Behind the Hauler Chat with Jimmie Johnson., No. 48 Lowe's Monte Carlo SS

ON BEING GOOD AND BAD AT DIFFERENT TRACKS IN THE CHASE. HOW DO YOU APPROACH THE DIFFERENT TRACKS? "I think the two tracks in the Chase that I get nervous about are, there are actually three, the two mile tracks with Phoenix and Loudon. We've been able to run fair there but not fighting for the win and that's a very strong track for the 20, 29, 31 - a lot of these guys that I think are going to have to race for the championship. Those two tracks hopefully we can find the speed that we need and be up there and earning the points that we need to. Then I think the other one that everybody is worried about is Talladega. Outside of that, I feel like I have a great car. I can win at Talladega. The other eight tracks outside of those two miles are very good tracks for me. I personally think the Chase helps me and helps the 48 team. They're all really good tracks for us. Out of the 10 there's only two that give us a little bit of grief."

YOU'RE STRONG AT MICHIGAN, DOES THAT HELP YOUR CONFIDENCE? "Well it's a different set of worries. I feel like we're going to have the speed and be able to compete for the win but the unknown of crashes and losing points, that's the real thing in the Chase that we're worried about and that's why Talladega is such a nail-biting experience for everybody."

THE ROUSH TEAMS HAVE STRUGGLED THIS YEAR EXCEPT FOR MATT KENSETH. DO YOU THINK BEFORE THE YEAR IS OUT YOU'RE GOING TO HEAR FROM THOSE GUYS? "Well I think that Roush is definitely a very strong organization. Those of us that have been around the sport for years know that people come and go in cycles. It's not that they plan it to be that way or want it to go that way. Certain teams hit on certain things that fit their driving style. Organizations find speed that take them to the top of our series. Things come and go in waves and there still a lot of racing left and Roush is a very competitive company and in my opinion, a dangerous company for the championship. They are a very, very strong organization. Having as many races as we do left, it's within their reach to find what they had last year at this time. Between all five cars dominating week after week, I think they have that ability. I think Gibbs has that ability. I think Childress does and I think Hendrick does. I think your champion will come out of those four companies. It's just a matter of which team gets everything working right."

ON THE LUCKY DOG RULE: "I think any rule gets questioned at some point. Last week with Kyle (Busch) I'm sure some people feel like that rule is getting abused. There's other weeks where that rule is very fair and it does its job. When you have 38 races a year I think it's hard to make rules that consistently do the right thing time after time. As a whole, that's a good compromise of situations to give somebody their lap back. Thinking of safety, competition, teammates cutting favors to people, if you think back to the days where we didn't have the lucky dog you just had to hope you're friends with the guy leading the race and for him to cut you break and let you get your lap back. Today that doesn't take place. I really think the lucky dog situation is the right compromise."

SHOULD THERE BE LIMITS ON IT? "I don't think so. Then we'll just argue the point of why it was two and not three. It is what is. If we could stay on the road and not have so many cautions then we wouldn't have to worry about the lucky dog situation."

LAST WEEK HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS RE-SIGNED CHAD KNAUS. BEING THE WINNINGEST TEAM IN THE SERIES THIS YEAR, DOES THAT ADD TO YOUR CONFIDENCE HEADING INTO THE CHASE? "We were all operating under a contract that had two years left on it. Lowe's came in and put their situation together with Rick (Hendrick). Then I was next in line. Then Chad (Knaus) was able to get his piece put together right there before Indy. It does give us confidence. I think it's rare in our sport for a driver-team combination to go as long as ours has, plus to have a sponsor, driver, crew chief and team locked up for as many years is as we all are. I think that's rare. It sends a message through our industry that we're all for each other, with each other and we're a great team and that we think we'll be that way for a long, long time. It does give us a confidence on that side. But the fact that our contracts still had two years to go on them, we were never in an uncomfortable situation. It was really like 'Wow, they think a lot of us to be able to re-sign Hendrick, myself and Chad to that.' It was more of a pat on the back than anything."

ON WINNING BOTH THE DAYTONA 500 AND THE BRICKYARD 400: "It's been a great experience. I really think once the year is over I'll have some more time to reflect on it. You're only as good your last race and I finished 17th last week. The highs of Daytona seem like they were last year or maybe two years ago for that matter. It seems so long ago. Then (came) the emotions from the Glen that have played over. They weren't good ones. I think once we get through the season I'll have a chance to look back. Right now our eyes are on the championship, for me to do what I can in the car to be a champion and for the team to develop to be a champion as well."

WILL YOU DO ANYTHING SPECIAL GOING BACK TO YOUR HOME AREA IN CALIFORNIA? "There are really a few cool things going on. I believe I'm going to go out and do the (Jimmy) Kimmel Show. I'm going to go on a little fishing trip actually before we get to California with some friends, go up to Alaska and do some fishing. I'm going to come down and do Kimmel and then go out to the race track. It's a big weekend for myself and Chanda. We have the Jimmie Johnson Foundation car that's going to run on Saturday in the Busch race. So with that there's a lot of great things going on with the coin that fans can buy at JimmieJohnsonFoundation.org or actually make a donation and receive the coin is what I should say. There's been a lot of planning, a lot of different things going on with that event and trying to raise money for our foundation and the Victory Junction Gang camp where we're building a bowling alley. It's going to be a very busy weekend for me especially Saturday with all the great things going on, driving the Busch car and promoting our foundation. Then as we get into Sunday it's going to be business as usual and worrying about a championship."

ON IF HE HAS BEEN TO ALASKA: "Well actually I was pretty young. I think I was just getting out of sixth grade. I went up with my parents to visit my grandparents. I used to fish up and down the West Coast all the time and spent some time up in Alaska with them. I was so young and barely remember the experience. I'm really looking forward to this. It will be a good time."

HAS IT HELPED YOU THAT YOU'VE HAD A BUBBLE MENTALITY, THINKING THAT NOBODY HAS REALLY BEEN SAFE IN THE CHASE? "I don't think you can put your guard down at anytime. Granted we're in a safe situation in the points but I'm really looking at who's been earning the most points over the last 10 races, who that is and what they've been doing. We've been right there with those guys. The 29, 31 and 5 have been very strong so we're looking at a couple of other races for points inside the overall transferring situation to get into the Chase. I keep saying it, I think this year's Chase is going to be extremely exciting, extremely competitive and really interesting for the fans."

IS THERE PRESSURE AS THE LEADER? "I don't think pressure falls into that. I put a lot of pressure on myself. I do think it's the point leader's role to try to keep the 400-piont gap there. We put a lot of other pressure on ourselves worrying about other things. That's just kind of a bonus where it needs to take place. Whoever the points leader has been, it's been their objective to try and keep it a 10-man race. I can remember from the first Chase that we had through last year, that was a pretty good talking point that everybody wanted to keep it a 10-car race instead of possibly more."

WHAT DID GOING TO RICHMOND DO TO ADD EXCITEMENT TO THE CHASE? "Again, it just depends on where you are in that whole thing. Going into that race, there's so much more pressure that the race in Richmond feels like Homestead. You're shot to be a champion relies on that race for some of the guys. With the way it looks right now, there will be four or five guys where that race is really important to them to get in the Chase. That pressure and all that is there. It wakes me up usually to say 'OK, here come those 10 races where this is going to be what you experience every week.' It gets me prepared. People that are safe in the points know to buckle down. I saw some of the biggest smiles last year outside of the car where guys maybe didn't have the best race that night but they beat their competition and made it the Chase. They were so relieved and happy to have a shot at the championship. There's going to be a lot of emotion. It's hard to say if it will be all excitement or negative emotion but there's going to be a lot going into it and it gets everybody ramped up for the final 10."

