KYLE BUSCH, NO. 5 KELLOGG'S MONTE CARLO SS

On Casey Mears joining Hendrick Motorsports:
"I'm sure it will be good. He's got plenty of friends here at Hendrick Motorsports already with Jeff and Jimmie and Brian as well. It will be neat to get the opportunity to work with him and see what exactly he's like."

Do you have an idea of how your crew will be structured?
"There's a few guys in the shop that have come off the road the last few years I'm not so sure they're looking to get back on the road. They've got families. I'm not sure exactly what they're going to do but as long as my No. 5 seat stays intact I'll be all right with whatever."

You would be sharing a shop with Casey, right?
"I'm sure they're going to keep it the same way. The No. 24 and No. 48 have developed their relationship; they No. 5 and No. 25 have theirs."

On building relationships:
"I've been able to work with a lot of people over the years. It's all about trying to learn and create a relationship with that other person and try to figure out how they go about and see if they're capable enough to work together as far as setup and things like that. I've made some mistakes on my part but I'm willing to learn from those and get over those and keep going down the road."

Anything surprise you about Casey?
"No, not really. Everybody's got their own typical way. They go about things different than you, I mean, no two people are exactly the same so it's hard to try and understand a person."

Talk about your father:
"Father's day is coming up this weekend and happy father's day to all the fathers out there but especially mine. He's taught me so much of the ropes that some sons never learn and things like that. Especially the aspect of working as a team and working with people and things like that. Being able to achieve your goals and everything he's ever done for us as far as racing and things like that. As we were growing up, he worked with us as drivers, driving race cars and learning them trying to figure out what we could do in order to make ourselves better by learning the cars."

On testing Busch car at Sonoma:
"We went up and tested the Busch car and had a very successful test. I don't think we're allowed to take that Busch car and paint it with Kellogg's colors on but if they could I wish they would. I'm looking forward to it; we had a good test up there. I feel like I learned quite a bit in Mexico City from Adrian Fernandez and I'm looking forward now to Sonoma and try to learn a little bit more for practice and what-not. It's probably going to be shortened a little bit on Saturday but we're going to make it there in the morning so hopefully we can get it all done in the morning."

What's the difference between Sears Point and Watkins Glen?
"Sears Point has a lot of switchbacks and elevation changes. Watkins Glen is more of a high-speed kind of superspeedway road course with not a whole lot of switchbacks. There's a lot of speed to it and not a whole lot of tight corners to slow you down. Relatively everything's pretty fast. There's a lot of braking in both of them but that's just like any other road course."

Biggest challenge on road courses?
"For me it's probably not over-charging the corner."

On Michigan:
"I've always been able to run pretty well here. For some reason I haven't been able to finish too strong here. I won my Busch series race and finished second in my Truck series race here last year. Had a chance to lead but last year we finished ninth. Overall I'm excited about this weekend. I think we've got a strong car; it's a brand-new one so I'm looking forward to get out there."

How much time do you spend with your teammates?
"Well, there's times here or there when we do. What we've been changing as far as getting with the team after practice, all four crew chiefs, all four drivers talk about practice and qualifying. I missed last weekend's because of Nashville and I'll miss this weekend's because of Kentucky. Next weekend I'll miss because of Milwaukee. I'm might be a little bit behind the eight-ball but I try to catch up with the guys on Friday or early Sunday. Talk to them and see how the meetings went. As far as being able to work with any different teammate on the racetrack, it doesn't much matter. We all try to make sure we get some time in with each other."

Talk about going back and forth to different tracks during a weekend:
"It's tough. Time schedules have to be created, how are you going to get there, how are you going to get back. The private air transport really makes it easier."

On having four premier drivers at Hendrick:
"You can look at it any way you want to but No. 24 (Gordon) is the lead horse and will be until he's out of there, until he retires. No. 48 (Johnson) is always going to be second string and it's a toss-up between the No. 25 (Vickers) and No. 5. I don't care where I am. I don't mind. I'm just there to do my job and win races for Mr. H (Hendrick)."

