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

ON HOW EASY IT IS TO SLIDE OUT OF THE CHASE: "The points go along with the race. You put together a couple of bad races and you can be in a really bad position. I had trouble at Daytona and lost quite a bit in the points even though I had a nice comfortable lead. That reminded me how fast you can lose some points and how strong the rest of the competition is. To have someone like Tony Stewart, two time champion and be as strong as he has been all year, sitting outside the top-10 right now is a huge message to everyone in the garage area.

ON WEEKEND OFF BEFORE BRICKYARD: "Man, there is nothing on my mind right now except the off weekend that is coming up, taking a little vacation. We just have such a grind week to week. Our test over there was fair, I think when we go back, we will be better. Just excited about that off weekend and looking forward to getting out of here Sunday. I hope it doesn't rain here so we can get done and get going after the race."

ON HOW HARD IT IS TO GET TO THIS HOT PART OF SUMMER: "Yes it does, it does on all the teams. Not only the drivers but the crew members also. The crew members don't have some of the luxuries that the drivers do. Those guys work more hours than anyone in our sport, seven days a week non-stop working. So it does take a toll. The heat and the things that come with the summer make it even that much harder. But it is go time. The way the format is laid out, the season starts off and everybody has a little time to catch their breath and get on their feet. But once everybody gets in to this part of the summer, everybody is trying to finish up one championship battle and then getting ready for a second one."

ON GETTING AROUND WATKINS GLEN: "The Glen is probably the most forgiving road course we run on. I think the gap between the fastest cars and slower ones is a lot closer just because the track is a lot more forgiving. It is fun. I enjoy going there. We have been decent in our road course program so I think it will be fun.

ON QUESTIONABLE MOVES MADE ON THE RACE TRACK RECENTLY BY EXPERIENCED VETERAN DRIVERS: "I would say at New Hampshire I was probably the most aggressive I have been in a race car in quite some time. I think I hit the wall four times and had a left front fender caved in from David Stremme and all kinds of stuff. But I think it is just racing. From my perspective, I haven't seen anything different on the track than other years. I just think that everybody has to race hard. Something else that I think other drivers in the sport are feeling is that 'If I don't stand up for my self, if I don't command that respect, I am never going to get it and people are going to run all over me.' There are good examples of how to do that and there have been some bad examples of how to do that. I just think you have people standing up saying 'Hey you aren't going to spin me out, you aren't going to knock me out of the way.' People are just trying to get that respect."

ON BEING LAST DRIVER TO WIN BOTH RACES HERE IN ONE YEAR: "Fortunately there is only a month from one race to the other and technology doesn't change that much. When you go a whole year to get back to a track, technology changes so much, it is hard to really bring that setup back and have momentum. The 11 car (Denny Hamlin) coming in here has got to be the favorite. He was so strong here a month a go. If there is anyone who can do it, I think he can. He was really smooth, really fast and really kicks our butts here last time.

ON IMPORTANCE OF CREW: "The crew is very important. You need good pits stops on pit road number one, to get the car right and to decide what adjustments to make and then make big adjustments. And then not lose a lot of time on pit road because we all know how important track position is. I really rely on these guys and fall back on them. We just try to run our own race, play our own strategy and it seems like the races are long enough that we can get the car sorted out and get back up to in to a decent points paying position."

ON SEAN KERLIN (MECHANIC ON CREW) "I have known Sean for a long time. Before he started with our race team. I knew him back when Blaise Alexander was alive and his family and Blaise family were very close and I got to know him then. He has been a huge asset to our race team. He is great for morale, he is very talented at what he does and is moving up internally at Hendrick Motorsports. He does a great job. He takes care of my stuff. He takes care of my seat and all the little things I need to be comfortable in the car.

ON WEATHER DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WEATHER NOW AND JUNE HERE "The hotter it is, the less grip there is. This race track is pretty consistent, it is an older surface and there usually a lot of grip to start with. So setups will be similar but you might have a little bit more tire wear than you did in the spring. "

ON BEING EXCITED ABOUT GETTING TO THE CHASE AFTER HAVING LED THE POINTS FOR SO LONG. "Man, I wish the Chase was over and I had the championship right now (chuckles). It is a long year, there is a lot of races left and we will just keep diggin."

ON CLOSE BATTLE BETWEEN THREE THROUGH 11 POSITIONS IN POINTS: "I think on the race track, we are all just racing for each position. We know how important each position is. I haven't seen anything different from competitors based on where they are in points. It is just good hard racing. It doesn't matter if it is me leading the points or someone who is 20th in points. The competition just keeps getting stronger and stronger. These guys are all good racers so we are just racing our butts out."

ON EXPERIMENTING WITH SPRINGS, SHOCKS ETC? "Yes, we are always changing but there is a general trend we stick too. We were probably a little more aggressive a month or so ago. But we are really trying to narrow in and settle on some things that we think are best for the race car. Just so that we can refine it during practice. We try to find a package that will pick us up three-tenths and then from there we can adjust to find another tenth or two. And then it is just about fine tuning it. I think we have done a good job about planning this year out and how we are going to approach it. I feel good about the package I think we are going to settle on."

ON FEELING OF WALKING INTO INDY: "Just the nature things that go through your mind besides Gasoline Alley. When you walk out pit road, and see the cars come by and see the yard of bricks. They are both cool things but I can't say that it is any different than the first time I drove in to Daytona. They are both huge races, In the world I lived in then, Indy was the big race. In the world I am in now, Daytona is the big thing so they are both huge events."

THOUGHTS ON WHAT WOULD TELL NASCAR ABOUT POSSIBLE CHANGES TO THE CHASE "I would say, and my opinion is going to be much different than the promoters, in my opinion, it should be anyone within 400 points, not a minimum number of race cars, just anyone who is within 400 points makes it in the Chase. Then increase the points in the Chase when the Chase starts. I think it is just ridiculous that you race for 26 races, you come and have a five points margin, I think there should be a bigger points spread between each position."

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

ON SEASON TO DATE: "Well, obviously, year's gone pretty well. We've been pretty competitive in most races. We still haven't found a way to get in Victory Lane and still have a lot of work to do to get in the Chase, and then hopefully continue that on and be a contender for the championship.

"But, you know, what we've got to do is to continue to try to improve. We're starting a round of going back to tracks for the second time. Certainly, we hope to improve more than our competition when we go back. And then the tracks that we haven't been to, hopefully we can continue to progress our program so that we can find a way to win races and also take our competition level to the next step."

DIFFERENCE IN POCONO RACE FROM JUNE TO JULY: "Well, typically, it's much warmer the second race than the first race. That's going to be the case, although it's not going to be exceptionally hot by any means. It was very cool here the first race. So the tents are gonna be up. The track will have less grip than what we had in the spring. That's typically what happens at Pocono. So having a car that handles better than what you actually had in the first race will be really important, because the track won't be as good as it was that first race."

ON WHAT HAS CHANGED AT RICHARD CHILDRESS RACING (RCR): "We changed a lot. I hate to say everything, but almost everything. If you look at our engineering department, our engine program, our chassis program, our aero program, every department within Childress has been overhauled and changed. Merchandising and marketing has even been changed. The last 18 months, there's been a lot of change, a lot of reorganization, a lot of recommitment, and then accountability. Those things have helped bring us better cars. On top of that, Scott Miller has come on to the team and done an incredible job. Brings a level of intensity with him and expectation of being able to compete at a high level. All those things have coupled together to help everybody in the company really."