DO YOU PLAN ON PARTICIPATING IN THE CAR OF TOMORROW TEST? HOW MUCH INTEREST DO YOU HAVE IN HOW THE TOYOTA CAMRY PERFORMS? "I've been in the Car of Tomorrow up at the Milwaukee Mile. I drove it some up there. I think Jeff (Gordon) is slated for this test. They're planning on putting me in at a later date. So Jeff will be there.

"Toyota is going to come in and be competitive and I think it will be fun to see them on the track but our rules are so limited. There's only so many areas that you can have freedom to explore and develop. I really think Toyota is going to come in, they're going to be right on the mark and be competitive but it's not going to be a runaway situation like some people fear. Our rules don't allow us to really advance in technology. It's designed to keep things fair and leave it in the drivers hands and crew chiefs hands. Even GM teams like ours, we have a lot of technology that we're sitting on that we would love to go race against Toyota on and see who has the best manufacturers support and who has the best teams but our rules limit that to keep it in the drivers and crews hands."

WHAT DID YOU MAKE OF THE SITUATION WHERE JEFF GORDON PUSHED MATT KENSETH? WAS THAT UNUSUAL? "I was shocked a lot like everyone else that Jeff came out of the car with the fire in his eyes that he did but at the same time he was pretty upset with what had happened. He went from running inside the top five to losing a lot of points. Today he could have used those points. It would put him in a safe situation in the Chase. I think then he knew how important that race was and that top five and I think all that emotion built up and we all saw that on television. I'm sure it will be played a few times leading into the race Saturday night."

WITH JEFF TRYING TO MAKE THE CHASE AND MATT ALREADY BEING IN THE CHASE, DOES THAT MAKE FOR SOME INTERESTING TIMES NEXT WEEK? "It's really tough to say. The longer you are in this sport and especially someone in Jeff or Matt's position, there's nothing to come from it to sit there and continue and keep a rivalry going and messing with each other. Jeff is hopefully in the Chase. If they have bad blood they're going to hate seeing each other on the track. If Matt does something to Jeff and Jeff doesn't make the Chase, Jeff doesn't have anything to lose so Matt's going to have to deal with him for 10 races. I think those scenarios run through everybody's minds and it's just best to bury it and move on. If they get in the race and somebody roughs somebody up, I think your short term frustration shows up and people start doing things then but I don't think Jeff or Matt would carry anything into that race based on what went on at Bristol and Chicago."

ON GOING TO BRISTOL: "I'm ready for it. I'm ready to have it behind me. That race is a great a time. I love going there and I love watching races. I even enjoy being in the race but you never know what is going to happen. It's a lot like a plate race. I look forward to being in the helicopter leaving that race hopefully with a lot of points and heading back to Charlotte."

IS IT HARD TO BELIEVE WITH ALL THE PARITY TODAY THAT CHEVY HAS WON THE LAST SEVEN RACES? "I didn't notice that. I have to give Chevy a lot of credit for it. They've spent a lot of time developing the new car, the new body for this year. I've got a great support staff that works with the teams. They're always trying to develop new things in the engine department but the key is getting it approved by NASCAR. We have a lot of changes that we would like to make but getting it approved is the hard part. Within the rule system they've done a great job supporting the teams like we need it. Another brilliant move on they're behalf is the relationships they've built with the top teams. I think in the early days they recognized the power teams and knew how to support them and keep them in their brand and supply them with the right tools to go out there and win races. I think there are a lot of levels to why Chevy has been so successful in our sport since the beginning of time. I think the stats favor Chevy with wins and Manufacturers Cup and all those different things. I really think one, it's technology and two, it's the relationships they've built with teams and drivers over the years."

Behind the Hauler Chat with Jeff Gordon., No. 24 DuPont Monte Carlo SS

ON SALARIES: "You know, I'm not sure what those numbers are exactly. I'm curious to know. I have a different opinion on salaries and things. I think that for the first year or two we should all be on salary caps until we prove ourselves. I feel like to just throw a bunch of money around, it just really dilutes the sport and hurts. really giving guys the proper opportunity to go out and prove themselves and really focus on the driving. What we're all here for is to win races and gather trophies. I look at how much I made as a rookie. I didn't make a lot of money and I didn't get swayed by tons of money. I exceeded my expectations because I won two races and the third year I won a championship and that's when my salary really went up. Once you start winning races and championships you want to be a part of the market. You want to be where you feel like you deserve to be. I think until you prove yourself that there should be a different level. Brian Vickers has won a Busch championship and he's been in the sport for a couple years so it doesn't surprise me that he's been offered good money but what those numbers are, I couldn't tell you."

IS THAT BECAUSE GUYS LIKE YOURSELF ASK FOR MORE? "I can put it in a different perspective from crew members and people that work for us that have been offered big money. Go back to my pit crew, for instance, that Robert Yates paid a lot of money to as a group. And you know what, they went over there and they did well for a while, but where are they now? That's the way we look at it, at Hendrick Motorsports. If you want to be there, then we want you there. If we have to step your pay up a little bit because you're worth it, then we're going to do that. But if those numbers start to get out of the realm and ridiculous and someone else is offering you that and you'd rather be there then we say "bye." Go do it, you know. We've already have had guys that have left us for more money and have come back within a week because they know how good of an organization we have. And they realize that money is not everything. That's important, you know, and money is not everything. There may have been opportunities for me to go out there and really feel it up and possibly make more money somewhere but would I have been as successful, as happy, as in good of hands as I have been at Hendrick Motorsports? I'm very doubtful of that. That's what we try to do - to really create that kind of atmosphere for all of the people that work at Hendrick Motorsports. To know that you're going to get paid good money here, you're going to have benefits, you're going to be part of an organization that's going to win races and championships on a pretty consistent basis, hopefully. Some years are going to be up, some are going to be down but if it's all about the money then go somewhere else."

GAUGE YOUR OPTIMISM RIGHT NOW: "Well, it's not so comfortable position. We're in there but it's so tight that for us it's really intense right now. Every qualifying session is important, every race, every lap is important. We're fighting for positions right now harder than we ever have. We've been putting up a good fight but unfortunately we've been putting up a fight for 12th and 15th place positions. We've been getting ourselves into a hole and we've got to make that fights for top fives. I'm hoping we can turn some things around here. We've been running good. That's the thing I like; now we're running good, now we've got to get some of the good fortune and put ourselves into good positions to get that good fortune and fight to maintain that."

ON BRISTOL THIS YEAR COMPARED TO LAST: "It's a lot different this year. We struggled at so many places last year and Bristol was like our last hope. I feel like this year we're running good at a lot of places and we just have to make sure that we get out of it what we're capable of. Last year, we weren't capable of being in the top five in races. I feel like coming in this week and next week and next week we're capable of being in the top five."