On going back to Daytona:
"I think we did relatively well at Talladega. There was that really big pile-up early on in the race. That kind of stuff is hard to swallow. You try to go to Daytona and do some stuff a little differently. I'm not sure what to do. I have yet to finish a restrictor-plate race. It's a tough decision to make, whether you want to ride around in the back or whether you want to ride up front. You can wreck running third so it doesn't matter where you're at really. You can get hit from behind running 42nd so it's difficult to understand. I guess it's all about luck."

On difference between a 400 and 500 races:
"Not much difference. It's just a little bit shorter race. Overall everybody's got the same scenario. They know how short it is; they know what you have to do. It doesn't change that much."

Are all four Hendrick cars where they should be?
"Well, I'll tell you, the fourth team the No. 25 team, they're clicking on all cylinders. They ran well at Richmond, finished third there, second at Talladega, again last weekend they ran well. There's no team in our stables that have given us any setbacks or will."

People are already wondering whether you and Casey can get along. Is that blown out of proportion?
"Yeah. I've never been able to get a chance to work with Casey or even really know him or understand him at all. Jimmie, he grew up with him over the years and knows more about him than any of us. I'm looking forward to the opportunity to be able to meet with him and talk with him. I don't have any ill feelings towards him; I think we can put the past behind us and get along. Do what's best for Hendrick Motorsports."

Jeff Burton, No. 31 Cingular Wireless Monte Carlo SS

On your father:
"My father is a very strong-willed, opinionated, confident person and he will pretty easily convince himself that he knows more about a subject than a person who really should know more about that subject. I do that all the time. When I do that, I think 'that's John Burton coming out right there." Certainly around the kids I find myself, my son is almost five and racing quarter midgets, my father, when I was seven, the way he spoke to me I find myself speaking to my son. A lot of things I see similar. I think "that's John Burton right there." My daughter is, personality-wise, a lot like me. Her behavior about certain things, her demeanor is a lot like me. I'm not only noticing it, a lot of people notice it. There's no question that behavior is genetic. She definitely has a lot of me in her."

Does racing make raising children more difficult?
"I think my children have experienced more than most children their age do. A lot of it has to do with me not being a "nine-to-five father". The other side of that is that my children been exposed to things, have had to deal with issues, they've had to mature at a higher rate. So I think in most ways it's about the sport. This sport has a way of helping you. I think that how I as a father respond to things that aren't going well is a great opportunity to teach the kids something. They see good days, they see bad days. My job is out in the open where everyone can see it. I'm not in an office and come home and I can leave it at the office; it's with us all the time. In fact, I think it's better because it has exposed them to so much of what we have to deal with and that will help them when they have to grow up and deal with issues. I happen to think that my job helps me be a better father. I really do."

On MIS:
"To be quite honest, we look at it as a big short track. A real big short track. We don't need to think about straightaways. We need to think about getting around corners. I don't think it being a small racetrack. I think about it as a real big short track."

On racing video games:
"I'm real concerned because my five-year-old can beat me, and if my five-year-old can beat me then how good am I really at this?"

Is this race more important than a lot of other ones?
"I'm not a guy that believes any one race is the pivotal race before the race starts. When the race is over, circumstances can make that race more important. You can't look at one race track and say, 'without a doubt, this race track means a whole lot because.' It's all about circumstances and things that happen. Going into the race, this week's race is just as important as last week's race or next week's race."

On Jeff Gordon struggling:
"I don't need to make comments on another team. I can tell you that they work hard and you've got to have everything working to be successful. Jeff Gordon knows how to drive, Hendrick Motorsports knows how to build a good race car, but right now, if you're off a little bit, it shows up. I don't know enough about the insides of their program but I still consider them to be an exceptionally good race team."

On Sonoma:
"We've done very well on a road course and our expectation is to go there and run in the front. It seems like we're always running in the top five or six. Our expectations are up there but we need to do a better job of finishing. At Sears Point last year we were running in the top ten and we had a top-five car but got wrecked."

On video games as a training method:
"My five-year-old can beat me so if my five-year-old can beat me, than how good am I, really? I don't have the highest-tech technology to get an advantage by playing a video game. My engineer is looking into that. Right now when I'm sitting with a joystick in my hand I'm not quite convinced."

