BEHIND THE HAULER CHAT WITH DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 8 BUDWEISER MONTE CARLO SS:

HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE BACK IN A PLAYOFF SPOT THIS YEAR? "It was real fun being in the thick of it trying to get in over the last six races leading into the Chase. It was pretty exciting to be in that battle. That's fun for me having nail-biters, you know. Last year we weren't even close to being in it. Like Matt (Kenseth) and Jimmie (Johnson) securing a spot and being pretty comfortable. That's all right. But it was pretty fun battling it out there at the end."

YOU HEARD THE CRITICS SAY YOU WERE OVER-RATED. HOW MUCH OF A MOTIVATION WAS THAT TO GET THINGS TURNED AROUND? "It wasn't so much a motivation. I knew getting back with (Tony Eury) Junior it was pretty much going to be expected amongst the entire NASCAR community that we would run well again. We just had to back up those expectations."

CAN YOU FEED OFF OF THAT RIGHT NOW? "I just feed off of my own motivation now and my motivation is to win the championship. We've won a lot of races and done a lot of cools stuff and been a lot of cool places. And I'd like to win the championship and I know Tony Jr. would too. We're going to have a lot of shots at it but we've got to take every one that we get and make the best of it. We're going to work really, really hard when we're in that race car to make that happen."

SIZING UP THE FAVORITES "Well, the No. 17 and the No. 48 are very strong, but there are not dark horses, that's for sure. There is no real sleeper. Everybody is very capable."

WHAT ARE YOUR CHANCES? "Well, like I said, the No. 17 and the No. 48 are very good, but I think the rest of us are very even as far as the odd-makers go."

HOW HUNGRY ARE YOU TO WIN THE CHAMPIONSHIP? "I'm hungry as I need to be. I'm hungry. I'm going to give it everything I've got. And I don't get out of bed for much."

JEFF BURTON SAID HE FELT LIKE MAKING THE CHASE EARNED HIM SOME RESPECT. DID YOU FEEL LIKE YOU DIDN'T GET AS MUCH RESPECT LAST YEAR BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T MAKE THE CHASE? "I don't know. If somebody doesn't want to give me respect, then hell with them. I never thought that about Jeff Burton. That's kind of surprising. I always looked up to him and still do. It's them kind of guys who are older than you and who have been here for a long time, that you can't ever imagine their pride or their confidence changing or wavering at all. My confidence got down about half way through the season last year. Steve Hmiel fixed that and turned me into a better race car driver and when I came here to work with Tony Junior this year and at the end of last year, we've been able to show we've both well improved over the last couple of years and hopefully it's going to be good enough. There are a lot of changeable things and variables that you can't control in a championship, and hopefully we're going to avoid all of that."

HOW MUCH OF A BURDON DOES IT BECOME FOR YOU EACH YEAR THAT PASSES AND YOU DON'T WIN THE CHAMPIONSHIP? DOES IT GET OVERBEARING? "Oh, no. Nah. I'm going to have fun no matter what. I'd like to win the championship and that's what my goal is, and that's what I'm going to shoot for. I've got a lot of years left. It's an accomplishment only made by a select few and I aim to be in that group one day."

IN YOUR APPROACH TO THE CHASE, DO YOU TRY TO WIN ROUND 1 OR JUST GET THROUGH ROUND 1? "Yeah, you're not going to knock anybody out. So you might as well try to win as many rounds as you can. Every race is an opportunity to separate yourself from the field. And you've got to take every opportunity you can. Hopefully when we need us some tricks, we've got 'em."

WHAT IS YOUR EMOTIONAL LEVEL NOW THAT THE CHASE IS ABOUT TO BEGIN? 'Well, when I come to the track and I just get in my car and I want the thing to run as fast as it can run and when I go into the corner and it don't handle right, you get frustrated and that's your main focus just trying to fix the car, fix the car, fix the car, make it faster, make it faster and one more chance, one more chance.that's all you're thinking all the time. When you're sitting in the bus, I'm carrying back with me it's loose off the corner and how am I going to fix that? I'd like to be a little more comfortable here and there are all kinds of little variables and things that the car does in the corner that are frustrating or satisfying. That's all you think about."

ARE YOU FRUSTRATED RIGHT NOW WITH THE CAR? "No, not really. I liked my lap, but fastest guys are faster than me in qualifying trim and that aggravates the heck out of me, honestly. But we're doing the best we can and Tony Junior is doing the best he can. We just have to come together and figure it out and either get over it or try to fix it.

"I can start in the back and still run good. But it's good for pit stall picking because last week we qualified bad and I was in between the No. 17 and the No. 48 - two really good cars you know. So when I was running good in the race, we were all kind of having a hard time getting in our boxes and getting it right and that costs you a second and a half when you get in your box tight and have to go around somebody or pull out around somebody and it costs you a little bit of time on pit road. We need to be pitting around guys who are going to be a lap down."

WHEN THE NFL ENTERS THEIR PLAYOFF SEASON, THE MENTALITY CHANGES FOR THE COACHES AND THE PLAYERS. HOW ABOUT YOU? "Well, definitely there is a lot more concentration and atmosphere around this team. Everybody is crossing their T's and dotting their I's as far as preparation goes. We've had a lot of little failures and things that have happened this year that shouldn't have happened, and so I think my team is spending a little extra time making sure all the bases are covered and in working order when we get to the track. And when we get there, it's real important - like if we're 20th on the sheet - not to be that frustrated about it and sort of relax. When you get frustrated, you don't progress throughout the rest of the weekend. We've got two practices tomorrow to really improve the car. You've got to have a good, positive mind to be able to work on the car and improve it. If you're frustrated with the car, you won't be successful in getting the car to drive better."

RECALLING HOW YOU FELT AT THIS TIME LAST YEAR, HOW DO YOU THINK TONY STEWART IS FEELING ABOUT NOT MAKING THE CHASE? "Well, honestly, Tony has won his championships and he's been in this situation of being in the Chase. I bet in the back of his mind, he makes himself feel better by sitting at home yesterday while we were all in New York (laughs) doing all them interviews. There are all kinds of ways you can talk yourself into feeling better and I'm sure that's what he's doing."

WAS THERE ANY UPSIDE TO NOT MAKING THE CHASE LAST YEAR? "I got to work with Tony Jr. a little bit last year. I was out of the spotlight for a little while so I could charge my batteries. I was able to take a little time for myself. I didn't have to go on all the press trips and promotion trips that all the drivers are going to do this year. There is an upside to everything but I'd rather be in the Chase. I'd rather have to do all that work and be in the Chase."

SO WHEN YOU CAME HERE AND THE REALITY SANK IN WHAT WAS IT LIKE? "It didn't have to sink in. It was there, you know what I mean? I knew weeks before I got here that I wasn't going to be in the Chase. But it was all right. I was still able to pay my bills."

IS THERE A TRACK IN THE LAST 10 WHERE YOU DON'T RUN WELL? "The last one. Homestead."

WHY? "I'd like to know. That would be awesome."

WHO IS THE TOUGHEST COMPETITOR IN THE CHASE? "Matt Kenseth. He's just real consistent."

DO YOU LIKE BEING COMPARED TO YOUR FATHER OR DO YOU JUST LIKE TO STAND ON YOUR OWN MERIT? "As far as if somebody says hey, you drive like him or you look like him or your sound like him, but I don't like to be compared to him that he won seven championship and you haven't won any. Those kind of comparisons aren't very pleasing. But he was great and I'm fortunate to follow in his footsteps a little bit to be in the position I'm in today."

WHAT DO YOU THINK IT WOULD MEAN TO YOUR FANS IF YOU CAN WIN THIS CHAMPIONSHIP? "I don't really know. I hope to make them really happy."

BEHIND THE HAULER CHAT WITH JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT MONTE CARLO SS:

HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE BACK IN THE CHASE THIS YEAR? "It feels great. Obviously as years go by with the Chase format, we're starting to see just how important it is to be in the Chase and how tough it is to be in it. We saw last year how it was with (Dale Earnhardt) Junior not being in it and us not being in it; and now this year with Tony (Stewart) not being in it. It's a great format. It's very exciting and it creates quite a story. We're happy to be in it. We're going to do everything we can to just continue to improve as a team. I feel like we've steadily been better and better each week - take out Richmond - and these last 10 are good tracks for us and the team is fired up and ready to go."

