BEHIND THE HAULER CHAT WITH JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE'S MONTE CARLO SS:

THINGS ARE GOING WELL AND YOU ARE LOCKED INTO THE CHASE. ARE YOU JUST TRYING TO KEEP THINGS ON AN EVEN KEEL RIGHT NOW? "I think we've done a good job this year of keeping focused and not letting things break us down and not stumbling over ourselves. With all that in mind, regardless, our point situation disappears in a few races. Right now, we're still charging hard. We want to win this race. We want to run good at Richmond. It's not one of our best tracks, so we've got personal goals that we want to accomplish. I really think that this weekend we have a shot of winning here at this race track. We're just going to try to keep this momentum going and carry the same mindset into the final 10 and hopefully do our job there."

EVEN THOUGH THAT'S BURNED YOU IN THE PAST, COULD YOU AFFORD TO BE A LITTLE MORE AGGRESSTIVE ON YOUR SET-UP THIS WEEKEND? "I think this year we're a lot more zeroed in on the package we want to run. Last year we were on the fence and the year before we got really aggressive. I feel that this year we're more prepared for the Chase. We're fine-tuning our set-up and looking for speed. We're going to keep fine-tuning and stick with this package for the final 10."

ON HIS FISHING TRIP TO ALASKA WITH CASEY MEARS: "Oh, we had a great time. It was so different to be up in Alaska. It's really untouched land up there. There really isn't much to see or do besides be out in streams fishing and be out on the ocean fishing and hanging out with friends. I met a lot of different people in this little lodge that we were staying in. In this area called Elfin Cove had some 20 full-time residents. In the peak of summer, and we were on the tail end of it, they might have 100 people in that entire town. So we had a lot of fun and had a great experience fishing."

HOW MANY AUTOGRAPHS DID YOU SIGN? "Not many (laughs). To my surprise, they were flying a No. 48 flag at the lodge when I got there, so I think somebody set them up for that."

WHAT DID YOU CATCH? "We caught all kinds of fish. We caught some halibut and salmon and rockfish - that was all in the ocean. And then one day we kayaked from the big boat in the saltwater to the mouth of a freshwater stream. We went up the stream as far as we could and threw the boats up on the shore and walked a couple of miles fishing in this river all the way up catching salmon left and right. There were so many fish in the water that you could literally drag your lure through the water and snag one on the back. There were a couple of catches that weren't legitimate. You would just snag one in there (laughs) because there was so much fish."

DID IT TAKE A WHILE TO STOP THINKING ABOUT RACING AND UNWIND AND RELAX ON THIS TRIP? "No, I'd say on the last day I knew reality was right around the corner and I had to start thinking about the race track, this track, and what's going on. But that's one thing I love about traveling. You go somewhere and just try to fall into that culture and that rhythm of life and it's definitely a different form of life up there. We were there in the summer and I'll bet it never got to 60 degrees. At night it was really cold and it rained a lot and we were wearing waders and rain gear the whole time just catching fish and cleaning fish and it was just a lot of fun. We really had a good time."

DO YOU THINK LOUDON, NH SHOULD BE THE FIRST RACE OF THE CHASE? "I really don't have an opinion on it. I've looked at the way they've picked the final 10 races and the schedule has been set and those tracks have had their dates set all along. In a 10-race stretch, you're going to have a race or two in there that aren't your best. That's part of it. New Hampshire is sort of a middle of the road race course. We run in the top 10 or 15. It's a race that I don't feel like I can walk around too confident and too cocky about, it's just as soon get in there and get to racing and have a good day and get out of there. You're going to have that. I think of the No. 17 (Matt Kenseth) and the troubles he's had at Martinsville. That's a track that I know he doesn't look forward to. I think in the Chase we all have a race or two that bothers us."

HOW CONCERNED ARE YOU ABOUT MATT KENSETH'S MOMENTUM AT THE MOMENT? "Oh, I'm very concerned - not only with Matt's momentum, but you look at the Childress cars and what they've been able to do. There have been a lot of guys earning points over the last 10 races but it's been hard to notice it because the point separation has been so big from first to 11th. But the No. 17 and the No. 29 (Kevin Harvick) and the No. 31 (Jeff Burton) have been doing an awesome job. The No. 24 (Jeff Gordon) has really been earning a lot of points lately. It's going to be interesting Chase. I think it's going to be the best one we've had yet."