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT WHAT PEOPLE SAY REGARDING HOW NASCAR WILL MAKE IT HAPPEN SO YOU GET IN THE CHASE? "Last year was pretty obvious about that, how it wasn't the case or else we would have been in there. The only thing that creates that sentiment is that when NASCAR says they're going to adjust the points. It makes you wonder why they're doing that - who is not in there that they want in there. I want to talk to them about that because I think if they were really considering doing a change I think that something that could be fun and exciting is you take the top 10 guys and anybody who has won a race, they get to come in. Because it's unfortunate that in those first 26 races it's easy to have some bad luck and we've seen it happen to some good teams. But teams that have won races and you think could be a real threat for the championship, you do want to see them in there battling for the Chase. So that's something that I think. But the conspiracy stuff, the fans are always going to have their opinions and I love it, because if they didn't have their opinions then we wouldn't have as much stuff to talk about."

DO YOU THINK THEY WOULD LISTEN TO YOU? "I don't know. I do plan to tell them. I'm going to talk to them about the Car of Tomorrow after Monday. I haven't had a chance to talk to Brian (France) or Mike (Helton) about what their thoughts are, if any, if they'll make a decision. I certainly have my opinions, I don't know if they will listen but I'm going to get it to them."

DID YOU KNOW THAT CHEVROLET HAS WON THE LAST SEVEN RACES? "No, I didn't know that. It does amaze me because I don't think that Chevrolet has necessarily been the fastest car every weekend. Last weekend there's no doubt that the Dodge was the best car. Kurt Busch had us covered and we know what problems he's ran into. There's been certain tracks where certain teams and drivers have put together the best program. It's nice that it's Chevrolet, but I think that no matter what manufacturer you have, you'd see the same results because of the team. You take that combination and they're going to make the most of it."

DO YOU STILL SEE ROUSH RACING AS A THREAT? "Well, obviously you want momentum going into it. I think Kenseth has been able to maintain his good runs and that momentum. I'm a little bit surprised. I don't feel like is as much as they've lost anything as other teams have gained. They were strong last year and it happens to a lot of teams. I've been in that position before where you're so strong the year before that you're afraid to change too much going into the next season that you tweak here and you tweak there to get a little bit better and then other teams find something big and all of a sudden you're behind. That can happen to anybody."

HOW COMPETITIVE DO YOU EXPECT TOYOTA TO BE NEXT YEAR? "I don't know. I don't expect them to be a threat for the championship but I wouldn't be surprised if they have some good races. I wouldn't be surprised if they are fast at times. But I'm looking at the depth of the teams; I'm not looking at what Toyota is bringing to the table. I'm looking at it as start-up teams, new crew chief/driver combinations, what their driver lineups are. I think that you've got somebody like Jarrett, a quality driver that's going to be consistent; he's going to give them a lot of good information. But he's coming from an organization that's struggled and I think his confidence is down a little bit and he needs that boost and if they can give it to him then he can win some races next year. But again, I don't think they're going to be a threat for the championship. I just think that you're up against Hendrick Motorsports, you're up against Roush Racing, Penske, Gibbs, RCR, you've got other teams that are established and have driver/crew chief combinations and have been working on what they need to go fast for several years. I give a lot of credit to that. And the fact that this is NASCAR because of how much they limit you from being able to use that technology. You can have all the technology in the world but if you're not able to apply it the way you want to it's not going to do you as much good. it's not going to give you as much of an advantage. And this is not the Truck series. The Truck series is not near as competitive as the Cup series is. We're not getting out-budgeted or anything like that. You've got top teams with top funding and I think Toyota is definitely going to elevate it and push us as well as other teams to find areas where we can make ourselves better. But I think that it's going to take them a couple of years to establish themselves as solid teams."

WHAT DO YOU KNOW OF DAVID GILLILAND? "I only know that I saw him win the Busch race and he did a great job of running that race. It's always cool to see an unsponsored or basically a new team and driver get their first win. It's exciting to see someone like him come along. I always like to see guys get a couple years under their belt in the Busch series before they jump into the Cup series. He's definitely got a tall order there because Yates has been struggling but I think it's a boost for them and their company to have a young, talented driver that maybe they can build on."

WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF KURT BUSCH'S INCIDENT LAST WEEK? "I kind of feel like that light needs to be moved out a bit further. If the light is right at the line, if you're committed and that light turns red, you've got no option of trying to avoid it. Where I feel like if the light was mover further out ahead of the pit road entry and you drive by it and it's green, then I think that. there should be a safe zone there where you're committed. I think that would be a little bit better. It still comes down to the luck of you make your decision, and it happens almost every weekend, where we make our decisions and sometimes it works for you and sometime it works against you."

ARE THERE ANY TRACKS THAT YOU DON'T LIKE, POSSIBLY CHARLOTTE? "I like Charlotte, we ran good at Charlotte but we did have our problems so I'm more concerned with tracks that we don't run good at than tracks where we have bad luck at. I feel like you make your luck by being competitive and putting yourself in good positions. I'm more concerned right now about Richmond, trying to get in the Chase. Richmond has been not a good track for us the last few times we've been there, not to mention we've had bad luck there as well. I'm trying to think of some tracks that are in there. Is New Hampshire in there? I mean, New Hampshire is a track that we typically run good at but we didn't the last time we were there so we have some concerns. I couldn't even tell you which tracks are in the last ten. So until I get in the Chase. Texas is probably my number one concern. We've struggled there and I feel like we've made some gains to help us in Texas but I can't guarantee that, don't know. But we've been at best, a 15th place car the last three times we've been there."

DO YOU SEE ANOTHER FOUR-TIME CUP CHAMPION? "Yeah, why not? I think that if you get on a roll and you get your equipment where it needs to be and you stay on top of it and you have a good driver and a good crew chief and a good pit crew, I mean, there's no doubt in my mind that somebody can come and not only win four championships but win ten or so races in a single season as well. I think you're capable of it but it's not easy to do. I don't know if you're going to see a lot of it but I still think it's possible."

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE CAR OF TOMORROW? "I'd rather really hold my comments until after I test it because I don't really know, I look at the car and I question a lot of things. Our car right now is a race car and as much of a race car is a stock car can be, and I look at the Car of Tomorrow and I don't see much of a race car there and so I have some concerns. I also like the fact that they are trying to do some things to make the car safer and they're also trying to make the cars put on a better race and have more side-by-side racing but I don't know if they're accomplishing that yet until I get out there and drive it some more."

WOULD YOU BE SHOCKED TO SEE MARK MARTIN OUT THERE AGAIN NEXT YEAR? "I wouldn't be shocked at all. Not many drivers will ever come along that are like Mark Martin. He's got a tremendous amount of talent and commitment and I think he's the kind of guy that as long as he's competitive he doesn't want to step away from it. He could step away any time and be proud of his accomplishments other than a championship. He's probably the only guy out there that deserves the championship as much or more than anybody that hasn't achieved that. So I wouldn't be surprised to see him out there. He's a racer and age doesn't really apply to him."

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE PAST CHAMPIONS PROVISIONALS? "I think it's being abused, put it that way. As long as it's there and people can utilize, if NASCAR keeps it that way, and that's the way it's been then they're not breaking any rules. I don't think I necessarily agree with it. I think the fastest 43 cars should be in the field every weekend."

Behind the Hauler Chat with Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 8 Budweiser Monte Carlo SS

AS A BUSCH TEAM OWNER, WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT HALF THE BUSCH SERIES DRIVERS BEING FROM THE CUP SERIES? "Yeah, it makes it difficult for some of the other teams that are trying to run a full Busch Series schedule without a whole lot of help. We have RCR motors and that makes a big difference. That's a big advantage for us over some of these guys. It's good competition, I'll tell you that. It makes you really work hard for what you can get."