Why are some guys so convinced that it works?
"You convince yourself on anything. This sport has a way of monkey see, monkey do being the thing to do and if you are doing something that's working for you, that's working for you. The problem is that a lot of people look at what's working for somebody and they think that's going to work for them. I'm sure, without a doubt, that using a video game is effective for some people. For me, I've been to Pocono enough times and played the video game and I find everything just wrong with the game. I don't find stuff just right. I'm a little confused to how effective this can be. Is it an excuse like 'hey, boss. I can't go do an appearance or I can't come to work because I've got to play video games all day.' I mean, how much beer do you drink when you play these video games. I'm just a little confused."

On racing against Gordon now compared to five years ago:
"His car's not as fast. I'm not saying his car won't be as fast but right now, his cars don't do the things they used to do relative to the competition. I'm a great example of you don't just roll out of bed one day and forget how to drive, Jeff Gordon hasn't forgotten how to drive. They are a huge force in this sport and will be a huge force in this sport in the future. But right now for whatever reason, they don't go as fast through the corners as they used to go through the corners. That's just how it is. The thing about the No. 24 is they've done such a great job that when they're not doing so great everybody thinks they're doing terrible. It's hard. they're not in the top 10 in points right now but they're not far out of it. If you look at where we are, they're not far behind us. I wouldn't count them out for anything."

Denny Hamlin, No. 11 FedEx Express Monte Carlo SS

"Michigan was a really good track for me last year in the Busch Series, even when we wasn't running that well on the two-mile racetracks. Definitely looking forward to coming back here. We've got pretty much the same package that we had at Pocono. We weren't able to bring that car back. It was just tore up too bad after last week. I'm a little disappointed about that but this is the same car that we ran fourth with at Texas. I'm really excited."

HOW ARE YOU HANDLING SUCCESS? "It's been pretty much an easy week for me, so far. I did a few interviews and stuff. We had testing at VIR this week. It's been sort of a hectic week but it's not been as bad as what I really expected."

ARE YOU GETTING NOTICED AWAY FROM THE TRACK? "Definitely a little bit more. I'm not being called J.J. and Leffler any more, that's for sure."

ARE YOU READY FOR THE DOUBLE-DUTY STUFF AT DIFFERENT PLACES? "I think so. I think it helps me more than it hurts me. When we had the races here we had to run from one to the other and you really don't have enough time to debrief with your crew chief like you should be able to. I like these events where we're kind of stand-alone. I get to spend a lot more time with Mike [Ford, crew chief] and work on fine tuning the car a little bit more."

YOU WILL GET A LOT MORE TIME ON AN AIRPLANE NEXT WEEK. "Next week is going to be the hardest week by far. Rockwell Automation's home is in Milwaukee so I definitely have to spend a little extra hard work trying to win that race. Sonoma is going to be a good track for us. Everybody knows how good Gibbs' stuff is on road courses. I'm really excited about the next two weeks."

ARE YOU WORRIED THAT IT WILL BECOME OVERWHELMING DOING BOTH SERIES, ESPECIALLY WHEN THERE IS TRAVEL INVOLVED? "I hope it doesn't. I hope not to get dragged down too bad. When we talked about our plans for next year, we're going to talk about them in August or September, we've gone through these three or four non-companion races and decide how much is it taking it's toll on you. We'll base our plans on that for next year. I do love running that Busch car. It's a lot of fun when you're competitive, top-five every week. If I was running like I was last year, I'd say forget it, I'll just run Cup. But I think it does help me quite a bit. We'll look at that for next year."

BEFORE THE SEASON STARTED, WAS THE CHASE EVEN TALKED ABOUT? "We knew last year that we had the potential to be a Chase car. We just had to work on our consistency. We can run top-10 every week if nothing goes wrong. It's just that we had a lot of issues and problems with motors and tires and stuff like that. We kind of had a glimpse of it last year but our goals were top-15 in points and try to win Raybestos Rookie of the Year. That was the biggest thing that we tried to accomplish this year. Of course, now that we're in the top-10, we definitely need to realign our goals and try to stay where we're at. And the only way to do it is to keep running top-10 every single week."

ARE YOU ABLE TO STAY FOCUSED ON ONE RACE AT A TIME? YOU'VE GOT TO BE EXCITED ABOUT YOUR CAREER. "You know, honestly, the good thing about Harvick having such a big lead is we're not really pressured to catch him. We're going to do what we can to beat him but it's not we're in a hard-nosed Busch battle. To me, the Busch pressure is off. In my opinion, we're racing for second unless something happens. I go into every Busch race relaxed, completely fine, and I'm able to focus 120 percent on this Cup car because of that. I feel like it's almost a good thing he's got such a big lead over there."