ON CHANGES AT ROBERT YATES RACING: "Well, this is a tough business. It's very hard to get to the top; it's even harder to stay. If you look at all professional sports, no team is always at the top of the game. There's changes in the sport that make, you know, it so that you have to do things differently. If you don't stay on top of it all the time, it's very difficult to be on top. They are just in a period where they, for one reason or another, weren't able to stay on top of things. It wasn't from a lack of effort. And, by the way, they'll rebuild and regroup and come back. It's happened to the Dallas Cowboys, it's happened to the Miami Dolphins, it's happened to the Pittsburgh Steelers. It's happened to every professional sport team you can look at, or collegiate sport team. It's tough. It's tough to be on top of your game all the time even though obviously you try. It's just a difficult thing to do."

ON HOW CLOSE TEAM IS TO GETTING TO VICTORY LANE: "I mean, certainly, for us, it's a matter of continuing to put ourselves in position. That's a thing that I think we have done a nice job of, is continuing to put ourselves in position to win races. That's how you win races in this sport, is you continually knock on the top 5, you continually knock on the top 10. You do those things, and you catch a day when it's right. At the end of the day, though, for us, right now, when we're at our best, there always seems to be somebody better. For us to take the next step, we've got to find a way that when we're at our best, there can be nobody better. We haven't gotten there yet. But, again, rarely in this sport do you see people that run, you know, 15th, 20th, win a race. It's about continuing to put yourself in position. We just continue to do that, then our days will come."

ON RUMOR RUSTY WALLACE WILL COME BACK AND FINISH SEASON AT ROBERT YATES RACING REPLACING ELLIOTT SADLER; THOUGHTS ON DRIVERS WHO LEAVE SPORT AND THEN COME BACK: "Well, first of all, I think that we go through a period in our sport where the Busch Series gets pooled on, the Truck Series gets pooled on. You get to the point where there isn't as much pool from those series as there was a few years ago. If you look back, Jeff Gordon, Kenny Wallace, the group left and came. Then the next year, myself, Joe Nemechek, John Andretti, Ward, Steve Grissom, a big group came. And then not many came the next few years because it wasn't that much to pool from. That's kind of where we are right now. I'd be shocked to see Rusty Wallace back. That would shock me. Knowing Rusty the way I do, that would really surprise me. Although, it's also clear to me that the reason people come back is because they miss it. When you're a race car driver, you started racing when you were seven years old, eight years old, nine years old, it's a way of life. It's not a job; it's a way of life, and it would be hard to walk away from that. So I think the older drivers, when they do decide, Hey, you know, I want to go do something else, after doing it for about six months, they're like, Man, I liked what I was doing better. That's pretty clear to me right now."

ON IMPORTANCE OF THIS POCONO RACE OVER JUNE RACE SINCE IS CLOSER TO THE CHASE: "It's no more important. Every race is the same amount of points. The time of the year in which the race comes is irrelevant. At the end of the 26 races, they add up all the points that you did throughout those races, and that's where you are. People can stack pressure up on themselves worrying about where they are in the points standings. At the end of the day, this race pays the same amount of points that the race at Daytona did and the race at Martinsville did. It's a collection of all those races. You just got to do a good job in all of them. So it's no more important. Although the perception is it's more important, it's non more important than it was the first race."

ON CHANGE IN CHASE IF TONY STEWART MISSES THE CUT: "It doesn't change at all. That is a very dangerous team that can win races at any time. They can win championships at any time. But it doesn't. Whether he's in the Chase or not doesn't change a thing that we do. We've got to perform at the highest level. If we want to be in the Chase, we've got to perform at the highest level. No matter who's in it or not in it, you still have to perform at the highest level to compete. So it has no bearing whatsoever whether he's in it or not."

ON IMPORTANCE OF RICHMOND VERSUS HOMESTEAD: "Well, yeah, I mean, Richmond will be more important for more people perhaps than Homestead. You know, a lot's going to happen in the next seven weeks. There's some people that are in contention today that won't be in contention going to Richmond. We'll have a smaller group that we're looking at that has a possibility of being in the Chase at Richmond, and, by the way, we'll have a bigger group of people that are in the Chase. So Richmond will be a very important race, obviously. But, you know, when we do go to Homestead, if a team can't win the championship, they're still racing for 4th. There's a lot of pride in looking back on the year and saying, you know - it's a big difference between finishing 4th and 10th, and it's a huge difference between finishing 10th and 15th. No matter what's going on, it's still extremely important to run the best you can. Richmond is an important race, no question, but it will loom less large for less people when we get there than it looks like it will right now."

ON MENTAL AND EMOTIONAL CHANGES AT RCR GOING FROM ONE-MAN TEAM TO MULTI-PARTY TEAM: "I wasn't at RCR when all that was going on. I certainly can't comment on that whatsoever. All's I know is when I came to Richard Childress Racing, I came because I looked, I thought it had the potential of being a premiere team in our sport. Richard told me he would do whatever it took to make that happen, and he's done that. I can't speak to the issues before I was there, because I wasn't there. I don't have the information."

ON HOW TIGHT BATTLE FOR CHASE IS NOW: "It's really tight. That's the whole thing about what we're doing, is that everybody is like, Well, you're 3rd in points, that's really cool. But the key is being in the top 10, and the key is continuing to build a team that if we get in the top 10, we can have a chance to compete and have a chance to win. So obviously the points are exceptionally important, but for us to gain the points, it's about racing. We're not good enough to go out there and finish 15th the next seven races and protect that. It's hard to finish 15th. We got to go out, we got to race hard, we got to go out and get the best finishes we can. What we want to do is be within that 400-point barrier. If we do that, it means that we've done a good job against the two best teams in the sport, which is the 48 and the 17 right now. It's our ambition to go out and keep ourselves safe with that 400-point barrier and not pay attention to what's ahead of us - I mean behind us, but pay attention to what's ahead of us."

ON BEING GO-TO GUY FOR NASCAR MEDIA: "That's how it should be. You know, this is a result-oriented business. When you have results, then your place in the sport's at a different place. I've been lucky enough to have a relationship with the media that even when times weren't good, I still had a relationship and people still wanted to talk to me. But, you know, obviously, competing good is obviously better than not. That's what we're here to do. I'm used to that. So the thing is, I feel like in a lot of ways it's a coming-out party for me, but in a lot of ways I'm used to it. I think that's a really good place to be. I don't feel the pressure that a Kasey Kahne would feel. I don't feel the pressure that a Kyle Busch would feel. This isn't that new to me, although it went away for a while. You know, I know how to handle it, and I know how to deal with it. It's one race at a time, and I'm just not all that wound up about it."

ON HOW GUYS WILL RACE WHO ARE SITTING ON CHASE BUBBLE: "Everybody's different. I'm not going to tell you how the No. 6 car is going to race or how the No. 29's going to race. The only thing I know is how we're going to race, and we're going to race aggressively, we're going to race the way we raced up to this point. We're not going to change what we've been doing at all. We're here because we have been racing to try to win races. We're here because we've worked very hard to improve our program. We're going to continue to do that. We're not going to change anything that we're doing. If we get to Richmond and need to finish 15 or better to get in and that locks us in, then certainly that's what we've got to do. We're not high enough and there's too many races left to know what scenarios are going to present themselves. The only thing I know is if we run in the top 5 on a consistent basis, we'll be in the Chase. That's what I know. That's what we've got to go do."

ON RICHMOND BEING MORE IMPORTANT THAN FINAL RACE AT HOMESTEAD: "Obviously, that's on somebody's topic because that's the second time that's been asked. The only way that Richmond overshadows what goes on at Homestead is if there's a run-away championship, and that would be the only way that would happen. But I don't anticipate a run-away championship happening. In 10 races, I would anticipate a really close race, but we never know what's going to happen. There's no way of knowing what's going to happen. I'd be surprised if Richmond overshadowed Homestead."