HOW MUCH DID NOT MAKING THE CHASE LAST YEAR MOTIVATE YOU THIS YEAR TO GET IN IT? "It was a big motivator not being in it last year. You don't realize how much it stings until guys are battling for the championship and you're not a part of that. That's why we race. That's what has kept me in it for all these years and I love being competitive out there for race wins and for championships. Knowing you don't even have a shot at it was pretty disappointing. It just allowed us to refocus our energy on what we needed to do to get more competitive. It wasn't so much about not being in the Chase as much as it was not being competitive enough to go for a championship. We didn't earn the right to be in it last year. It wasn't like we just had some fluke things happen, we just didn't perform. I just wanted to see our performance get better. That's what is going to bring the chemistry and glue back together within the team. We were already going to make the change with Steve Letarte and Robbie Loomis. It just allowed us to do it earlier. It was a motivator, but at the same time it was just a way for us to start working on this year earlier."

DID YOU LOSE CONFIDENCE LAST YEAR? "At times, yeah. When you're not performing, you question a lot of things - especially when you have three other teammates and you know what kind of set-ups they have and if they're running good someplace and we try to put that same set up in and don't have the same results, you start questioning yourself and start losing confidence. That was what was pretty cool about those last 10 (races) last year.

We went to Atlanta and did a test and we built a car totally differently than the way our teammates had been building their cars and we started doing different things with the set-up as well and I loved it. I thought, hey this is what I've been looking for. I'm starting to get comfortable and build that confidence back. We just realized that my driving style if different than other drivers. The same thing doesn't work for everybody.

This year, we started doing a combination this year. A perfect example is Pocono. We weren't very good the first Pocono. We went back the second Pocono, and we took the No. 25 car set-up and we adapted that set-up to my driving style and we were much better. So those are some of the things we've been working on to get that performance back up. Confidence is all about performance. If you're performing well, you're confident. Of all teams out there, our team's confidence level is one of the hardest to break."

YOU WERE AN IMMEDIATE SUCCESS ON THE CIRCUIT. HOW WOULD YOU RATE DENNY HAMLIN? "I wasn't an immediate success because I didn't win anything the first year. These days, if you don't win a race your first season, you're compared to guys like Denny Hamlin and Tony Stewart and Jimmie Johnson and guys like that. It was different back then. I think Denny is a great talent and has impressed the heck out of me this year. I've seen guys do well at 1.5-miles. Pocono is pretty impressive because that is a tough race track. But the thing that impressed me the most was Martinsville. He was solid and hitting his marks - doing things that I've never seen a rookie do at Martinsville. Most rookies come to Martinsville and overdrive the corner. Denny knew how to drive that track. I knew he had a lot of laps there in other cars, but still, it's a much different feel in a Cup car. That gets my attention. He's a great talent."

IN THE PAST YEAR, YOU'VE HAD TO ANSWER A LOT OF QUESTIONS ABOUT NOT WINNING. DOES THAT GET FRUSTRATING BECAUSE YOU'RE A FOUR-TIME CHAMPION? "I'm getting those questions because I haven't won (laughter). You're supposed to stay on track. The reality from where I sit and being a part of racing as long as I have, I realize it's very difficult to stay on top for your entire career. Mark Martin is one of the rare cases in my mind. He's just an awesome driver. Every year he's consistent. He goes with the trends. As set-ups and aerodynamics change, he really knows how to adapt to those changes better than anyone I've ever raced against. For me, there were years when the changes came so abruptly and I just didn't like the way things were feeling and it got us off track. This year is the most comfortable and confident I've been in a long time. The competition is a lot tougher than it's ever been. I understand why I get asked the questions. It's because we're not having 10-race win seasons and up leading the points. I know from where I sit, that we're not performing where I want to be either. This year, it's a little bit easier because we do have a new crew chief and we're in the more rebuilding stages and heading in the right direction than trying to figure out what's wrong and turn it all around and reconstruct the whole team. If I'm not winning every five races, then you guys go ahead and ask me those questions. I expect them to come. It doesn't stop me from doing everything I can to get us back to that position. I'm a little bit more patient these days than I ever used to be. I don't feel like we have to win 10 races a year to win the championship. I want to. But I know in these last 10 races, we don't have to win one of them. The average finish of the champion was 8.7 last year. We feel like the competition is a little bit better. But that's our goal is to be better than 8.7 whether we win a race or don't win a race. That's what we're shooting for."

HOW HAS STEVE LETARTE GROWN IN HIS ROLE AS CREW CHIEF OVER THE PAST YEAR? "I've been impressed with Steve for a long time and being inside the team is a lot easier to see how good he in from being on the outside. But every day since he first started coming to our shop, he's stepped up. I knew he was going to be the crew chief. I didn't know he'd be my crew chief, but I knew he'd be a crew chief. I'm really glad he's my crew chief. I guess the leadership was the thing I was the most concerned about. Is he going to step up and are the guys going to respect him? He knows the cars. He doesn't claim to be the smartest guy in the world, but he wants to surround himself with the guys who know their areas and utilize those resources. He's done more than I expected. Our communication has been fantastic. On the leadership side, he's stepped up in that way too. I don't want to say too many good things about him because I don't want people to take him away from me. I'd love to win a championship with him. That would be fantastic."

ON HAVING BRAKE PROBLEMS AT RICHMOND: "That track has been a thorn in my side. We've tried to get the breaks to work throughout the race - not just last weekend, but the last five times we've been there. It's a brake problem that we have at Richmond that we don't have anyplace else on the circuit and we just can't figure out what it is. That just contributes to the handling not being right. It only makes it worse. Like Texas and Chicago and tracks where we haven't won at before, Richmond is now on our radar and we've got to figure it out and get better. I'm certainly glad it's not in the last 10. Our 1.5-mile program has gotten so much better that I'm excited about going back to Texas. Phoenix is a track we haven't won at, but I feel like we're capable of being good there."

ON THE NEW YORK MEDIA EXPERIENCE "It's pretty cool because you get these 10 guys and they all have something in common and we made the Chase. NASCAR treats us great and puts us in a nice hotel and takes us to nice dinners. It's a busy schedule. When we were at Letterman and laughing at our lines, we had a good time. But we had some downtime where we were sitting around and if the media could be a fly on the wall, they'd be pretty amazed at how relaxed we all were sitting in the room together. We're so busy and we're all traveling all the time. Rarely do you get together at one time. One story would lead to another story. It was a great time. All of us enjoyed it.

Jimmie and I tried to show the guys a little bit of the town away from what we were doing from NASCAR. When you know places to go and spend more time there. it's taken New York to a new level that I didn't experience for 10 years. It was fun. We had a good time."

YOU HAVEN'T WON A CHAMPIONSLHIP SINCE 2001. SOME PEOPLE WROTE YOU OFF AFTER LAST SEASON. ARE YOU MORE DETERMINED TO WIN A CHAMPIONSHIP THIS SEASON? "Yeah, but not for that reason. I'm not trying to prove anything to anybody that's written us of. It's just the competitiveness inside me and this entire team. We like to win. We know we're with a top organization. We know what we're capable of. We've shown it at times this year. Take out Richmond and we've been pretty consistent for the past month or two. We've fought when we needed to and put good results together when we were capable of it. That's what we're supposed to do. For ourselves, we'd like to go out there and step it up."

BEHIND THE HAULER CHAT WITH KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 REESE'S MONTE CARLO SS

ON HOW HE FEELS GOING IN TO WEEKEND: "We feel good. We brought a brand new car here this week that we took to Milwaukee and tested. We felt pretty good about it. We like coming to Loudon, have always felt pretty good about it and run well here. You just have to pit right and put yourself in position to be there at the end. Hopefully we can do that."

ON RECENT TRIP TO NEW YORK WITH OTHER CHASE CONTENDERS: "There is a lot made of things that don't exist. In reality, this is a traveling family that you have to learn how to get a long with because you spend a lot of time together. We are all competitors when we get to the race track, but we all had a good time in New York."

