Kevin Harvick Captures Fifth Victory of Season With Sweep of 2006 NASCAR Nextel Cup Races at Phoenix

JOHNSON, HAMLIN, & GORDON ROUND OUT TOP 4 FINISHING SPOTS

Victory is Win 23 for Chevy and Breaks Modern Era Single-Season Win Record for Bowtie Brand; Jimmie Johnson Extends Lead in Chase for the Nextel Cup Heading to Homestead-Miami Season Finale; Monte Carlo SS Drivers Capture Six of Top-10 Finishing Positions

Avondale, AZ - Kevin Harvick, No. 29 Reese's Cookie Monte Carlo SS, completed the sweep of both 2006 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series (NNCS) races at Phoenix International Raceway (PIR) with today's victory in the Checker Auto Parts 500. The win was the fifth of the season for Harvick and the10th victory of his NNCS career.

Harvick's convincing victory gave Chevy 23 wins thus far in 2006 and set a new Modern Era single-season win record for the Bowtie brand. It is 596th all-time NNCS win for Chevrolet and the 472nd in the Modern Era.

The trip to victory lane has Harvick sitting third in the Chase for the Nextel Cup with one race remaining on the schedule. He led a total of 252 of the 312 laps in today's race collecting the bonus points for leading a lap and leading the most laps. The additional points helped vault him from fifth to third in the standings and shorten the gap he is down to the leader from 105 to 90 points.

Team Chevy drivers scored six of the top-10 finishing positions in today's race.

"My biggest concern was the alternator shut off," said Harvick. "We didn't have any fans so the brakes would get hot and kinda go away. I knew if I stayed behind him very long, I was going to be in trouble because the brakes would get hot and then the tire would get hot and it would start pushing. It all worked out, we had about 11 volts left on the battery and everything kept going so it was pretty cool.

"The only thing going through my mind (on that last restart) was what is the vicinity of the restart and how far can I push it. I knew we had a lot more area to play with than I normally thought we did. It all worked out. "I am just proud we get to give away 29 Chevrolet Avalanches as part of the GM Goodwrench Expertise Challenge so that is pretty cool for our fans.

"I wish we were a little closer than we are in the points, but we did everything we could do today. However it falls, it falls. We have had a good year."

With his runner-up finish tonight, Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe's Monte Carlo SS, extended his lead in the Chase for the Nextel Cup standings to 63 with the season finale next weekend at Homestead Miami Speedway. Today was the third consecutive time Johnson has scored the second place finishing position giving him 13 top-five finishes for the season and his fifth consecutive first or second place finish. If Johnson finishes 12th place or better in the final NNCS race next weekend, he will be the 2006 champion, his career-first.

"Great battle all day long with the No. 29 he had a great car," said Johnson. "He was one of the best cars and he did a great job. Being able to run here with Kevin (Harvick) at one of his best tracks says a lot about our Lowe's Chevrolet team so we are real proud.

"We had a great race car, I had a lot of confidence over the last couple of days after our qualifying effort knowing that we would be able to race strong today. We had a bad draw in qualifying and paid the price for that, but I took my time to drive a smart race to get up through the field and race for the win at the end. "Now we go to Miami, do all we can do and see what happens. We just have to keep doing what we have been doing these past weeks and that is all we can do."

Raybestos Rookie Denny Hamlin, No. 11 FedEx Monte Carlo SS, was third when the checkered flag flew tonight. He held on to fourth in the standings and is tied with Harvick at 90 points down to Johnson.

Jeff Gordon, No. 24 DuPont Monte Carlo SS, finished fourth in the Checkers Auto Parts 500 and sits sixth in the standings, 167 points behind the leader.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr., No. 8 Budweiser Monte Carlo SS, finished ninth in today's race and sits fifth in the Chase standings, 115 points behind the leader.

Jeff Burton, No. 31 Cingular Wireless Monte Carlo SS, finished 10th at PIR and is seventh in the standings, 225 points out of the lead.

Kyle Busch, No. 5 Kellogg's Monte Carlo SS, was caught up in a three-car accident and finished 38th today. He is now 359 points behind leader Johnson.

Chevrolet has locked up the 2006 Manufacturers' Cup. The standings following today's race are: Chevrolet, 273 points (23 wins); Dodge, 199 points (7 wins) and Ford, 193 points (5 wins).

The final race of the 2006 season will be the Ford 400 on November 19 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

KYLE BUSCH, NO. 5 KELLOGG'S MONTE CARLO SS - Sidelined in crash:

"We were just back there minding our own business, we aren't really very good today on the beginning of a run for some reason. That is kind of our own making there. What wasn't of our own making was Tony Stewart running in to the back of the No.26 for no reason whatsoever, just going down the front straight away, you can't see much anyway. McMurray looked like he was going to change lanes and get on the outside of a lapped car and Stewart kept his nose in there instead being his normal give-and-take self. Didn't give him any room there, McMurray bounced off outside wall back across the race track. You can't see much down the front straight away because of the sun anyway, but not much room for the Kellogg's Chevrolet to get through there. Tough end to this year, we are ready for next year."

DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 8 BUDWEISER MONTE CARLO SS - Finished 9th:

"We would have been lucky to have a top-25 finish if we would have run like we did at the start of the race, but my guys really worked hard and did a good job of improving the car throughout the race. But, we really struggled worse and worse those final 50 laps because of all of those yellow flags. Our car would get tighter and tighter after the tires would cool off. I just couldn't turn in the middle of the corner to pass anyone for the first few laps on a restart - and then the red flag at the end really hurt us because the tires were really cold and we lost a few spots. I'm still proud of my guys - we still managed a top-10 finish despite all of that."

JEFF BURTON, NO. 31 CINGULAR WIRELESS MONTE CARLO SS - Finished 10th:

"We never ran quite as good as we needed to by any means. We just kept fighting and fighting and got a top 10 out of it. But it was never quite as good as we needed to be. But we kept working and fighting and got what we could get."

ON BEING MATHEMATICALLY ELIMINATED FROM THE CHAMPIONSHIP HUNT, YOU JUST SEEMED TO HIT A RUN OF THINGS THAT JUST DIDN'T QUITE WORK OUT: "We have to find a way to be good enough to overcome when things just don't go well. We're going to keep fighting and try to come out next year better than we were this year. I think we did a great job this year. I'm real proud of everybody. We made some huge strides this year. How we've just got to take the next step."

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT MONTE CARLO SS - Finished 4th:

"To come home with a top five, it's a really solid day and finish for us. We have to be happy with that. I really thought we had third there at the end, but I just couldn't stay ahead of Denny (Hamlin) and me and Carl (Edwards) kind of got into each other a little bit too. It was exciting. It was Phoenix. We're just glad to come home with a top five."

WHAT WAS YOUR CONVERSATION WITH CARL EDWARDS? "Well, I got into him on that restart. He got into me prior to that. We've been racing real hard a lot lately. Some of it has been fun. Some of it has been aggravating and we're just trying to talk to see how we can race one another in the future."

ON JIMMIE JOHNSONS RACE TODAY: "I thought Jimmie did an awesome job today. We all knew how fast his race car was - and Kevin Harvick's. For him to drive up through there and stay out of trouble and come all the way up through the field like that at a place that's tough to pass on is very impressive. I thought he was going to win that race. He knew what he had to lose there if he and Harvick got together and crashed, so I felt like they really needed what they needed to do there. He's in great position.

"Those guys have really been solid lately and doing a great job. One more weekend where those guys are solid like that and he's going to get his first championship and give Hendrick Motorsports another championship, that would be awesome."

TELL US ABOUT RACING WITH CARL EDWARDS AND TALKING WITH HIM AFTER THE RACE: "We were jus talking about racing one another in the future. Being in the Chase and trying to protect our position there and get as many spots as we can, I've probably been racing him a little harder than I normally would. But he's a great racer. He got in the back of me over there off of (Turn) 2 and on that restart, I got in the back of him. And I think everything is settled. But I'm happy with the DuPont Chevrolet and a top five. I thought we were going to be a little bit better than that today, starting on the pole, but we made the most of our track position. Steve Letarte and all the guys on the DuPont Chevrolet team just worked their guts out today. We got the car better there at the end, but it was better on the long runs than the short runs, unfortunately."

ON ALL THE CAUTIONS AT THE END, HOW TOUGH WAS THAT TO DEAL WITH? "Well there was a lot of stuff going on but it was all behind us. I really couldn't tell what the deal was. I just knew the caution kept coming out. I just kept trying to protect our position, and it kind of worked out for us."

THIS IS THE FIFTH STRAIGHT RACE THAT THE NO. 48 TEAM HAS BEEN SECOND OR BETTER "That's awesome. That's exactly what they need to be doing. I know they wanted a win, but Jimmie and that whole team were just so solid today to be able to come from where he started and drive up through there. He knew he had a good car. And to be able to finish second and take the lead at times, he was smart there at the end with Harvick. He could have gotten into racing him too hard and it could have cost him the championship and it just wasn't worth it. Those guys are in great position and we're going to do everything we can to help him win that championship at Homestead. I'm very excited for Jimmie. They've been so close. He and Chad (Knaus) and that whole Lowe's team and I want to see him get it."

JIMMIE DOESN'T SEEM AS NERVOUS ABOUT THINGS RIGHT NOW "It's hard when you've got a championship on the line. The Chase is tough. There are a lot of cars that can win it in the final race and it just adds pressure to it. And so I understand - especially as quickly as he came into the sport and was a part of a championship that he's been able to get great experience and know how to handle himself. But it's taken some time for them to just stay calm and do their thing. They're in position now and that's all that matters."

