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

ON HOW CAR IS PERFORMED IN PRACTICE: "We aren't running too bad. We don't normally run too good in practice, so we will be fine. We have my setups really, really loose right now so it is hard for me to go fast. The track is going to tighten up quite a bit."

ON MOMENTUM OF TEAM AT THIS POINT IN SEASON: "We have peaked pretty good right now. Running second, third and sixth the last several weeks has been good for us. That is as good as our performance has been ever before. Hopefully we can maintain through the Chase. We just want to get through this weekend without any misfortune and be in the Chase and then keep it up because it is really a good thing and a lot of fun."

THOUGHS ON POSSIBILITIES OF STANDINGS SCRAMBLE AFTER THIS RACE: "I thought about it for about five minutes after the California race and that is the last time I thought about it. It is what it is; you go out there and do what you have got to do. You only control certain parts of what is going on out there and the rest is up to fate. Hopefully, you have a little bit of luck and everybody does a good job, everyone on the team puts in a good effort and things work out for you."

ON WHAT HIS FANS MIGHT THINK OF CHASE: "That is what it is for, right. To keep the fans interested, it is pretty exciting. It is exciting as a driver to be a part of it. I know that sounds sort of cliché`, but for me I think it is really exciting to be a part of it and I am glad Chase is what it is. I don't want to be on the outside looking in too often. But be in the battle for the 10th spot here at the end has been really, really exciting, a lot of fun for me. I really enjoy that of challenge in my life. Instead of pressure, it is fun. It is fun to be in the mix and being a part of the headline, you know what I mean."

ON SMARTEST WAY TO APPROACH RACE (RICHMOND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY): "It is a fun race track. The only bad part about it is the impound deal. We are going to practice today and that is it. Then we have the Busch race, which a lot of rubber will go down and that will tighten the car up. Since they sold the track a couple of years ago, they quit sealing it so the track goes through a tremendous amount of changes from the time we show up until the time the race starts.

With the sealer, it typically stayed the same until about 100 laps in to the Cup race, the it would start to wear the bottom off then we would move up the race track. This thing is really slick when you first get out there as you saw Tony (Stewart) spinning out there. I was really loose on that same run. We didn't get a good fast lap in to put on the board. I under drove the car quite a bit in qualifying trim. When the race comes around, we will start where we start, run some laps and find the line where the car goes the fastest like we have been the past several weeks."

ON BEING AGGRESSIVE DURING THIS RACE DESPITE CONSEQUENCES: "I think the drivers are as aggressive as they have always been. I have heard a lot of the guys complaining that Bristol race wasn't that exciting. Matt had that good of a race car and not a lot of opportunity for things to happen in that race. Over the last four or five years, the temperament on the race track has changed quite a bit. I don't think, due to that, we will dial it back at all, our aggressiveness, how hard we drive or anything compared to how we ran the first 10 races of the season."

ON UTILIZING NOTES AND SETUPS FROM SPRING RACE THIS TIME: "We rely on that stuff quite a bit. You can almost guarantee that they don't at places like Pocono in the middle of the summer, but since we are going to run at night and the temperatures are about the same, it will be kind of cool, so it is really similar. The only thing I wish they did was seal the race track a little bit because it gives the race track a little bit of grip and it made the track better for two and three wide racing. Now we still run different grooves, but it is more difficult to pass due to the lack of sealer on the track to get that grip, it is fun, but it is difficult to pass."

ON TYPE OF RACE KASEY KAHNE MIGHT HAVE SATURDAY NIGHT: "I really think, I might be wrong, I expect everybody to be pretty courteous to Kasey, pretty much anybody who is in the Chase and their teammates. I would be really surprised to know that one teammate would say to another to race him hard whenever they got the opportunity. I think that would be pretty crappy in the first place to be that way. It could be going on, but I would be surprised though. "

ON THE AMOUNT OF WINS OR NO WINS PEOPLE IN THE CHASE MIGHT HAVE: "We have always rewarded consistency and I believe we have to continue to do that. I think the system awards consistency and it always should, but at the same time, as people talk more about the significance of a win and should there more points awarded, I believe that argument is starting to gain some ground and have some substance to it. I think we should get more points for winning races before the Chase starts. Maybe not so much in the Chase, but if you aren't going to do it in the first 26, then do it in the last 10 races. I think the winner should be given more points.

And another thing, I feel like I am the only one that feels this strongly about it, I should think qualifying should play a little more of a factor in the points system, even it is only one to five points spread out in the top-10. If you qualifying in the top-10 give those guys one point apiece. Nothing major but something, because it is a lot of effort. A lot of work goes in to qualifying for really nothing more than picking a pit box. I think the winning be should be given five or ten more points but no more than that."

ON WHICH IS MORE STRESSFUL, GETTING IN THE CHASE OR COMPETING IN THE CHASE: "Once you are in the Chase, there are a lot of expectations. When those things aren't materializing for you over the span of 10-races, that can get pretty stressful. That probably is tougher. You put so much effort in to getting in to the Chase and then if you get there and falter and be uncharacteristic of what you really feel like your potential should be, that is when it is heard."

ON MATURITY OF TEAM TO REBOUND FROM STRING OF POOR RUNS: "I am really happy to see that we did. We rebounded better than I anticipated, especially over the last three races. This has really been a stretch, even though it is only three races, it has been at two race tracks where we hadn't typically done well. I am really proud of my team and their resilience. I was really mad about the misfortunes in with the motors and I felt that we are a better company than that. We are a better program than that. I was glad that we were glad we were able to turn it around, or not so much turn it around, but move past it. If we hadn't of had that misfortune, we would be sitting third in the points.