ON WORKING WITH JEFF BURTON IN THE CHASE: "We are in this together. We have been in this together since he joined RCR. He will do whatever it takes to help me, and I will do whatever it takes to help him. I think that is part of the reason we are where we are is good communication between the crew chiefs and the drivers. That will continue as we go forward."

ON NEWEST KHI DRIVER, SEAN CAISSE: "We were in a position to find somebody who will stand on the gas and make the car go forward. I feel like he has the ability to do that, as he gets a little bit of experience, he is going to get better and better. Hopefully it will all work out. We will see how he does next week (NBS race at Dover). I like going out on a limb and giving people chances. So hopefully it works out."

ON BIGGEST LESSON LEARNED SO FAR AS A TEAM OWNER: "It is all about people. That is the biggest thing. The people you have around you. The relationships you have with your sponsors is obviously important to make the cars go around the race track.

"But the people you have working on the cars, are the most important thing you can ask for. You can have all the money in the world, the nicest shop and the nicest cars but if you don't have the right people working on them, you aren't going to go anywhere."

ON BEING AN OWNER HELPING WITH RCR RELATIONSHIP: "I think it has helped a lot just for the fact that it helps me to understand more where Richard (Childress) is coming from on a lot of things. It helps me to know what he is talking about on a lot of different things and how long it takes to make a change with those things as an owner."

ON PRESSURE OF RUNNING BOTH KHI BUSCH PROGRAM AND FOCUS ON THE CHASE NEXT 10 RACES: "I think it is actually easier the next few weeks just because most of them are companions with Nextel Cup cars. We only have to travel away from the Cup track once for a Busch race and we only have seven races left in the Busch cars. I am not going to do anything different that we have done in the past. DeLana (Harvick, his wife) has a big role in what we do at KHI and I think she will continue that role and we have good people in place to make sure everything is taken care of."

ON LEVEL OF CONFIDENCE OF NO. 29 TEAM: "I think we need to be confident in each other and go out and just go out and do our jobs as we are supposed to. It is something that everybody feels good about. All the hard work they have put in the last year and a half to make our cars better and do things better as we go forward. Everybody feels good about themselves but it is all about these next 10 weeks."

ON DIFFERENCE IN MINDSET GOING TO THE TRACK THIS YEAR VERSUS LAST YEAR: "Obviously things are going better this year than they did last year and it is just as much work in racing to run good as it is to run bad. Things have been going very well. Everyone at RCR is confident and feels good about the performance of our cars. We look forward to coming to the track every week."

ON NHIS BEING AN EMOTIONAL TRACK: "It just looks like another piece of black asphalt to me."

THOUGHTS ON DOVER: "It is a place with a lot of banking and you can lean on the banking a lot. You have to make your car turn and as the race goes on the track changes a lot as it takes rubber. It is like a big Bristol. You have to keep up with the race track as the rubber goes down."

ON ANY FAVORITE FOR CHASE: "I think we are a favorite. I think it is wide open now. Anybody can get on a roll at this point. All 10 Chase teams are capable of putting together 10 solid weeks and winning at any of the tracks we are going to. I think that will be clearer in the next three or four weeks, but right now it is wide open.

Obviously I think you have to look at the No. 17 (Matt Kenseth) because they have been so strong the last 10 weeks."

ON ANY CHANGES IN STRATEGY FOR THIS WEEKEND: "I don't think anything changes. I think everything pretty much stays the same. We are going to approach everything the same, we are racing the same types of cars, the same types of setups. We are going in with the same mindset we have had week in and week out. Just approach everything week to week. Just keep doing the same things we have been doing. As far as these last 10 races, there is less pressure than there was in the 26 leading up to this race. There have been a lot of ups and downs leading up to that point. This is all about 10 races, in 10 weeks and we are just going to take it one week at a time. Everything we have done in the past doesn't apply this year. We have been good at a lot of the tracks we have been bad at before. Right now, we are looking forward every week. I think everyone is a little nervous about Talladega but we are just going to approach it week to week. Loudon is one of my favorites, I like going to Martinsville and Phoenix. There are several tracks I am looking forward to going."

ON WHAT HE WOULD LIKE TO SAY AFTER ALL RECENT MEDIA FOCUS: "I think I have told them everything I could possibly think of this week. The best thing I can tell anyone right now is that I am probably be quiet for a couple of days."

ON NOT HAVING BUSCH CAR TO DRIVE THIS WEEK: "It is kind of nice this week to only have one car to deal with. Coming to the race track, it is almost like a vacation with one race car. I don't know what to do with myself."

ON THIS SEASON BEING A SUCCESS: "I definitely think it has been a success. When you have a chance to do something you always want to go out and achieve that. At the beginning of the season, was to race for both championships. We have put our selves in a position to do that. Where we fall is where we fall. We are just going to do the best we can every week and see what happens. I think this is fun. Racing for a championship has to be fun. You put yourself in a position to do that, there is no way you can make it not fun in the end here. You just go out, throw it all out there and see it shakes out."

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

ON LEVEL OF CONFIDENCE COMING IN TO NHIS: "We have been trying to win. It isn't like we haven't been trying to win (chuckles). We didn't come in to this year saying hey, we need to get a bunch of top-10s. We came in saying, 'Hey, we need to lead races and put ourselves in position to win races.' By doing that, you have to be in the top-five and consistently run in the front. I think we have done that, but there have been some occasions where we let some races slip away from us, but the effort is every single week to go out and win races and put ourselves in position to do so. I think we have done a nice job of putting ourselves in position, but we haven't done a nice job of finishing it off. Our confidence level coming in is reasonable, but by no means do we will like we can continue to do exactly what we have been doing and win the championship. We have to find a way to step it up a little bit. Our speed has been there; we just haven't been able to find a way to be consistently fast throughout a whole race. We know we have to improve a little bit. We feel really strongly we have made some big gains in areas to improve. I am confident in our effort and dedication. I think all but two or three teams have got to find a way to step it up too and we are one of them. I feel pretty good about it. We are just going to go race. Last week at Richmond was pretty interesting. It was a pretty stressful night. I didn't think it was going to be stressful, but it was and I was glad to get that over with. I kind of like coming in here (NHIS) we just get to go back racing for a little while. After six or seven weeks, we will get to feel the stress and the pressure again, but for us right now, it is kind of like a restart, it is the start of the year and I am looking forward to it."

ON NOT BEING PICKED AS ONE OF THE FAVORITES TO WIN THE CHAMPIONSHIP: "I certainly understand why people aren't picking us to win it. I am good with that. I will say, we haven't called this year a success. We haven't run the flag up the pole and said no matter from happens from now on, it's good. I don't believe that. Our team doesn't believe that. We have done a nice job up to this point of positioning ourselves to be able to say this is a successful year. The way we run these next 10 races will determine if it was a successful year. Certainly we have made some huge strides. But our mindset isn't 'Hey, whatever happens from here on it, it is all good.' Our mindset is we need to go out and do good things. So, are we playing with 'house' money? In some ways, we are flying under the radar a little bit, in other ways, our aspirations and our goals are pretty high. That means that no matter what other people think, wee think we need to turn it on and give ourselves a good showing."

ON FEELING LIKE MORE OF A MEMBER OF TOP-10 CROWD: "I never felt like I wasn't part of the "crowd" or that I didn't belong here. It means a great deal of what my peers think of me, how they look at me as a race car driver and as a human being. There is no question, when you aren't running as well you feel a little bit detached. I guess that is the only way to say it. I can't give you a specific example of anyone ever treating me differently. it is more internal. No one ever treated me differently, but when you aren't running well, you are probably looked at as a less formidable opponent. That is what I want people to look at me as, as a driver for a team that when they unload in the garage the others know they are going to have to deal with us this week. In no way, was I trying to say that people treated me differently or I felt disrespected in any form or fashion. It is more of am internal thing. That is what I was trying to express."