WITH YOUR HOMETOWN BEING EL CAJON, HOW MUCH DO YOU LIKE COMING TO THIS TRACK? "This is what I could call my home track. I got my first Cup win here. This weekend I'm also running the Busch race. Lowe's has been nice enough to let me paint the car up like my foundation. So we have our Jimmie Johnson Foundation car running on Saturday night and then the Cup race on Sunday. So, all in all, I've been looking forward to this event."

ARE YOU WEARING A SPECIAL VICTORY JUNCTION HELMET? "Yeah, this is my first time auctioning off a helmet. The helmet that I wear in the race in the Busch car we're going to auction that off at the jimmiejohnsonfoundation.org. This is the first time I've done it. A nine-year old girl, a camper from the Victory Junction Gang Camp created this paint job for the helmet. It's blue. And the part that really got me was the writing on it that says 'follow me to victory'. I just felt like it was so fitting - for the name of our bowling ally - it just fits well."

ON HAVING A DIFFERENT GROUP OF DRIVERS MAKING THE CHASE THIS YEAR: "I really think we have a lot of great competitors and I believe you'll see a turnaround from year to year of guys not making the Chase. I think you'll see four or five guys that don't come back that find their way into the Chase the following year. There is that much competition. If you add up all the cars that Childress has, and Gibbs, and Hendrick Motorsports, and Roush, you've got about 16 cars. So there's going to be a lot of turnover from year to year, and I think that says a lot for our sport."

DOES IT AFFECT YOU TO RACE AGAINST GUYS THAT HAVE NEVER RACED IN THE CHASE BEFORE IN THAT THEY DON'T KNOW WHT THEY'RE UP AGAINST? "Not really. I think if you make the Chase, you've shown that you have the ability to race for a championship and that things are working right for you that year. And in a 10-race stretch, everybody has a chance to be a champion."

NOW THAT YOU ARE LOCKED INTO THE CHASE, ARE YOU WORRIED ABOUT THE STANDINGS THIS WEEK? "No. And if something bad happens, we'll look back on it and know that we're locked in and that it doesn't matter. But realistically, we all want to do well here. I think momentum is important. I think that we want to stay in that pressure situation. We want to compete for this championship in the regular season right now. I really want to challenge Matt (Kenseth) in these next two races and see what the team is capable of. I think it's a great opportunity for us to see what is going to take place in the Chase. So we're taking this very seriously. So if we do have a bad day, we'll get some sleep - we won't lose sleep over it - but we still want to keep the pressure on and keep racing hard."

HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO BE NUMBER 1 GOING INTO THE CHASE? "Oh, I think it's important. You never know when those five points are going to come in handy. I lost this deal by eight points a couple years ago. I think there's a mental advantage too to lead in the championship going into the Chase."

ARE YOU KEEPING A CLOSE EYE ON KYLE BUSCH AND JEFF GORDON? "Oh I keep a close eye on where Jeff and Kyle are. I want to make sure those guys make the Chase. We need a Hendrick car to win the championship. It's been a while. So I want all my teammates in there. So I keep a close eye on those guys, definitely."

ON BEING IN THE POINT LEAD NOW AFTER HAVING A ROUGH START TO THE YEAR WITH THE PENALTY CHAD KNAUS SERVED? "It seemed so long ago that we had problems at Daytona. We got in trouble qualifying. We served our penalty. We were put in a situation that was really tough. We learned a lot from it. We made the most of it and won two races in the process. So when I look back on it, I don't have any negative feelings about it. It made our team stronger and has been beneficial to all of us."