"I don't think we will have any more motor issues but like this weekend, I worry. I don't talk to Richie (Gilmore, DEI) that much about the motors and I don't get in their busi8ness that much. I just ask them to do the best job they can. I don't get into what kind of motor they put together. I just don't want to be conservative. You can't rest on conservative and hope it works out for you. We have to throw it out there and go for. If you have failures, you have failures. They are frustrating. One week was understandable, but two weeks was a little hard to deal with. The one at Talladega, you don't know if when you spun out f you spun it backwards or what. You just get frustrated when you blow motors because you know how good our motors are and how tough they are, we don't have failures. For us to have three failures this year was really strange to me. I don't want to be conservative in our motor program, I want to go for the power and go for the win and the championship. If I am getting beat off the corner and having to drive my butt off to run 15th, we can't win a championship like that, so we have to really go for it."

ON LESSONS LEARNED NOT BEING IN THE CHASE LAST YEAR "I didn't learn anything from not being in the Chase last year. If you keep your head on straight and you are with a good team, you will make the Chase. If you have engine failures and stuff like we had, you might not make the Chase. A good team with a talented driver and a good level head over the whole team can make the Chase relatively comfortably. If you look at everyone who is struggling to make the Chase right now, myself included, they have all had falters and mistakes they have made. The only thing I have learned and seen is the Chase isn't that difficult as it is made out to be. But having your mind on that factor the entire season-every single pass, every single lap, every single risk you take is very difficult."

BEHIND THE HAULER CHAT WITH TONY STEWART, NO. 20 HOME DEPOT MONTE CARLO SS:

ON THE PRESSURE OF THIS WEEKEND AND HIS MINDSET "That's probably the best question I'll be asked all weekend. It strictly boils down to doing what we normally do. If we go out and take the approach of trying to win the race like we normally do when we come to Richmond, that's the perfect way of doing it. Now obviously if scenarios dictate the need to do something different during the race, that's something that Zippy (Greg Zipadelli, crew chief) will decide, not me. So from a driver's standpoint, I'm approaching it like we do any week and that's just going out and trying to win the race."

IS THIS THE BEST PLACE FOR THIS SCENARIO TO HAPPEN FOR YOU? "Yeah, I think so. Our teammate, Denny Hamlin, had an awesome run here in the spring, so that gives us a lot to look forward to for this weekend knowing that our program is obviously in place. It's just a matter of us going out and doing our jobs and doing what we do here every time we come to Richmond and that's going out and try to win the race and if not, get a good top five finish out of it."

DOES IT MAKE IT ANY EASIER KNOWING THAT YOU BASICALLY YOU JUST HAVE TO FIND AND BEAT KASEY KAHNE? "We're not even looking at that. My approach is just going out there and trying to win the race. When it's over with or is Zippy calls me on the radio and says we've got to focus on something different, then that's when we'll do that. But for the most part, we're just going to stick to the plan the way it always is when we get here."

DOES IT HELP WHEN YOU HAVE A TEAMMATE IN THE CHASE? "I'm kind of excited about two of us from Joe Gibbs Racing being in the Chase for once. We've never really had that opportunity in the last couple of years. So, it's nice to have that opportunity and having a guy like Denny (Hamlin) in the Chase here. We're both a lot alike, so I think it's going to help us both this year."

DO YOU THINK IT WILL CHANGE YOUR STRATEGY? "It's never going to change. I've been racing 27 years. I've won three National championships in a year. I've won an Indy Car championship and two Cup championships a National Midget championship before the Triple Crown. Our approach in all of those series was all the same. If you win races, the points take care of themselves. That's always going to be my approach. It's never, ever going to change - if I race for another 50 years, it won't change."

IN THIS PARTICULAR RACE AT RICHMOND, WHAT HAVE YOU NOTICED ABOUT THE WAY THE OTHER DRIVERS APPROACH IT? IS THEIR APPROACH ANY DIFFERENT THAN OTHER RACES? "Not really. Sometimes it's a little less give and take. But that's to be expected. There is a lot on the line for this. If you take that into consideration and realize it's not just your average week, and understand it, that's probably what the scenario would be."

WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE KASEY KAHNE MAKE THE CHASE? "Yeah, Kasey and I are really good friends. I'd love to see him make it. It would be a shame to see him not make it after the season he's had this year. He's done such a great job."

WHAT'S YOUR VIEW ON TWEAKING THE CHASE TO GIVE THE WINNER MORE POINTS? "I've got a great idea. Let's just make the Chase 36 weeks long and let everybody be in the Chase then. If they're tweaking it to make sure certain guys get in, there's no point in even having a Chase. That's the frustrating side of it for us. With the theory of everybody talking about making sure certain guys making the Chase, if that's the case, they ought to just give them automatic places in the Chase and be done with it."

YOU'RE NEVER AFRAID TO GO FOR THE WINS. SOME GUYS MIGHT BE. THEY MIGHT POINT RACE IN THIS SITUATION. ARE WINS REWARDED ENOUGH? "Yeah, you get a trophy and you get the most prize money and you get the most points. So yeah, this has been a topic that's been brought up for years. People save up and spend a lot of money to come to a Cup race. If they saw their favorite driver throw it away in the last 10 laps to try to get a bunch of extra points to help win the championship or something because of the points being added so heavy on the front, they're not going to leave with a smile on their face if their driver could have finished second and still had a good day but instead, finished 40th because they crashed out because there is such an incentive to win versus running in the top five. I think you've got to think about that from the fans standpoint. If you've got 43 guys crashing each other out of races to get those extra points, it really doesn't make sense."