ON WHICH IS HARDER - TO NEVER HAVE SUCCESS OR TO HAVE SUCCESS THEN GO IN A SLUMP: "There is an old saying about the big guys fall real hard. I think that when you have a level of success and then you don't have it, I think that probably it is harder, than if you've never really had success. Although, I am sure someone who has never really had success would disagree with me. When you are used to being a guy that people say this team can win a championship or this guy can win on any given weekend, then all of a sudden, you don't have a snowball's chance in hell, that is a difficult thing to do. It has made me very aware that it can happen to anybody and that you have to stay on your toes in this game. It is a moving target. You have to work exceptionally hard to stay on top. I never reached the pinnacle. I have never been the top guy. I have been one of the people that could be the top guy. I have never been where Gordon or Stewart has been. You look at Jeff (Gordon) and Tony (Stewart) last year and this year, it can happen to the very best. I saw it with (Dale) Earnhardt. I have told this story before, I left Pocono one day going to the airport and saw a car where someone had written the window - "Earnhardt, Time to Cash in the 401k". This was a seven-time champion who was struggling, and then the next year he finished second in points and here was a fan saying that. It happens to everybody, but it is no fun."

ON STRATEGY FOR ROUND ONE OF CHASE: "We came here to try to win. The thing about how I race and about how my team prepares everything, we don't have to change anything. We go in to every race trying to do the very best we can. We also understand that if we get in to wrecks and have no chance of getting a reasonable finish, we won't go in to the race changing anything. I am who I am; I drive the way I drive. I have driven this way since I was six years old and I am not going to change. So if we get in trouble this week, we will get in to trouble doing something I would have always done. My team and I can all sleep at night with that. We didn't prepare our cars any differently to come here. We have worked harder to be better, we brought a brand new car here, and we have a couple of more new cars in the shop. We have prepared ourselves exceptionally well for these last 10 races. We have built new cars we believe are better than we have been able to run the last three or four weeks. Hopefully that is going to help us. We have prepared differently in some ways because we are trying to step it up. But we are not going to change our mindset. We are not going to change how we race because of the position we are in."

ON HOW NON-CHASE DRIVERS VIEW CHASE DRIVERS IN LAST 10 RACES: "I think it is different. First of all if you are not in the Chase, you have every right to go out and run the very best you can. I think the guys that aren't in the Chase, give the Chase guys respect, but at the same time, if they are faster than you, they should go past you. If they can win the race, they need to go win the race. If they can run third and that means they put a Chase guy back to fourth, then that is what they need to do, They have every right to race like we do and that is how I feel about it. I also didn't want to be the one who wrecked Jimmie Johnson in the second race of the Chase; I didn't want to do that. But, I didn't want to do that anyway. We do wreck a lot, but for the most part, I think they are accidents. I do think people are a little more careful around the guys who are in the Chase. But I don't think it is a lot different. Once the race starts, you have to remember, all the stuff that has gone on this week, all the media that has happened this week, we watch that stuff too. So all the guys who are out of the top-10 have been watching it and had to deal with it all week, but when the race starts, it is just a race. Now it is just a race. So those guys go in and try to win the race, or if they can't win, they are going to try to run second. So guys like Tony (Stewart), Carl (Edwards) and Greg (Biffle) and those other guys who are used to winning races are going to go in and try to win races. Their whole focus in on winning. They might gamble a little more; they might stay out and try to make things happen. When I wasn't in it, I came to the races trying to do the best I could and also starting preparing for the next year. That is one thing we are working very hard at Richard Childress Racing is to make sure we don't loose track of next year. With 2/3 of our teams are in the Chase, there is a lot of focus on this but we can't lose track of next season. We can't lose focus with all the changes coming next year. It is a little bit of an advantage not to be in. We will just have to answer that call."

ON QUALIFYING SO WELL BUT NOT HAVING FINISHES: "We have talked about and continue to discuss what to change and the degree of changes. To digress a little bit, at Michigan we started on the pole. We started on the race on a radically different setup trying to not be so good early, but try to be better letter. But because we broke the engine we got backed in to a corner and had to get back to what we were doing to get back in the Chase. We really needed that result, where it took us. After that we didn't have that happened, we just couldn't gamble on it. We went in to California trying to do the same things we had done. Track positioning is really important. There are times when the track looks is better than it really is and you look better than you really are. I haven't complained enough about the cars; I am going to whine a whole lot more. This week, I am going to complain a whole lot more. I am going to be very demanding, more so than I have been. Scott is going to be more aggressive changes that we make. We have lost track position, with issues in the pits and it is very hard to get them back. We have gotten blocked in our pits that really hurt us. Stuff kind of piles up on you. I think there have been times that we just haven't been as good as we looked. We have got to get to the point where we run as well in traffic as we do in clean air, which is almost impossible to do. Maybe we don't need to be as good in clean air."

ON DRIVERS WHO MISS THE CHASE CHANGING THEIR ATTITUDES: "If you don't make the Chase, what else can you do? You can't just quit, you have got to find reasons to wake up in the morning, you have got to find a reason to come to the race track. You can't demoralize your team or yourself. There are still 10 races to go. You re-focus; you reset your goals. For example, that is what Tony is doing. This is his team's situation, how do they adapt to it. In his mind or other drivers, he was rolling through, now what is the goal. Well, it is to win not to points. Chase drivers pay attention to points, but pay attention to them after the race. Then you think about it all damn week, then another race weekend starts again, you race, you think about it again all week and then on it goes. That is what points racing is. Why does Jimmie Johnson need to change what has gotten him in this position. They aren't going to change a lot because they are pretty darn good. The ones who are going to change a lot are the teams who aren't in the Chase and have been struggling. When you are running well, you are way less prone to want to change something because you are afraid you are going to run 30th. The hardest thing about what we do is knowing when it is time to do something different. And then after you decide, how do you do it. But the decision to make a major change is the hardest part of what we do. You are so scared because you just are afraid it isn't going to work. You can run 30th, I know you all think it is easy to run top-10, but it isn't. It is very hard to finish well in these races and if you aren't right, you can run 30th."

ON THIS BEING AN EMOTIONAL RACE: "It is late in the year, people are tired. Emotions get built up during the year. The racing here is very competitive, it is very easy to cause a wreck, it is very easy to get wrecked. When that happens to you, it gets you pretty mad. This is a track where everybody tries to protect their position. When you try to pass them, even if you are better, it is going to take 30 more laps to get by them. There is a lot of defending here and there is a lot of offense because you have to be aggressive to pass someone. When you get a guy playing offense and another guy playing defense, there is a big chance for a wreck. This just isn't a track where you can just get out of the way. You can't just hide for a little while here. There is no place to hide; t is just so frustrating because it is hard to pass. I know I am in a huge minority but I actually think the old race track was better because at least, if you got beside someone, the spot was yours. Not true now. On the old track, it was harder to get there, but once you got there, it was yours. It is an emotional race track because it is so difficult to pass. You have a competitive race track and get a big group of competitive teams and it is frustrating."

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

EVEN THE NASCAR RELEASE MENTIONS THAT JIMMIE JOHNSON HAS GOTTEN OFF TO SLOW STARTS IN THE CHASE. OBVIOUSLY THIS YEAR, YOU'VE MADE PLANS TO CHANGE THAT. WHAT HAVE YOU DONE? "I was just listening to Jeff (Gordon) a minute ago. He made a great comment about the hardest thing he feels, is knowing when to change. The summer months for us have been slow I think (because) there are some tracks that aren't our best tracks. Technology changes a lot. I look at our record over the last month and a half and I think in my heart I feel like I've done a much better job this summer than the summer before. With the changes we've made as a team and the way we're approaching things, we've done a better job. We lost some points and we lost the points lead, so we didn't do a great job, but I think we have done a better job. Eight of the 10 races in the Chase are very good races for us. Loudon, at one time, I could get around here. But now this is one of the two that I don't think are my strongest tracks. I've won here twice before and hopefully I can get that back going once again. Phoenix is the other track that's a lot like here and we've been a little slower at. Looking at the 10, I feel good about it. We've got great race tracks coming up. One of the biggest changes we've made is the fact that we haven't changed a lot. We know what we're doing. We've been here before. We know that it's about these 10 races. We have an idea about how Tony (Stewart) was able to win his championship last year and Kurt Busch the year before. And we've just formulated our own strategy and we're ready to get to work."

