president of Speed, and it's our privilege to be the broadcasters for this event. How many days did we figure out, Hunter, 54, 53?
HUNTER NICKELL: 53, 54...
STEVE BYRNES: And counting, all right. But it is a privilege to be one of the broadcasters here for this event.
Now I'd like to introduce Marcus Smith, the president and general manager of the Lowe's Motor Speedway. As I said, it's been here every year except for one, and I know Marcus wants to talk about the significance of the 25th anniversary of hosting this event.
MARCUS SMITH: Well, thanks, Steve. You know, I can't think of anything that gets me more pumped up than having the All-Star Race back here at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Twenty-five years of the memories that we just saw there. It just -- I'm sure all the long-time fans in here that saw the Tide Slide, that was the moment - we were talking at lunch - that was the moment that Rusty Wallace became the most-hated man in NASCAR, and Darrell Waltrip got all the cheers. Before then, Darrell had all the boos.
And then to see that One Hot Night when the man to my left had a front row seat for his car to spin out Dale Earnhardt, and then to get shuffled by and have Davey win going sideways across the start/finish line for that One Hot Night.
We have really, really plowed new ground with this All-Star Race. It's the first big track race that was lit up for racing. It's the time when thousands, if not millions, of fans became a race fan because of this All-Star Race.
It is "the" race of races. We have a special event every weekend in NASCAR, but this is a champion of champions event, and it's all to win. The guys know that. I am really excited to have everybody back for another year, the 25th year of the All-Star Race, and to have Speed as a great partner and this and be their anchor broadcast of the year, and obviously to have Sprint be the sponsor of it again, all they do to support the event is tremendous.
We'll have the biggest crowd. We'll have a larger crowd than all the other All-Star events combined here at Lowe's Motor Speedway coming up in May.
So look forward to seeing you all there. I'm going to turn it over to the guy who was probably making the calls with Kyle Petty that One Hot Night. Whatever happened next, I'm not sure if we'll ever know.
ROBIN PEMBERTON: No, no, it was a great night. I mean, we're getting off track here. We've got all our notes and everything like that to talk about, but the All-Star event is a great event. Looking back as a group, we've been doing some planning over the last six or eight months. We realized that a lot of those -- a lot of those nights come down, there was a common denominator, and it's the 10-Lap Shootout.
Before we get to the details and the breakdown of how that whole All-Star week is going to go, I just want to let everybody know we're bringing back the 10-Lap Shootout. We think it's going to be exciting. When you look at the Rusty Wallace and Darrell Waltrip night, you look at the Pass in the Grass, or as the Elliotts called it, the Block in the Grass for Earnhardt.
You look at the night with Davey and Kyle and Dale, Sr., I mean, those had a common thread through them, and it's that 10-Lap Shootout. We think it's exciting. We're looking forward to it. That night in '92 was special to me. It was a great night. What makes it special, it is the All-Star event. There's no points.
Yeah, you might win the occasional million dollars at the end of the thing and all that stuff, but it's about getting trophies, too. When everybody thought there was a big brawl going to break out after the wreck with Earnhardt and Kyle and all that, everybody went running to the post race at the fuel pumps thinking that the fist fight was going to break out, and it's Chocolate Myers and all those guys, and Will Lynn and all my crew and my guys, and we're all high-fiving that we put on a great show.
Everybody was waiting for a fight to break out, and we're happy to be a part of it, knowing that we were a part of history. That's what that event is all about. I can think of so many things. The night that we threw the green and it rained going into Turn 1. Well, it's an All-Star Race. We let guys break out their cars, spare cars, change motors while we're drying the track.
It's a special night and we do special things. We put on a great race for the fans, and it's something we all remember for years to come. It's hard to think that that '92 was so long ago, but it was special in my heart. You know, I know Ryan's got special memories of all that. Everybody does that participates in it.
That being said, I think we'll go off and we'll unveil this thing and we'll go down the -- we'll run down what the events are going to be for the week. Okay?
STEVE BYRNES: While you guys unveil the new grid, I want to add to it. In '92, Davey Allison's car went to Victory Lane, but Davey wasn't with it. He had a concussion and he was in the hospital. As Robin said, he was crew chief on the 42 car back then with Kyle Petty. Go ahead, Robin.
ROBIN PEMBERTON: Which way do you want to go? Hey, when we were teammates we'd always go opposite directions, too. (Laughter.)
RYAN NEWMAN: That was for different reasons.