ON CRASHING DURING PRACTICE, WHAT HAPPENED? "I just got high in (Turns) 1 and 2. I didn't get way up; I just got the right side in the crumbs. Schrader just came over and talked to me and said it all looked like it was slow motion. We weren't really going that quick. There was just no grip and being in those marbles, I couldn't keep the back end underneath me."

THAT DOESN'T HAPPEN TO YOU THAT OFTEN IN PRACTICE "No, not at all. That car was a really good car. This one (backup) came around right there at the end, which I'm happy about. If I didn't run that last run, I'd be a lot more nervous than I am right now. But that last run was really good. So I'm really happy with this car now. That was a really good car starting off with. It really ran good laps up front. It's hard to say where that one took off versus the other one until here at the end because once you get out there and get some laps and get rubber on the track, it all changes. But I think this car is going to be just as good now."

YOU'RE NOT AS NERVOUS, BUT YOU'RE ONLY 45 POINTS AHEAD OF KASEY KAHNE "It's the same as last week. I'm not worried about it. I'm not counting points. I'm worried about going out and trying to win the race right now. So it's a pretty easy philosophy to figure out and it's what's led to about six or seven national championships so I'm not going to stray off that path."

WHAT FELT GOOD IN THAT LAST RUN? "We got it turning really good. We found something I was feeling but didn't know why it was happening. Zippy and I figured out something to keep it from doing that and it actually make it really turn good in the center. That's the hardest thing here is getting a car that will turn good in the center all day long, so I think we've got something good to work with now.

"We didn't do any qualifying runs so we're going to have to rely on our teammates' notes. That's where the challenge is going to be is getting a good qualifying run and a good pit selection because of it. The good thing is that even if we don't qualify well, I think the car is driving good enough right now and we'll be in good shape. It would have been a lot easier for us if we would have had that extra (happy hour practice) session. If somebody else would have crashed, they'd be in the same boat. I'm not complaining. I like the impound stuff anyway. I think we spend too much time for qualifying practice anyway. I'm happy with my car right now and much happier after that last run. I think we've got something that's going to be good in race trim. We didn't put a big number up but I think we're going to be in good shape."

WAS THERE ANYTHING WITH THE TRACK SURFACE TO CAUSE YOU TO CRASH? "No, we just got up too high."

DID YOU NOTICE ANY STRESS ON ZIPPY AND THE TEAM BECAUSE OF THIS? "It probably just took a little off of him because we just had to stop and re-rack. He's joking around and the guys are joking around. So for a team that's technically in a stressful situation and have a pretty stressful event happen the beginning of the weekend, I think we're taking it in stride right now."

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

ON BEING POISED TO GET IN THE CHASE "It is still a pretty stressful weekend. There are still things that can go wrong. Obviously we can still be on the outside looking in if we have a disaster. We want to do everything we can do to put ourselves in the right position to capitalize on Saturday night."

ON POSSIBILITY OF WINNING BOTH THE CUP AND BUSCH SERIES' TITLES: "The first thing we have to through this weekend to hopefully put ourselves in that position to be racing for those championships and just have the opportunity to maybe to that. I am proud of everybody just for the fact that we have turned everything around and the performance of everything has been really good. We have had a great year. Just get through this weekend, then it will be a reality hopefully and we can go from there and we can try to do that.

"I think the Busch championship is good for us, it has been a lot of fun. We have got one and hopefully we can close the Busch championship thing out here before we get to the end of the year. But the Cup championship it what makes our world go around. That is what we all want and what we all want to achieve. That is the main focus right now it to try to achieve that.

"It is a challenge and obviously an inspiration to do something that no one has ever done before. It adds a little incentive, not that we need anymore incentive to win the Cup championship, to do something that other people haven't done and probably haven't even had the chance at, that is pretty cool. I am just proud to have the opportunity whether it happens or not."

ON TREMENDOUS SUCCESS IN NBS SERIES THIS YEAR: "We have just had one of those years where everything has gone really well. The cars have performed really well. I happen to be driving cars and am around people that care. Everything has gone perfect. We have won a lot of races and finished in the top-five and top-10 and led a lot of laps. It has been a lot of fun and you know that it is not always going to be that way. It is fun to have years like we are having every once in a while."

ON DOING BOTH CUP AND BUSCH FULL-TIME: "We have already done it once and we always run a lot of Busch races. Richard (Childress) and I kind of joked about it one day and it turned in to reality."

ON TURMOIL THAT STARTED CUP CAREER IN 2001: "I don't look back, I look forward. Everybody has worked hard to get to this point. The cars are going better. We don't look backwards; we look forward as to how we can get better and how we can make things progress and try to make it better as we go on. Richard made a lot of moves in the off-season. We had a great plan going the end of last year and then in to this year. It all came together. I think that is the things, we stuck to our plan and did what we had to do to make things go in a different direction."