WITH 7 GUYS IN THE CHASE WHO WEREN'T IN THE CHASE BEFORE, DO YOU FEEL YOU HAVE A HUGE ADVANTAGE OVER THE OTHER GUYS, A LITTLE ADVANTAGE, OR NONE AT ALL? "It's so hard to tell until we get into the middle of it and see how people deal with pressure and how they deal with the Chase. I can say that as these 10 races go on, it's going to get so tough - mentally and emotionally - decisions the crew chiefs have to make on the box.guys on the track.I don't know how to handicap it because everybody deals with pressure in a different way. There is no doubt that pressure is going to continue to ramp up. I can say that I'm a lot more confident in this Chase than I was in my first one. I have a better idea of how things go. What that is, I'm not really sure. Again, it's hard to predict. Everybody deals with pressure differently."

JEFF BURTON SAID THIS IS AN EMOTIONAL RACE TRACK. IS THIS A GOOD PLACE OR A BAD PLACE TO GET THE CHASE GOING? "I have a hard time thinking about tracks and the Chase and what track deserves a Chase race, if that's the right way to say it, and how the season lays out for the Chase. I think the Chase gives us some very good balance of all the types of we race on. NASCAR needed to put 10 races in. This date has always been here. The Chase starts here. So I don't really have a problem with it. I think we have a few tracks that are very high in emotions. Talladega is one. Martinsville is going to be one. Phoenix is a lot like here. So it's nothing new for us. To me, it doesn't matter where we start off. That's part of being a Nextel Cup driver. You have to balance those emotions and deal with all that."

DO YOU AGREE WITH BURTON'S CONTENTION THAT THIS IS AN EMOTIONAL RACE TRACK? "Yeah, I think so. Phoenix, to Jeff's point, in Turns 1 and 2 you can run side-by-side - Turns 3 and 4, if you have position you typically go by the guy. So I see what Jeff was saying there. When you sit there for five or six laps beside someone and you can't pass him, that's when the emotions start to rise. And we see that all the time. It doesn't mean it's a bad track. It doesn't mean whatever, it's just one of the byproducts of side-by-side racing."

WHAT HAVE YOU NOTICED ABOUT THE WAY THE GUYS OUTSIDE THE CHASE RACE YOU IN THESE LAST 10 RACES? IS IT DIFFERENT THAN DURING THE REGULAR SEASON? "I think everybody still has to do his job and go out there and try to win races. I have seen a lot of respect from the guys that weren't in the Chase - especially when you get down to the last three or four races. It's not that they give you a position, but instead of holding you up for five laps racing side-by-side after a lap or two, they may cut you a break and give you some extra room. After three years I've been a part of it, there has been a lot of respect in the closing races. In some ways it's great. In Homestead, when Kurt Busch won the championship, he had to come through traffic. I know that none of the other drivers wanted to interfere, so they gave him a lot of room and I was disappointed to see him in my mirror so quickly. And I was like, man, I wish these guys would race him harder. But it's just a lot of respect being paid to one another out there."

EVERYBODY IS ASKING YOU WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO DO DIFFERENT THIS YEAR IN THE CHASE. WHAT ARE SOME OF THE THINGS YOU'RE TRYING TO KEEP THE SAME? "We recognize, as team, when we're having fun and we're not caught up in pressure situations, we do better. I think everybody can say that about themselves. We do perform under pressure. We're always able to rebound and come back. But we just want to have fun. We want to get out there and have fun with our crew guys and have fun on pit road, off the race track, on the track, and just get out there and enjoy this. I think the last few years you get so focused on these 10 (races) that maybe it creates some problems. Maybe it makes decisions harder for the crew chief and for myself. So one change is that we just want to have fun through this.

We're going to try and just have a good time and see if that helps. But at the same time, we've been in the Chase and we know what these races are like and it's really hard to put a strategy in place because there is no telling if you're going to some out strong or come out soft. We do know there are some strong tracks for us and some weak tracks. Naturally we want to pick up the weak tracks and take advantage of the strong tracks when we get to them."

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE FUN THINGS YOU WANT TO DO? "I think it's a mindset on how we approach things. When the pressure is on, you get stuck on making decisions. Again, going back to what Jeff Burton said, it's so tough making decisions - especially when you've done everything you have all year long to get to this point and now you've got 10 races to determine the championship. And you're stuck between two set-ups, what do you do? I feel if you're in a better place, so to speak, it's easier to make those decisions. But if you let the pressure of the championship really weigh on you, you're going to be at a crossroads and it's going to be painful and you're going to have a tough time making decisions. So that's what we're going to try to do is have some fun with it. Just lighten things up a little bit."

JEFF GORDON HAS SAID HE REALLY ONLY WANTED TO BE IN THE CHASE IF HE HAD A CHANCE OF WINNING IT. WHAT DO YOU SEE AS THE AREAS WHERE THEY HAVE IMPROVED? "I think Jeff has finally had some luck turn his way. The last two years - even in parts of this season - he's had some weird mechanical things go wrong that kept him from being in the Chase. I think his relationship with (crew chief) Steve Letarte and the personnel changes that have gone on, that everybody is really clicking and Jeff and Steve know how to communicate to one another. In the last month and a half, they've really shown a lot of speed and fought their way back into the Chase. I really think he is going to be one of the guys to contend with for the championship."

WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE MORE POINTS AWARDED FOR WINS AND WOULD THAT CHANGE HOW YOU WOULD APPROACH THE CHASE? "I don't think changing the point system is going to make the drivers try any harder or make the racing any better. Believe me, we're doing everything we can out there. We know that every point counts - especially the guys in the Chase right now. It doesn't matter if you're 20th; 18th is going to pay more points. And you need everything you can get. If you look at it in a different light and think of rewarding guys who are able to win, I agree with that. Coming into the Chase, there needs to be a bigger separation of points for each position and maybe a bigger payout through the positions in our point system in general. It's always worked well. I don't think we need to rush off and take care of, but I think it could use a little bit of tweaking."

AS A FOLLOW UP TO THE QUESTION ABOUT GUYS DRIVING YOU DIFFERENTLY THAT ARENT IN THE CHASE, HAS IT BEEN YOUR EXPERIENCE WHEN GUYS USE THAT TO THEIR ADVANTAGE? "I think early on, people who aren't in the Chase think hey, there are still 10 races left and I need to do all that I can. And you might see somebody betting on the fact that hey, he's racing for points and he's going to give me some room. I think you'll see that early. But as you get to the end and the championship is really pushing on, I think everybody just backs away and gets out of the way to a certain degree."

YOU'VE BEEN CLOSE EVERY YEAR. SOME PEOPLE THINK YOU ARE THE BEST DRIVER NOT TO HAVE WON A CHAMPIONSHIP, DOES THAT PLAY MINDGAMES WITH YOUR HEAD? "No, each year that goes by, I'm stoked with the year that I've had and I'm honored to be in the top 10 and to finish second in the points a couple of times and fifth. I've accomplished a lot. I'm very happy with everything I've done. I do want to be a champion. I've never had the goal of being a seven or eight-time champion - trying to beat Earnhardt Sr. or something like that. Now if it happened, believe me I'd be very excited about that and it would be a stat that I would like. But I've just wanted to be a champion in this sport. That's what I've set out to do. And if it's this year, or next year, or 10 years or now - I'm going to be around for a long time and I know that driving for Rick Hendrick I'm going to have that shot year after year. It's just a matter of getting everything put into place. So life is good."

BEHIND THE HAULER CHAT WITH KYLE BUSCH, NO. 5 KELLOGG'S MONTE CARLO SS:

ON THE UPCOMING 10 RACES "We want to go out there and make sure we run the best we can. We feel like we've got a great shot at seven of the 10 races to at least run up front and get top five and top 10-finishes and at a couple of those, definitely some wins. But the two that we have to look out for is Texas and Atlanta. We somehow struggle at those two places. We can run 10th to 20th at Texas and then Atlanta we can run up front half-way or two-thirds of the race and take the lead or whatever and right after that last pit stop for some reason we just don't have the car handling right and we fall back a little bit and we end up about 12th. That's been three times, 12th place finishes.

