If given another chance, Lamar has new approach (cont'd)

But after three top-10 finishes in his first eight starts, including running second to teammate Tony Stewart at Daytona, Lamar's star faded quickly. Despite some good qualifying efforts, Lamar couldn't crack the top 10 again -- and after crashing out of three consecutive races, sponsor Dollar General pulled the plug.

Lamar admits perhaps he got complacent once he landed the ride.

"Some drivers get content, they lose that hunger to win," Lamar said. "I think I did a little last year. The reason you get that way is because there are so many things going on. You have so many obligations that you never used to have when you were racing. And you kind of get side-tracked on what's important -- and that's driving the wheels off the car, every lap."

"That's one thing as a rookie last year, I'm not afraid to say I thought I had comfortably made it into the NASCAR big leagues. I kind of got comfortable. I also didn't voice my opinion. In other words, I have a lot of it as my fault. There were some things that were beyond my control and some things that weren't."

Lamar's in the classic Catch-22 situation: Potential sponsors and owners want experienced drivers, but he can't improve without seat time.

"I've only run 31 Busch races and two Truck races," he said. "That's all I've got. My stock is going to rise. A lot of tracks, I've only been to one time. So the more seat time I get, the better I'm going to be. It's just a matter of people believing in me to put me in the seat to show them I've got what it takes."

The key, according to Lamar, is not to doubt your abilities.

"I've had a lot of time to think," Lamar said. "A lot of people will say they've raced since they were 5 but I have raced non-stop since then. This is the first year that I haven't had the chance to drive something and man, you just go back and think about everything that you could have done different.

"I've learned a lot from last year. I can't thank Kevin and DeLana enough. They spent enough money on me to go to almost every racetrack one time. And that's half the battle as a rookie."

Lamar believes he has a plan that will succeed, given a second chance.

"It's really tough," Lamar said. "I remodeled the house. I remember sitting there, listening to the radio, to things going on in racing and thinking, 'If I can just get that opportunity again, there are so many things I'll do differently to make it.'

"And I'm confident that once I get back in the seat, in something competitive, I'm going to stay in the upper leagues. I'm not going to let what happened last year happen again."

And he now has a motto to live by.

"Drive every race like it's your last," Lamar said. "People told me that, but you have to experience it. That's what you're going to see from me from here on. 'Give it everything you've got.'"