ON ANY PHYSICAL OR MENTAL AFFECTS OF DOING BOTH BUSCH AND CUP FULL TIME THIS YEAR: "It hasn't. We have been fortunate to do it before so we knew how to manage our time. Everyone has done a great job of keeping everything organized. That has made things go really smooth. Physically it hasn't been an issue this year. It has just kind of been business as usual. Just kind of what we have done over the past few years and that is race a lot. We cut out all the late model races and truck races and those types of things. All we are doing is Busch and Cup and all the extra curricular stuff has gone by the wayside."

ON RACING IN BUSCH SERIES HELPING CUP PROGRAM: "This is something we have done a lot over the past few years. There real is not anything we can make a story out of. It is just what I do."

ON ANY CHANGES TO CUP APPROACH IN CHASE: "Nothing is going to change. We are going to do the same things that we are doing. We are going to approach the races the same, we are going to approach the Busch series the same, and we are going to run all the races. We are going to do everything just as we have been doing it and I think that is the only way you can do things. Because, that is what got us here. That is what put us to the point where we are having a good year. If you change you that up, it breaks your rhythm. It is all about rhythm and it is all about being consistent; knowing what you have got when you show up at the race track and doing the things that you do to get you to this point. You just have to keep doing those things. If that is not good enough to get it done, then it probably wasn't good enough to get in the Chase. You have to be consistent and keep doing the things you have been doing."

ON WANTING TO KNOW WHERE OTHER CHASE CONTENDERS ARE AS RACE PROGRESSES TOMORROW NIGHT: "Not really. It is a major task to stay on top of what you have to do yourself. I am interested in the No. 31 (Jeff Burton, RCR teammate) and what they do but that is about all the interest I have in the rest of it, and that is to see our two cars in the Chase."

ON HAVING TWO RCR CARS IN THE CHASE: "It would help. I don't think it would hurt anything. It just brings that added competition level up to where there is a push from both sides. He is pushing me and I am pushing him and that is kind of the way it has been to escalate the performance level of everybody. One guy gets good, then one guy gets better and so on, it keeps elevating the level of performance."

ON BEING ALONE IN CHASE WITHOUT A TEAMMATE: "We still wouldn't be alone, we would all still be doing everything we could do to help whoever was in it. We are all going to race just as hard, whether we are in the Chase or not."

ON ANY SURPRISE OF SUCCESS AT WATKINS GLEN: "We have always been really good on the road courses. We got to Watkins Glen expecting to run in the top-10, somewhere toward the top-five. You never know what can happen there. You go in with an open mind, see where you fall and go from there. It was definitely a good weekend for us."

ON WHETHER IT MATTERS WHERE YOU ARE IN TOP-10 CHASE STANDINGS: "Absolutely it matters. Jimmie Johnson lost by eight points. I don't think you want to give up anything. I don't think you want to give up five points at any cost. You want to get everything you can because it might come down to five. You want to take everything you can."

ON LAND MINES THIS RACE: "There are definitely land mines. We are looking at it to try and lead the most laps and win the race, that way we control what happens. If you can do those things and if you can't, get everything you can out of it, then you have done everything you can do. There are no guarantees in this sport. Obviously, I wish we were in the position that the No. 48 (Jimmie Johnson) and the No. 17 (Matt Kenseth) are but we are not, so we have to do everything we can do this week."

ON BEING EXTRA CAREFUL EARLY IN THIS RICHMOND RACE: "I don't think so. The guys that are racing for those spots run so good you have to race. Last week at California, we were running 14th and we were 10th of the 11 guys in the hunt. It is something where you have to go and go as hard as you can every lap and try to capitalize on every situation you can. If you let up, somebody else isn't going to."

ON FAIRNESS OF DRIVER WHO WINS THE MOST RACES ISN'T IN THE CHASE: "That is like saying it would be fair that the New York Yankees could be in the World Series because they beat the Red Sox and lost every other game. If you can't put a whole season together, you don't deserve to be in the Chase, as far as I am concerned; unless you do what you can every week. In other sports, they don't let the guys who beat the best team play in the playoffs, so I mean, that is not how it is how it supposed to be."

ON HOW MUCH BUMPING IS TOO MUCH BUMPING: "It is hard to tell. It all depends upon the situation. How they are unfolding and working out. I think any time you have a retaliation, that is usually crossing the line, but it really depends on where it is at and how it is done."

ON NASCAR CONSISTENCY OF HOW THEY RULE ON ON-TRACK INCIDENTS: "Not at all. I think it is a matter of what mood they are when sitting in the booth that night, to be honest with."

ON WHETHER WINS NEED TO GET MORE POINTS THAN IN CURRENT SYSTEM: "It goes right back to the same thing, you can't judge someone's season off of five weeks. He had five good weeks and that is not what it is all about. It is about 26 weeks. In my opinion, it is all about what you do in those 26 weeks and if you have five great ones, congratulations."

ON NUMBER OF ONE AND ONE HALF MILE RACE TRACKS IN THE CHASE: "I think the Chase race tracks could be mixed up a little bit more. You have a short-track in Martinsville and you have a superspeedway at Talladega; I think there needs to be a little bit more variation but that is not for me to determine.

"There are places that we go that should probably be in there every year. What more fun could you have than to go to Bristol and see somebody in the Chase racing at Bristol? I have heard a lot of arguments both ways. I know we have only two road courses, but that would be one of each kind of track if you threw a road course in there. I think it should shake down to all different tracks."

ON WHAT POINT IN 2005 SEASON WHEN TEAM BEGAN TO FOCUS ON 2006: "We had a pretty good plan and started building our cars in about October. We tested them the end of October so maybe it was the middle of September. We just stuck to our plan, started building those cars and went in to this year with those cars and that plan. Last 10 races last year was basically preparation for this year for us."