"Going into Talladega though, that's the other crap shoot for everybody. Hopefully we don't have to use a Mulligan race. If we do, everybody else has to. But that's the one that we're kind of looking toward. But we feel like our restrictor plate program is really picked up this year. We had a great car at Daytona earlier in the year before we got our NASCAR penalty. At Talladega we were running 12th and I think we got wrecked on lap eight. And then we finished second in July at Daytona.

"So we're excited about it. I'm looking forward to it and there are a lot of good chances for us to be successful."

YOUR BROTHER, KURT BUSCH, WON AT NHIS IN JULY '04 AND THEN WENT ON TO WIN THE CHAMPIONSHIP. AND THEN TONY STEWART DID THE SAME IN '05. AND NOW YOU'VE WON HERE IN JULY. WHAT'S YOUR TAKE ON THAT? "Yeah, as far as the past two championship coming out of the July Loudon race, that's pretty neat. Obviously we have the opportunity to do that this year. But we'll see how it works out. If it's three for three, there might be something to that. Actually I had the same thing at IRP where I ran for the Busch Series championship in 2004. The previous two years, the winn

er had come from IRP and I won IRP and we didn't win the championship. Maybe we can change that around this year."

AT HMS, IT USED TO BE ALL FOCUS WAS ON JEFF GORDON. THEN IT WAS ON JIMMIE JOHNSON. NOW IT'S ON KYLE BUSCH BECAUSE YOU'RE IN THE CHASE TOO. WHAT IS THE ATTENTION LIKE NOW AT HMS? "I don't think it's changed any little bit since the beginning part of this year. We're all four working very well together. It's just that the three of us have been able to be put in the right situations this year and we've had good cars to put us in the Chase. Fridays and Saturdays we're all working together. The engineers get together. The crew chiefs get together. The drivers all talk on how our cars are handling and different things and about how to make the better and what changes they have made and how the cars reacted and all that. Once it comes down to Sunday, you just pretty much get busy and worry about yourself and see what you can do in order to get the best finish possible."

ARE YOU LIKE THE YOUNG KID AROUND THERE OR ARE YOU BEING TAKEN SERIOUSLY? "I don't know. Honestly, I haven't heard any rumblings around Hendrick or anything like that. As far as my take with my team, they know that the No. 24 and the No. 48 are looking at us as definitely being championship caliber. They work with them every day and every week, so we're not going to go in there and try to flounder. We're going to go in there and try to win the thing."

YOUR ARE VERY YOUNG COMPARED TO GUYS LIKE MARK MARTIN AND JEFF GORDON. DOES IT BLOW YOU AWAY TO THINK ABOUT WHERE YOU ARE AT THIS EARLY STAGE? DOES IT INTIMIDATE YOU TO RUN AGAINST THESE GUYS WHO ARE 15 - 20 YEARS OLDER? "Oh, it's neat. It's a great opportunity to be put in this predicament and this situation. But I'm looking forward to being able to race those guys and have the opportunity to race against them and go after a championship. It's only my second year out and for as young as I am, there is definitely something to be said for that. But Denny Hamlin is in there. He's a rookie and he hasn't had much experience in these stock cars yet. He's done an awesome job this year. I'm sure he's done better than what I did last year. For myself, again, it's exciting to have this opportunity just to be able to go out there and compete with them."

DO THEY INTIMIDATE YOU? "No, if I was intimidated, I wouldn't be where I am today. You go out there and just do what you need to do on the race track every weekend."

TELL US ABOUT THE MOCK-CHASE THAT YOUR TEAM DID LAST YEAR "We kind of sat ourselves down and talked about things. We knew we wanted to be Chase contenders this year so we kind of put ourselves in that predicament last year. We put ourselves in 10th - just barely making it in. And we went through the final 10 races as if we were Chase contenders. There were a couple of run-ins that kind of took us out a little bit you know. A blown tire at Charlotte; we knocked the wall down, and then I wrecked myself at Homestead. And then at Talladega we got caught up in a crash and some other places I don't think we did what we needed to do there. But we did win at Phoenix and we ran real well here and a couple of other places. So I think we ended up seventh according to our calculations, which wasn't excellent. But we needed to see how everybody raced and how we needed to race and what kind of things we needed to watch out for."

WHAT DID YOU LEARN? "The biggest thing we learned was how everybody kind of raced out there and what the Chase contenders were doing around each other and what they were doing racing with each other and how they guys who weren't in the Chase were racing with the guys who were in the Chase. Other things were strategies. (crew chief) Alan (Gustafson) paid more attention to the Chase crew chiefs and what their strategies were. I guess probably how we won that race at Phoenix; some guys stayed out or pitted a stop later than we did, or something. But we got track position over them and we ended up winning the race due to that. So, it was a pretty big day for us that day."

SOMETIMES YOU SEE A YOUNGER SIBLING FOLLOW AN OLDER SIBLING BECAUSE THE OLDER ONE IS DOING IS. WHEN OR HOW DID IT BECOME THAT YOU WANTED TO RACE NOT BECAUSE YOUR BROTHER KURT WAS DOING IT, BUT BECAUSE YOU WANTED TO DO IT? "I was in sixth or seventh grade in junior high school watching my dad and my brother and how much fun they were having on the race track. I was having fun working on the cars and fixing them and rebuilding things and just trying to make them better and things like that and making sure parts wouldn't fall off of them every weekend and stuff like that. I saw Kurt and how good he was in the beginning and I figured I might as well try to give this a shot. My dad had to search around for five or six months to try to find a place for me to race because I wasn't old enough to race in Las Vegas. So we found Salt Lake City and we found Lake Havasu. Those were my first two races. We were able to go out there and to well. Finally I was able to get out to Vegas and we ran well there. It took me about 10 to 12 races to get up to Kurt's caliber and then I started racing with Kurt there and pretty much decided I was good enough to do it since he was having success at it and I kind of stuck with it from there on out. I had to quit Little League baseball and stuff like that."

JEFF BURTON MADE REFERENCE ABOUT RESPECT IN THE GARAGE LAST WEEK. IS THAT TRUE FOR THE YOUNGER SET TOO WHERE IF A VETERAN ISN'T RUNNING WELL ARE YOU LESS LIKELY TO TAKE WHAT HE SAYS SERIOUSLY OR TO LISTEN TO HIM OR TO RESPECT HIM? "I don't think so, no. I know so, no. I would go up to anybody and ask anybody or take any advice that anybody wanted to give me. Mark Martin has been around here so long and has been through so many different experiences that he knows a lot more than I do. Jeff Burton, Bobby Labonte, Dale Jarrett - any of those guys. If they're in a slump, it's not because it's them. It's maybe because of equipment or maybe just not having the right geometry or whatever it is. The whole RCR stable you've seen them turn around these past two seasons and now they're clicking it off and running up front and winning races. Harvick's got three wins this year on flat tracks whereas last year you wouldn't see him in the top 10. It's not because it's the driver. It think it's more the equipment."

THE LAST TWO YEARS OF THE CHASE, THE NEW HAMPSHIRE RACE HAS BEEN THE WILDEST. IS THERE ANYTHING ABOUT THIS TRACK THAT LENDS ITSELF TO THAT, OR IS IT EMOTIONS GOING INTO THE OPENER? "I think the biggest thing about this place is there's no banking here, so when you go off into the corner, there's nothing to put your car against. You're just sliding around on asphalt like you're in a parking lot. The biggest deal is to try to get a car handling well enough. We've had that. It's been nice to have that and run up front and just have kind of a solid, easy day. But you see most of that stuff going on around the back of the pack. There was that occasion that the Ryan Newman/Tony Stewart deal at the beginning of the year. But overall, it's just such a tough place to pass. You slide into the corner underneath somebody and try not to hit him. And the drive off is so hard to get on the bottom side because the guy is carrying the momentum and the speed around the outside. So it's definitely a tricky place. There are some guys that maybe get a little impatient trying to pass somebody and try to rough 'em up and get by them."