DOES IT SURPRISE YOU THAT A YOUNG GUY LIKE KYLE BUSCH IS RIGHT IN THE THICK OF THINGS LEADING INTO THE CHASE? "When you get out on the track, rarely do you see the age of a guy. You just see a car driving away from you or a guy that you're passing. So I forget about the age of a guy - especially once those yellow (rookie) stripes are off his bumper. Rookies don't have a lot of experience on the tack and maybe aren't as familiar with pressure situations and look for some opportunities there, but even that's changing. Rookies are winning races all the time."

WHAT IS THE BIGGEST THING KYLE BUSCH HAS LEARNED FROM YEAR ONE TO YEAR TWO? "I think Kyle understands the flow of a race more. It was tough for me to come in and have a 500-mile mindset and I think that's what he's learning is the flow of the race - when to charge and when to ride and how to play the game out there."

HOW DO YOU PICK AND CHOOSE WHICH BUSCH RACES YOU RUN? IS IT UP TO YOUR SPONSOR ORDO YOU MAKE THE DECISIONS? "It's really about my sponsor and the preference of where I want to run them. If I'm going to be in a Busch car, they would love me to be at Lowe's Motor Speedway and I do two events there. And then this is a special place for me. So it's a combination of the two."

SO DOES IT STILL HAVE TO BE SOME SORT OF SPECIAL EVENT FOR YOU TO RUN THE BUSCH SERIES? "I love running the Busch car but I don't have the desire to run for points in both series. I think it takes a lot of work and it takes a little bit away from your Cup program at times. I say that and then you look at the success that Harvick and Childress has had and that makes me question that. But in general, I think that more guys are distracted from Cup by running the Busch program full time. I don't want to put my Cup program in jeopardy."



BEHIND THE HAULER CHAT WITH KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 GM GOODWRENCH MONTE CARLO SS:

AS A TEAM OWNER, HOW TOUGH WOULD IT BE FOR THE BUSCH SERIES TO GO TO MONTREAL? "It wouldn't be that big a deal. It would probably be good for the series to go up there and get into a new environment."

WOULD IT BE MORE EXPENSIVE THAN COMING OUT HERE TO CALIFORNIA? "Well, it would be more expensive than going to Martinsville; I know that much. But it is part of what we do. I'm sure the purse will be good like it is in Mexico City. I don't think it'll be as bad as going to Mexico."

ARE YOU PLANNING TO RUN A FULL BUSCH SCHEDULE NEXT YEAR? "We'll just probably run all the companion events."

WHAT KIND OF PRESSURE DOES THE CHASE PUT ON YOU AND YOUR TEAM WHEN YOU COME TO CALIFORNIA? "It's a different kind of pressure for us this year because we have been on the outside looking in this is probably our worst tracks and so we haven't been too excited about coming here in the position we've been in. But we ran well at Michigan, which I feel is probably our second worst track compared to this one. And so it's probably going to be okay this year. But then everything has been better this year. We've run better everywhere and the cars have performed well. So hopefully we can have a good weekend and go to Richmond."

YOU AREN'T LOCKED IN, BUT SOMETHING WOULD REALLY HAVE TO GO WRONG FOR YOU TO FALL OUT NOW. WHEN WAS THE TURNING POINT IN THE SEASON FOR YOU? "I don't really know. The begging of the summer was good to us. Really, all through the summer we've been strong. The car has been strong all year. It's just that we had some bad luck at the beginning of the year and once we got rid of that and things started going okay and the performance of the cars was still okay. So (it was) probably after the first eight or 10 races after we shook some of that bad luck."

DOES THE CHASE MAKE YOU RACE ANY DIFFERENTLY? "I don't think so. You go out and race as hard as you can every lap and try to put yourself in position to win and if you can't do that you try to get the best finish you can out of the day. To me, you just go out and do the same things whether your in the Chase or out of the Chase you just try not to take any chances or crash or put yourself in a awkward position."

DOES IT SEEM LIKE THERE WAS A LOT OF GIVE AND TAKE AT BRISTOL LAST WEEKEND? "No, not really. It's still jus Bristol and there were still accidents and things. I don't think it was any different than it has been."