AND YOUR TEAM? "We're in great position. We're just not in position to win the championship. We've been fighting hard and doing great, but not good enough. If we hadn't had those three bad finishes, who knows where we'd be right now. But I'm just excited we're just improving it seems like everywhere we go. It's got me excited that we're heading in the right direction for next year."

TONY RAINES, NO. 96 DLP® HDTV CHEVROLET:

REGARDING THE INCIDENT WITH THE NO. 66 (JEFF GREEN), WHAT HAPPENED? "I got into him. I didn't mean to, but that won't fix his wrecked race car. The sun was in our eyes. I had new tires on and he didn't. I was trying real hard, but I just over-drove it. He's mad and he should be. But, there are a lot of chances for it to happen the other way, I suppose. I didn't do it on purpose though."

JEFF GREEN, NO. 66 BEST BUY MONTE CARLO SS:

"We got dumped. It's pretty cut and dried. We were looking to get back into the top-20 after we got caught up in (Jamie) McMurray's wreck, and our car was still in pretty good shape. Then, the (No.) 96 just dumped us. Somebody told me the replay wasn't real definitive, but I'm willing to bet that's what happened. It's frustrating, because we were going to have an OK day before that. It was just uncalled for."

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE'S MONTE CARLO SS - Finished 2nd:

"Great battle all day long with the No. 29 he had a great car. He was one of the best cars and he did a great job. Being able to run here with Kevin at one of his best tracks says a lot about our Lowe's Chevrolet team so we are real proud.

"We had a great race car, I had a lot of confidence over the last couple of days after our qualifying effort knowing that we would be able to race strong today. We had a bad draw in qualifying and paid the price for that, but I took my time to drive a smart race to get up through the field and race for the win at the end."

DENNY HAMLIN, NO. 11 FED EX MONTE CARLO SS - Finished 3rd:

"We battled back, got a lot of track position back on that first run. Had a real strong car on long runs, we just didn't get any of those long runs that we needed there at the end, they kept crashing. They weren't working with us, by any means. It was still a great run for the FedEx Ground Chevrolet I am proud of this whole team. We are going to go to Homestead and celebrate a good season.

"We had a great car and kept picking guys off one by one, Mike (Ford, crew chief) freed it up there on the last stop and it seemed to make it a lot better. We really struggled all year on the short go and always fast on the long go. It started getting dicey with the No. 48 and No. 29, you never know, we could have won it."

KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 REESE'S COOKIES MONTE CARLO SS - VICTORY LANE

"I didn't try to restart the car myself, I didn't want to take the chance of trying to turn it over. I just didn't to use any more volts cause one time I tried to put the fans on and it went from a little above 12 to a little below 12. I knew every piece of battery we didn't use was going to be good so we just waited on the wrecker and let him push us off.

"Anytime your alternator goes out, it felt like it was taking a partial charge here and there. It was down to 11 volts at the end but it wouldn't fluctuate up and down, it would hold steady. We will figure out what is wrong, these guys have done a great job, we have won five races this year. The flat track stuff has been really good. It was just a great day for our Reese's Cookies Chevrolet.

"Our race car was really good. It would take off really good for the first 50 or 60 laps then it would fall off a little bit. As we got in to the day, we got better and better. We kept loosening the car up and the car would last longer and longer, we made great adjustments. We didn't make any huge adjustments, just small ones here and there. The biggest thing we had to do is to deal with the brake temperatures from no fans and stuff up front."

"He (Jimmie Johnson) was racing as hard as he could. All we can do is win races at this point, we knew he had to finish behind us. So we did what we had to do."

"Jimmie (Johnson) got a good run on me but I wasn't going to lose the race at that point. We did what we had to today. We led the most laps, won the race, he was right there behind us. We will keep doing what we can do and have fun.

"My biggest concern was the alternator shut off and we didn't have any fans so the brakes would get hot and kinda go away. I knew if I stayed behind him very long, I was going to be in trouble because the brakes would get hot and then the tire would get hot and it would start pushing. It all worked out, we had about 11 volts left on the battery and everything kept going so it was pretty cool.

"The only thing going through my mind was what is the vicinity of the restart and how far can I push it. I knew we had a lot more area to play with than I normally thought we did. It all worked out.

"I am just proud we get to give away 29 Chevrolet Avalanches so that is pretty cool for our fans.

"I wish we were a little closer than we are in the points, but we did everything we could do today. However it falls, it falls. We have had a good year.

TODD BERRIER, CREW CHIEF, NO. 29 REESE'S COOKIES MONTE CARLO SS:

"My hats off to everyone at RCR. We were really lucky today. We are living a fortunate life. It pretty awesome to have won five races this year. Let the cards fall where they may, we came here to win the race and obviously that worked out pretty well for us.

"I was a wreck but I knew Kevin would do what he needed to do."