HOW MUCH HAS DALE EARNHARDT JR. HELPED YOU RACING VIDEO GAMES? "I feel like it's helped me quite a bit, not necessarily running against him. There's probably 10-15 guys that are better than me or him on that computer. It definitely is a help for me. I didn't spend any time at Michigan this week so we'll see how it turns out."

WHAT'S MOST ON YOUR MIND ENTERING THE SONOMA RACE? "The biggest thing is staying on the racetrack. They'll probably be 20 cars that can win at Sonoma and probably half of them will run off the track at some time. The biggest thing is to try to get another top-10 and stay solid with no issues and the only way to do that is take it easy on your equipment. I feel like if we can have a week similar to Mexico, I know we're not going to go out there and dominate those guys. It's just not going to happen that way. If we just go out there and run solid like I know we can, we shouldn't lose any points there."

HAS ANYTHING ABOUT THE INCREASED MEDIA ATTENTION SURPRISED YOU? "It's about what I thought right now. It's really no surprises to me, as far as appearances and stuff like that, is pretty much what I thought and the media stuff is what I thought. I thought it really was going to take more of a toll on me that what it has so far. Then again, when you're running good, you're willing to do a few extra things that you probably wouldn't otherwise. Like I say, when you run good it fixes a lot of problems that might be happening. Everything is going really great with our team. Everybody is getting along great. Mine and Mike's communication is getting better every single week. I can tell every week that it's getting better. I'm really excited about the rest of the season."

YOU SEEM TO ENJOY THIS INTERACTION. "I've got a lot of stories to tell from where I came from. It definitely wasn't that long ago, about two years ago that I was racing late models and late models only. To be at this level so soon and actually be semi-successful at it is a huge accomplishment. It's just a testament to how good of a race team that I'm with."

HAVE YOU HAD A CHANCE TO ENJOY ANY OF THIS? "I've had a lot of fun with it so far. Like I say, when you run good, it always makes it seem better. I'm with such a great organization. Joe Gibbs Racing right now is like family. When the 20 car is running good, our team is over there complimenting them. It's just amazing how close those three teams are right now. The 11, 18 and 20 and closer than probably the 18 and 20 ever have been and you've got an extra team thrown in there. I think the results are kind of a testament and showing of that. It's a sign of big things to come from here to the end of the year, obviously."

HAVE YOU GIVEN THOUGHT TO WHEN THINGS AREN'T GOING SO WELL? "I've thought about that and I knew coming into this racing season that there are going to be weeks that we absolutely run like junk. Knock on wood, that hasn't happened yet. We've been at worst a top-15 car at every single racetrack and that means a whole lot. When you can unload and not be in left field, it just makes it a lot easier and makes the driver look 20 times better than what he should. If we can just get on that roll that Stewart and those guys got on last year at this time and we're starting to have that stride. He started knocking off sevenths, eighths, and fifths. He started knocking down top-10 after top-10 and our team is hitting that stride that they had last year. It's definitely paying dividends from what they learned last year at this racetrack. It's definitely helping us this year."

CONTRAST WHERE THIS TEAM'S STATE OF MIND NOW VERSUS WHERE IT WAS LAST YEAR? "Obviously there was a lot of turmoil and issues with this team, driver, crew, crew chief and all that last year. It's amazing, though, that after all that, everyone on this crew had a chance to bail last year when things were not going good. J.D. [Gibbs, team president] gave free reins for people. If they wanted to go, they could. I had amazing guys that chose to stick it out, no matter what. I think that kind of bonded the team ever closer knowing that everything they went through last year and then having success this year, it just made the team that much closer. I couldn't be more proud of them last week. It really showed how tight that they are last week after the performance that they had, not necessarily what I had."

WHAT'S YOUR BIGGEST SURPRISE THIS SEASON? "The biggest thing is probably noticed out. I went to an autograph session last night and just how many people paid attention to the race and knew that I won. I think that probably 99 out of 100 people congratulated me on the win and that means a lot from the fans.