WHAT KIND OF COMPETITOR IS RICKY BOBBY? "He's one of those guys that, I don't know, he don't seem like he has any talent but seems to run good. You don't really know why he runs pretty good. I guess he's just really lucky."

HOW IS YOUR TEAM APPROACHING THE LAST FEW RACES BEFORE THE CHASE ESPECIALLY WITH MANY DRIVERS BEING IN THE POSITION OF TRYING TO GET IN: "Well we're racing right now just one guy and that's Kasey (Kahne) and if we can get in front of a couple guys in front of us. We definitely got the opportunity to do that. The guys behind Kasey are a good 140, 170 points out. If we don't have any major catastrophes, we want to be fast by them or have to challenge them."

YOU QUALIFIED WELL HERE BUT HAVEN'T FINISHED WELL. CAN YOU EXPLAIN WHY? "I ran third last time we were here. I was pretty good with that. That's the last I time I was here and that's what we brought back and it's running real good right now. I don't really remember why we didn't run good before and don't dwell on it too much."

IF YOU HAVE TO RUN AN INTENSE RACE AS THE LAST RACE BEFORE THE CHASE, IS RICHMOND THE PLACE TO DO THAT? "Oh yeah. It's a great race track, a lot of grooves to race in the corner makes for great side-by-side racing. It's a great challenge for the drivers. I think a lot of drivers really enjoy it and absolutely it's one of the best tracks on the circuit and perfectly fitted for trying to make it into the Chase here."

ON PREPARING FOR THE CHASE: "Well we're working real hard to get what we can on the tracks that we feel like we can run good at this year. Bristol has been a good track for us but anything can happen there. California we're hopeful what we learn here is going to help us in California. We say we got this place figured out and now we got to go to California and see if we can make the same thing work. Hopefully we'll be fine there."

WHAT IS THE KEY TO RUNNING WELL HERE AT MICHIGAN: "Well you've got to be able to run all over the track. A lot of guys run the bottom and a lot of guys can run the top. You need to be able to run pretty much wherever you can and wherever your opportunities to pass are. I got a fast car running at the top and I like that."

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE CAR OF TOMORROW AND WHERE ARE YOU GUYS AT WITH IT? "I have no idea. I haven't messed with it and haven't tested it much. I haven't even thought about it really."

DO YOU WANT TO MESS WITH IT? "Eventually when I get around to it you're going to have to but not really. It's a lot of work trying to figure everything out. We're still trying to figure these things out. I don't know. Hopefully we got good people in the right places."

DID PRACTICE TELL YOU ANYTHING? "We're comfortable. We're fast. We had good lap times. We practiced in race trim and were really quick. I think I got as good of a car as I did last time if not better."

Behind The Hauler Chat With Jeff Burton, No. 31 Cingular Wireless Monte Carlo SS

HOW CONFIDENT ARE YOU TO ENTER THE CHASE AND IF YOU DO, WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO WIN THE CHAMPIONSHIP? "I feel good about where we are; at the same time, I know that we can get from where we are pretty quickly and go the other way. So we're working hard on staying focused these next four races and we'll run the best we can. That's the way you get points, is by running the best you can and finishing the best you can. That's our focus is first, to get in the Chase and then as we're trying to get into the Chase to be able to improve so that when things go our way and we do get in we're at our very best at the right time. But it requires you to be at your best to get in the Chase."

I'm a realist - I understand that there's going to be teams that are in it right now that won't be in it after the next four races and there are some teams that aren't in it that will be. Confident is a highly overused word. If you're confident you are going to be in the Chase, that's arrogance. That's easily confused with confidence. In my opinion, there are people walking around making comments like they're going to be in the Chase, there's no doubt. I just don't think that's realistic, I think that's arrogance. I've been around long enough to understand that things happen that you don't want to happen; there's good and bad. We're just going to take one race at a time like we've done all year long."

NASCAR IS TALKING ABOUT CHANGING THE SYSTEM AGAIN. DO YOU LIKE THE WAY IT IS NOW? "I like the way it is now and I'd like to see how they want to tweak it before I make comments. But I'm a sports fan and I enjoy watching the intensity. to me the most exciting sporting event as far as the tournament thing goes is NCAA basketball. The reason that's so cool is that you either win or go home. I like that elimination process and I think if we could expand our elimination process it may make it even that much more enjoyable."

DO YOU WANT TO SEE MORE POINTS AWARDED TO THE WINNERS? "I don't care much about that, I really don't. I think whatever the point system is then the people that take the best advantage of it will come out the best. I honestly don't care how they award points other than to say that you always have to keep in mind that these are endurance races. These are long races - we've become accustomed to it and we've come to believe it's normal but if you compare this to most forms of motorsports these are longer races and the endurance side of things is a relevant point. I think you do have to reward consistency and reliability and at the same time winning should be rewarded higher than anything else because you've done everything when you won."

IS BRISTOL THE BIG HURDLE IN THESE LAST FOUR RACES? "I think that going to Watkins Glen, to me there's been several major races this year that came in groups. The Sears Point/Daytona thing, then the Watkins Glen/Bristol thing I think those races coupled closely together have a way of potentially having a major impact on the championship chase. Certainly Bristol is. anything can happen, but anything can happen any week. We've seen every week championship contenders get into something so it can happen anywhere but I certainly think Bristol is a huge hurdle that could affect a lot of teams that are gunning for the championship."

HOW SURPRISED ARE YOU THAT CHEVROLET HAS WON SEVEN RACES IN A ROW? "Well, I am surprised just from a statistical standpoint because that's hard to do. I'm not surprised about the success because of the effort that they put in. The longer I'm with Chevrolet the more I'm impressed with the effort that goes into their motorsports programs. They put it on a high priority, they fund it properly, they are aggressively going after trying to win races and learn on the racetrack. The results are because of the effort that they are putting in but from a statistical standpoint, to win seven in a row is very, very difficult."

DO YOU THINK THAT THE DODGE AND FORD TEAMS ARE GOING TO GO TO NASCAR AND LOBBY FOR SOME HELP? "I think that any manufacturer will always lobby for help but I think that it will fall on deaf ears. At the end of the day NASCAR's done a better job of ever of making things equal. The reality of it is Ford, Dodge and soon to be Toyota, their engine package as compared to ours is in another world. They have a way more modern engine package that we do; they have, by far, better opportunities to succeed with their engine programs based on approval processes that Ford and Dodge have been able to make happen, and next year with Toyota as well. The facts are that at the end of the day, they have the latest, greatest engine package and we're still racing 30- to 40- year-old technology."

STICKING AROUND MONDAY FOR THE TEST? "No, we're not. We've been to pretty much every test; we're not going to be at this test though. NASCAR made some more aero changes to the Car of Tomorrow as well as some chassis changes. We couldn't be ready and at this point we have a lot of information. To get more information that isn't a 100% usable is probably not in our best interest. So we're not going to go to this test just because with all we're trying to get done right now we couldn't get ready and be 100%. We couldn't have the latest aero changes, the latest chassis changes. We're about a week away from really being able to have that so we opted not to come."

WHERE DOES THE FINAL RACE FOR THE CHASE (RICHMOND) FIT IN? IT'S A POPULAR TRACK. "As far as racing goes, I think Richmond is tops. It's side-by-side race action and still small enough to be good short-track racing action but big enough to have the speeds and the stuff that creates a whole hell of a lot of excitement for the fans. I just don't know if you can get a whole lot better than Richmond. I think it's the best all-around racetrack we come to. To have the Chase start there; to have all that action and all that drama unfold at Richmond - a track that has a tremendous amount of that anyway - I think it's pretty cool."