THE SECOND HALF OF THE SEASON, YOU'VE REALLY PICKED UP YOUR PERFORMANCE. IS IT BECAUSE YOU'VE MATURED AS A DRIVER OR IS IT SOMETHING IN THE CARS? WHAT IS THE REASON? "It think it's both of that. I think a lot of it has to do with the team and them getting a lot more comfortable with me. The cars have been getting better every week. I went through a pretty big change there after the Charlotte weekend. There is no reason of not pinpointing that weekend. But I had a sit down with Mr. H (Hendrick) and Mr. Helton and was able to talk about things and you know, life and fishing and everything in general you know - nothing really just pinpointing anything. But a lot of fun was discussed in there and just to go out and enjoy life. And it's not all about trying to lead every lap and win every race. You've got to have more friends out here than you do enemies in order to be successful. That's the biggest thing I've learned. In order to be where we're at today, it's definitely come a long way."

HAS KURT BUSCH TALKED TO YOU ABOUT BEING IN THE CHASE? "No, not yet. I was going to try to catch up with him this week, but I wanted to make sure I was in first before I caught up with him. But he was off testing in Milwaukee so I haven't been able to get a hold of him and he's not here yet this morning because he's flying in. So as soon as he gets here I'm going to try to catch up with him in the garage area and talk to him a little bit."

ON THE CHANGE FROM TALKING ABOUT MAKING THE CHASE TO ACTUALLY BEING IN IT AND REALIZING HE HAS AN OPPORTUNITY TO WIN THE WHOLE THING "Well, the mindset going into the season was just trying to position ourselves to have the opportunity to make it into the Chase. Once you're in, then you can king of reset your goals, I think. That's probably per se for a lot of drivers. But now we're going to redo our goals and our goals are to try and win this deal. There has only been one previous incident that a rookie has won Rookie of the Year and then in the consecutive season has won the championship and that's been Dale Earnhardt. So we're going to go out there and try to tie that record as well as go out there and try to beat Jeff Gordon's youngest champion record. That's what our goals are this season. So if we can do that, it would be awesome for myself and the team and everybody at Hendrick Motorsports. Rick really wants to go to New York, but he doesn't want to go to New York and not sit at the head table on stage and so that's what we want to do."

WHAT INFLUENCE HAS RICK HENDRICK HAD ON YOUR CAREER? "He's had a big influence on my career. It's been pretty awesome to be able to work with such a guy who has been willing to take you under his wing and talk to you as a son and treat you as a son. It was a tragedy years ago when that plane went down. But when it did, it brought me a lot closer to Rick than what I thought I probably could have ever been. I was really close to Ricky and hanging out with him and with him being my car owner on the Busch side, I could talk to him about anything. And with him being close to me in age, I'd give him more of a hard time than I'd ever call his dad for. So, now I've got a better relationship with Rick. A lot has been going on here and I'm just trying to bring myself up not only as a better person, but also a better person in general and being able to be more accepted in this sport than just to be here."

CAN YOU EXPAND ON THAT AND TELL US EXACTLY WHAT HE SAID? "The biggest thing was just talking about life in general and the kind of person you need to be and what kind of attitude you need to have coming into this deal and how to be successful. The biggest things are like what I said before; to go out there and race with friends, not race with enemies. You'd rather have allies out there than enemies. The biggest thing is just to enjoy racing again and not think of it as a job every weekend and to go out there and have fun and try to be successful."

GOING INTO SUNDAY'S RACE, DO YOU HAVE A LOT OF EMOTIONS? WHAT DO YOU FEEL LIKE? "Right now, for me, it's just another race. I'm excited about being back here at Loudon. It's a place I love coming to. I run well here for some reason. I used to run really well there at Chicago Speedway in Cicero with the Truck Series. I almost won my second race. But it's a place that's real similar to this. For some reason, I like these flat mile race tracks and I'm excited about getting back out there. Hopefully we have a good race car like we had here in the spring and if we do, I'll be even more excited about getting into it in Sunday. Otherwise, maybe I won't be. But I'm pretty accurate in saying that hopefully we'll be pretty good."

HOW HAVE YOU CHANGED OVER THE LAST TWO YEARS? "Well, two years puts me at 19. I'm only 21 still. The biggest thing is I've never been around the college crowd, or going to schools, or going to parties, or getting into trouble with the law and stuff like that. So I'm being honest with you. I probably would have rather have done that in order to take some life experiences away from that and then come into here later than just jump into it at 21 years old. But it's what I chose to do. It's what I wanted to do. So, I'm excited about being here and having the opportunity. But a lot has changed over just this past six months. What has changed? Probably just the time. I'm still the same person I was then. But I'm just trying to grow up a little bit more and try to realize life for more of it's experiences than just trying to set new records and everything else. That's probably what I was doing in the beginning years. Last year at the beginning of the year I was out there driving too hard over my head trying to lead laps and win races and set records and this and that and everything else. But you settle down and try to be your own driver and be your own person and run your own race and you'll do that over time."

DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 8 BUDWEISER MONTE CARLO SS:

Q: What’s your level of optimism heading into the Chase? It’s 100 (percent), I guess. I’m pretty excited about our chances. We’ve been really strong the last several races going into the Chase, so we should be just fine.

Q: When you were here in Indy in early August, I sensed some frustration in the sense that you had a good finish, but you never really got a handle on the race car. You mentioned it’s going well now. What has turned the tide for you and your team? Nothing’s really changed. We could go to Indy tomorrow and run the same. That’s just the way we ran there, and that’s the way to car handles at that racetrack. We’ve run good at Michigan and California, and those tracks we needed to get better at, and we have.

Q: Is there enough diversity at the final 10 tracks, would you like to see more of something other than the 1.5-mile tracks, or is that what everyone likes? I think that there should be more short tracks, period, on the circuit. But as far as tracks we have, everybody’s going to have a different opinion, and I think where it is, is just fine.

Q: As far as the competition in the Chase, are you worried at all about different guys that aren’t in the Chase, since they have different goals than the guys in the top 10? No, because I was in that position last year, and I sort of know what their thinking’s going to be. The races really end up feeling, acting and being the same as any other race throughout the year.

Q: There are some open-wheel guys coming into Cup – Montoya we know of and others are talking about it. How difficult is it going to be somebody, first year, to compete at the Cup level? It’s going to be really, really hard. The last 15 years, the road course guys that have come to race ovals have had quite a challenge with it, a lot of difficulty with it. I think it would be very difficult for Montoya and a couple of those guys. But it is achievable. They’re talented drivers, and if anybody can do it, this group can do it.

Q: It would be hard to argue that anybody has more fans, across the country from track to track, than you. Could you describe what it would mean to you and your fan base to win a championship, to follow what your father did? Well, that’s what I’m out for the rest of my career. That’s really the one thing that means to most to me right now, is winning the championship. If that’s all I did, then it would be enough. To win races is great, to be successful is great, (but) when it comes down to it at the end of my career, I’m going to have to have that championship to consider myself as one of the better drivers. In the end, I want people to consider me one of the great drivers, and I’m going to need that championship to be able to do that.

Q: In other sports we hear about “playoff intensity.” Do you sense that in these final 10 races, that somehow it’s more intense than the first 26? Absolutely, it definitely is. It has that playoff feel. Especially when you’re coming out here and doing this all day long (media interviews), you get an idea how big a deal it is to the sport. They really are trying hard to promote it, (and the) drivers see that, especially the guys that haven’t been in it before, or haven’t been in the sport long. They’re sort of “oohing” and “aahing” all day long. We’ll get down to basics and start racing again this weekend, start practicing and driving the cars, and it will all come back down to earth. Hopefully we’ll have a good idea of what we’ll need to accomplish each week, keep our head on straight, not mess up and cause us to lose a lot of points.

Q: In other sports scouting is a huge part of it, “What is the other team going to do?” How much in this playoff system do you keep track – not only during the race, but maybe going into a track – of the other nine guys? That one guy runs well here or struggles there? I think a lot, you obviously know who won at each track the last time you were there, who was strong. You’ll watch them in practice, (and) try to see if you can find something they’re doing to see if you can use it on your car.