WHAT MADE YOU WANT TO START YOUR OWN TEAM AND WAS IT A GOOD MOVE? "I don't know that it was a good move (laughs). That will be yet to be seen in the future. But I just enjoy being around the cars. I've never been fortunate enough to own my own stuff and do it right and I feel like we're able to do it right and build good cars and we're just trying to build a good foundation for the future. So right now, it's just kind of trial and error to do things right or wrong - whatever it is. You just have to try it and see how it all works out. I enjoy it. I enjoy being around that stuff and being around the cars and the people and seeing it all function."

DOES OWNING YOUR OWN TEAM HELP YOU RELATE BETTER TO OTHER TEAM OWNERS? "I think the biggest thing that it helps me do is relate to Richard (Childress) and know where he's coming from on a lot of the ownership stuff on the Cup car and just knowing how long it takes to do some things. You always look around and try to see what other people are doing and try to take what you think is good and bad. Delana and I have been doing it our own way. But you definitely look at everything around you and try to make it as good as possible.

IS IT MORE CHALLENGING TO BE AN OWNER THAN BEING THE DRIVER? "It's a different challenge than it is in the car. There are times when you have to spend a lot of time taking care of your people to make sure that they're happy and that they're not complaining. It's just a lot of different challenges."

"All the guys have been here for a long time and have been with me since we started the Busch team back in 2000. We have a good relationship and you spend a lot of time with people through the years and at the track. So you have a lot of time to spend with the guys and most relationships are really good."

"It doesn't matter how good your car is if you can't have a good pit stop. You're not competitive. Without the guys having good pit stops, pretty much the whole weekend revolves around what they do if you have a good car."

WHAT DIFFERENCE DO YOU SEE IN THE WAY YOUR RACE TO GET INTO THE CHASE? HOW DO YOU ADJUST? "You don't adjust. You go out and race as hard as you can every week. There are really no adjustments that have to be made. We go out and do everything we can do week in and week out to perform as good as we can and not put yourself in awkward positions to tear up your car. Those are things you'd do every week and those are things we'd do in the Chase or out of the Chase or no matter where you are. That's just how you race. You go out and race has hard as you can and try not to put yourself in a bad position. That's not anything different that you do week to week."

IS THAT SOMETHING YOU'VE LEARNED OVER THE YEARS? "Well, I think you learn how to race. As you go through the years, you learn a little bit more and a little more and when to give and when not to give, and when to take and when not to take. It's just something that you lean. Well, you get better at it. I don't know if it's something you ever learn correctly but you try to train yourself to do it how you think it should be done."

ON GOOD PERFORMANCE AT RICHMOND IN BOTH CUP AND BUSCH "Oh, we've been fortunate to be really good in both cars and led the most laps in the Cup race and won the Busch race last time, so we've been fortunate to run really well there and hopefully we can continue that going forward."

WILL IT BE A RELIEF TO GET QUALIFYING OVERWITH AT RICHMOND NEXT WEEKEND? "I don't really like qualifying anyway, so..(laughs)

WHY HAVE YOU HAD SUCH SUCCESS IN BUSCH THERE? "We've just had good cars and just put ourselves in position to win in the end. It's just something where you have to put yourself in position and go from there and do everything tyou can."

IS IT LUCK? "Oh, you have to be lucky to win."



BEHIND THE HAULER CHAT WITH JEFF BURTON, NO. 31 CINGULAR WIRELESS MONTE CARLO SS:

ON DEFINING MOMENT THUS FAR IN 2006: "What I feel is our defining moment was our off season testing. Coming in to the season, I had confidence that our team could perform at a very high level because the testing we did in the off-season was very successful. I felt very good about the things we had done. That was really the most important moment up to this point. The absolute defining moment for this season we will figure that definition when the year is over. We can't do that right now because hopefully when the year is over, we will have a better understanding of that. For us, what we did last year and the off-season was really what made us a really good race team in my opinion."