YOUR TEAMMATE KEVIN HARVICK HAS A CHANCE TO WIN BOTH CUP AND BUSCH TITLES. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THAT? "The Busch thing, they've just been the dominant force. As the year has progressed, certainly there have been teams that could outrun him in a two- or three- race stretch. But for the majority of the year there's been nobody who can run with him. They've earned their championship contention; they've earned their lead. At the end of the day, like I said before, the people that do the best are the people that take the points system and use it. Right now, they're doing it in both series."

A FEW WEEKS AGO, WARD BURTON SEEMED TO HAVE A DEAL PUT TOGETHER. IS HE STILL WORKING ON SOMETHING? "Ward and I haven't spoken specifically about what he's working on; I don't 100% know. I do know that he wants to get back in this sport but he only wants to get back in if it's the right situation. Time will tell."

YOU MENTION YOU'RE A SPORTS FAN AND LIKE THE DRAMA OF SPORTS - THIS HAS TO BE AN EXCITING TIME FOR YOU. "I do appreciate it; I do appreciate the opportunity to be able to compete at a high level. I don't take it for granted which is probably something I would have done a few years ago. At the same time I'm not real good at relishing the moment - I'm more concerned about what we'll be doing tomorrow. We're working really hard; we're working really well together. We have an opportunity to do some really good things here and we don't want to let that go. At the same time we know we have to continue to improve and that's what we're going to do. We're going to continue to make it better and we're thinking about next year too. We can't just think about this year, although this year is a pressing issue, we also have to be preparing for next year. A lot of changes are coming next year and we've got to be ready for them. As we focus in on these next four races - and then the last ten - we're also focusing on the next year so we can do this again. If you don't aggressively work to get better and better you will progressively get worse and worse. The only way to get better is to look at what's coming and try to go to a system that makes it work."

HOW ARE YOU ABLE TO JUGGLE NASCAR WITH FAMILY? "I think for me there's the huge advantage of having done this my whole life. I've traveled and raced my whole life; my wife's a huge supporter of what I do. My children were born while I was doing this so to them it's normal. We do work very hard to make sure we spend the right amount of time together. We work very hard as a husband and wife and also as a family. And you do have to work at it in any circumstance, much less one like this where you're gone so much, requires attention and effort. And we try to put extra effort into it. My kids travel with us a lot so we can spend time together. Overall it works pretty well. This is what their life is and as my children become older - especially my daughter, she's 11 now - it gets harder to have them here every weekend because they have things going on. But it is what it is and we just make it work, but we do work at it."

ROOKIE DRIVERS SAY THAT TO GET HERE DRIVING ASPECT IS 60% OF IT. "It was really big too. I don't know if it's any more today than it was 10 years ago. It is important. I think driving is more than 60% of it, though. The people that say that driving is only 60% of it are the people that aren't in here. The people that are in here are saying that it's 90% driver and the people that aren't are saying it's 50% driver. That's just natural. At the end of the day, a really, really good driver with a short personality and efficiencies will still be here. The hardest thing is getting the opportunity. I think the thing that's not fair in this sport is that there are so many people that are so talented that will never get a chance to show their abilities. Unlike football and basketball where if you didn't go to college you can still try out. That's not the case here and that to me is the hardest thing about this sport."

HOW DO YOU SEE YOURSELF HERE? YOU'RE NOT ONE OF THE YOUNG DRIVERS. "I think when people think of me they think of Mark Martin and Dale Jarrett, I don't know. I don't think about that a lot. I am who I am and I fit in wherever that fits me. I don't try to put myself somewhere. I know how old I am, I've been here as long as I've been here and my personality is what it is so that puts me wherever it puts me. I can't control it and I don't try to."

HOW WOULD YOU COMPARE RICHARD CHILDRESS RACING (RCR) NOW VERSUS WHEN YOU FIRST JOINED? "It's a whole different company, really. Every part of our company has been improved. Aero engineering, engines, chassis, in my opinion Richard has set out to improve every part of the program and every part of the program has improved. Every part of the program needs to be improved again, it still needs to take another step, but we've just made a quantum leap in each part of the company being able to provide a better service."

WHAT DOES THAT LEAP DO TO DRIVER ATTITUDE? "Well, the whole thing about racing is speed. If you can go fast you can make things happen. If you can't go fast then you are waiting for things to happen and you are waiting for other people to make mistakes and that kind of thing. When you have speed it enables you to force the momentum, to force your tempo. And that's what we have today. The attitude going into races is totally different. Instead of waiting and hoping and trying to 15th our way into the deal, we're trying to win races. It's just a much more exciting way to come to a race weekend."

WHAT WAS IT LIKE WHEN YOU FIRST JOINED? "It's all the same people. Through three or four years of not having success, people were down. There were a lot of people working in different directions. Everybody was working hard but I think a lot of people were working in different directions. Now it's much more organized, it's much more together, it's much more focused. It's the same quality of people we always have but now those people are pulling together more and in the same direction."

WHAT WOULD IT MEAN TO RCR'S FAN BASE FOR IT TO BE THIS YEAR'S CHAMPION? "Well, Richard is an immensely popular car owner. He's one of the most popular and well-known car owners in this sport and I think the fans recognize and appreciate all the effort he's put into the sport and all the things he did with Dale Earnhardt. I think that a title would be a very positive thing for this sport and the fans would appreciate it."

WHAT'S THE FEELING IN THE GARAGE ABOUT TOYOTA COMING TO NEXTEL CUP? "Spending money. In a brief sentence, it's spend, spend, spend. I'm not saying that in a negative way but if you ask people in the garage, money always comes up. They're trying to hire away a lot of talent by spending a tremendous amount of money and that right now is the big feeling - that Toyota is trying to buy their way in. I'm not holding it against them. This is America and free enterprise; they can do whatever they want to do. At the end of the day, they're throwing a lot of money at engineers, crew chiefs, tire changers, fabricators, drivers to woo them over into the Toyota camp. They're trying to get a good base on which to build on. That shouldn't be held against them but there is a little bit of fear of them driving the costs of racing up. If you ask crew members or drivers that issue always comes up."

WHAT EFFECT WILL IT HAVE ON THE COMPETITION? "I think the competition will be amplified. I think they'll come in and try to make a run at winning races immediately and make a run at the championship. I think that next year, when I look at it on paper, will be the most competitive year we've ever had. My big concerns for the sport is that I think we have too many sponsors. I know that sounds crazy but when we have to start sending sponsors home because there's 47 or 48 fully-sponsored teams. That's bad for our sport. It's bad to have to many. That to me right now is the biggest concern. When Toyota came in, with the exception of Bill Davis, they didn't come in and acquire existing teams, they started new teams. Bill Davis had one team, Michael Waltrip's starting now with three. There's a lot of things that are happening that are going to increase the car count by a tremendous amount and sponsorships will be increased too. So when we spend sponsors home because there's not enough spots for the race, I think that's a bad thing for our sport."

WHAT EFFECT DO YOU THINK THAT WILL HAVE ON SPONSORS? "I think sponsors will be wary. when you have major corporations with hospitality and commercials bought on TV and all the stuff going on around the marketing program of racing, to start not being able to participate in the race is going to be a bad thing. It's going to force sponsors to look at how they are involved in the sport."

