Best quotes from Daytona 500 Media Day

Question: Who do you think is the face of NASCAR right now?
Kyle Busch: "That's not for me to decide, not for me. Your sport's most popular driver is Chase Elliott, if that answers some of your questions."

Question: Who's the best?
Busch: "You're looking at him."

Question: You are 0-14 now in the Daytona 500, is the Daytona 500 your white whale?

"Man, I just got here and that is the second question and you come with that? You couldn't wait a little bit to punch me in the face? I don't know the white whale thing. We didn't have whales in Kansas. ... You have to redneck it up a little bit for me." -- Clint Bowyer, ever entertaining

Erik Jones on being in a contract year: "For me, I think number one I've had a great relationship with JGR for now the last three years. ... I have no intention of leaving my role there. I'd love to continue that. But it is definitely a crazy year. There's a lot of things happening."

Erik Jones on team owner Joe Gibbs: "Joe is not an intimidating guy from the outside, but when you get a call from him, he wants to meet you in his office, you don't really know what it's about, that's pretty intimidating. He's your boss, right? Joe can be an intimidating figure without wanting to be. I don't know if he does it on purpose or not. He probably does."

"We've talked, and I think (we're OK). We'll see. We're gonna have different opinions on a lot of things all the time. That's part of racing and things like that, but I think we'll be fine." -- Joey Logano on his relationship with teammate Brad Keselowski, who was critical of Logano's blocking in the Busch Clash

Joey Logano on not seeing Keselowski at Disney World: "No. We didn't run into each other there. It's a big place. There's a lot of people there."

"I sat down with Mark Martin and Dale Jarrett and Rusty Wallace and Joe Girardi and I asked a lot of questions about when those guys knew it was time (to retire), and what did they feel like they could have done differently. A lot of it pointed to why you would want to get out of a situation when you are competitive with a group of guys that you love to be around and are performing and racing for championships." -- Kevin Harvick on signing a contract extension

"Oh, absolutely. It’s as strong as it is in different reasons. But, I would say we’ve mellowed a little bit. But yet, to get left behind after I beat him at Kentucky, we were sharing a plane ride that weekend, and he was more frustrated that he lost. It wasn’t that he lost in general, it’s that he lost to me. And that’s what made it that much more better to win that and to have an outcome where two of us put it out on the line like that, racing against each other. There was that moment of brotherhood where he left me a small window on the outside of Turn 4 and that’s what helped me win with the Monster Energy Chevy." -- Kurt Busch on the state of his sibling rivalry with brother Kyle

Kyle Larson on winning 10 out of 20 races in the offseason: "That was a good little average there. I didn't expect to win that much, so it was cool to get into the double-digits in just a couple of months. It's always fun when you can get to the double-digits."

"I feel like every year, people are always assuming stuff about my contract and all that. I don't know, obviously dirt racing is important to me and, also, just being with a competitive organization is the number one thing. I want to be able to win races consistently, run up front consistently and battle for championships year-after-year. I feel like at Chip Ganassi Racing, we are very close to being able to contend for championships year in and year out." -- Kyle Larson on what's important to him as his contract nears its end

"I've talked with Kevin (Harvick) a lot. I talked with Kevin a lot through my Xfinity stuff also and he's been extremely helpful and one of the most helpful people I've ever talked to." -- Cole Custer on veteran teammate Kevin Harvick

"I enjoy this Sunday more than any other Sunday of the year. Waking up and just breathing the air on Sunday morning is my favorite race because of the hype that goes into it and the build-up. It feels like that Super Bowl moment. ... Everybody's eyes are on you and its our sport's day. I can't wait every year for this and I cherish that." -- Austin Dillon on Daytona 500 morning

"I'm probably a little bit stuck in the forest to see it from the trees, but with respect to that I hate losing races that I feel like we were in position to win, so I hope that never changes regardless of team dynamics, contract dynamics and so forth. I think most people would tell you that’s a good thing that you want to win and you hate losing." -- Brad Keselowski on the pressure he's feeling

"I think that was more of an organizational thing just trying to be better as an organization. I think we obviously have the 4 car in the same four walls at our shop and they perform at a very high level and so after two years of me being there we performed good, but we weren’t great so just looking to try to be great. That’s really what it boils down to. The goal is to have four Stewart-Haas cars in the final four at the championship." -- Aric Almirola on SHR's crew chief changes

"I think if we execute, if we don't make mistakes, we should be fine. We just have to be calm, be patient. I have to do my thing." -- Daniel Suarez on his potential to make the Daytona 500

"I think growing up around it and be a part of it, you have seen the good, bad and ugly. You learn how to handle yourself and not handle yourself in certain situations.
Being able to have a radio and listen to the crew guys from the standpoint of the crew chief talking to the engineers to my dad talking on the radio with the spotters and how they communicate, I think that has helped me as a driver. Growing up around it and
experience the Daytona 500 as a kid following his dad and watching his hero is pretty special to be able to be down here driving in my first Daytona 500 as well." -- John Hunter on how growing up around the sport will help his rookie season

"It's going to be a lot of fun. I hope I can whoop his butt sometime. I'm sure he has the upper hand right now. Ultimately, it's going to be great to perform up to his level. My goal is to speed up that learning curve to where I get to compete with him and all the Cup regulars week in, week out." -- Christopher Bell on racing Kyle Larson at the Cup Series level

"So far it's been good. I think James has been right there on the front lines with us the past few seasons, and obviously he wasn't out in the spotlight because he was an engineer and not a crew chief, but I feel like he's really doing the same things as before. ... I just feel like it's business as usual." -- Martin Truex Jr. on new crew chief James Small

"Every year is pivotal. Nobody is ever safe; it doesn’t matter what a piece of paper says. If somebody doesn’t want you to drive their race car anymore, you’re not going to drive their race car anymore. I don’t think I’ve ever looked at a year and been like it doesn’t matter. I think every year is really, really important. I feel like everyone at HMS has a lot of faith in me to go run really strong. I think if they didn’t, I wouldn’t be here to do my job. Every year is important and we definitely need to go run well." -- Alex Bowman on his status at Hendrick Motorsports

"I’m looking at 2020 as a tryout year. That’s what it is. I’ve always looked at it like that because there are some guys obviously leaving. There are some good seats going to become available. I’m cheap relatively speaking to some of the other guys that are kind of sitting in seats that haven’t really had a lot of production over the last couple years, so I like to think my value is pretty high when it comes to what teams are looking for to fill their cars for 2021 and beyond." -- Corey LaJoie on his racing future

"I've gotten some interesting and really neat things happen, where people have come to me for advice because they've looked up to my path or story to get here because it has been way out of the ordinary for sure. I've been so lucky. I don't know if I'm a good one or a bad one to talk to because I'm an honest guy and I'll tell the part of how hard I've worked and how lucky I’ve been, but the main thing when people tell me is I make sure to express that I want to reiterate, I don’t want to be a downer, but I want to express how lucky and fortunate I have been, like literally on top of pouring everything my whole life and risking everything so many times along the way." -- Matt DiBenedetto on other drivers coming to him for advice