TONY STEWART, NO. 20 HOME DEPOT MONTE CARLO SS - Finished 14th:

YOU FINISHED IN THE TOP-15, BUT IT WASN'T THE FINISH YOU WERE LOOKING FOR. AT TIMES THE CAR IMPROVED, BUT YOU REALLY STRUGGLED AT TIMES AS WELL. "Well as bad as it was, it got better. It was still bad no matter what we did. We just haven't been able to get our car to cut the whole weekend. But I'm proud of Zippy (Greg Zipadelli, crew chief) and all of the guys on The Home Depot team. They kept fighting, but we just couldn't get the Monte Carlo SS to turn today. It's something we've been fighting a lot this year at the intermediate tracks, mile tracks and three-quarter mile tracks, so we just didn't get it right this weekend either."

IT SEEMED LIKE A LOT OF PEOPLE WERE STRUGGLING WITH THAT TODAY. WAS THE TRACK CHANGING A LOT TODAY? "This compound tire that we run - I think this is probably the one track of the three tracks that we run this compound tire that has the least amount of grip anyway, so I think it just makes it that much worse to try to get your cars to turn. It's just one of those variables that we, for some reason, can't figure out how to make our car turn. Denny (Hamlin, Stewart's Joe Gibbs Racing teammate) did a good job and I think they found something that we couldn't get or maybe just a difference in driving styles. No matter what we did, all we could do was just free the entry up too much and free the exit up. We really couldn't get the center freed up enough."

THERE WAS AN INCIDENT WITH JAMIE MCMURRAY. HE WAS A LITTLE UPSET WITH YOU. WHAT HAPPENED THERE? "I don't know. He kind of changed lanes. The sun was down, and it kind of caught me off guard. I didn't even realize I had him picked up until he got sideways. It's a weird deal, for sure. It stinks because Jamie was having a good run. That's the best run he's had all year. Jamie's a good guy. I'll call him and talk to him about it, but it was just a weird situation. I saw him dart across at the last second and then I thought I was just following him. The next thing I know I had him picked up. It was kind of a weird deal today."

NOW YOU'RE HEADING TO HOMESTEAD, ONE OF THE BEST PLACES YOU RUN AND ONE OF YOUR MOST FAVORITE TRACKS. THAT'S A GOOD WAY TO END THE SEASON ISN'T IT? "Yeah. It is. We had a good test there. It's a place that I'm looking forward to bringing my new favorite car back to. We've got three wins in a row with the car that we're taking over there and looking forward to bringing it home with a fourth one."

KEVIN HARVICK, PUTS NO. 29 REESE'S COOKIES MONTE CARLO SS IN VICTORY LANE

KEVIN HARVICK & TODD BERRIER PRESS CONFERENCE

THE MODERATOR: Kevin Harvick joins us. He swept the races here at Phoenix this year, his fifth victory of the season. He's third in the points heading into Homestead Miami. He's also joined by his crew chief, today barrier. Congratulations, guys. Kevin, talk about winning both races out here at Phoenix and your thoughts as you head into the season finale.

KEVIN HARVICK: Well, we're excited just to be a part of it to tell you the truth. We've had a great year and it's been up and down, but for the most part, been really about through the majority of it. So we're just having fun and racing as hard as we can and doing the things that we've done week in and week out all year. You know, there's really not a lot of pressure to tell you the truth. It's just go out and go as fast as you can and everybody knows that everybody's could go everything they can do.

So you know, how it falls is how it falls and that's just kind of how we've looked at it since the season started.

THE MODERATOR: Todd, your thoughts, looked like you had the dominant car most of the afternoon. Talk about Kevin and the run that he had today.

TODD BERRIER: This is the same car we ran Kevin did an awesome job. He gets around this place well and we were looking forward to him coming here. We knew we had a good shot at being able to win the race today. Got over a lot of things that were going wrong with the battery and all that stuff. When you're lucky, it's just one of those deals it's hard to beat. For him to have the year he's had, winning five Cup races and nine Busch races or whatever, it's just unbelievable. Glad to be a part of it.

Q. When the restart after the red flag, was that planned for you to get a push, or was that a move, in other words, you said, I'll use a certain amount of battery to start this thing, or if I can't roll, I'll get a push and save some battery; was that a planned move?

KEVIN HARVICK: Yeah, obviously you can't get a very big roll because there's not a lot of banking. They had radioed for the wrecker and didn't want to use the starter just because I flipped the fans on once before just to make sure it wasn't the gauge and lost almost a full on the green, it went from I think 12 and a half to 12 or 11 or whatever it was, I don't remember exactly but it lost a hole, so I didn't want to touch anything that had to do with the battery, so I just got the tow truck.

Q. At the end there, looking at the big picture, Jimmy could have been content to finish second, but he pushed it. Were you surprised how much he wanted that victory looking at the big points picture?

KEVIN HARVICK: I think, you know, you you ever feel like you're in a fishbowl? This guy's standing in the window. (Laughter) He wants an autograph. (Laughter).