ON BEING ON THE BUBBLE: "We're all on the bubble. That's the thing. Here's the deal. Here's the deal. There are two teams that aren't on the bubble. The next 12 are on the bubble. There is no team - we're 3rd in points, we're on the bubble. There is no difference between this race and the Daytona 500. It's all about going out and running well. It's about going out and having a good finish. And, yeah, there's some things that you can't control. Well, guess what? Life sucks. Go on about it, you know? There's some things that you just can't control. The only thing you can focus on is what you can control, and that's how it is. So I agree with Tony a hundred percent. You can't control what you can't control, but you can't worry about it. You can't lay in bed at night worried about, you know, the bad luck (indiscernible) is gonna get up on you and you can't get away from it. All you can worry about is the things that are going to make you go fast, and you have to take advantage of it. Anything less than that is focusing on something that has no bearing whatsoever on how you're gonna win, or if you're gonna win. It's all about what is the task at hand and focusing on that. Anything else is a complete waste of time, and it's a diversion of energy and effort into the wrong place."

ON IMPACT WATKINS GLEN ROAD COURSE MIGHT HAVE ON THE CHASE: "Watkins Glen has to be certainly, without a doubt, as much as Sears Point. Watkins Glen throws a variable in that it can be very volatile. Watkins Glen will be a very volatile race. It's easy to wreck there. It's easy to get wrecked. It's easy to cause a wreck. It's easy to break a transmission. All those things certainly, you know, loom. The way that we race and the way we race here is the way we will race Watkins Glen. We went to Sears to go out and run well and to go out and get a good finish, which, by the way, that's the way we race Pocono and the way we race everywhere else. It's a different mindset because it's a different way of racing. But, certainly, because much like Daytona, you know, it's easy for a lot of Chase guys to have problems. You got to do everything you can to not have problems. But, again, you don't do that because of where you are in the Chase, that's what you would do if you were going to Watkins Glen anyway. I guess I'm fortunate I don't have to change the way I drive. I drive aggressively when I think I need to, and I drive passively when I think I need to and so, therefore, I'm not going to change what I do whatever track we're going to. That might bite us, but that's what's gotten us here, that's what's gotten me a lot of wins, and that's what's let me contend for championships before. That's not what kept me from contending for championships the last four years. What kept me from contending for championships the last four years was not being fast enough. It wasn't a decision-making process or those things, so I'm not worried about those. I'm sure I'll make mistakes. I know I'll make mistakes. That's part of being a human being. But when we go to Glen, we'll focus on running well."

ON HAVING AN OFF WEEKEND: "There are some things about an off week that I look forward to, without a doubt. I think that for our team, for the guys that work so many hours, I think having some time off right now is a good thing. I would prefer myself just to stay in the rhythm to keep going. For myself, that's what I would prefer. But I think at the end of the day, my guys, they have been working exceptionally hard. We've been testing an extreme amount. I think now is a good time for us to take a little time because the work will be even harder about two weeks after. It will be even harder. We have a lot of stuff that we're going to try to get done, and we're going to ask a lot out of them."

ON RUNNING BUSCH RACE AT GATEWAY: "No, no."

ON SILLY SEASON STARTING SO EARLY THIS YEAR: "You know, that's a really good question. To be quite honest, I don't have an answer. I know that the sense of urgency is there today with sponsors. I think it starts with sponsorship. Sponsors want to know what's going to be happening earlier so they can start preparing. We have a lot of new teams coming in that have a tremendous amount of questions to answer, and it's very important for a new team to be able, when they're in the recruiting process of hiring employees, they need to be able to say, This is our driver, We're a real team, We've got a crew chief, We've got a driver. I think in many cases for new teams it's very important to lock in on who the guy is going to be as our sport has changed. The dates, like it used to be you had to tell us by October 1st if you were going to drive or not. Now, it's May 1st. I think the reason why, it's kind of like a ball that got rolling down a hill; it gets bigger and bigger and bigger. Because drivers didn't have the freedom to commit to something, they kept wanting to move it back, move it back, move it back. It's just I think a lot of reasons. I think at the end of the deal, it's sponsorship and the time it takes from there."

ON DIFFICULTIES FOR DRIVER, CREW CHIEF AND TEAM IF SWITCHED MIDSEASON SUCH AS WOOD BROTHERS: "It can be difficult. It's hard to put your finger on it. Those things tend to not work or work. Sometimes a driver and crew chief will get together, immediately it will work. Sometimes it will never work. So there is no "A" or "B" on this one, there's a lot of things that impact that. I think at the end of the day it's how quickly the crew chief can come in and impact what's going on with the team. But sometimes people just don't get along and the relationship doesn't work well enough, and those things take time to build sometimes."

ON INDIANAPOLIS AND POCONO BEING COMPARABLE: "Not at all. I laugh at the comparisons to Pocono and Indy. I think it's ludicrous. I don't see any similarities in these racetracks whatsoever with the exceptions they have long straightaways. I mean, when I hear people say, We went to Indy and learned something and that's why I run good at Pocono, I don't get it. I mean, the racetracks are totally different and I just don't see them in the same light at all."

ON WHAT MAKES INDY SPECIAL: "Well, I think that racers are racers. We'll watch. If it's on TV and we're sitting in our motor homes, we're gonna watch a race. We all grew up watching the Indianapolis 500. I think we all have a sense of the importance of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. I think most racers have a tremendous amount of respect for the impact that that's had on racing. So to have an opportunity to race in a facility that has such historic importance in the sport that you care about, I think most people view that as a privilege. Think that, therefore, it means something to do well there."

ON COMPARISON OF DAYTONA AND INDY: "Well, Daytona and Indy are similar in a lot of ways. The thing about Indy that's different is that it's a different world. It's like Daytona is our place. You know, I'm a stock car driver and, Daytona, that's our place. We go to race at their place. It's special because it's a bigger place and it's special because of the history that's been made there, racing the way that they race. So it's totally different because it's a departure from what we normally do, and I think that has some bearing in how people feel about it."

WHY YOUNG DRIVERS LIKE CARL EDWARDS AND DENNY HAMLIN ARE SUCCESSFUL AT POCONO: "I don't know. I honestly don't understand that. I think that certainly they both are talented drivers and with really good teams. I have to say I think it's more coincidence than it is really having anything to do with fact. I think it's much more a coincidence than anything else. I mean, it's not a coincidence that they won; it's they won because they're good and talented and with good teams. But I don't think - there's no advantage in being a rookie, is what I'm trying to say.

ON RUMORS THAT THERE NO QUALITY DRIVERS IN CUP: "I disagree with that. You know, I think it's so hard to evaluate drivers, you know. The thing that's difficult about driver evaluation is it has so much to do with how fast the car will go. You take a guy that - Travis Kvapil, for example. This year, hasn't looked like he's all that competitive. Go back and look at what that man's done. I mean, that's an extremely talented race car driver that has done a lot. There's a lot of drivers in this garage that if you took them somewhere, I'm not saying a different team or garage, if you took them to the Truck Series, the Busch Series, or you took them to a local Maypole race, they'd get up on it. So I think there's a tremendous amount of talent in the garage, and it's a matter of that talent being with the right group for them. But I don't view it as a shortage. I view it as a number problem, because I think that with the Toyotas coming in next year, we're really only gaining a lot of teams. We're not losing any teams. I think we had a real issue with the number of talented people because we have so many new teams coming, and that's not just drivers, that's everybody. That's tire changers, that's engineers, that's suspension guys. That's across the board.

"I see a huge problem coming. Toyota is trying to change that by paying everybody a lot of money. They're in denial about that. They say that's not what they're doing, but it is what they're doing. They're offering a tremendous amount of money to people to come work for them, which I'm not complaining about it. It's free enterprise. That's what's built America. But they're in the process of trying to rob and sell as many people as they possibly can, which every time they have success with that means there has to be somebody new that comes in; or, they don't have success, they got to bring in somebody new. So there is an issue with the number of people that we have available, but I suspect it's always been like that."