ON ANY CONCERNS ABOUT ENGINE WEAR AT CALIFORNIA SPEEDWAY: "It is a long race, 500 miles on a two-mile race track is a lot of wear and tear on an engine. You are in the RPMs for a great deal of time. Yes, we do have to understand that it is an issue, but at the same time, we have to get our car driving well. We have to work the right amount of time to do that. Hopefully you can do that in a shorter period of time. The biggest issue we have ahead of us this week is the practice schedule is bizarre. At no point this weekend do we practice in the conditions that we will race under. So understanding how it is going to be different at one o'clock in the afternoon versus how it is going to be at seven o'clock at night is our biggest challenge. The practice schedule is laid out very odd and to me that is our biggest challenge right now. I have a lot of confidence in our engine program. Although you never know what is going to happen, I am not worried about it."

ON CHANGES OF TRACK CHANGES AND CONDITIONS AT CALIFORNIA SPEEDWAY: "It definitely changes. It obviously is hot out here. But the sun is what makes the difference. The more sun you have on these race tracks, the more slick they get and the harder it is to get the handle of them. It is going to change a lot from daytime to night, there is no question about it, the key is how is it going to change. To be honest, we didn't really run well enough last year to base an opinion on it, so we are having to pay attention to what happened to others and try and get a grasp on it. It is going to be a change, no question about it."

ON TALK OF POSSIBLE CHANGES TO CALIFORNIA SPEEDWAY: "I am a big opponent to changing race tracks. I have seen few incidents where they have made race tracks better and a lot of incidents where they made them worse. I am just not a proponent of changing race tracks. There is no evidence that has been presented to me that anybody knows what they are doing when they go to build a race track, much less change it. I don't want to see them change the race track at all. This race track is the opportunity for multiple groove racing. It is a slick race track, but that is what makes the racing good is the fact that it is a slick race track. I can't imagine how they could change the race track. If you chose to build a two-mile race track, you are not going to have as close of competition as you do on a ¾-mile race track. It is simple engineering. If you are 1% off at 200 mph, that is very different than being 1% off at 100 mph. The bigger the race track, for the exception of the restrictor plate tracks, the more spread out things are going to get. That is what we had when the track was originally built. To change it, no one has presented me with any evidence that says you can take a good race track and make better. Certainly, you can take a race track that is terrible and make it better, but in very few cases have we seen tracks be improved by a small amount. Homestead was improved but a group of kindergartners could have got together and built Homestead when it was first built. I mean kids in a sandbox could have done a better job. So you are not comparing a good race track to a despicable race track that became ok. Homestead is still no better than anywhere else we go, it is just a lot better than it was because it was so messed up. I am concerned that they haven't done a good job at Vegas; nobody has shown me that it is better by changing it. Maybe they can, I don't know. I am much more prone to leave it alone."

ON CAR OF TOMORROW IMPROVING RACING AT CALIFORNIA SPEEDWAY: "I think the jury is still out on that. There is some potential that the COT could help something. But first of all, Help What? I guess I need to understand what is the problem. That is the thing I am confused about is when people talk about race tracks, what is wrong with it? That is the thing I don't understand. Sometimes I think we are guilty of thinking every lap of every race is going to three wide and the last lap is going to be two wide with smoke flying. I think we are guilty of that. That is not reality. I watched the tape of the race here from last year and that was a really good race. I haven't watched this years' spring race yet, but the night race last year was a really good race. It was very competitive. You never knew who was going to win until the very end. I just don't see what was wrong with that race. So again, there are times when we get all wound up about racing needing to be better when in fact, we need to really appreciate how good it actually is."

ON MENTALITY HEADING IN TO CALIFORNIA SPEEDWAY EVENT: "My mentality is to go out and do the very best I can. Me and this team are having a really good time with this. I said last week, if it is fourth quarter with two minutes to go and you don't want the ball, then get the heck off the court. That is where we are. It is time to get it done. This is what professional sports is all about. It is supposed to be close, it is supposed to be intense. It is supposed to be pressure filled and that is what it is. Anything less than that isn't what people pay to watch. By the way, if we aren't man enough to deal with it, then we need to go do something else. I mean, it is what we do. Do I wish that we were definitely locked in the points for the Chase? Without a doubt. Do I wish we didn't have to worry about it the next two races? I definitely wish we didn't have to worry about it. At the same time, it is a heck of a lot of fun being part of it. I enjoy the opportunity we have to try to get in the Chase. I enjoy the opportunity to come to the race track and compare ourselves against our competitors. That is what we do. We are not going to change anything we have been doing. We are going to focus on what we have been doing. Anything less than that would be a mistake. If we get down to the end of it, and it doesn't work out for us, it won't be because we changed something and tried to do something different. We are a good enough race team that if we do out jobs then we can get in the Chase. If we don't do our jobs, then we won't. That is just as simple as it gets."