Yeah, well, I knew, you know, at that point, that it was you know, we had to win the race and we had to gain the most points and we had to do what we had to do. We had some issues. You know, it wasn't detrimental to what we had going, so we just I knew he was going to push me, but I figured he wasn't going to take any unnecessary chances and he was just going to try to see if he could make us make a mistake and flip up enough to where he could get all the way under. Luckily we didn't do that and we were able to keep on going.

Q. Was it the alternator or the battery, or both?

TODD BERRIER: It was the alternator first and then he missed it because his air conditioner was coming on and off and there's a low voltage thing where he gets down below x number of volts and the alternator quit. At that point you hope you could be conserve enough battery to make it happen. This race last year, it went bad earlier and had to put in two alternators to finish the race. We had to put in every caution we could to keep from stopping and having to put a battery in the thing.

Q. Were you worried at all you were not going to be able to finish the race?

KEVIN HARVICK: Absolutely. I know I was and he was. Usually when that happens, it had to be getting some kind of charge because usually when that happens, as soon as you gas the thing on the restart, it goes down to eight or nine, ten volts and starts missing. It didn't go all the way down like that. It just slowly took juice out of the battery and went from 12 or 13 or 12 and a half or whatever it was down to 11 at the end of the race. That's probably why we could not get going on the restarts as good as we could and could not get off Turn 2 on the corners like we needed to. I think that's why it looked like the motor was so much better than the 48 there at the end.

Q. Looking at that screen over there, that shows the points, without a crystal ball, where is the line, what do you see when you look at that?

TODD BERRIER: I don't know if it shows inaudible all that's doable from our end, just go in there and go as hard as we can and do what we can do. It is what it is. We've all had the same opportunity. 48 is where he is because of his and we are where we are because of ours. We have to capitalize on where we are and there's nothing we can do about it at this point.

Q. What's realistic in one race?

KEVIN HARVICK: I know we've lost a hundred in some.

TODD BERRIER: I think we went from being 35 at one time to being 60 or 70 back. It can happen and obviously you know if it was to happen, we'd have to be on top of our game to make sure we capitalize on it.

Q. Other than the alternator problem, was this car as good as the one you had here in April?

KEVIN HARVICK: I think it was better. You know, in April, we had a good car. Just we're really good on the long runs and today we're really good at the beginning of the run and through the middle of the run and we made our car better on the long run as we were able to make adjustments. I would say the thing that threw us for the bigger loop today is when the alternator went out and we had to shut the fans off and had to pay more attention to the front brakes and front tires so we had to loosen our car up more than we would have it if all that stuff was working. I think it was better. What do you think?

TODD BERRIER: I'm sure it was better.

Q. Kevin, you were running away with it inaudible were you running your own race and not worrying about it?

KEVIN HARVICK: I wanted to run as fast as I could go and get out as far as I could go. I thought if we went a whole fuel run, he might be able to catch us because traffic was so hard to get through because guys don't want to get lapped. When you're that far into the run, it's really hard to pass.

So I wanted to get as far out as I could and I wasn't worried about brakes. I wasn't worried about tires or anything. You know, there was a couple points where you know, I could see that we were a fair ways ahead and there was nothing in front of us and that's when I tried to save a little bit, just getting into the corner just a little bit brake wise. All in all, it's a pretty short race.

Q. You said you'd lost 100 points in a race before, but to you guys, does it look like the 48 has the look of a winner at this point?

KEVIN HARVICK: Well, they wouldn't be. At the point they are not the winners. Obviously they have had a great year and like all of us, they have had slumps that they got through and come out of. They came out of the last slump swinging, so they done a really good job all year and making their stuff better. You know, we all try to make our stuff better, but they were down pretty good there for five or six weeks and they came out like gangbusters, so they have done a good job.

Q. Todd today, your thoughts about the difference in this year's team compared to last year?

TODD BERRIER: Same group of people, but obviously, you start your season this year and you start having things hitting on higher notes, obviously everybody has a better attitude the better you do. At the end, it does show promise when things do go bad or don't go the way you want and they know what you can't have so they start digging really hard, not that they didn't before. When they go through a year like last year and then a year like this year, it's just attitude, all of the guys are jacked up and getting on a roll and could do the things we've done. Obviously it's going to carry into this year as well. It's all about momentum and all about attitude and that's the biggest thing we've got going.

Q. Todd brought up the topics of wins, and NASCAR hinted that they might be tweaking the points system. Would you like to see more points for wins?

TODD BERRIER: It is what is it. It's all the same. Everybody's got an opinion.

KEVIN HARVICK: Really, it's something to where we wouldn't even notice from our standpoint just because I think Todd and I are the same, we just don't look at that stuff. It's the same every year and they made it more this year. They are going to do what they think they need to do and we'll all race by those rules.

It's hard to tell. I think if you finish 43, you should be not rewarded for finishing bad or not giving points, or I think you should you know, it should result in your points effort that you finish poorly. This isn't football or baseball and your record doesn't stand up on the board. It's something to where if you have a bad race, that has to reflect because we're racing against 43 guys every week, it's not just one.