ROBIN PEMBERTON: All right. As can you see, we kick it off early in the week. Everybody knows that the Pit Crew Challenge has taken on some meaning. All of the pit roads will be -- the pit road will be assigned according to how they finish the pit crew challenge.
We've got qualifying on Friday night. That will be a great night. The Showdown on Saturday with the first- or second-place car out of the Showdown going into the All-Star.
We'll have a fan vote, and I think we kick that off next month. Sometime we start the fan vote. You'll get to that, I'm sure.
When we get to the All-Star Race, the breakdown is a little different this year. It will be a 50-lap first segment with a mandatory green flag pit stop at lap 25 for four tires.
At the end of that 50-lap segment, there will be a caution. There will be an optional pit stop. We'll have a 20-lap segment, and another caution will be displayed for another optional pit stop.
And then after that second 20-lap segment, we'll have a 10-minute break, which will allow the teams to make the changes to the chassis for that final 10-Lap Shootout. The 10-lap Shootout is gonna pay a million bucks, right?
RYAN NEWMAN: I was reading the bottom line down here, and it says $1 million to win. Everything else doesn't matter.
ROBIN PEMBERTON: Yes. It doesn't matter. Now that we're lined up on. (Laughter.)
RYAN NEWMAN: I just wanted to say it's exciting. Like you said, it's a race for the fans. It's a Saturday night race. Sparks are flying. It's just usually the atmosphere is entirely different at that race, that event, than it is most all of the races throughout the entire season.
Just to get the fans involved with what's going on there with what Sprint is doing is really neat. Can I say that? Sprint is going to stream the actual drivers' meeting to all Sprint customers via their cellphones. That's a pretty neat deal. It's the first time it's ever been done.
Obviously Robin knows a lot of things get said in the drivers' meeting that most people don't even know about it. So to be able to include the fans on that is really neat, as well. The whole event itself is just an absolute blast, and I was fortunate enough for me -- we watched all the things -- I didn't make the highlight reel this time, but to know that was my first Cup win, to think back to what Michael Waltrip, what he's going through to make his first points win -- but to know that was his first Cup win is what we called it, there's a lot of great things that happen in this event.
Again, it's all for the fans. We've done a pretty good job of putting on...
ROBIN PEMBERTON: Yeah, that first year you had the race won, right? You blew the motor up. If we knew then what we were supposed to know, we could have changed and been ready for the All-Star at the end of the night.
RYAN NEWMAN: Right, right. I think we still finished second coasting around.
ROBIN PEMBERTON: Yeah, you did. You did a great job.
RYAN NEWMAN: But just a lot of great things happen. It's also an opportunity for the other drivers that are in the Showdown to be able to get themselves in a position to be part of the All-Star Race, which is huge and can make a driver's career just in one given night.
So a lot of great things happen. The bottom line is it's for the fans, and we'll throw some sparks for them.
ROBIN PEMBERTON: I think don't lose sight of the fact how important the fan vote is. I don't think we really, really put the emphasis on that, until last year when you saw Kasey Kahne do what he did. I think that's great, Kasey making it in the All-Star from the fan vote and taking home all the bucks. I think that's cool.
The Open, The Showdown, I mean, there's a lot of great competitors in that. That's going to be probably one of the better races of the night, too, early on, so look forward to it.
RYAN NEWMAN: We used the Showdown to figure out what we need to do for the race itself. It kind of sets the atmosphere of what to expect throughout the entire night's segments and races and everything.
We all have our eyes on the racetrack the entire night.
STEVE BYRNES: You know, Ryan talked about it being a Saturday night shootout. Two things about that: That's how all the drivers started. Takes them back to their roots. Also, just to see the fans in the grandstand here at the Lowe's Motor Speedway taking pictures, all the flashbulbs going off for the first few laps is pretty amazing.
Now to talk a little bit more from Sprint's point of view, please welcome Steve Gaffney, director of sports and entertainment marketing from Sprint.
STEVE GAFFNEY: Thanks for coming out. As I was listening to Robin and Marcus and Ryan talk, there is a huge amount of enthusiasm around the Sprint All-Star race. You can imagine as the title sponsor, that makes us excited, too. I want to say a special thanks to all our partners, from LMS, from NASCAR, from Speed.
The amount of work that goes into, you know, preparing things like the format and making the determination about what the staging looks like for the driver introductions and is how important that is for all we do. All the coverage that Speed provides leading up to the event and the crescendo on that Saturday night, and the fact this is very much about the fans. It's a race for the fans, and it's a no-holds-barred Shootout. To be the title sponsor in the 25th year is certainly a great honor for Sprint.