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

ON PRESSURE HERE AT RICHMOND: "The year is winding down, the Chase is here...it is that time of year. There is a lot of pressure on everyone from here on out. This is really the ramp for the big push."

ON ANY CHANGES THAT SHOULD BE MADE TO PUT MORE VALUE ON A WIN: "That is an argument that happens every year. I think there are certain times when you wish there were more points put on for the guys who win races, or a bigger separation on that. The year I won eight races, I think I won four in the Chase and I really wanted to see that then. But I think in general, the points system does a good job and is fair. It is what it is; it is what it has always been. There are certain years and certain situations where looking back, I would have wished it was different. If I were Kasey (Kahne) I would be in that situation as well.

HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO BE THE POINT LEADER GOING INTO NEW HAMPSHIRE? "Every point counts. We want to be leading. We want to be first going into New Hampshire, but it's not the end of the world if we're not. It's five points. We want that position. We just have to go out and get it.

SO DOES THAT MEAN YOU'RE GOING TO RUN A PRETTY AGGRESSIVE RACE AS OPPOSED TO A CAREFUL RACE? "It may not appear so, but we've been aggressive. We've been trying different things. I've been racing really, really hard lately. It's really the same approach. You don't want to throw it away and not collect any points, but I'm going to be out there racing hard. I think you have to at this track. I do think you have to be smart Saturday night in the race. There are going to be a lot of hungry drivers. Every point, counts. Every position counts. There is going to be a fine line between being aggressive and then also being smart.

THERE ARE ABOUT 7 DRIVERS WHO WON'T WANT KASEY KAHNE TO GET AROUND THEM. NOT THAT ANYBODY WOULD TRY TO WRECK HIM, BUT DOES THAT MAKE FOR A TOUGHER RACE FOR HIM THAN FOR ANYBODY ELSE IN THE FIELD? "Thirty points isn't a lot. So I really haven't thought of it in that regard. Of the guys who are on the bubble trying to get into the Chase, this is a great track for a lot of guys. Harvick's not locked from what I've seen, but he's in a good situation. Burton should be fast here (along with) Mark Martin, Kasey Kahne, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., this is a great track for Jeff (Gordon) and a good track for Kyle (Busch). So I don't know how it's going to turn out. I really think it's going to be a great race. It's going to be a great race, and I don't see anybody giving anybody any room or any slack. I think we're going to see good, hard short track racing all night long."

IF A DRIVER DOESN'T WIN A RACE, BUT GETS TOP FIVE FINISHES, CAN HE BE THE CHAMPION AT THE END OF 10 RACES? "It's tough to say. I think the last two championships have been (won) on a top 10 basis. Wild card races like Talladega and Martinsville are really tough to say and we're not going to know until we get in there. But in our hearts, we want top fives. Top 10's are acceptable, but we want to be up there leading laps and fighting for wins and finishing in the top five."

WHAT IS THE BIGGEST REASON THAT HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS ONLY HAD ONE DRIVER IN THE CHASE LAST YEAR AND THIS YEAR HAS THREE? "I think last year was a fluke that Jeff didn't get into the Chase. He didn't have the speed that he wanted, but he had a lot of bad luck last year, and it added up and kept him out of it. I think Jeff should be in the Chase every year. He feels that way as well.

"I think if you look at the 5, they've started to gel. They've had another year together. I could say the same thing about the No. 48 team. Those guys have had another year. Kyle's doing a great job. There's no doubt about it. He's got a lot of speed. He's got a lot of maturity. He brings it for the wins. He's been very, very good.

"Rick has the ultimate say. Rick has the ultimate vision. He's able to take a much broader view and look at our race team, look at our operation and see things and push people in certain ways. He's a very smart man and knows what he's after.

ON THE DRIVERS WHO ARE LIKELY TO BE IN THE CHASE "I think I can look at four or five guys who are going to be very, very tough for the championship. The 29, the 20 will be in the Chase, the 5, the 24, the 17--those guys have shown a lot of steam lately, and you know important momentum is. I think it's just all going to carry into the Chase and it's going to be a tough battle to the end.

"In some respects, there's a lot that can happen. I think it's been a strength of our race team that we've been able to bounce back from things that happen in a certain race or from bad races. Hopefully, we won't need those skills, hopefully we won't have to use them, but in 10 races, something crazy is going to happen. As I look through the field, I think the 17 has that same ability and that same strong point as well. And also the 20 is known for that. It's gonna be the best Chase that we've had in the sport so far. We've got a lot of teams that are very competitive, a lot of talented drivers and some very strong race teams. It's going to be a great championship race."

ON REVAMPING THE CHASE, SHOULD THERE BE MORE POINTS FOR A WIN AND FEWER POINTS FOR A BAD FINISH? "I think there needs to be a bigger separation in a couple of ways. To get into the Chase and then to only have a five point separation is crazy. And I also think if you get to the bottom side of the scale, we should give the same amount of points for like 35th on down so that we don't have wrecked race cars out there on the track - driving around trying to pick up more points. I think that would be a good combination to start with if I were king for a day."

ON THE IMPORTANCE OF THIS RACE "There is so much put on this race right now. What about the 25 before this? I look back and think, man, I could be leading the points right now if I didn't have a problem at Daytona or if I didn't have a tire problem earlier this year at Bristol. Everybody looks back on it. You can't put all the pressure on just one race. It's just a long, tough season. Everybody has some races they'd like to scratch off."