HOW WILL IT EFFECT THE DRIVER MARKET? "This is a supply and demand business and for drivers, crew chiefs, engineers, mechanics, for everybody in this sport, the pull on them is at an all-time high. They are needed and wanted more than ever and their price tags are going up."

HOW MUCH IS THAT DRIVING UP DRIVER SALARIES? "I think driver salaries are without a doubt at an all-time high. I think that if someone calls you and says they'll pay you twice as much as you're making now it's hard not to listen to that. And when you go to ask for money the next time you're going to have that figure in your head. Without a doubt, driver salaries and everybody's salaries are going to make a move next year in the upward direction."

THAT'S A GOOD THING FOR YOU, RIGHT? "It's a good thing for me but we have to be careful of is that we cannot do to the car owners what in some cases has happened in other professional sports. My salary can only be paid if the sponsorship allows it. My salary has to be based on what this team can afford to pay me, not on what I what I want to make and not on what somebody else can pay me. We as drivers and crew members have to remember that we hold the key to the future of the sport in our hands. When we're talking about dollars we need to remember that car owners can only absorb so much. I think that's hard to do in some cases but at the end of the day, you have to think about what the car owner can afford and still have a competitive team. Having a great driver and paying him a lot of money isn't as good as having a garage full of really competent people and paying them well, in my opinion. Because it's the people in this sport that make it work."

A LOT OF TEAMS ARE TAKING ADVANTAGE OF PAST CHAMPIONS PROVISONALS TO GET CARS IN THE FIELD. WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THAT? "Well, I think past champions deserve some sort of reward for what they have done. I have no problem with past champions. When it starts to be abused, we have to look at the system and how it works but overall, the face of it, I'm a proponent of rewarding a past champion on what he's been able to do."

SHOULD THERE BE SOME KIND OF LIMIT LIKE THEY HAVE IN THE BUSCH SERIES? "I don't know what the rules should be, I just know that there is a balance. Again, I support past champions getting rewarded for that and being able to use that in their future, at the same time we have to make it so that they're not abusing it. So it's a balance. In the Cup series, it's not really being abused. We don't really have an issue of it being abused in the Cup series so I'm very comfortable with it."

Behind the Hauler Chat with Kevin Harvick, No. 29 GM Goodwrench Monte Carlo SS

ON HOW STRONG HIS TEAM IS: "We're probably as strong as we've been since 2003. I felt like 2003 we had a chance to win the championship. I feel like we're in that same category I guess you could say now. We just have to keep doing what we're doing this year."

ON THE POSSIBLY OF WINNING TWO CHAMPIONSHIPS. HOW COOL IS THAT? "Right now we're just going race to race, just really trying to focus on what we're doing. When we get a little closer we'll start thinking about that and stuff."

ON HIS SYSTEM WORKING WELL BASED ON WHERE HE SITS IN THE POINTS FOR THE BUSCH SERIES AND MOVING UP IN POINTS IN THE CUP SERIES: "We all play by the same rules so it's just the way it works."

ON FIVE RACES IN THE CHASE TAKING PLACE AT MILE AND A HALF TRACKS: "I think it's pretty good. We finished in the top five and led a lap so we've done what we needed to do there. I don't think there's any race track right now that we go to that we're weak at. I think our weakest race tracks are here and California so I think our mile and a half program is fine."

DO YOU FEEL MORE CONFIDENT COMING TO THE TRACK NOW? "Oh yeah. Yeah confidence is definitely at a high for everybody, myself and Jeff (Burton) and Client (Bowyer) and everybody is moving the same direction. So it makes it a lot of fun to go to the track and know that if your teammates off you're probably going to the run in the top 15 where as last year we struggled to run 15th or 10th. So it makes it a lot more fun."

ARE THERE A LOT OF THINGS YOU CAN TRANSFER HERE FROM YOUR BUSCH CAR TO YOUR CUP CAR? "Not really. The aerodynamic package is different in the Busch car. We run the same general package but it usually winds up being, you know, from one end of the spectrum so you take a lot just from the driver's seat and that's the most important thing."

ON SOME OF THE BUSCH DRIVERS BEING UPSET THAT CUP DRIVERS ARE WINNING ALL THE BUSCH SERIES RACES: "They need to quit griping and start learning how to win. That's what all of us had to do. This is not something that's new. It's just something that's more widespread through the media. There's a couple of them that gripe about it more than others that have been here for a while that seem like they're on the coast and collect program so they just need to figure out how to win races and run better. That'd be what I would do. When I came in, Mark Martin was pretty much kicking everybody's butt, Jeff Burton (was also good). They were winning races and it wasn't really that big of a deal and now it's a big deal it seems like. I've always been the type that if you get beat you need to figure out why. That's what I would do if I was them instead of worrying about how we can try to be more competitive with getting rid of people. That's not really the answer to things."

ON GOING TO BRISTOL: "We finished second in both races there last time and won a race there last year. Bristol is my favorite place to go. I enjoy the short track stuff and we've always been fortunate to run really well there. We go there with high expectations but you never know what's going to happen there. You can get caught up in a wreck in a hurry and have your day ended so I mean you have to go there and enjoy it but know that the outcome could be the opposite of what you want it to be."

ON COMPETING WITH THE CAR OF TOMORROW. WILL THAT LEVEL THE PLAYING FIELD? "I think it might make it work. In some cases because there will be weeks where some guys hit it and a lot of guys don't and all your notes are no good anymore so it's something where we'll probably have a guy every once in a while hit it at a race track and be completely dominant. It might be something where there's going to be some teams that are off and we all have to look at that and keep an open mind about everything because you might go to the race track and just get your butt kicked one week because some guy shows up and figures something out. It could have the opposite effect of somebody hitting it right on and just being dominant at certain race tracks."

HOW WOULD YOU GUAGE YOUR CONFIDENCE LEVEL RIGHT NOW? "High. I think right now everything is going really well and things are going good. You have to ride those roller coasters while they're up and you have to figure out how to get through them when they're down. Everything performance wise has been really good all year. We had some bad luck at the beginning of the year. Everybody kind of looked at you funny when you said 'Yeah we ran really well. We finished 30th last week but ran really well.' Everybody says well he's just trying to keep a positive attitude but I wasn't lying. The cars have run good all year and (we) mostly got the freak things out of the way and got to where we need to be on the luck side of it. The performance of the cars has been there all year."

HOW FAR HAS YOUR TEAM COME OVER THE LAST FIVE YEARS? "I think 2001 and 2003 we were championship capable. The other three years we struggled, just struggled to get into the top 10 so it's come a long way. This is the same group of guys that I've had for four or five years now and I've been with Todd (Berrier, crew chief) all of seven years it seems like. It's been a struggle at times. It's been really good at times and to be where we are today is very rewarding for everybody involved. Everybody wants to finish the year off strong and compete for the championship so we have to get through the next four weeks without having a major disaster and hopefully do what we need to do in the Chase."

HOW ARE YOUR CHANCES FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP? "I think if we were racing for the championship right now we'd be in good shape but momentum can swing and you just have to try to keep momentum on your side. If we can keep momentum on our side I think the performance is good."