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

ARE YOU CONCERNED WITH YOUR DROP IN THE POINTS? HAVE YOU CHANGED YOUR STRATEGY? "Ain't much I can do about that. Blown motor. It's just real disappointing. We'll just have to hope and pray that we don't have another blown motor in between now and the Chase. And as a team, I think we'll be all right. We tightened it up a little bit with a blown motor and lost a lot of points. Looking at the competition, I think we're good enough to be in the top 10."

WITH AN INCIDENT LIKE THAT, IS IT JUST A LITTLE BIT OUT OF YOUR HANDS? COULD IT JUST BE FATE? "No, not really. I don't really get too worried about it. Things like that are going to happen in your career. I try not to really worry about it too much. I've got a whole lot of things I've got to do during the week and worrying about that motor; I've got to leave that at the race track and try to concentrate on this race here and the next one and so on. We've got to work with what you've got - work with the hand you've been dealt."

ARE YOU PLEASED WITH WHERE YOU ARE AT THIS POINT THIS YEAR COMPARED TO WHERE YOU WERE LAST YEAR? "Yeah, absolutely. I think we're way more excited about what's been going on this year as a company, aside from that engine failure. That motor was a really old motor and I really don't even know why we would be running that motor. Aside from that we've made some gains in the engine department here and that's something I think we'll see a lot more of that DEI needs. As a company man, they need some more power. Once they get that, Martin (Truex Jr) and I will be able to run a lot better. We're gaining there and we've had some good finishes. And my cars are driving good. That motor was really frustrating. It's wore on the team pretty hard. It was very disappointing. It's brought a bunch of the guys' morale and excitement about what we've been able to accomplish so far, down. It really hit us pretty hard so hopefully we'll be able to regroup and bounce back and try to finish out the rest of this deal pretty strong."

HOW WAS PRACTICE? "It started off real bad. This is the Chicago car. We ran it at Charlotte. We've got top five's with it pretty much every time we've run it. We didn't run it here last time, so I'm really excited that it's here and that we're using it. It's a good car. My confidence is obviously pretty high with the equipment there, so that's good. We started out struggling but we made some big gains. I think I'll be able to qualify okay. Top 10 would be fine with me. Pit road is long and it has plenty of room, so that's no real big issue. Lap times weren't too bad so I think we'll be okay."

TONY STEWART IS ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN RIGHT NOW. HOW MUCH OF AN ADVANTAGE IS THAT FOR YOU AND THE REST OF THE GUYS IF IT STAYED THAT WAY? "Tony is a super competitor. But whoever is in that top 10 is going to be hard to beat, no matter how it stacks up and who is in it. It's a tough championship to win. You've got to look at everybody as a legitimate contender."

SO IT WOULDN'T BE NICE TO HAVE A PARTICULAR GUY OUT AND NOT HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT HIM? "It would be nice to not have to worry about a few of them. There's some guys who are doing it this year. Jimmie (Johnson) is always strong. You've got to really race Jimmie really hard. Tony (Stewart) knows the equation. He knows what it takes. He knows exactly what he needs to do week in and week out. He's really methodical on how he wins his championships. There are a lot of guys who are going to be tough to beat."

THERE HAS BEEN A LOT OF AGGRESSIVE RACING RECENTLY. IS THAT A BY-PRODUCT OF THE CHASE HEATING UP, OR IS THAT JUST RACING? "It's how the series has gotten more exciting and competitive. The season does grind down. I find myself more aggressive and more on the tach more and sort of not giving as much room and not quite as kind as maybe I would be the first 10 races of the season. So it does get very aggressive out there."

HOW DO YOU HANDLE THE PRESSURE OF THE CHASE AND KEEP IT FROM GETTING TO YOU? "I just don't think about it. There are a lot worse things you could be going through than trying to make the Chase for a championship. Just imagine somebody dealing with something worse than you are and to be thankful for the opportunity to even have the chance to race for the Chase. It's an honor to be part of this sport and part of this series. I'm grateful to have the chance, so I don't feel a lot of pressure. I know my fans and a lot of people want to see me succeed and we try really hard, but I see people who really make themselves miserable and it's a shame."

COMPARE HOW YOU FEEL AT THIS POINT IN THE SEASON COMPARED TO A YEAR AGO? "Really good. They give me a good race car and it I feel like if you give me a good opportunity that I'll make you proud that you put me in that position. I'm still trying to figure out why, with the team I had last year, we weren't in that position that we are in today. But at the same time, I'm thankful that I'm running as well as I am this year and I'm with the people I'm with. The guys who work on this car are a great group of guys and they all are genuine with their concerns with me and my well-being out on the race track. That's really important to me. You don't always have that with each and every individual. So, it's definitely a different position that I'm in now than I was in last year. But I was learning a lot more last year about myself and about those types of deals. I'd like to still be learning as much, personally. I'm learning a lot on the race track all the time, but I'd still like to be learning as much as I did last year about myself as an individual and how I pair up with my team.

WHAT HURDLES HAVE YOU HAD TO OVERCOME? "There haven't been any big real hurdles. Everything is better for the most part. The relationship with the crew is on a better, more personal level. I worked with those guys last year and I was really proud to be with them, but it was all new. I felt like the new kid in school, you know, and I didn't know those guys really well and it was difficult for me to get to know them. But it's good to be back on sort of a personal with each individual that works on the car and that's around the car all weekend. You're a family, you know. So it's important that you know them closely. It's just (about) making sure everybody's feelings are cool after everything that went down and wanting everybody to know how much I appreciate them from last year like Steve (Hmiel). I try to make sure he knows that and that everybody knows how thankful I am to have an opportunity to run well again after last year."

ARE YOU SURPRISED WITH HOW CLOSE THE POINTS ARE RIGHT NOW? "Yeah, I would rather have not had the problem we had last week. I think it's good for the sport to have those question marks coming in during those last few races leading up to the Chase. It's definitely why we have the Chase - to bring a little more drama into the sport. This is where you would usually have a little bit of a lull in the points battle and not a whole lot going on to write about or talk about. This definitely makes it a lot more interesting. I'm concerned and interested to see what their ideas are about changing it next year and I'm sure it'll be exciting."

WHAT PLANS DO YOU HAVE FOR THE WEEK OFF? "I've got a couple of appearances to make and I think they've got that premier in L.A. and I'm going out for that. That'll be neat. But on the off-weekend, I've got about 15 of my buddies coming into town and we're going to hang out."

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF MARTIN TRUEX JR.? "When you work with Martin like I do, you don't see the development because he's already the package; do you know what I mean? He sort of came into the sport with all the specifics. He don't really come to you with issues or problems. It's almost like you've got a teammate who has been in the sport for five or six years. That's impressive. I mean that. He doesn't show a learning curve. He doesn't really run across any obstacles. He seems to handle everything each week. Whatever the car is doing, he seems to be able to handle it.

"I can't really take credit for bringing him on board. Richie Gilmore deserves 95% of the credit. I just said that it would be okay because it was my Busch car. I watched him a couple of races when he ran his Busch North car before he drove for us. There wasn't a whole lot to see. But after he got in our car and the way he drove and how he attacked the situation..nothing about the situation really intimidated him or overwhelmed him.not the Dale Earnhardt part and obviously not the history of our cars being successful in the Busch Series - none of that intimidated him. That was really cool."

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

ON HOW TIGHT POINTS RACE IS AT THIS POINT IN THE SEASON: "It is just kind of is what it is. You go out and race as hard as you can, go as fast as you can and do the things you can and everything will just happen the way it is supposed to happen. You can either stress yourself out about it or you can just go race."