IS THERE AD ADVANTAGE TO THE POINT LEADER GOING INTO THE CHASE? "No doubt there is an advantage to being the point leader going in. We had been leading for so long this year. I think we did a much better job this year than other seasons in hanging on to it and performing at tracks that have been tough on us through August. But we're going to all that we can Saturday night and hopefully we're going to leave with the points led and if not, we're going to show up at Loudon five points down and start over. So it's not the end of the world. But we'd certainly like to be leading."

MANY DRIVERS THINK OF TALLADEGA AS THE BIGGEST CHASE RACE THEY WORRY ABOUT. DO YOU? "Oh, yeah. Anything can happen there. It doesn't matter where you're running in the pack."

THEY SAY THERE ARE OVER 725,000 POSSIBILITIES FOR WHAT THE TOP 11 CAN BE AFTER THE RICHMOND RACE. CAN YOU COMMENT ON THAT? "It's going to be an exciting race. I think every year the competition gets stronger. And everybody is working up strategies on how to play the game and collect points and how to stay on the lead lap. There are so many different strategies."

ARE THERE TOO MANY 1.5-MILE TRACKS IN THE CHASE? "I really don't have an opinion on what's in the Chase. I feel like there is a good variety, but at the same time, if you look at what NASCAR did at the start of the Chase, I don't think they really had the freedom of rescheduling what tracks should be where and why. They came up with a concept. Let's make 10 races the race for championship and they just looked at the schedule and that's what it was. I think there is a good mix of things. There is a good line-up of tracks for the No. 48 team, so I have no complaints."

THERE IS A POSSIBILITY THAT THERE WILL BE 8 CHEVROLETS IN THE CHASE. WHAT DO YOU ATTRIBUTE THAT TO? "I didn't realize that. That would be great for the brand. I think Chevrolets have always built a great product. They have always supplied their race teams with the technology and support that they need. They've done an amazing job once again."

ON THE RICHMOND TRACK "For some guys this is a strong track. For other guys it's not. For the fans, it's a great track. It's exciting side-by-side racing with a little bump and grind and push and shove. I guess if you talk to the fans, you'll get one aspect. If you get in here and talk to some of the drivers, you might have a different perspective (laughs)."

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

ON HOW CALM HE AND TEAM ARE HEADING IN TO RICHMOND: "Obviously this is a very important race for a bunch of people and we are one of them. We can't do anything different because of it. At the end of the day, what we are here to do is race like we always do and the team that does the best job tomorrow night will have things go well for them. We feel good about our car, it drove well in practice. We have prepared all we know how to prepare and now it is time to go racing."

ON RICHMOND BEING ONE OF FAVORITE TRACKS FOR MANY OF THE CHASE CONTENDERS: "We talk about it every week in our debriefing meetings about how well other people are running. It is the same cast of characters; it seems like, every week. You can look up at any given race and there they are. There are the top 10 or 12 running near the front every race. This weekend will be no different than that, Again, I think the key for some people it is going to be staying out of trouble, for other people is going to be running really well, It is going to be interesting to see how the race unfolds, with different people in different situations. There is no question, on a short track like Richmond, stuff is going to happen. I watched the race here from the spring and there was a lot of people who had trouble who are currently in the top-11 in points. I hope the thing comes down to racing. I hope it doesn't come down to somebody having trouble or getting caught up in somebody else's wreck or having something go bad. I hope it comes down to the racing and again, the team that does the best job will come out ahead."

ON ANY DIFFERENT STRATEGY FOR THIS RACE: "No we really don't. Certainly we have to be aware of where we are in points when it comes down to pay points. We may get caught in a situation where we may have to change our strategy late in the race. But going in to the race, my job is the same this week as it is every other week and that is to go out and do the best job I can. Again, we get down to the late part of the race, we may have to play some strategy to try and beat one car, but we don't know what those things are yet, we just have to go in the race and run the best we can. We know one thing, if we go out and get a top-three finish, we transfer in to the Chase. We know that no matter what. That is what our goal is. So our goal is to put ourselves in a position that nobody can do anything to hurt us. If we go do out job and do that, it is inconsequential what other people do."

ON EMOTIONS AND TENSIONS GOING IN TO THIS RACE: "Certainly there is a bit of tension going in to this race, you can feel it in the garage. I think that everybody is a little bit on edge. There are very few people that are safe in this deal. There are a lot of people right on the cusp of being in and there are a lot of people who have a chance of falling out. I think the tension is pretty high, but that is how it should be. I will be honest, this team is pretty relaxed. We feel good about what we have done so far this year. We feel good about our ¾ and one-mile flat track program. We will just see what happens."

ON ANY CHANGES TO DRIVING STYLE FOR THIS RACE: "Listen, I am not going to change the way I drive, I race the way I race and I drive the way I drive. That is just how it is. For me to change who I am I think would be a huge mistake. If I get in to trouble Saturday night, it will be doing something I would do in any situation. I don't go in to the race thinking about that, I go in to the race concentrating on me being me, not trying to change me and that is what we are going to do."

