NASCAR drivers were talking it up at Richmond International Raceway on Thursday. Following is a few clips from interviews and conversations.

MICHAEL WALTRIP
I don’t have any room, much. My seat is configured—I’m just proud of the boys for getting my seat in the window. I got in the car and it’s really funny because they had to angle it so that my head would fit under the roll bar. I’m basically laying down. I feel like I’m driving an Indy car. It’s funny, I’ve squeezed into a lot of worse places in my life. I’m pretty happy just to get to race.

I’m blessed. I got to race for 25 years and won some big races. I never contended for a championship, but I raced for a top 10 in points. I just was fortunate. Now I’m getting to have fun. Everything’s fun except for the car owner part. That’s just work.

TONY STEWART
I’m not very good in these cars, but we had a good run last year. We had an appearance for Office Depot and missed the first session in the morning, but we got the second session in and hopefully we can get it sorted out.

[How good are these guys?]
I don’t know, I haven’t been around many of them yet. Seeing Chase Elliott down there—It’s like I was telling one of the crew guys, I remember when he was half the height he is now. It’s fun. It’s fun for those guys, it’s fun for us to race with new guys. Some of these guys we’ll see down the road here racing with us full time. It’s a good time.

DENNY HAMLIN
I’m hoping to have a total combined finish of three when I leave this weekend—that’s the plan—but it’s got to start tonight. We’ll just see what happens. I consider this race as important as anything because if I come out of here with a good finish, I’ve got great momentum going into tomorrow and then hopefully it carries into Saturday.

MICHAEL WALTRIP
I was having fun getting to race. These boys do it every week and I only get to do it every now and then, so when Denny asked me if I’d like to do this, it’s an honor to be here.

A lot of fans, I appreciate ya’ll being here and raising great money for a great cause.

CURTIS MARKHAM
I think the car is better than I am, since I only run once a year.

I think Hermie [Sadler] and I were out here for the first late-model race on this track. Weren’t we? (“Yeah.”) We’re the only ones.

HERMIE SADLER
I’m doing well, having a good time. I think they set my car up for my brother, though. I can’t reach the pedals yet. Once we get that squared away, I think we’ll be alright.

TONY STEWART
I’ll be honest, I’m 100 percent a weapon right now—I’m in bad shape. We’ll sort it out. We’ve got a little bit of time before qualifying and the race.

It’s fun to be here. It’s fun to be running in the same event with Denny and these guys at a different track. It’s fun to go there [SSide Speedway] where Denny grew up racing, now to come back to where we do it, it’s fun and it’s a good opportunity for a lot of these young guys who haven’t ran the big tracks, a really good chance for them to come out and run tonight.

TONY STEWART
It’s not because we’re here right now, but this has always been my favorite track. This is where I won my first race in ’99 in the Cup car. I think anytime you win your first race at a track, it’s always one of your favorites. But this is, there’s no place like Richmond. There are no other three-quarter-mile tracks on the schedule, so this has always been my favorite. I’ve sucked here the last three races we’ve been here, but this is still my favorite place for sure.

MICHAEL WALTRIP
It depends on who you’re pushing. Some guys, they spin out when you push them. [Laughter] As I sit here now, two of the three I’ve spun out are really close to me. I think it’s a general consensus among the guys that I don’t this much any more. [Laughter] And I’m pretty damned happy about it myself.