RCR OBVIOUSLY HAS A LARGE DALE EARNHARDT FANBASE. WHAT DO YOU THINK IT WOULD MEAN TO THEM IF YOU WERE TO WIN THE CHAMPIONSHIP? "Well I think we weeded out a lot of those fans that wanted to be here because of that. I think everything that we look at now, we look at it as us being a part of our car and obviously there's a history there but we look at them as our fans and our people and our race team. It would mean a lot to our fans and RCR fans as a whole. It's something that I think probably has caught everybody a little bit off guard this year but we're pretty proud of everything that's going on."

ON RACING AT MICHIGAN. CAN YOU WIN TWO IN A ROW? "Well I don't know. We ran really well here last time (but) just didn't get to finish the race. The rain stopped it. The car was good here last time and I think we have to put ourselves in position. If you put yourself in position towards the end of the race, all you can ask for is an opportunity so if we can do that we should be OK. You never say we're going to go out and win because you never know what is going to happen in this sport."

IF YOU COULD CHANGE ANYTHING IN NASCAR, WHAT WOULD IT BE? "I don't know."

ARE YOU A FAN OF THE LUCKY DOG PASS? "I think last week's incident was something where what are the odds of going to the race track and not having a guy a lap down or two laps down or somewhere in between the lead lap and five laps down so I think it was the aligning of the stars and (we'll) probably not ever have that happen. I think the lucky dog rule is a good rule and last week things just all lined up to have it happen. I think it accomplishes what they needed to accomplish, last week was just a little bit extreme."

"It's something where the rule keeps it interesting and there's a race within a race to get the lucky dog. I'd be interested to see if you go back and look at a race 25 laps into a race or 30 laps into a race or 50 laps into a race and it went on the whole race. What are the odds of it going through a whole race without a car being in between that?"

ON MOMENTUM AND CONSISTENCY: "I think it goes hand it hand. I think performance consistency is harder than having the momentum on your side because first you have to be able to perform and run well to get that consistency. When you're capitalizing off of your performance and having the luck go your way and having things on your side, I think both momentum and consistency go hand in hand with performance."

WITH DRIVERS TRYING TO GET INTO THE CHASE, WILL BRISTOL BE ANY MORE FRANTIC OR CAN IT BE ANY MORE FRANTIC? "I don't think it can be any more frantic. You're just on the edge the whole time there trying to get everything you can out of it. There's not a whole lot of room to move around. That's one of those places where I don't think it can get any more frantic. You just do what you have to do and go for it."

DO YOU GO TO BRISTOL WITH JUST YOUR FOOT, YOUR HAND AND YOUR BUTT? "Yeah, pretty much. You go there and try to qualify well and put yourself in position to run in the front all night but even in the front you're liable to get in trouble."

ON NEW, YOUNG DRIVERS ONLY GET ONE SHOT IN NASCAR: "I think there's a lot of pressure. I think that happens in the Busch Series and the Cup Series. You come in and the guys give you a good car and the sponsors become impatient or the owners become impatient or whatever the case may be and they wind up losing their opportunity. For example the Dollar General car with Burney (Lamar), the sponsor wanted a young guy. They wanted somebody to build their brand around and understand that there was going to be some bumps in the road but that's what they wanted. That's what they wanted to do. The first year was the year to get on the race track and evaluate everything that's going on and get their cars built and get everything prepared and next year the expectations will be a lot more. I think sponsorship has a lot to do with how the owners react to a young driver and how much time you give them."

WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE A NEW DRIVER ENTERING NASCAR RIGHT NOW? "No. You always want the chance to do what you do but sometimes when you're 19, 20, 21 years old, you don't really understand the opportunity that you have. A lot of times its not anything that happens on the race track, it's the world outside of the race cars when you become a multi-millionaire and can have anything that you want. That kind of misguides you to do things that you don't really need to be doing. A lot of times off the track stuff can affect on track stuff more than what happens at the race track."

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE PAST CHAMPION'S PROVISIONAL? "I think if you're a champion of the sport you deserve rights that other people can't get. If you've been able to win a championship and do what you need to do to make that happen, I think it's something where you should have some extra privileges over a guy who's just been here for one year. I think maybe if you haven't raced a year or something you probably shouldn't get in until you race a certain amount of races or something."

"It's definitely been abused. I think there's ways to make it so it can't be abused or something like that. You can make the rule better, it just needs to still be somewhere in the sport."

HAS WINNING IN THE BUSCH SERIES BECOME EASY FOR YOU? "No. It's as hard as it's ever been and we've been fortunate this year to capitalize on cars that have been running good and put ourselves in position to win some races that we shouldn't have won and win some of the races that we should have won as well. It's not easy by any means and I can't do it in my own car yet in the 33. The 21 just really has the stuff together and the whole Coast Guard Chevrolet team is really on top of things."

IS IT STILL FUN? "Oh I enjoy it, yeah. Anytime you're running good and winning races if you're in a go-kart or a Cup car or a Busch car, it's a lot fun."

Behind the Hauler Chat with Kyle Busch, No. 5 Kellogg's/Delphi Monte Carlo SS

HOW'S IT GOING OUT THERE? "Not too good right now. We're a little bit off but these guys will work hard as usual, I know, so we'll try to make it better."

JUST GET THE SETUP RIGHT? "Of course. We've got the car that we've got; that's what we're going to have. So we just need to work on it and try to make it better."

WHAT DO YOU FIND CHALLENGING AT MICHIGAN? "The biggest thing is just trying to get grip here. Some guys are able to get it, other guys can't. You can get it for maybe five laps and then you're just out to lunch. The biggest thing is just trying to make your car comfortable and make it last the whole time throughout a whole tire run, and of course make it fast, too."

DO YOU LIKE THE WIDE RACE TRACK? "Yeah, the wide race track is good. That's what makes Michigan so exciting and so fun. That's the biggest deal about it. For me, coming to Michigan, I tend to run well here for whatever reason and the biggest deal is trying to finish and finishing up front."

HOW MUCH HAS YOUR CALIFORNIA SUCCESS HELPED YOU HERE? "I think my success here actually helped me in California. For some reason, I'm able to run better here than I am in California sometimes but the finishes don't show for it. Last time we were here we came through the field quite a few different times and we just got shortened by rain. We weren't able to be up front when it mattered."

YOU'VE BEEN ABLE TO USE THE LUCKY DOG TO GET BACK ON THE LEAD LAP. I SUPPOSE YOU ARE A BIG PROPONENT OF THAT? "It's definitely neat to be able to use it to our advantage like that the way we did last week - that helped out a lot. Obviously it took us from probably a 42nd-place finish to a ninth-place finish. We're trying to dig along there and I were running third when it broke so it was just the fact of trying to get back out there as soon as we could."

IS THAT SOMETHING THAT'S GOOD FOR OUR SPORT? "I think so. Especially last week, they don't have double-foul restarts so the guys that are a lap down - we had a very fast race car. We were running third and catching the leaders when it broke and it was bad circumstances or whatever. But looking at a double file restart I believe we could have probably challenged to get our own laps back anyway."

YOU MAY BENEFIT TOO MUCH FROM IT ONE TIME AND THEN OTHERS YOU WON'T: "The same thing happened the day before in the Busch race. We spun the splines on the sway bar arm, on the sway bar, so in effect, there was no sway bar in the car. We had to come down and fix that, we went four or five laps down doing that. And we came back out of the pits and there were guys who were a lap down so we weren't able to benefit from it at all because there were about eight or 10 guys that were a lap down in front of us so we weren't able to use it to our advantage that day."

ARE YOU A UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN FAN? "Well, my brother moved up here years ago to run in the Craftsman Truck series and he went to a Michigan game, bought me a sweatshirt and sent it home for me. I never really paid attention to college football until then but I became a Michigan fan."