ON IMPORTANCE OF QUALIFYING WELL FOR THIS RACE: "Certainly it would. Being able to start in the front would help us getting out and leading a lap and getting those five bonus points early. Unfortunately, we drew an early number (in qualifying order) so we have to go out there and make it work. We drew second at New Hampshire and qualified second so we go out 11th here but we have a good car and we just have to go out there and make it work. Going out later is better here, we just have to go out there and make things happen. I feel good about it, I think our car is good. I was really happy with it in both qualify9ing and race trim. I think we were 10th fastest. It is close but if we can make our car just a little be better, we will have a chance at another pole."

ON THOUGHTS ABOUT TONY (STEWART) CRASHING IN PRACTICE: "Again, as I said earlier, I hope this thing comes down to the racing. I hope it comes down to everybody having the opportunity to do their job. When ever you see a guy wrecking in practice, you know they are going to run good in the race. The No. 20 crowd has great equipment, Tony is a world-class driver, he is incredible at this race track. Certainly that set them back some, but certainly not in any form or fashion does that put them in a position to not to be successful. That team will run and they will run well."

ON CHANGES AT RCR TO PUT IN POSITION TO BE IN CHASE: "I believe based on our off-season testing and our late fall testing last year that we were definitely going to run better than we ran the year before. But until a season gets going, you really don't know where you stack up, but I thought we had a chance to be quite a bit better than we were. But, again, every team out here was trying to make their team better too. You don't know how much everybody else is going to improve. But I felt good about our chances to be better."

ON COMING DOWN TO A TWO-CAR BATTLE BETWEEN HIM AND KASEY KAHNE: "It could come to that, but I think it is more than that. Mark Martin and I are two points away from each other. Kasey and I are 30 points apart. I think it is 15 points or something like that from Stewart. We can't focus on any one team. Obviously if we out run the No. 9, no matter what we are doing, we are in. That goes without saying. Our first priority is to get in the show. But while we are talking about that, we are close enough to a lot of people to be further up in the order and to get as many points as we can. You think five or 10 points isn't a lot of points, but right now 20 points feels like a lot and if we could start the Chase being seventh in points rather than 10th in points, that is 15 or 20 points. That is what we are looking at. We came here trying to improve our position in points, not just maintain."

ON DRIVER WITH MOST WINS NOT MAKING THE CHASE: "I think it has been like that forever. Bill Elliott and Darrell Waltrip had a championship battle where Bill had won 11 races, I think, and Darrell won the championship. The points are the points, it has been like this for a long time, I am comfortable with it because I think it rewards consistency. At the same time, I understand the point that if you win five races like the No. 9 car has and you have the possibility of not transferring in, that is difficult to take. At the same time, whatever the point system is, the team that does the best job within that system is a deserving champion. The teams that do whatever they have to do to get in it deserve it as well. I understand the concern about having five wins and maybe not get in but the rules are the rules and you have to play the game."

ON IF THERE SHOULD BE A RULE CHANGE: "I don't know, I honestly don't know. There is something to be said about the negative of finishing 40th. In racing, it is different than other sports. In other sports, for the exception of this and golf, there is a winner and a loser. There are people who have won, there are people who did really really well but didn't win. There people that did really really poorly. So the cost for doing poorly is large here. That is the other way to look at this thing. I know that some people say the reward for winning isn't high enough, on the other hand, the penalty for doing poor is very big. That is something nobody really puts any emphasis on is the penalty for doing poorly. If you have a terrible terrible race, that is a huge penalty that you pay. All you have to do is go look at what happened to us at Michigan. We had a terrible day and that one bad day, coupled with a lot of other stuff, put us in a position that we now have a whole lot of work to do. The thought that you can run really really well and win races means you can transfer in or you should be a deserving champion. That doesn't hold merit because if you do poorly and you also do well, you get penalized for that poor. I think that is what happens in this sport. You get penalized more for doing badly than you get rewarded for doing great. I think it conteracts itself."

ON LEVEL OF ACCOMPLISHMENT IF TEAMMATE KEVIN HARVICK WINS BOTH BUSCH AND CUP CHAMPIONSHIPS: "I think what they have done has been incredible. The lead they have in the Busch things is incredible. They have done a hell of a job. It is a tremendous amount of work. I have a tremendous amount of respect for Kevin (Harvick), Clint (Bowyer), Kyle Busch running both series. I wouldn't do it, it is too much for me. So to do it and also do both of them really well, speaks highly for all of them."

ON MIX OF RACE TRACKS IN CHASE: "I think the last 10 races should be a fair cross section of what we run the rest of the year. If we run 38% on mile race tracks, then 38% of the last 10 should be one mile races. That is fair to do it. I am comfortable with the mix. When I look at it, I think it is fair. I think it is good."

ON MULTI-CAR TEAM PRESENCE IN THE CHASE: "Multi-car teams are just the way of it right now. It is hard to be successful not being a part of a multi-car team. It is just the way the system works right now. It is very difficult for a single car teams to have the resources, to have the help and the people. There are just more resources in having a multi-car team. When run properly a multi-car team is an advantage. When run wrong, the multi-car team can be a big disadvantage. You have more money, but you aren't spending it correctly. Having multi-car team doesn't guarantee you success should give you a better chance for success."

MOST OF THE DRIVERS ON THE BUBBLE FOR MAKING THE CHASE SAY THEY AREN'T STRESSED AND YOU SAY GIVE ME THE BALL. WOULD ANY DRIVER ADMIT IT IF THEY WERE STRESSED ABOUT THE CHASE? "No, nobody would admit it. They'd all say everything is fine and that it's all good. That's the face that everybody puts on. I'll be perfectly honest. I do want the ball. I relish the opportunity that we're in but at the same time you can't help but think about it. There's just no way around it. I saw Jamie McMurray this morning and he's been through it two years in a row. He said it just drove him crazy. I'm not to that point but you can't go into this race tomorrow night without thinking.