Q: I’m curious about whether you guys would ever consider driving an Indy car. Is it possible in this day and age? I wouldn’t consider it, but I think there’s some drivers who would. As far as racing in IRL, never full-time, though. Once a NASCAR driver, stock car driver, always a stock car driver, I believe. The sport’s so big, and there’s so much recognition to it. And there’s so much to achieve and it’s such a draw, that’s the draw for the drivers. I think some would like to drive Indy cars just to have they have, and get that experience. But I’d probably pass on that opportunity if it came to me.

Q: Why is that? Because it’s too difficult logistically? Probably. Yeah, it’s too much travel back and forth. If I went and did it, there would be a big crowd there, hassling and carrying on with everybody, making a big deal out of it. I wouldn’t be able to go and do it under the radar and enjoy it. There would be pressure to have to run good and pressure to put down some kind of lap times. It would be compared to everything else that’s been run there, and it wouldn’t be fun. So, I’d have to avoid that situation (laughs).

Q: Are the two disciplines that far apart? We’ve talked quite a bit about Montoya, Hornish, Allmendinger and some other guys trying to make the transition from IndyCar to stock cars. Are the disciplines so far apart that it’s very hard to make the move in either direction? Yeah, there’s something about … I don’t know why it’s difficult, (but) it’s difficult for some reason. A road course guy comes in our sport, he has trouble going around an oval. He has trouble trying to negotiate Turns 3 and 4 at any given track. I don’t know why he can’t map that corner out in his mind like he does each corner at a road course. I don’t know why that is or what that is, I guess the techniques you use on a road course are so different as far as braking and how you arc and turn into a corner, what corner of the car you’re feeling, concentrating your mind on the most. I think that there’s a lot of talented road course drivers that can get in there and drive ovals, and over time become very good and very successful. I don’t think it’s impossible at all, but there is a tough learning curve once you’ve done one thing for so long and go to do something else. It’s kind of tough.

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE'S MONTE CARLO SS:

Q: You’ve won the two biggest races this season. Is it only fitting that you win the championship, too? I think so. I’m not sure anybody else believes that or wants to hear that as far as drivers go, but I’d love to be the champion – it’s been an awesome year.

Q: You’ve been in the situation before where you’ve been at or near the top of the points going in. Has your approach changed at all so far and/or will it change throughout the Chase from previous years? I think going into it, most drivers have the same idea just getting started to see what happens. You know, every point counts on the racetrack when we’re in the car, and you’ve got to be as aggressive as you can and at the same time not do anything stupid, or try to avoid stupid things from taking place. So, it’s just going to be something where we get in there and really work to see where things shake out. I feel that my experience in the Chase the last few years makes me stronger, but I have to say that when I look at favorites, I have to look at past champions. I really think those guys have been in the fire; they know what it’s like to win a championship, and they’ve delivered. So looking at that, Jeff (Gordon) and Matt (Kenseth) would be the favorites going in, and then I’m right up there with them.

Q: There’s really not that much disparity coming into the final 10 between first and second place, but if there were, it’s all gone with a five-point lead. Should there be more reward and even some recognition for the regular season champ? Yeah, without a doubt. I think there needs to be some type of championship awarded to the guy that wins the first 26. I do feel there needs to be a bigger separation in points between each position.

Q: You mentioned in Victory Lane here at Indianapolis your reverence for the “500” and what that means and what this track means. Is there any chance that we’d see you in an open-wheel car here? I would love to. My dream before I hang up my helmet is I want to race at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and I also want to race in the Indy 500. Hopefully I can put that together some day. I don’t think we can do it while I’m racing in the Cup Series – I don’t want to take anything away from my Cup effort. If things ever slow down and I can find the time to do it, I’m all over it.

Q: There’s a pretty good record of guys winning the Brickyard 400 going on to win the championship. Are you aware of that? I am. I just hope I don’t mess it up.

Q: You have been at the top of the points going into the playoffs a few times and not won the championship. Has this made you more or less a fan of the points system? It doesn’t change my opinion of the playoff system. It’s changed my opinion of August. I think we’ve done a better job of producing and getting the right finishes. I don’t really have anything against the Chase – I think it’s done a lot for our sport. It really has gotten stick-and-ball sports fans tuning in and watching NASCAR with football starting back up, so it’s doing a great job for our sport.

Q: In all the other sports when I talk to athletes they always bring up the playoff intensity – somehow the intensity goes up during the playoffs. Have you sensed that in the Chase races in years past? Without a doubt. As everyone goes on, it gets more and more intense. It’s funny to look back on the last couple of years and look at this trip to New York that we’re all on. Everybody is all friendly, hanging out and having a great time, but I know in two or three weeks we’re all going to hate each other in the sense that we’re trying to get every point we can, and the intensity is going to go through the ceiling.

Q: In a race-to-race basis in the playoff system, how much do you and your crew chief and your spotter keep track of the other nine guys in the Chase during the course of a race? Yeah, you’re really focused on those guys and try to outperform them and find out where they are on the track, so we’ll definitely have an eye on everyone.

Q: You made a reference to stick-and-ball sports. So kind of in a similar vein, teammates, so obviously you’ve got some guys that are competing for the same prize that you are, that are in this Chase for the Championship. I don’t want to say team orders of any sort, but how will the teammates work together over these final 10 races? That’s a good question. I think we’re still going to be working as teammates like we always have, but at the same time we’ve got to do what we can for our race team, and I’ve got to do everything I can to win a championship for the 48, so the notes will be working and we’ll be sharing information, but when we’re on the track, you can give an inch – you’ve got to race your teammates just as hard as anyone else.

Q: This is only the third year of the Chase for the Championship, and it seems like it’s been forever. Can you imagine this battle basically being you and Matt Kenseth being in a command duel if we were under the old system of three years ago? Yeah, sometimes I look at that and think what it would be like. We’d be in a pretty comfortable position as far as second or third in points is kind of where we would end up, but it’s not that way and Matt’s going to be a guy we’re going to have to worry about, and it’s just not the way it is right now.

Q: There have been so many good moments for you this season; obviously the reason you’re close to the top of the points standings. I don’t know if you can rank it at this point, but where does your victory at Indianapolis, where do you put that in the things you’ve accomplished list? Well, that’s very, very high on the list. It’s tough for me to pick between Daytona and Indy, which means more to me. They are both very special for their own reasons. I’ve always wanted to win the Daytona 500. I’ve always wanted to win the Indianapolis 500 – I never thought I would be there in a stock car or dreamed I’d be there in a stock car. With all the troubles I’ve had there at that racetrack, to come back and win, it meant the world to me. It was such a big struggle to get over and to win that race. It’s very, very high on my list. I hope this championship comes and knocks them both down a notch.

Q: I’m curious here about the announcement by Sam Hornish that he’s going to go test an ARCA car. We’re throwing around the possibility here of crossover in the other direction and whether or not it’s possible. In this day and age and in this climate, is it likely that we would ever see a Cup driver go in the other direction and drive an IndyCar? I’m not sure. I think that for a driver to leave stock cars and go to IndyCars or IndyCars to go to stock cars, you’re going to have to dedicate three or four years to learning the car, learning the tracks, the crew and everything that goes with it, so I really respect any driver that’s willing to take that challenge because it’s going to take a few years before you get back to the winning ways and back to the things that you’re used to. So, I encourage guys like Sam to come along, and I hope that he does and I hope that they come over and give it a shot.

Q: You mentioned earlier that you’d really like to try the “500.” Is the time change, the fact that they moved the race up, has that made it that much more almost impossible for Cup guys to do the double? Yeah, I think the time change hurts it a lot. Talking to Robby (Gordon) and Tony (Stewart) both, it’s just eliminated any opportunity to make it.

Q: What would be the most difficult part of the transition from a stock car to an IndyCar? Finding that last half a second. I think it’s easy to get close, you can look at a map trace of the computer stuff and see the driver’s inputs and all the stuff that goes on, but to find that last little bit, to feel it in your seat and get used to the race car, that’s the part that’s hard to get.