ON PINPOINTING A SPECIFIC TIME THIS SEASON REGARDING IN OR OUT OF THE CHASE: "It is going to be different for every team. Without a doubt, I can go back and look that we got wrecked at Bristol; we got wrecked at Martinsville and I wrecked us a Daytona. Those three things were not beneficial to us. We had a tire problem at Atlanta; we had an engine problem at Michigan. Those five races added together have put us in a position to be in the fight we are in. Then along the way, there are little things like 20 points here, five points there, four points that we missed there. I go back after every race and look at where we left points on the table. I have left points on the table by not making the right move at the end of a race. I have left points on the table by not being on pit road at the right speed. All this little stuff adds up when this thing is as close as it is. We have had too many bad finishes in my opinion, at the same token, we have had a lot less bad finishes than a lot of other people. Those are the things that have put us in this position."

ON LUCK FACTOR OF MAKING/NOT MAKING THE CHASE: "Luck is a factor in anything you do. Sometimes you put yourself in a position to have either bad luck or good luck. I don't lose any sleep over bad luck or good luck. When you start worrying about luck, you are just missing opportunity. Luck is a factor in anything you do, there is no question about it. But you can't wish for it or wish against it. It is just out there. I am much more concerned about the things that I can control and this team can control. That is where our focus is."

ON PRESSURE OF THOSE FIGHTING FOR LAST BERTHS IN CHASE AFFECTING RACING AT CALIFORNIA AND RICHMOND: "I think it is going to be like it has been. There is a tremendous amount of respect in this garage from team to team and driver to driver. Everybody is racing hard; everybody is trying to get what they can get. I think the respect level is really high and I don't think people are going to be driving over their head. There are some people who are in desperation mode. But there are way more people that are in their do their thing mode. You can't get in that panic mode because you can't be effective when you are in a panic. You never know what is going to happen, but I don't see the racing being any different. Trying too hard might bring on some mistakes. I think when people have pressure, what tends to be the mistake is trying to hard. You see it in every sport. You can see it in the best athletes in the world. Watching Brett Favre last season; you watch the best coaches in the world and again, desperation puts you in position of trying to hard. That is how mistakes are made, getting off your game. If you get off your game and get off of what you know, then that is when you make mistakes. If you try to change who you are3, that is when you make mistakes, at least that is when I make mistakes. The only reason we are talking about this is because you all brought it up. I think this is fun. This is what it is all about. Again, if you don't want it like this, then don't be in this deal. This is what racing is about. This is what racing for championships is about. You know what, it will start all over in two weeks. It is how it is and how it should be. I relish the opportunity. I think it is a heck of a lot of fun to be part of it.

ON BRISTOL BEING A CALM RACE: "Bristol was a calm race, relatively speaking. I don't know why. I had the luxury most of the night of being toward the front and really didn't get a sense of what was going on for 15th but if you look at Bristol, it was probably one of the calmest Bristol races we have had in a long. We just got tight and we lost some track position there but we just got really tight, that is the biggest thing. At the end, a bunch of people put on new tires and we were too tight to get back by them. We had one change that didn't work and it happened to be the next to the last one, which started the whole chain of events. It was enjoyable for me, I am not going to complain about it. I don't know why it seemed calmer at Bristol. There are a lot of people that can't afford to make mistakes right now, but at the same time, there are a lot of people that are trying to make stuff happen. Sometimes, the stars line up and things work out and I suspect that is more the reason than anything else."