ON RESURGENCE OF RICHARD CHILDRESS RACING: "I don't think it is one thing, I think it is a lot of things put together. Our cars are better, our engines are better, everyone is communicating better, everyone gets along. It just isn't really one thing."

WHAT IS DIFFERENCE BETWEEN JUNE AND JULY RACE AT POCONO? "Probably about 20,000 less people. (Chuckles) Usually the track is a little bit slicker when we come back for the second race, but they changed the left side tire on us this time. Nobody has ever seen this tire before or this code, so we really don't know exactly what to expect but that is the only unknown we have coming in to this Pocono."

ON TALK GOING AROUND THAT THERE ISN'T ENOUGH QUALITY DRIVERS IN NASCAR: "Well, I think there is obviously a shortage of drivers right now. With all the new teams coming in and other teams struggling to keep their performance of their cars up, it makes it hard to keep quality drivers. Right now there is a shortage of them. I don't know that there is anything anyone can do right now other than to look outside the boxes like Chip Ganassi has done with Juan (Pablo Montoya). I think those are the avenues people are starting to go down. It is going to be interesting to see how it all shakes out just to the fact of having a lot of good cars and not enough drivers to fill them."

ON WHAT KHI LEARNED LAST WEEK HAVING JEFF BURTON DRIVE ONE OF THEIR BUSCH SERIES CARS: "Burney (Lamar) doesn't have a lot of experience about what we exactly needed. Nobody knew what the answer was. The car unloaded well and was fast right out off the bat. They made some mistakes on pit road and kind of ended their day. So, I think everybody learned a lot, found out exactly what it was supposed to be and ended up being a real positive for all people involved. So hopefully we will go forward they can perform a little bit better."

ON HOW KHI TRUCK AND BUSCH PROGRAMS ARE PERFORMING RIGHT NOW: "I feel really good about it. Our truck has been winning races and running in the top-five every week. The 33 Busch car has been good for the most part, hit or miss. The Busch teams just need to have more consistency. The truck just needs to keep doing what it is doing."

ON SILLY SEASON STARTING SO EARLY: "Everybody is just trying to position themselves to do what they need to do to gain an advantage. Everybody just wants to be in a good car. All the teams want to get their sponsors situated with so much pressure to get in the Chase and do the things you need to do performance wise, everybody just wants to make sure they position themselves going forward. They want to lock things down sponsorship wise, so when you have your driver, your team is usually easier to build. It is one of those things where you can build everything better if you have everything locked down early."

ON BEING MORE COMFORTABLE THIS SEASON WITH IMPROVEMENTS AT RCR: "I think anytime you run good, you are more comfortable and it is more fun, that is for sure. Anytime you have better race cars and you are running in the top-10 and able to contend with everybody week in and week out, it makes it a lot more fun."

ON PROGRESS OF TEAMMATE CLINT BOWYER: "That team has done a good job, they just have to get the consistency. Right now, I think he is having a little bit of trouble qualifying and once they step over that hurdle, I think it will make it easier. They have run really well in the race every week, it is just their qualifying that has been an Achilles heel for them. All in all they have done a good job this year. They have run in the top-10 quite a bit. I think they have done really good."

ON CHANGE IN RELATIONSHIP WITH JEFF BURTON OVER TIME HE HAS BEEN WITH RCR: "I think any time you get to know somebody better, your relationship becomes better. Jeff is one of those people who is very competitive and helps drive me. I hope I help drive him. I respect him a lot and what he has done. He is very good with people and understands how to get the most out of people so that has been exciting for me. That is something that I am not very good at, and still not going to be very good at because we go at things a different way. He has been a great addition to our organization. We get along great. All three of us talk a lot among ourselves, that is one of the things we have to keep going and I don't see any reason that it won't"

ON POTENTIAL OF PITFALLS FOR GUYS TRYING TO MAKE THE CHASE AT UPCOMING WATKINS GLEN ROAD COURSE RACE: "There is the potential for pitfalls everywhere. We run good on the road courses, and we don't want to look at it as just there. There are pitfalls here, there are pitfalls there, I could trip and fall going across this garage and not practice today and that could be a pitfall. You just go out and run as hard as you can, do the best that you can and just don't sit around and worry about this stuff. You go out and prepare the best you can and race. That is what we do."

ON AGGRESSIVE NATURE ON THE TRACK BEING BYPRODUCT OF DIFFICULTY OF GETTING TO THE CHASE: "I think that is a race. Everybody races hard, it is not a case of people just running in to each other. I mean, we all go out there to race and race hard. People just run in to each other and that is just the way it is. I don't think there is any additional hard driving, everybody is just racing hard as they have for years."

ON WANTING TO WIN ANOTHER BRICKYARD 400: "Yes, I do. Everybody puts a lot of effort in to the Brickyard. Just knowing how big of a race it is to win, you want to go back and win it again. It is an important race for everybody because all the sponsors show up; there are hundreds of thousands of fans there and it is a prestigious race to win."

ON FEELINGS WALKING INTO GARAGE AT BRICKYARD: "Going to the Brickyard is just one of those places that has so much history, so much prestige especially if you sit on the pole or win. It is just one of those places that everybody wants to win. You remember the first time you walked in, there is just something about the place, it is just a lot of fun to be a part of."

ON BRICKYARD TEST: "The test went really good for us. I think everybody is obviously pretty nervous about the tire, when we first got there, the tires wore out in seven laps. They say they are going to be all right. But you never can tell until you get back. I felt like our cars were good. So if the tires don't create a huge issue, then it should be fun."

ON WEEKEND SCHEDULE BETWEEN POCONO AND MARTINSVILLE FOR BUSCH RACE: "The weekend is pretty simple. We will show up for the race, jump in and go race. Thursday we went to the open practice, but otherwise, we will be focused on doing everything here at Pocono. We won't be there early enough to qualify the car there tomorrow. We are going to run both practices here in the Cup car. The cars were really fast yesterday so if we can just make it to the front without getting tore up, everything should be just fine."

ON IMPORTANCE OF RELATIONSHIP WITH CREW CHIEF TODD BERRIER IN BATTLE FOR CHASE: "The relationship with everyone on this team is important. Todd and I have a fairly unique relationship compared to most people. We are really good friends and have been together for the most part of seven years now and communicate really well. He understands who I am and how I go about things and I understand who he is and how he goes about things. It is a very good relationship."

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

Q. Last time you were here, a real bad wreck. Can you take me back through that. In terms of accidents you've had in the past, where does that one rank?

JEFF GORDON: Well, it was certainly one of the scariest ones. Because even though you're at Pocono, you know, you're carrying a lot of speed, but you have a long way to think about it. So it happened fairly early, but I had such a long time without being able really to get the car slowed down that, you know, the fear that's inside, how hard it's gonna hit, is probably worse than when it actually happens.

So it was very scary. But, you know, just after going through it and knowing how good of a job my team has done with our seats and our race cars, and NASCAR with the soft wall, it's also a real tribute to that hard work and success of the safety department.

Q. What goes through your head when you see the wall coming like that?

JEFF GORDON: Well, I mean, I didn't see it coming because I put it into first gear and tried to get the car spun around. The last thing I wanted to do was hit with the front end. Of course, then it spun too far around. I mean, I knew I was going to hit hard and I knew I was going to hit left rear to left side. I mean, you just hold on tight and you hope it doesn't hurt too much, or that you're still awake when it does.

Q. Is there anything that you instinctively do? Are you supposed to hold the wheel?

JEFF GORDON: Well, the problem is, instinctively, as soon as your brakes go out or throttle sticks or anything like that going into a turn, your first instinct is to turn left, away from the wall, where you wish it was opposite. If you turn right, into the wall, actually the impact would be a lot less. Yet it's just impossible to tell yourself to do that.