We were talking a little bit about the format and the fact that having looked back and identified that many of the greatest moments, where the greatest memories have been created, have been with 10-lap shootouts, and going back to this year. This is the first time since Sprint has been the title partner of the All-Star event we've had a 10-Lap Shootout at the end. So we're really excited about that, as well.
Certainly, as everybody steps up their game, whether it be Lowe's Motor Speedway or NASCAR and Speed and they prepare for this event, we always feel like it's our obligation to do the same. When we came into this sport back in 2004 we said two things: We're fans just like everybody else, and we're in a unique position to use our technology to bring fans closer to the sport. Since we've introduced things like FanView and FanScan all the way back in 2004, and more recently with Sprint Cup Mobile we're continuing to push that envelope to try to use Sprint technology to bring fans closer to the sport.
So we're excited this year, as Ryan mentioned, for the first time ever to be able to stream the audio from the drivers' meeting to Sprint customers who have Sprint Cup Mobile. For us, that's one of the last bastions of sort of no fan access in a sport that prides itself on having total access for the fans.
So this is a great advancement for us. We think it's going to be a great addition for all the avid fans out there. The drivers' meeting is one of those things that's cloaked in secrecy, and the fans will get their first chance to really experience that and understand what happens during that time before the race.
And then, in addition to the streaming of the drivers' meeting, we'll be streaming the race live on our hand sets through Sprint Cup Mobile courtesy of Speed, as well. So if you don't find yourself in front of that 60-inch plasma television at home, you're out running errands or at an airport or something like that, you'll still be able to watch the race, courtesy of Sprint and Sprint Cup Mobile and Speed.
So all in all, we're thrilled, again, to be a partner in this race. We're thrilled to be partnered with innovators like NASCAR and Lowe's Motor Speedway on an event that is so much about the fans. For us, that's critical, because, you know, we want to demonstrate our commitment to the fans, as well.
So really looking forward to the race. Certainly the fan vote, as Robin mentioned, will kick off in April, but I think you guys are going to hear more about that when we make our official announcement in Texas.
So thanks, everybody, for coming out, and we look forward to seeing you there.
STEVE BYRNES: We'll have a brief Q&A here in just a little bit. Followed by which you'll have opportunity to do one-on-ones.
Before we start that, Ryan, I was just curious, what was your first memory of the All-Star Race?
RYAN NEWMAN: I remember just because it was my first experience in the Cup Series. It was -- I think it was 2000 when they had the big crash and everybody pulled out the backup cars and Jeff Gordon started last and won. That was my first true memory.
One of the things that stuck in my mind, because I knew that's where I was gonna be next year if everything worked out right, and fortunately I was. Just how everything played out, like Robin said. We're here to race. Bring the cars out and let's race. We'll put on a show for the fans. They did, and that was neat.
STEVE BYRNES: Your thoughts after this format changed? You like the 10-Lap dash?
RYAN NEWMAN: Well, I like it. I grew up racing the (indiscernible) series, an eight-lap heat race at Winchester that lasted 2-and-a-half minutes. So not that we're trying to short the fans of their money, but there's a lot of excitement in 10 laps. We're going to do our best to do that.
It's the way we grew up, short track racing, racing hard and racing fast and getting the job done. Those 10 laps will prove that.
STEVE BYRNES: Keep in mind, it's 10 green flag laps.
RYAN NEWMAN: It changes the strategy. You have yellows, and you make sure you have enough fuel based on the way the segments work out that there will be some strategy involved in there, too. The fastest car is the lightest car, and the fuel weighs about six-and-a-half pounds a gallon.
STEVE BYRNES: You're already working it. I can see he's already...
RYAN NEWMAN: Got a spreadsheet.
ROBIN PEMBERTON: Remember Ray tried that gamble a couple years ago and ran out. Did Mark Martin win that night?
STEVE BYRNES: Yeah, he did.
ROBIN PEMBERTON: He ran out of fuel at the All-Star Race. That's when you want to shoot yourself. (Laughter.) That's when a gallon of gas gets very, very expensive. Couple quick housekeeping things: Robin mentioned Mark Martin. He's, of course, won this race twice. He couldn't be here physically today, but he will be participating in a national video teleconference at 3:00 today to talk about the 25th running of the All-Star Race. We have information regarding that video teleconference. It's available here.
And also, Scott Cooper from Lowe's Motor Speedway wanted to mention that there will be a weekly NASCAR teleconference. It's at 2:00. If you are running short of time or need to, you can go to the 7th floor to participate in that. Just wanted to pass that along.
Is there anybody now that has some questions for the panelists?