Q. You've been in a lot of championship situations, just yourself in Jimmy John's shoes, what does he have to do to win?

KEVIN HARVICK: I'd stay away from everybody and just run 43 if it was me. (Laughter) No, I'm just kidding.

It's a lot of pressure. There's a lot on the line. You know, it's something that where it seems like everything you've done all year comes down to one race. You know, I think obviously, they have had a great year and we've had a great year and everybody in the Top 10 has had a fairly good year. You know, it will probably be a long week for him. He probably won't sleep much. He probably will try to keep his mind off of things doing other things. That's what I would do. Avoid the Internet, avoid the newspaper, avoid the radio, and all interviews. (Laughter) I'm just kidding.

Q. Do you find it ironic at all, or weird at all that none of the Chase guys really had a bad day today considering the way the series has gone?

KEVIN HARVICK: All I know is the 48 finished second. To be honest with you, and I'm not trying to be a smart alec, I had not even looked at it to tell you the truth. I see. Carl Edwards at fifth. That doesn't surprise me. That's something, all of us are there, it seems like every week heading into the Chase, you have eight out of ten guys you're racing against in the same spot. It seems like that group other than a couple having trouble here and there have been in the Top 10 week in and week out.

Q. Is this team poised to be even better next year? I don't want to give up on this year, but it seems to me that as far as RCR came from last year to this year, it seems like you guys certainly have to be among the conversation going into next year as teams to watch for 2007.

KEVIN HARVICK: I think, we talked about it on Monday, we all know that we have to take the same steps next year that we took this year to keep up with everybody and everybody's hard at working on the Car of Tomorrow and trying to make these cars better, you know, and the engines better. We're all trying to get better.

So you have to keep progressing with the sport. I don't know when we raced here, April, first time? We don't have the same car, we don't have the same engine package, we don't have the same setup. That's how fast our sport progresses, and you have to keep up with that to be competitive and we all know that and we're just going to try to keep making it better.

So our team is the same as it's been, for, what, four years for the most part. So I mean, it's the same bunch that we've had and we all know each other really well and get along. When somebody says something that they shouldn't say or everybody doesn't carry it on the shoulders, they just brush it off and it's done with.

So I think our team is good, and you know, it's just a matter of having it all put together and I think absolutely, we can get better, but just having the experience that we've had this year.

Q. With all of the changes at Roush Racing, all of their crew chiefs changing and the 12 has a new crew chief and we know how you weathered the storm with Childers, but what is the secret between that and the chemistry?

KEVIN HARVICK: Well, I think, you know, I've been a part of that. It spurs momentum for a couple of weeks. It says something to have somebody you can get along with, and we didn't choose to have it taken away from us. We chose a different path from what we were granted. It all worked itself out over the next couple of years to many could back together. If the path would have taken as it was planned, we would have never been apart.

So in 2001, obviously things changed and we had to do what was best for everybody else involved, not selfishly for ourselves.

TODD BERRIER: It's hard to build a group of people or relationships or whatever with drivers, swapping things around, it's not something that, again, it does spur momentum, but it's something that you don't mesh overnight. I know by the look on his face when he shows up the day for the race how the day is going to go. That's just a product of being around him and knowing what's going to happen and living through it for a while. That's one of the good things we have going, everybody knows all the same things and there's nothing none of us can hide from each other, because we all know just from our facial expressions what's going on around us how it's going to be. It's hard to build that. Obviously starting over right now, that would be really hard.

Q. How do you feel about this team going into next year? Obviously there was some giant steps taken this year, is there just another small one to take to get you guys to the top?

TODD BERRIER: We need to take as big a step this next year as we can this year. It's still a work in progress and there's a million things we put on the list at this time last year that we haven't got to or got handled or done to our satisfaction through the course of this year, so I feel like as a company, we made a major step, but we need to take that same step again and that's where we're working really hard to do that.

Q. A looking back question, but any frustration at the restart yesterday?

KEVIN HARVICK: I don't think so. I think it really helped me today to be honest with you because it opened up my playing field. I didn't understand exactly what I needed to understand yesterday, but I understood it today. That was something that I needed to know and I think helped me at the end of the race.

JIMMIE JOHNSON AND DENNY HAMLIN FINISH 2ND & 3RD

JIMMIE JOHNSON & DENNY HAMLIN PRESS CONFERENCE

THE MODERATOR: We are pleased to be joined in the media centre right now by our runner up in today's race. He's also our points leader heading into the season finale and that' Jimmie Johnson driver of the number 48 Lowe's Chevrolet. Congratulations on a great run. Talk about your race today and talk about being the points leader with one to go.

JIMMIE JOHNSON: Certainly a great run, and there at the end I was really pushing for a win. We had such a great car and such a great weekend. I didn't want to, you know, not put up a strong effort for the win.