You know, the other thing is the longer time you have to think about it, the more you can maybe put your head back into the seat.

The less distance that your head has to travel when it hits the padding inside, the better. So I just held on to the steering wheel real tight and, you know, tensed up and moved my head into the left?side headrest.

Q. Can you talk about shifting.

JEFF GORDON: I really do believe that we should be shifting here. I think they should make exceptions. Just like they made exceptions at the road courses with us being able to change our transmission gears, I think that they should make an exception here.

I think that, you know, there is some safety issue there, and I think there's a competitive issue there, too. I think the race would be more competitive and you'd see more passing if we could shift gears here, as well.

Q. Are you surprised how tight the points are from 3rd to 13th? Could Richmond possibly overshadow Homestead, or would it just make the stakes even higher?

JEFF GORDON: Well, it certainly looks like it's going to be a nail?biter for those trying to get into the top 10. Doesn't seem there's many guys that are real secure. Usually at this point in the season there's some guys that just can ride and be pretty safe to make the Chase, and there's very few guys that are able to do that right now, which just makes the intensity of the racing go another level every weekend.

You know, Richmond is going to be very interesting. Whether it's going to overshadow the championship, I doubt that. I think as exciting as it's going to be for the Chase, it's going to be equally or more exciting for the championship once you get the 10 or however many guys are going to be in there.

Q. Being a defending Cup champion, on the outside looking in, how much would things change if by some freak accident or whatever, he doesn't make it in?

JEFF GORDON: Well, you know, I mean, we didn't make it last year. Junior didn't make it. Things can happen to anybody.

You know, I think Tony and that team is strong enough to be able to rebound. They're not far out of it, but they've had some tough breaks. I can understand. I mean, we've had some as well. We've got more DNFs than anybody else in the top 10. Those types of things would usually take the strong teams out of it. You know, that's really kind of what's gotten Tony in the position that he's in. If they can put a string of good races together, I know performance?wise, they're going to be able to make it happen.

Q. Are we at that point of the year where if you're in 10th, 11th, 12th in the standings, you can't afford that one more bad run?

JEFF GORDON: If anybody can, it's a team like Tony's because they've run so strong at so many different places. I mean, he runs good here, he runs good in the road courses, he runs good at Richmond. I mean, there's a lot of places where they can rebound. But there's a lot of teams out there that don't have those types of strengths that can't afford to have those types of troubles.

Q. It was said earlier in the week that there's not enough quality drivers in NASCAR. What are your thoughts or comments on that?

JEFF GORDON: Oh, I disagree with that. I mean, I think that the most talent in one garage area, you know, is here, right now. I mean, there's a ton of talent. The teams have gotten so much more competitive that, you know, it's hard to really recognize who's got the talent, you know, and who doesn't because so much is relying on the race cars these days and the race teams. I think the good drivers, you know, there are certain places that they can contribute and make a difference. I think there's some drivers that maybe don't get enough credit, and there's some drivers that get too much credit.

But as far as a group, I think there's a lot of talent in this garage area.

Q. How do you keep the pressure from getting to you about being in the final 10

JEFF GORDON: Well, we've been in the position before where we've made it, and we've been in a position where we haven't made it. Both sides have a lot of pressure that goes along with it. All you can do is just race as hard as you can every weekend and get the most out of it, try to keep the team together, you know, and the chemistry and the confidence and, you know, the communication going the best that you possibly can.

You know, we're in a little bit better situation I feel like this year because we've had a couple wins here lately that have helped give us that confidence that we need to get through the next five, six races.

Q. You mentioned the intensity of the racing. We've seen some of the on?track incidences. Some say it's just racing, but is that a by?product of how intense it is to get into the Chase?

JEFF GORDON: Well, I was talking to somebody I think earlier this weekend, it's not just NASCAR, it's all sports.

If you look across the board at sports around the world, it's just things are getting more competitive. And, you know, instead of less talent, in my opinion, we've got more talent and we've got better race teams. You know, NASCAR has really narrowed up the box from the competition side of things. So it's just made it more intense, you know, for our sport.

But you look at other sports. I think it's the same way. Everybody has to be more aggressive. You have to be better fit physically. You have to be better mentally. You know, you just have to be at a higher level all the time, and that's forcing everybody to do that, and that's only going to make the intensity level that much more when you get out there, and especially you're trying to make the Chase, trying to win a race, trying to get those points in that position that it's going to take to get your team to the next level.

Q. The wins, how much confidence does that give a team?

JEFF GORDON: Well, certainly that Chicago race was big. I mean, that was huge for us. To be able to win on a mile and a half gave us a lot of confidence for places like this, Michigan, you know, a lot of different types of racetracks. I think our short track programs have always been pretty strong. Our road course programs have always been pretty strong. That was one of the big areas where we were lacking, so that's done a lot for us.

Q. What are you guys going to do during the off week?

JEFF GORDON: We'll take full advantage of it. I'm going over to Europe, you know, and I'm going to be there for probably eight or nine days and do what I always do, you know, and just have a good time, relax, and get some sun and be as far away from racing as possible.

Q. During the last three races here, have been won by guys who have not seen the track until that weekend, Denny Hamlin and Carl Edwards. Is that coincidence? Why do newcomers run so well here?

JEFF GORDON: That's a good question. I mean, they used to allow rookies to test here, but I don't think ? Denny wasn't able to. I don't know about Carl. But, you know, it's really good question. Sometimes, you know, not knowing where the braking points are, not knowing the feel of the racetrack, sometimes that can be a benefit to you. I think for those guys it obviously has. They've got strong race teams. I don't know. To me, I've always felt like this is one of the toughest places to come as a newcomer, but I also think those are two guys that have some of the most talent in this garage area. I think it is a credit to those guys, for sure.

Q. The video games.

JEFF GORDON: Yeah, it's all about the video games.

Q. What are some of the main reasons drivers change so early in the season?

JEFF GORDON: I think it's just performance. It's always about performance. But I think, you know, these days, with the Chase, I think that changes everything. You know, now that you have the Chase, if it looks like you're not going to be in the Chase, you might as well start working on next year. I mean, that's what we did with Steve Letarte coming on board. We didn't make the Chase, boom, let's go ahead and get ourselves getting ready for next year. It wasn't about finishing 11th in points for us, it was about coming back and being a threat for the championship this year.

I think that's what other teams are doing also. I think drivers are looking at that and they're looking at their options, you know. The team owners are doing the same thing, and the sponsors as well. All those are things that dictate when somebody changes gears and moves to another race team.

Q. First lap around today, did you take a moment to look over and glance at where you hit last time?

JEFF GORDON: No, no, I try not to think about it, put it behind you. I was just glad the brakes were working every time I drove into one.

Q. How much of a force is RCR this year?

JEFF GORDON: They've really come a long way, you know. They really have. I give them credit. The last couple years, they've struggled, and yet they stuck with their plan, they stuck with what they were working on, and that's why it's paid off so much for them now. I mean, the things that they're doing you now, I bet you if you talk with them and they're honest with you, they'd say they're working on it for two years. That's where some teams are at, you know, that it could take a couple of years for them to really be strong and be where they need to be, and they are looking that far ahead. Of course when you're one of the top teams like Roush or Hendrick, you feel like you can't afford to give up any race, any season. But they definitely are much stronger everywhere that we go this year. And, I mean, you look at Jeff Burton. Everybody wrote him off, like he forgot how to drive, or didn't have the desire, and yet he put a good setup underneath him and a good race car and team, and now all of a sudden he's kind of reborn. I think it says a lot about their efforts.

Q. How special would a win at the Brickyard be for you?

JEFF GORDON: Oh, it would be amazing. I mean, any time you win there, whether it's your first time or your fourth or fifth time, it's incredible.