Q. Robin, did you guys have to be talked back into the 10-Lap Shootout? It kind of went away for a while. Was there any sale job to bring it back?
ROBIN PEMBERTON: I don't know, you know, we sit down and we do this, you know, six, eight months in advance. We talk about the format and if it needs to have a change, and, you know, this happened to come up.
We started talking about it, and it seemed to make sense. You know, it's a team, all of us, between Sprint and Marcus here and NASCAR, about putting the best race on for the fans, and this seemed to be a common denominator.

Q. There has been a number of format changes over the years. Are you looking for the perfect format, or is it always going to be a moving target that changes as you see to make it more exciting?
ROBIN PEMBERTON: I don't know about a perfect format, because it depends who you talk to. Right? If you talk to Kasey Kahne, he needed the whole thing to get to the front. He probably liked what he had, starting in the back. You need all the laps. We look at things all the time. You know, we have the ability as a group to sit down and talk things over.
It's just nice that I think the 10-Lap Shootout really, really will be some exciting racing at the end of the night.

Q. For Steve, you talk about the importance of fan support and input into this event. Have you guys considered getting them even more involved as far as a fan vote to determine the starting lineup or anything like that?
STEVE GAFFNEY: Well, we haven't gone past the fan vote to vote a driver into the All-Star Race. We're always looking for ways to have the fans more involved, and to have Sprint customers more involved.
So I think without having a specific yes, we've done this or, no, we haven't done that, it's always on our minds to try and make it more about the fans.
Now, you start to get into a slippery slope when you start making determinations on lineups and formats and things like that that you put in the fans' hands.
Ultimately that's going to be NASCAR's call, but what we'd love to do is facilitate more fan involvement any chance we get.