ARE YOU STILL A FAN? "Last year was a bad year but hopefully Chad Henne and Mike Hart and everybody can put it together this year."

HOW ABOUT BRISTOL NEXT WEEK? "Pretty wild as always. There's no room for error, really. Bristol is a big race. It's probably the biggest here coming down to the final four before the Chase. The biggest thing about that race is just trying to keep yourself out of somebody else's trouble. There could be a wreck in Turn Four and you're going into Turn Three and you could be a part of it. It's just everything happens so fast you've got to keep your eye out. The best place to be is out front."

WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THE NEW DRIVER DAVID GILLILAND? "He's a pretty good friend of mine. I've known him for a few years now, especially from the Southwest Tour. I've known his dad longer than that. To have him up here now. we talk to each other quite a bit. We exchanged phone numbers and stuff like that years ago when I ran in the Southwest Tour. When he came out here, he asked me where to live and he came by my house and we were talking and stuff and I told him if he needed a place to stay he could stay at my house. He found himself a pretty good home and brought his family out and stuff like that, and they're all settled in now so that's nice. I think he's going to be good. He's a very good shoe. He's got a great head on his shoulders. I know he's not quite the age that people are looking for nowadays but you look at David Reutimann and he's the same way. He's a very good shoe and people should take a look at him too."

DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU'RE IN THE CHASE? "There's still work to do. You're not in, nobody's in. Jimmie Johnson could finish 43rd in the next four races and fall out. There's definitely some area of improvement for everybody, for us, we're definitely not safe."

WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ENSURE YOU MAKE IT IN? "You go out there and do what you can week in and week out and try to plan in order to do the best you can to try and win races of course, that's first and foremost. If you can't do that, you go for the top five, top tens and you just have to salvage along the day, if at all possible. Kind of like last week, we just kind of salvaged the day and we were able to turn it in to a good one."

HOW AMAZED ARE YOU ABOUT DAVID GILLILAND AND THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF HIM GETTING A CUP RIDE? "I think it's very odd. You look at practice speeds already today and the 19th was second and the 38th was sixth or fifth or whatever it was. That's a little weird. Overall, it is what it is. For Gilliland, though, he'll be fine. He'll be able to go out there and do pretty well."

ISN'T IT AMAZING THAT THE GUY WINS A BUSCH RACE AND GETS CALLED UP TO A TOP TEAM? "Well yeah it's tough. I mean there are local short track racers right now that are either in Busch North or whatever Winston West is or Southwest Tour, Northwest Tour, wherever, there's guys that are plenty capable of going out there and being able to be competitive in these kinds of race cars. It's just agility and talent and things like that that make you what you are. There's definitely plenty of those that are out there. You just have to be noticed."

ON COMPARING HIS ROOKIE YEAR WITH THIS YEAR: "You know last year was a learning year. You know we tore up a lot of stuff, I did. We had some mistakes as a team and some of the wrecks we weren't able to repair as quickly as we should of. It's just a deal with that. For this year we've kind of gone out there and had very fast race cars. I've become a smarter racer I feel like and been able to put my car in the right positions at the right time in order to make some pretty good finishes out of them."

HOW DO YOU NOT PANIC ABOUT THE CHASE? "It would be very easy to be stressing out about it right now and then once you knock yourself out or something like that then you're devastated. You might as well just stay on level ground and make sure you do what you can in order to get yourself in. That's all you can really do. There's going to be circumstances that may take us out that you know is going to be devastating for us as a team and as a driver for myself but there's always next year. We just have to live on and go on."

DID YOU TALK TO YOUR BROTHER ABOUT THE PENALTY LAST WEEKEND? IN YOUR OPINION WAS THAT THE RIGHT OR WRONG CALL BY NASCAR? "I have not talked to him about it. I briefly saw just on a highlight deal the light turning on just before he got there. For me I don't know what you could have done different besides stop, put it in reverse, backed up and gone on and lost however much track position that was or you could of just came down pit road, hit the stop and let NASCAR keep you in the position wherever you came out. They could of done nothing. It's just a tough scenario. That's why I'm racing the cars and not in that position that NASCAR has to make that call."

ON HAVING FIVE RACES IN THE CHASE ON MILE AND A HALF TRACKS. DOES THAT CONCERN YOU? "It doesn't concern me at all, no. We run good at 'em, we just don't finish at 'em and I don't know what that is and I don't know what our problem is with it. I guess our best mile and half finish is third if not second in Vegas. For me going out there if we can just keep the pieces on the car and keep it heading in the right direction, we tend to be able to run in the top five or top 10. We just struggle along on trying to finish there."

ON COMPETING IN THE CHASE: "If we get in the Chase, we're not going to be flounders and we're not going to run 10th, no. We're going to go out there and contend for this championship."

DO YOU REMEMBER THE FIRST TIME YOU WERE CALLED IN THE NASCAR HAULER? "No."

WHAT'S IT LIKE IN THE NASCAR HAULER? I HEARD THEY MAKE YOU WAIT IN THERE FOR MIKE HELTON TO COME IN. WHAT HAPPENS IN THE NASCAR HAULER? "It's not really a wait that they make you have to have. It's just that they're up there and they have to get down here so you're sitting there waiting for them to come back down. It's like going to the principal's office. You know you're in trouble. You try to keep your mouth shut and let them talk and you do the listening. Then if they want you to speak you do the short sentences, you're done, you go on and go your own way."

DO THEY MAKE TWO DRIVERS GO IN THERE TOGETHER OR DO THEY HANLDE EACH PERSON SEPARATELY? "If there's a conflict, they'll bring you in there together definitely, yeah. That was (Kevin) Harvick and myself in Dover last year. They brought us in together."

DID THEY MAKE YOU GUYS SHAKE HANDS BEFORE YOU LEFT? "Oh no. No, they don't care how you leave. They just want to make sure when you leave they're in the right opinion of you."

ON HOW HARD IS IT BEING A YOUNG GUY IN THIS SPORT. IS THERE A DIFFERENT KIND OF PRESSURE TO PERFORM RIGHT AWAY? "Yeah, you definitely have to perform. The biggest thing is to go out there and run the best you can but for a young guy coming in the sport it's probably even more pressure because if you come in and you don't make it then where do you go. Look at Casey Atwood. Where's he been? He's gone. That's probably the toughest scenario to be put in."

DO YOU FEEL LIKE IN THAT SITUATION YOU HAVE ONE SHOT TO PROVE YOURSELF AND THAT A SECOND SHOT MIGHT NOT BE THERE? "Yeah kind of. That's probably why I was so erratic last year with everything I did. I had fast race cars but I'd tear 'em up too much. You can always pull on a rope but you can't push the rope. For me it was pretty easy to tone everything back and just step back and look at the whole perspective and try to put it all together."

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE PAST CHAMPION'S PROVISIONAL? DO YOU THINK THAT NEEDS TO BE CHANGED? "I don't think so. I think it's fine. If you're a past champion of this sport then you deserve to be in the race in a rightful way. Instead of having the most recent past champion, I think they just look at the fastest past champion from practice, whoever the fastest one was. Say Tony Stewart for instance was 50th in practice and Jeff Gordon was 38th and they've got to put Tony Stewart in the show instead of Jeff Gordon. Well Tony Stewart was (put in the race) because he was last year's (champion) and Jeff was 2001."