Had a good run on Kevin but down the back straightaway was in a position where maybe my four or five years in the Cup level experience came into play and I just knew that in order to get the win, I was really going to have to force the issue.

I had a little bit of position inside of him, but he was shutting the door going into the dogleg and knew I had to be smart from that point.

Great day, we did what we needed to do. If we can just go to Homestead and do it one more time, we'll be very happy.

Q. Going to Homestead, can you be caught, and what will it take?

JIMMIE JOHNSON: We'll find out. I have no idea. I seriously don't have any clue what to expect. I don't have any strategy other than go down and finish ahead of the 17, 8 and 11. It's just simple. That's all we've done so far through these last few months and just go down there and do the same thing we've been doing.

Q. With what you found out, like you described today, have you figured out in these last four years what you might have to do or be able to do to hold everybody off?

JIMMIE JOHNSON: Experience is invaluable. I mean, you can't I can't express enough how much experience in this sport has helped me as a driver. My fifth year, fifth time being in a championship situation, my rookie year wasn't really fair to say that, we've been under pressure and we've been in this situation and we are a better, stronger, more mature race team from it. I think the last few months, we've been able to show that and we've been doing a great job.

Q. Aside from the technical details, after coming so close two years ago, did you have any mantra to keep your mind off things, what do you do just to stay focused?

JIMMIE JOHNSON: I don't know. I have a lot of confidence in myself, a lot of confidence in the race team, our equipment, and as my mind plays its games on me, I just fall back on the team; Chad Knaus and Rick Hendrick, all aspects of our race team and how strong they are and how they support me. It helps keep my mind from doing different things to me. To be honest we have to just keep doing the same thing we've been doing just one more time, and if we are fortunate enough to do that, we'll be very happy.

Q. Jimmy, did you really feel that after Dover, you were pretty much out of it, or did you feel it was going to be that hard of a way back to the lead or did you feel you were out of it?

JIMMIE JOHNSON: I never felt we were out of it. I never expected 11 to have as much difficulty and let a lot of us back in it. I never conceded and I just said, let's go all out, we have nothing to lose, let's just try to finish up by winning races, just like the 20 has been doing, it's about winning races and that's been our philosophy last couple of months.

Q. This time last year you were the leader for most of the season before the Chase cutoff and this year you won the two biggest races, Daytona and Indianapolis; do you feel that if you win the title this year, justice has finally been served with this type of points system?

JIMMIE JOHNSON: No, I don't say that. These guys, all of these teams, drivers, everybody out here, they are the best in the business. So to be able to win those big races, those are individual victories throughout the season, and if we are lucky enough to be a champion we did it the best this year. I don't have that thought.

Q. I guess how you got back into this Chase by just doing what you had to do and not overanalyze it and just worry about racing, but now, it's got to seem like the NEXTEL Cup is right there in your sight and your reach; how hard is it to balance that out and not change from what's gotten you back into this?

JIMMIE JOHNSON: Well, I have six days until we are in this position again. My mind hasn't had a chance to play games on me yet. I'll go to the golf course tomorrow and have some fun and relax and stay busy Tuesday and Wednesday and just try to let the week hurry by.

Q. It's almost like you guys have the lack of strategy seems to be your strategy. It seems like ever since you've been coming back, you've almost pushed strategy completely away from you and not tried to overthink and keep it very simple; that's the first thing. Second thing is, you guys ran a smart race today but you finished first or second last five weeks and everybody has been talking about Stewart and how good he is running; have you guys unbelievably been under the radar and somehow taken the points lead, which I think is amazing but seems to me that's the way it is.

JIMMIE JOHNSON: I have a ton of respect for Tony and his race team and I think he's a threat every single week. Those guys had a slow month where they missed the Chase a month or two, but the guy is awesome, two time champion, he's the best at any type of course we go to. So I have a lot of respect for he and his team. It doesn't surprise me that they have been scoring a lot of points like they have.

I look at what we've done and how we got prepared for the Chase, we did everything we needed to but unfortunately got off to a slow start. I think we're performing well at the races where we had some bad luck and had had some wrecks. Dover, a solid day, Talladega, can Kansas. We have not needed a strategy because we have not been performing well. Sometimes I wish Chad would have had more of a strategy. Last week, we took a green flag, I didn't think it was going to work out and it did and Martinsville, we worked our way back. We've relied on a solid race car and let me do my job in the car and it's been so strong and not have to out trick anybody and not do anything fancy.

Q. On the last lap, you said you had a choice of whether you wanted to maybe play rough or lay back and just, you know, ride. On one hand, there's a chance that you wreck and lose any shot of the championship; on the other hand, there's a chance huh take a 73 point lead to Homestead. For a cool level headed dude like you

JIMMIE JOHNSON: I was in a position just inside of him going into the dog leg where his spotter must have been saying, looking. If I would have been close you have enough inside of Kevin, I would have had a lane into three, I was just barely there and he came down the block and we touched a little bit. If I stayed on the gas, it would have turned him into the grass down the dog leg and it would have been one hell of a mess.