I know a lot of people are throwing out the Michael Schumacher being only a five?time winner there. I don't think any of us compare the Indy 500 winners anyway, so I try really not to compare too much with those stats. I know I've got four there, and they've been some of the most amazing moments of my career, and I'd love to get another one.

Q. Talk about what it is to win at the Brickyard four times.

JEFF GORDON: It's hard, you know. I can't even believe it. It's really hard for me to imagine that we've won there four times. It's one of the races that I look forward to the most every season. It's one of those races that our team wants to win as much or more than any other, and yet we've been able to do it four times. It's incredible.

Q. Talk about this season compared to the struggles last year.

JEFF GORDON: Well, I'm extremely pleased. You know, they've made me very proud of their efforts. When we had the pressure on us and we weren't, you know, competing or winning, but yet I still felt like our team was strong, they never got down. Guys didn't leave or go other places; they got offers and everything else, and they stuck with it, from the pit crew to the guys in the race shop building the cars, and of course the guys here at the race track, you know, working side?by?side with Steve. It's been fantastic.

Q. How does winning Indy compare to winning the Daytona, especially multiple times?

JEFF GORDON: Well, I mean, I think that Indy is more of a personal thing for me because I grew up as a kid watching the Indy 500 and going to the Indy 500. To me, that and inaugural Brickyard 400 will go down as the biggest win of my career personally.

The Daytona 500 is our biggest event, there's no doubt about that. There's more, you know, prestige and viewers and everything else that you can imagine that comes along with it, prize money and prestige. It's the ultimate as far as winning, you know, the ultimate race in our sport. But, still, to me, Brickyard is going to always have something there that's just a little bit more personal.

Q. Your victory there, did it help elevate that to Daytona 500 level in a sense?

JEFF GORDON: Well, yeah. I mean, at the time, you know, I think it had probably as much or more hype than the Daytona 500. It paid more than the Daytona 500. It had a lot of publicity, you know. It was the only race that I'd ever won. Of course that was early. But even to this point, it's the only race I ever won and went to Disneyworld. So I think that there is a lot that went along with that win.

You know, I think nowadays, Daytona stepped it up to a whole other level. From every area, it's bigger. It's the biggest one that we have, for sure.

Q. What do you see as the keys to success at Watkins Glen?

JEFF GORDON: Well, obviously, we're pretty excited about getting to Watkins Glen. Our road course program has been stepped up this year. We've already got one win. We're looking to go there and be strong again. Can't run the exact same setup there as you do at Sonoma, but I think that we'll be able to learn a lot from what we did already this year at Sonoma and only improve our program there.

Q. What's the toughest part?

JEFF GORDON: Well, it's right?hand turns. We're not used to running right?hand turns, and there's some big, sweeping right-handers there, fast right?handers. It's the fact that, you know, it's a track that it's road course but it's a very fast road course. So you really have to have your car working well.

Brakes are pretty important, especially getting down that long back straightaway and the inner loop. There's a lot of brakes that you need there as well. Typical, you know, road course except for just a little bit faster, a little bit more grip.

Q. What's your program? You said you stepped it up.

JEFF GORDON: I think we've really focused on getting into the corners deeper when you're braking. You know, trying to get away from some of the failures that we had. Last year we had some transmission problems. Then we, you know, just playing with the setups, just trying to get more speed out of the car.

Q. Going to a new transmission?

JEFF GORDON: Well, we're back to the one that we used to use, but it's been improved a little bit. We tried a new one, you know, last year that just didn't work for us.

Q. I think you once said after one of your wins at Watkins Glen it was the perfect race. Is it possible to do something like that again?

JEFF GORDON: Anything's possible if you qualify well. I was a little disappointed how we qualified at Sonoma. I'd like to make up for that at Watkins Glen.

Q. As you look at 3rd to 12th right now, 150 more points. Does it amaze you how tight things are right now?

JEFF GORDON: It really is. I try not to look at it too much because it's not about that to me. It's about us performing at the best level, the highest level we can every weekend and getting the most points. I mean, last week we weren't great. We missed one wreck and had a tire cut down. And, you know, we just clawed our way to 15th. I don't even know if we were 15th place car. So we got to just do that every weekend.

Q. What's your biggest concern between now and Richmond?

JEFF GORDON: Well, our biggest concern is having a failure, is having a failure or getting caught up in a wreck. You know, it's that 35th, 36th, 40th, 42nd place finish that I just don't think we can afford. We've had too many DNFs this year and I'm hoping that we've gotten them out of the way.

Q. Can you start planning about what you guys would like to do in the Chase now? Do you let yourself think about that?

JEFF GORDON: The way I look at it, our Chase is already in, you know, progress. I mean, because we've got to fight as hard as we can right now just to be in the Chase, and then if we make it in the Chase, that fight is not gonna stop, it's just gonna continue on. So there's really nothing different that we can do. We're doing everything we can do right now, so there's not more we can do.

Q. How much does it help you have a bunch of tracks coming up that you had a lot of success on: Indy, Watkins Glen, Michigan, Bristol?

JEFF GORDON: Yeah, I mean, you know, past stats don't mean anything anymore, you know. The cars and the competition and the setups, everything changes so much from year to year. I will say that we were in good at Michigan early in the year. I was happy about that. We had some good moments here early in the race because we started up front, but we weren't good enough there. But Bristol, I thought we were really strong the last time we were there. Watkins Glen, I'm very excited about. I mean, I feel good about a lot of the racetracks, especially after how well we ran in Chicago, you know.

It just kind of makes you feel better about going everywhere.

Q. You talked about the fact that everything changes. We're seeing what's going on at Roberts Yates right now. Childress had to bounce back; took them a while. How difficult is it to take your notes, places you've been successful, throw them in the trash can and ignore them?

JEFF GORDON: Well, it's hard until you start getting beat really bad. Once you're not competitive, then it's pretty easy, you know. You go, Well, this doesn't work.

You see, a lot of teams learn, you'd be surprised how much teams learn from watching the cars in the garage there, watching them go through inspection. You can learn what teams are doing without really even talking to anybody. You know what direction you need to go into. And you hear things. Certain people talk.

So, you know, you got to have ways to test these days without actually going to the racetrack because they're so limited. So you got to be able to go wind tunnel, seven post, simulation on computers, go to Kentucky and other tracks. That's all you can do. You hope on top of that you put the right team and driver combination together that works.

Q. Is it a tough change for you to give up the seat-of-the-pants thing and go where you have to sit down with the engineer?

JEFF GORDON: Well, you know, times change. You have to keep up with the times as a driver, as a crew chief. Everybody does. So I want to do the best I can to make the car go faster. You know, if I don't feel like the car is there for me to push the limits and go faster, then I'm going to relay the best that I can all that information back to the team. You know, when they go and try things out and test things out in the wind tunnel and the other areas I've talked about, they go, Hey, we think we've found a gain, want to take it to a racetrack and try it out. Sometimes it is; sometimes it's not. Those things don't always, you know, have the same equivalence to the racetrack. That's the only thing.

That's why I think the teams, the teams have to have confidence in you and you have to have confidence in them. If you're not on the same page believing in one another and the information being shared, then you just lose confidence and you just start going backwards.

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

COMING IN AS A YOUNG DRIVER, DID YOU FEEL PRESSURE TO DO WELL RIGHT AWAY? "Well, it wasn't necessarily any added pressure from the sponsors or the team or anything like that. It's just that you want to go out there and do the best job you possibly can week in and week out. For me, that's to go our there and win races. That's what you're accustomed to anyway when you're coming up through the ranks racing in Las Vegas or Texas or wherever you may be from or wherever you're racing. You want to win races and all that. When you come to the next level, you want to win races and do the best you can in order to keep moving up. But once you move to Cup, you want to solidify yourself as a contender and then you want to become a winner. Once you become a winner, then you need to become a person that can go after championships. So for myself, I always felt like I was a contender, but sometimes finishes would elude me but a little bit last year I was able to win. And then late last year I was able to win. And then this year we've gotten one as well."