ON AWARENESS OF WHERE COMPETITORS ARE IN CHASE: "I think everyone is aware of where they are in points and who they are racing. I think everyone is aware of situations and of who they are racing, when they are racing them and where they are in points. Matter of fact, I watched the replay of Michigan and during the race Junior (Dale Earnhardt, Jr.) during the race was complaining about the point thing. What we are doing is worrying about ourselves. If we go out and do our job, it won't matter what our competitors do. I don't pay attention lap for lap. I do toward the end of the race, look around and notice where are our competitors are. I have been around long enough to know that if you start looking on lap 200 with 300 to go, it is going to look difference 30 of 500 so I don't pay a lot of attention until it gets down to crunch time."

ON NOT MAKING THE CHASE: "It wouldn't be a lost season for us because we have done some really good things and we have learned a lot. We have made ourselves a better team. We have improved in a lot of areas. We have learned a lot about ourselves so it certainly wouldn't be lost, but it would be disappointing. "

ON DRIVERS WHO MADE THE CHASE LAST YEAR WHO ARE NOT GOING TO THIS YEAR: "The biggest thing is competition. When people step up and do well, it makes everybody around them have to do that as well. The biggest thing is the level of competition. When teams are really good, then everyone around them has to step up and start doing well. I think the teams that weren't doing good enough they have to make their deal better. A lot of teams have improved and some people have worse luck than they did last year. Sometimes luck is a factor. If you go back at last year, there were more people with a chance of making the Chase going in to this race than there are this year. I don't know what that means, but at the end of the day, the good teams made everyone else step up."

ON FEELING GOOD TO LEAD AND CONTROL BRISTOL RACE FOR SO LONG: "It does feel good. At the same time, we haven't got all our business done just yet. We are still working on it. We have a lot to go do that we haven't gotten done. That is really the thing that we are focusing on because we haven't figured out how to do that yet." Right now, I do have a high level of confidence that this team can be successful, but I also know we need to be better. We are not where we need to be just yet."

ON IMPROVEMENTS AT RICHARD CHILDRESS RACING: "I am one part of an organization committed to getting better. I haven't done anything more than anybody else. I try to do my part. I try to help where I can help but I am not doing anything that nobody else is doing. I have received a lot of credit for where we are. Some of it deserved, but most of it isn't. I am working really hard to do my part but so is Kevin (Harvick) so is Cling (Bowyer) so is everybody at RCR. I haven't done one thing that made us better; I am part of a group that is making us better. I honestly believe it."

ON ANY CHANGES TO THE CHASE: "NASCAR needs to do what they think will make it better for the fans and what is in the best interest of the people watching the sport. Whatever they think they need to do, I am good with it. It works pretty good the way it is right now, but maybe it could be better. But what they do with that. That is for them to decide, not me. I am not focused on that.

ON CHANGES TO PEOPLE AND TEAMS IN THE CHASE: "The intensity picks up and peoples mistakes show bigger. It is just a higher intensity level. What used to be at stake for a guy running ninth in points isn't even close to what is at stake now for the guy in ninth. It is the intensity level that is higher. I think it is good for our sport, I think it has made it a whole lot more fun to watch. You have to be right when it is the right time. When it comes time to go, you have to be your best. The Steelers are a perfect example, they were right when the time was right."

ON NOT HAVING CHASE EXPERIENCE: " I think having experience matters, but I think I have the experience. I have been in a championship hunt after championship hunt, I don't think having Chase experience matters."



BEHIND THE HAULER CHAT WITH TONY STEWART, NO. 20 HOME DEPOT MONTE CARLO SS:

IT LOOKS LIKE YOUR POSITION IS FAIRLY SECURE RIGHT NOW, BUT HOW DO YOU LOOK AT IT? "Well, we're just going week-to-week right now. It's not something that we're looking at. I mean, our goal is still the same each week. It means the same thing it did the first time I was asked. We're taking it one week at a time right now and we're doing the best we can and hopefully it's going to be good enough."