I saw that developing, I could tell we were just making contact through the dog leg and I didn't want any part of that. We just need to be smart here.

Q. Inaudible?

JIMMIE JOHNSON: No, us drivers are stupid, we just go. I didn't even think of that, I was just on the gas.

THE MODERATOR: We have our third place finisher, Denny Hamlin. Denny, talk about your run out there, your fourth going into the season finale, your thoughts.

DENNY HAMLIN: We were steady all day. We were not we weren't where the 48 was at, we were off at times and some runs in the later part we were a little better. We're struggling to find speed on short runs. I really can't figure it out exactly what I've got to do but hopefully that comes with age and experience and all that stuff. But, you know, we battled back and even though we had Short runs at the end, Mike freed up the car enough where we could just pick one off and a caution would come out and pick one off and a caution would come out.

It worked out good for us, had a good car, we just didn't have a winning car.

Q. You ran so well, you're in a position to win a championship, how is it you qualified so poorly, and was there any kind can you have any doubts about your race set up at any time?

JIMMIE JOHNSON: We can both answer that. Yeah, the early draw killed us. Looking at the practice sheets, we were, the worst in the three different practice sessions was fourth. We had a great car going out first, killed me, killed Denny. We were talking about it before, man, we didn't think it would be that bad but it really did affect the first 15, 20 cars and as it kept on, just kept getting faster and faster and faster.

Q. Denny, can you just talk finishing third but yet not being able to gain points on the leader?

DENNY HAMLIN: We did everything we should do other than Short of winning. We ran really well. We ran Top 5. We just, you know, those guys, the 48 didn't make any mistakes. Ask honestly, they are championship material right now. We are not at the level they are. On a really good day, this is a good day for us, a really good day. Those guys are Top 5 every single week it seems like, and we're just not to that level.

If we come out of Homestead and we end up winning the championship, it's going to be by extreme luck, that's the bottom line, because we are not performing at the level that they are.

You know, we are just putting ourselves in position, that's all we can do is put ourselves in position; if something happens, then we hope to capitalize. If not, we are going to go there regardless and celebrate a great season.

Q. 2004, how much does that both gnaw at you and motivate you to get you to where you're at now?

JIMMIE JOHNSON: You know, at the time it was really hard to swallow, and I'm not sure if time helps things go by. At the same time, my personality, I think I tried to learn from with a went on. I look at that year, and I don't feel like we left anything on the table. We just, you know, the last race of the year, at one point in the race, we were the champion.

I don't have any negative feelings from any of the years that we've been close but didn't deliver. I think the 20 was just rock steady last year and out performed us and we had some bad luck at Homestead. I still think he had a good enough night where he would have been the champion.

We're just learning from those experiences, becoming a stronger, better race team and I couldn't be more proud of the race team and everything they are doing.

Q. You knew you had a good car starting the race, but good cars can get eaten up back there where you were. How concerned were you and how quickly did you want to be able it get up and just kind of get out of harm's way?

JIMMIE JOHNSON: I was more nervous thinking about it than once we fired the engines and got going, that fear went away and I was having a blast. I couldn't believe, I was getting two cars a lap at times. Once the race started, it's kind of normal for me. Before the race, adrenaline is going, the butterflies and those things and you start over thinking. Once you got in the race and got going, I was very comfortable and just tried to be smart and move to the front.

Q. The race started out really clean but then just had a mess of cautions there at the end and just slowed down and then the red flag and it was like this kind of hiccuping and you're right there with Harvick. Did you feel like, you know, come on let's get this thing over with? Did you feel any impatience?

JIMMIE JOHNSON: Yeah, to a certain point. I think the beginning of the race, I was really happy to see the long runs where we would get strung out and I could work my way forward.

At the end, that last restart before the 7 blew up, I had a nice margin and didn't have any pressure from behind, like, okay, this is great, work on the 29 and don't have to look in the mirror and then the caution came up and that was the only time I felt like, man, I wish this thing was over right now but the cautions kept coming.

Q. Last year you guys went to Homestead and had just one of those days where you just couldn't do the kind of week that Matt seemed to be having here where he just couldn't get the car right and led to trouble. How hard is it for you to completely push that last year right out of your mind considering how much is on the line for you guys at Homestead next week?

JIMMIE JOHNSON: I think this year would he have done a really good job of pushing out the year before's finish results and the way the weekend went, we've been able to step up and capitalize. I think Indy and the Brickyard, being able to come back and win there.

Texas, I was nervous going into Texas. Ran great this weekend was kind of a Top 10 track for us but not a big scoring track for us and we were able to do that.

And we've been working hard on the race car. So I have to give all the guys a lot of credit. At HMS, we've found some speed, cars that are consistent that I can race real hard and drive hard. It's been fun.

THE MODERATOR: Congratulations and good luck this week.