WHAT DID LAST WEEKEND'S WIN DO FOR YOU? WERE THEY REALLY HAPPY BACK AT THE SHOP? "The mood hasn't really changed. We've all been fortunate enough to have good cars this year and be fast enough at places where we haven't been down on ourselves at all. We may have a few bad runs here or there, but it's something we can rebound back with. We're fortunate to be able to have that circumstance. And of course we just have to go to every race every week thinking the same thing. And that's to try and do our best."

SINCE YOU'RE FOURTH IN THE POINTS, DO YOU REALLY HAVE TO CONCENTRATE ON THE CURRENT RACES INSTEAD OF THE LAST 10? "The biggest thing is in order to concentrate on the last 10, first you've got to get there. Right now is right now and we've got to concentrate on this rather than what's coming up."

DO YOU RUN WELL HERE AT POCONO? "We run well here. I finished fourth here last year. We ran in the top five all day. In the fall race last year we ran fifth to 10th all day and then we had a right front wheel bearing fail and we wrecked. This spring we ran about eighth to 12th and came in for two tires and just couldn't have the handle there at the end of the race. We finished 22nd. So it wasn't a very good day, but hopefully we can turn that around."

ON THE POINTS, IF YOU HAVE A BAD COUPLE OF OUTINGS IT SEEMS REALLY EASY TO FALL FROM 3RD TO 12TH "Shoot, you can third to 10th this week if you have a bad day. You can go out there and blow up on lap two or three and be 43rd and you can fall out. So that's a big deal. For someone to come in and run the caliber the way everybody's been running - just look at Tony Stewart. He's had a few bad weeks and he knocked himself out. It's tough to try to exactly position yourself the way you want to, but you just have to go about doing different things week in and week out."

WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN JUNE AND JULY HERE AT POCONO? "Probably the heat's a little bit more; but not much besides that. They didn't really do anything to the race track I don't believe to change any characteristics. I think you'll see that same guys that ran well here before run well again."

ON THE BRICKYARD TEST "I'm not too excited about getting to Indy. It's kind of a shame. Alan (Gustafson) really loves that place and wants to win there. We went in there and we did some things that we knew we needed to learn on. We can do all the springs and geometry and all that back at the shop. We can work through that kind of simulation stuff. For us, we were just trying some weird things like different front shocks and things like that. So we didn't come out of there with the car we quite wanted to come out of there with. As a matter of fact, we ended up getting loose there at the end and smacking the fence. So they've got a lot of work to do."

DO YOU THINK IT'S FAIR THAT YOUR AGE IS CONSISTENTLY BEING BROUGHT UP? "It is what it is. I'm 21 years old and I'm doing only what people can imagine or try to do themselves. So I'm fortunate to be in the seat that I'm in. For myself, I love going out there and racing every Sunday and that's the funnest part about it. But for younger drivers coming in, more power to them. I was in their shoes a couple of years ago. I think it's a lot more difficult now than it was maybe 10 or 15 years ago - just because the competition is so stiff. All the teams are running so close together; running the same set-ups, that any given one of them can win every weekend. So that's the biggest deal about it."

IS THERE A SENSE OF URGENCY BECAUSE THE POINTS ARE SO CLOSE? "No, there's not a sense of urgency. For guys that are out, yeah, it is. For us, we just need to go out there and keep doing what we've been doing week in and week out, and that's running the best our cars will allow us to do; and trying to make sure our set-ups are capable of running up front and competing with those guys. So that's the biggest deal."

HOW WOULD YOU COMPARE THE TENSION AT RICHMOND WITH WHAT HOPEFULLY YOU'LL FEEL AT HOMESTEAD? "I don't know. I've never been in that shoe. I can't honestly answer that question completely for you. But if you're in, you've got security on your side and you're not worried about it. But coming down to Homestead, if you know you've got a chance for the championship, then yeah, there's going to be a sense of pressure there. But otherwise, if you don't have a shot for it, you're just out there making laps trying to finish where you can in the standings."

WHY DO YOU THINK POCONO HAS BEEN SO GOOD TO NEWCOMERS LIKE CARL EDWARDS AND DENNY HAMLIN? "I'm not sure. It's a place that when I came here everyone said it's tough and it takes veterans a long time to get used to it. But for me, I have the all time track record here, I believe, with an ARCA car here. I was fast in that race and led the majority of it and came back from a pit stop and got wrecked coming down the front straighaway by an ARCA competitor. For me, you try to learn every track as best as you can and as quickly as you can. That's what makes us racers at the level we are today. To come in to here in Carl's or Denny's shoe, if you have a good car or a good handling car with a good team, you can do just fine."

COULD YOU TRY TOO HARD NOW AND SCREW THINGS UP? "Oh, like I keep saying, you just go in every week just thinking that you can try to do the best you can and that's all you can do and that's all you can do. So, we'll do what we can this weekend and hopefully it's not a 22nd place finish like I had here the first time around and we can go on to next week."

YOU SEEM CALM ABOUT ALL THIS EVEN THOUGH THERE IS A LOT OF FOCUS ON WHERE YOU ARE IN THE POINTS "That's just part of the game. It's part of nature I guess. It's all about how you perceive everything and how you put your talents to work."

WHAT'S YOUR TAKE ON THE OLD ADAGE THAT YOU'VE GOT TO PAY YOUR DUES? "I figure everybody who is here somehow, some way, did pay their dues. That's just the way you have to look at it. For me, I won Legend's car races, I won Late Model races, I won any kind of race I've ever been in. I don't think there's a car I haven't won in besides maybe an ASA car. I never won in ASA. But that's what I look at. It's paying your dues. If you're just here off of daddy's money or something like that, that's maybe a little bit different than being able to win races and make your way up the ladder through different people funding your way."

YOU'VE WON AT EVERY LEVEL. AFTER WINNING LAST WEEK, DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU CAN BE UP FRONT WITH THESE GUYS FOR THE ENTIRE RACE ON SUNDAY? "I think so. I think that we had a pretty good car here last time. It wasn't the best of cars. But it was a good enough car that we probably should have finished about fifth or sixth with it. We had that speeding penalty, but we were able to rebound from that. We were running eighth at the time of that caution with like 12 (laps) to go and some of those guys decided to come down and we were one of those guys. We put right side tires on it and went from being a little bit loose to incredibly tight. So that's what ruined our day right there was not having the right handling car at the end of the race."

HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO YOU TO BE ALIGNED WITH A STRONG TEAM LIKE HMS? "It's pretty important - especially for me. I'm such a young driver and I've only been here a couple of years. To have that strong foundation under me makes it a lot easier for me to go out every week and concentrate on what I need to do instead of where I need to go."

ARE YOU RUNNING GATEWAY NEXT WEEKEND? "Yes."

HOW DO Y0U FEEL ABOUT SPENDING THE LAST OFF-WEEKEND OF THE YEAR RACING? "It's kind of tough. I can see how it's tough to run both schedules. I don't know if I'll do it again next year or not. I'm not sure yet. But I like Gateway. I finished fifth there a couple of years ago when I was running full time. It's a cool place for me with long straightaways; it's somewhat like Loudon, but with flat corners. Turns 3 and 4 are significantly different than (Turns) 1 and 2. But as far as spending your last off-weekend, I'm not even done after Saturday night's race. I'm getting up at 2 a.m. to fly over to Oxford, Maine to run in the Oxford 250. So hopefully I can come out of there with some hardware and make the weekend worth while; out of both places with some hardware."