Q. This is for Robin. Do you worry about changing the format so much, so often after the Ping-Pong balls and inversion of the field and all that stuff that it gets a little confusing? Are you looking to maybe keep it the same now for a while? What's your thinking on that?
ROBIN PEMBERTON: What we're thinking about is we want to do what's best for the fans. Early on I think there was different formats that were there. They served their purpose at the time. You know, this change that we've done now, you know, you're moving laps around here or there.
It's basically still 100 laps, but to try to break it out and the pit crew is involved now with the choice of pit lane spots, and then there's a green flag, mandatory green flag pit stop, which has been in play on and off throughout the years.
But, you know, our fans and the diversity of the different racetracks and the races that we run all around the country, I mean, they're used to different things happening every weekend.
So, you know, so this is something that the group got together on, and we think that this -- this would be a good format. We'll look at it when the event is done, and we'll see what where we take it from here.
RYAN NEWMAN: $10,000 a lap is pretty good money, though.
ROBIN PEMBERTON: It's pretty good money.
STEVE BYRNES: It's pretty easy to understand, as well. You have a history of changes year in and year out on the All-Star Race having a different format. This year having it finish under 10 laps just puts an extra emphasis on that time. This is the absolute best race for a first-time fan.
There are millions of people who watch NASCAR racing every week. We get more and more people, more new people watching week in and week out. If they're looking for a place to go and to test this thing out, we have tickets as low as $25. You can come out and watch a full-blooded NASCAR race that's got all the champions going for the gold, so to speak.
A million to win puts that extra emphasis on the event. Sure to see some sparks fly. The fans are going to have a good time.
RYAN NEWMAN: Scared me with the full-blooded there.
STEVE BYRNES: You guys are going. You're thoroughbreds.

Q. The eligibility requirements, are they still the same just as far as who gets in?
ROBIN PEMBERTON: Winners last year up to this year at I believe it's Darlington. Past champions and past winners of the event. Right now I think there's a total of 22, and that includes -- we have two champions that are right there at the 10-year line, so they'll fall out next year.
But Dale Jarrett and Terry Labonte, I think they're right on the edge. I think they're eligible, but I don't think they're entered.

Q. Ryan, how does the format change approach how you race in this race? You know, is it more important to get track position in the third segment, for example, or do you do anything different? Because it goes down to 10 laps.
RYAN NEWMAN: Well, there is no inversion, right? So the bottom line is that track position is super important. You can be easy on your race car and pit crew and whatnot. You'll have, I believe, double-file restarts. So track position is not the end-all. It's not your double-file restarts to the point that you have lap cars on the inside.
It's all lead lap cars to the front, so you can be in the top two or three and still have a good shot at the last 10-lap break. So it all depends on the strategy. Tire-wise, fuel-wise if you're running third and want to stroke it the last 20 laps, save a little fuel and have your car, depending on the tire situation, be there at the end, you might be able to stay out and put a different strategy to it.
So obviously you always want to be up at the front with the inversion. That's one of the things back in '02 when we won, we kind of focused on the inversion. We got the inversion and we made it pay off, so there's a lot of strategy to this race.

Q. Robin, already fans are calling and wanting to know if it's single- or double-file restart for the 10-Lap Shootout.
ROBIN PEMBERTON: Double-file restarts all night long, and the free pass is in effect all night long.
SPEAKER: I think one of the fan votes could be if we do triple-file restart.
ROBIN PEMBERTON: I'm going to send you to the 7th floor. We've been through this already.
SPEAKER: Just want to get the fans involved, you know.
STEVE BYRNES: Dave, that's the kind of conversations we have.

Q. Ryan, what did winning this race in 2002 mean for you? You talk about the money being nice, but what did it mean to you personally as a racer?
RYAN NEWMAN: It was a sense of accomplishment. We beat everybody in our backyard, in their backyard at home field advantage. Everybody had home field advantage. Wipe that out. We put everybody that night in a race that we had to race our way into. The guys that were already locked in didn't have a clue who was going to be in. They didn't expect the 12 car to be in there.
We came up and we did what we had to. We kept working on our car all night and made it better and better and better. Added tape to it. It cooled down. We were on top of our game that night, and it paid off.
Just to me, that was -- take Daytona 500 out of it for me, and that All-Star Race win is right there as second place to all my other wins, the 13 wins I have.

Q. Why is that?
RYAN NEWMAN: Just because of that. Because we beat everybody. You know, take away the points, take away the money, even, and we've got everybody at home at Charlotte at night. You know, it was partially because we weren't expected to, but we did it in a defined style.

