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Q: To kind of build upon the merger talk, when you combine that with some of the things you’re doing in the off-season such as the Super Bowl ads, SI swimsuit issue, Castroneves with the dancing, how can the IRL turn all these things and create positive momentum and bring out a larger fan base in 2008?

DP: I’m probably not exactly the right person to ask. But I have my own ideas so I’ll give you those. I think that in this, where we’re at right now, we’re kind of at a pivotal stage where we can really make it big and we can really push ourselves out there.

I kind of have a theory that it takes money to make money. I wish there would be more ads. I want to see more commercials. I want to know when our races are on TV because I’m watching the shows that I watch on TV, and I don’t see that. So you watch TV and you see advertisements for every other sporting event, every other big sporting event 10 times during a program. I think that we need that. I think that we need mainstream exposure.

The race fans that are going to watch are going to watch. We need to make sure we reach out to all of those people that are watching House or Desperate Housewives or something. We need to really push and come up with some clever commercials that display some personality and funny is always funny. Funny is always good.

That’s what I’d like to see happen. But I’m not the one with the checkbook, and I’m not the one calling the shots. I’m just a little driver with ideas.

Q: On your first season last year with Andretti Green Racing. Were you pleased with the year or disappointed with seventh in points?

DP: You know, I think that whenever you come to the end of the season you always think this, this, and this could have gone right and I would have been there. I had a chance in the last race to actually finish fifth in the championship. Things needed to play out right, but I was that far into the game. I was close enough in points. So fifth I would have been ecstatic for that.

Given the year and how the previous years had gone, I think that would have been great. But you know, I think that I’m very happy with how the road-course racing progressed through the year. And I think I’m going to be really strong on the ovals and excited. I feel like I’ve got a lot stored up inside me to let out, so I’m excited.

Q: How much pressure do you feel this year to get your first win? Do you feel as much as last year?

DP: You know, I just want to get it done. Is that so bad to say? I feel like there’s been times where I’ve come close. There’s been times where I’ve been maybe more preoccupied being a team player. And I think that I really feel like it’s time. It’s my time to do it. It’s overdue, and it’s going to be a big relief when it finally happens.

I think that I always put so much pressure on myself. I don’t know if anybody ever sees how mean I look at the racetrack on race weekends. But I always put tons of pressure on myself, and I’m always very serious and very focused. I’d be lying if I said that there was more or less pressure from the first year till now.