BASED ON YOUR EXPERIENCE - ESPECIALLY LAST YEAR WINNING THE TITLE - DO YOU THINK YOU HAVE AN ADVANTAGE THAT ARE BATTLING FOR THESE FINAL QUALIFYING SPOTS? "I don't know that it is an advantage. It's just strictly a matter of having two fairly decent weeks to make sure we get ourselves locked in and once we get locked in, we've got to have 10 good weeks in a row and have 10 weeks that are better than everybody else. It's not rocket science. It's a matter of doing numbers and math. That's what it really boils down to. You've just got to do a better job of adding up the points better than everybody else does."

YOU HAVE A LOT OF EXPERIENCE. SOME GUYS DON'T HAVE MUCH EXPERIENCE. HOW DO YOU THINK THAT WILL AFFECT THE RACING IN THE NEXT TWO RACES? "I don't think it'll change. How you get into the Chase is the same way you win the Chase. So, you've got to go out there and you've got to be good. You've got to be good in 26 races to get in the Chase, and now you've got to be good for 10 after that to win the Chase."

DO YOU FEEL ANY PRESSURE? "No, not really. You just go out and do the same things you always do. It's what I've been doing for eight years. It's no different today and it's not going to be any different next week."

HOW DO YOU FEEL, HEALTH-WISE, AFTER THE FLIP THE OTHER NIGHT? "Oh, it's fine. It wasn't any different than any other time. Trust me, Sprint Car drivers flip all the time. We just had a problem with a steering gear break so it was just bad luck. It's tough because I wanted to run the whole night. I was having a lot of fun. It was a neat race track. That was the smallest track that I've ran with on Sprint Cars. It was a lot of fun."

ON YOUR QUALIFYING RUN, WAS WHAT YOU GOT OUT OF THE CAR WHAT YOU EXPECTED? "I think I know what you mean by that. We picked up three-tenths, which is what we were hoping to do. So I'm not unpleased with that."

HOW IS DENNY HAMLIN, AS A ROOKIE, COPING WITH THE PRESSURE OF THE CHASE? "He has just got a lot of talent. He doesn't worry about..he is very focused on what he does every week. That is the whole teams mindset. Keeping that mindset in mind is keeping him from having to worry about it. It is not a pressure deal. It is just going out doing what we love doing."

HOW DO YOU KEEP FROM LETTING THE PRESSURE BUILD? "I don't know to be honest because I have never fell in to it. All eight years we have been here in the points, we have just strictly dealt with one week at a time. That it is the easiest way to approach it I think. What you do this week is this week. Then once this weekend is over, this weekend is done and you worry about the next one. It is literally that simple for us."

IS THERE A DIFFERENT APPROACH TO BEING IN THE CHASE? HAVE YOU LEARNED ANYTHING SPECIAL FROM HAVING BEEN THERE BEFORE? "Obviously, the last ten weeks, you are racing nine other guys. You aren't worried about the rest of the field. But at the same time you know that everybody on that race track is racing for position and every position is worth points. That is the mindset you keep with it. You know there are still 43 guys on the race track. But out of the other 42 other guys you are racing, only nine of them really matters. You focus more on those nine guys which is the only thing that is really different. And even with that, if you beat those nine guys and in fact beat all 42 that are out there, you still get the most points for that day."

IS THERE ANYTHING IN THE BACK OF YOUR MIND THAT WONDERS WHAT MIGHT HAVE HAPPENED LAST WEEK. "The only thing in the back of my mind is what I am going to do on my next day off. I just try to keep it real simple, I really don't' try to over think it. I don't try to over calculate everything. I am worried about Sunday, then once Sunday is over with then I will worry about what we are going to do for Richmond next week. I literally take it a seven-day cycle at a time. Bristol was last week so it really doesn't matter what we did at Bristol, we are at a totally different track and race this week. So no matter what happened last week, we can't change any of it. We are better off taking all of our energy and focusing on this coming week instead of focusing on something we can't change the outcome of."

DID THE INCIDENT THE OTHER NIGHT CAUSE YOU TO STOP AND THINK ABOUT TAKING IT A LITTLE EASY OR NOT DO THINGS LIKE THAT? "No, because I had to drive on the interstate to get here today. That wasn't anything compared to driving on the interstate here."