Q. Is the qualifying the same with the pit stops like you guys have done in the previous years?
ROBIN PEMBERTON: Yeah, it's all the same.
SPEAKER: Can I ask a question? What does it feel like for the pit crew, though, for them to know that the particular challenge that make a difference on where you're going to be pitting that night?
RYAN NEWMAN: It's huge. And as a driver, every time I qualify here, I always tell people, This is true qualifying. Because we always say that it takes everybody -- it takes everybody; it takes everything. The pit crew, when it comes down to the torquing and the nuts and things like that, the driver has to do the pit stop. It's still in the driver's hands.
So when the pit crew touches the race car and they have impact on the speed and performance and the opportunity to win the All-Star Race, that makes a huge difference. It's huge for those guys. They have their chests bowed out and they're ready to go when they jump over the wall.
And at the same time, as drivers, we try to shine for them, because we know how much it means to them. Their families are here. Their kids are sitting up in the grandstands. When they're jumping over the wall to hit 10 lugs, it's important.

Q. Robin, can you talk about allowing Sprint to put the drivers' meeting up on the phone let people hear it, which I think that's the first time that's ever happened?
ROBIN PEMBERTON: Yeah, once again, it goes back to all of our planning and meetings over the last six months or eight months. It's things that we can do. We want to be in touch with the fans. We're a sport where the fans can get to Ryan and Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin.
As open as we are, we still don't get as many people that would like to that can come and rub shoulders with these guys. So with 150,000 people in the stands, it's obvious we can't let them all in the garage area, even though it looks like they're there a lot of times. (laughter.)
It's a special $20 pass that they don't know about yet. But this will be one -- this is one thing that we've never done. You know, our fans deserve the next level of entertainment, per se.
And with great partners like Sprint and actually Steve promised me a new phone if we let it happen, so I'm holding him to that. But it's good. It's good for the fans. We're looking forward to it, and I'm sure that there will be some interest over this. People will hear things that are said and things that we do in the drivers' meeting that we talk about that they we weren't aware of in the past.
We're looking forward to it. We all are.
RYAN NEWMAN: It's just a suggestion, but maybe you should record it on the phone. That way when we're in the trailer afterwards, you can say, Here, listen. This is what we said in the drivers' meeting. (Laughter.)
ROBIN PEMBERTON: Let me tell you something, I don't want to see you in the trailer afterwards. I might see you after, after for a little something, but not in the trailer.
SPEAKER: The technology is there.
ROBIN PEMBERTON: It's a wonderful thing.

Q. Ryan, you probably wouldn't do this, but for a driver in the Sprint All-Star Race, is there a point, and at what point would you consider bumping somebody else out of the way to make...
ROBIN PEMBERTON: Green flag lap.
SPEAKER: Start your engines.
RYAN NEWMAN: Yeah, it's different. As soon as you start talking about that, the first thing I thought of was when I won the race here, that's the first time and only time in my career I've had a helmet thrown at me and I won the race.
I got in the back of Elliott Sadler going into 1 and turned him around. I didn't do it on purpose. I was just racing hard. He threw his helmet at me.
Just shows you the emotion of what happens on a night like that. I mean, you look back at the history of NASCAR in the last 15 years, I can remember three helmets off the top of my head that have been thrown. One of them was for me at the All-Star Race. I feel honored.
SPEAKER: And you won.
RYAN NEWMAN: And I won. My point is the emotion is there. When it comes to beating bumpers, we saw a guy trying to bump draft, teammates of the Rousch cars knocked each other out of the All-Star Race a few years trying to bump draft on the straightaway here trying to gain an advantage. You never know what's going to happen.
SPEAKER: What about in the double-file restart? I was thinking that might be a good time...
RYAN NEWMAN: You just have to be careful with your fenders. Robin has been doing a good job of stiffening up the fenders for the last few years here. We'll lean on each other when we have to. Eight tires are always better than four.
STEVE BYRNES: Thank you all very much for coming.