Now he has pulled even in the championship points lead.

That was an interesting battle out there. You had to battle that old dude for the first few laps, and he wasn’t giving up very easily.
Yeah, the track was tough, and I know Kevin Windham’s one of the best riders out there, and he definitely shined on this track tonight. I would say it’s probably one of his better rides this year. It took me a little while to get around them, and I had to think where I was going to get him. But I was eventually able to get around him, and right after that I heard [Ryan] Dungey get around him, and I knew I had to get on it from there.

The track seemed really tricky, with all the ruts and things...
Yeah, there were ruts, and on top of that, it was just so slippery... Before the finish line, it was basically a sheet of glass you had to ride over. It was super, super slippery. And then the ruts, and the big whoops we had that had absolutely no run into them... It was probably one of the worst tracks so far this year, and definitely the hardest one to ride.

What happened in the heat race in the first turn?
I got a great start in the heat race, and so did Davi [Millsaps], and we went in there, and he sort of slid out, and I ran into him, and we both went down. It knocked a hole right in my water-pump cover, and it just emptied all the anti-freeze right there in the first turn, so I had to go back to the pits.

You were like, “This isn’t going to last eight laps...”
No way. But I started the Last Chance on the outside, and I went into the main and started there, too.

But your start in the LCQ was horrible, and in the main it was awesome. What was different?
I switched gates on the deal, because the gate I had in the Last Chance Qualifier was basically like a sheet of ice – it was so slippery. Then I was able to switch gates to the very last gate on the outside and get a great start in the main from there.

It was crazy watching what you think is Kevin Windham grabbing the holeshot, and then seeing you come ripping around from the outside, along with Millsaps...
It was a great start for me from where it was. It couldn’t have been any better.

I can’t remember the last time somebody won the main event after winning the LCQ. It might go back to Jeremy McGrath...
You’d better look it up and write about it... (Laughs)

I will look it up.
It’s definitely a scary six laps in that LCQ, because anything can happen. It’s literally your last chance.

It’s crazy because you came into this race three points down on Josh Hill and Dungey, who were tied for the lead, and now you are the one tied for the lead with Dungey.
Yeah, I know. It’s definitely a good season so far, and I’m going to keep plugging away and try to get a points lead going.

What changed for you that made you start winning this year? Early on, you seemed like you were struggling quite a bit...
I think me and Darren [Stockton, whom he hired after Anaheim 1] have a good program together right now, and we’ll just keep plugging away at winning races. That’s the goal right now. If I win races, I automatically get three points minimum on everybody, so that’s the goal.