"The thing that I think is important to note and I keep saying is this is one of 26. The stuff that would happen in the 25 races prior do does matter. Everybody says that I broke an engine at Michigan and that really messed you up and we had a wreck in Daytona and missed pit road at Richmond. There's a lot of things that have happened to us that put us in this spot. It all does fall down to this one race. They take 26 of the races and add up points and that's where you end up so the work that you've done to this point makes it a whole lot of different."

ON THE CREW CHIEFS LOOKING STRESSED ABOUT THE CHASE: "I've not been feeling well this week but the best I feel is when I'm in my race car. When I'm in my race car I can do something. I have something to do. During the race, a crew chief obviously has his brain working and it's the same during practice but he doesn't have the physical outlet. The crew chiefs and engineers, they're in a position where they are working their minds but they don't have a physical outlet. Those poor guys have to go up there and watch us crazy people drive the car around there wondering when we're going to screw up. It's different for them. They have a lot of pressure on them to try to make the cars go fast and they have zero opportunity to affect the driver screwing up or something like that. It's more difficult to watch something like than it is to be part of it. I don't envy their position at all."

ON HIM NOT FEELING WELL RECENTLY: "Where do you want me to start? I got a sinus infection in California and that's turned into something. I don't know what it is. I'm on lots of medication. I'll be better eventually."

HOW DO YOU RELATE THIS CHAMPIONSHIP TO OTHER CHAMPIONSHIPS? "That's a really good question. For me I've been in the championship battle but I've never been in the championship battle where it came down to one race. I've raced for second in the championship coming down to one race. I've race for third and fourth in a championship coming down to one race. Really those are the things I compare it to. I know that it's hard for people to understand but when you're racing for fifth, we're racing for 12th. When it comes down to one race, the pressure and intensity of that is the same as if you were racing for the championship because whatever goal is ahead of you is the important thing. For me I relate this to when I was racing (Dale) Earnhardt for second. I relate this to when four of us were racing for third one year. I relate it to all of those things and it just doesn't feel that different to me. The only difference being is when tomorrow night is over it all starts again. In the past for me when Atlanta was over it was over. You go to next year. This deal, it all starts again and somebody is going to go to New Hampshire not feeling good, not all excited about being at the race track. That's the only negative. Everyone of these teams, and I mean this from the bottom of my heart, all 11 of the teams right now that are racing (for the Chase) are teams that have earned the right to be in the Chase and it will be very disappointing for one to not make it. There's not a single team that anybody could look at and say they don't deserve it. That's a tough thing but you know what, that's what sports are all about. Somebody isn't going to be happy. A lot of people will be happy Saturday night and one person probably isn't going to be."

ON THE BALANCE BETWEEN HOLDING YOUR POSITION ON THE TRACK TOMORROW NIGHT AND HAVING SOMEONE BEHIND HIM ON THE TRACK WHO MAY BE FASTER THAN HIM: "It's the same balance every week. It's situational awareness. It's understanding the situation and being aware of the situation you are in so you can do the right thing. I don't think it's any different tomorrow night than it is two weeks ago. If there's a guy behind you that is faster than you and if you can, then you need to move over and let him go. But there might be a time where you just got to race him. It's understanding the situation you are in and then doing the right thing."

DO YOU HAVE TO GIVE HIM YOUR SPOT MORE BECAUSE OF YOUR SITUATION BECAUSE YOU CAN'T AFFORD FINISHING 35th? "I'm going to race tomorrow night the way I race every week. I'm not going to change who I am and what I do. That's just how it's going to be. When we start this race tomorrow night, Jeff Burton is going to be Jeff Burton. Jeff Burton is not going to try to be Tony Stewart, Mark Martin or Dale Earnhardt. I'm going to be me. I'm going to do what I think is best and that's what I do every week. Whatever the situation is I'm going to make a decision and then act on it. That's how we're going to do it."

HOW MUCH MORE WILL YOU WATCH THE OTHER DRIVERS COMPETING FOR THE CHASE? "I won't make it a point to watch them although I'm not a rock. When I say a rock, I'm not dumb as a rock. It's not like you can't notice what is going on. For me, Scott (Miller, crew chief) and the guys up on the box, they're going to have to be looking at strategy stuff. I got to drive the car. They will keep me aware of what the situation is when it's the appropriate time. I don't need to know that at 200, 300 laps into the race. I just need to drive the car. As we get closer to the end of the race then there may be something I need to know and they'll relay that to me. But for the majority of the race it's just another race."

HOW EXCITING IS HAVING THE LAST RACE BEFORE THE CHASE HERE AT RICHMOND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY? "I think it's awesome. I think this race track is the fitting place for it. I can't imagine a better place to have the last race before the Chase. This is a classic NASCAR race with short-track action, side-by-side racing. To me this is as good as racing gets. One of two things should happen here. The championship should end here or this Chase should end here because it's such a high drama place with a lot of energy and a lot of excitement. I think it's a cool place to go. I really do. I think it's the best race track that we go to."

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

THIS YEAR THE CHASE SEEMS TO BE MORE ABOUT HOLDING YOUR POSITION RATHER THAN BATTLING YOUR WAY IN. DO YOU AGREE? "No, there are 11 cars that have the opportunity to make it. It's all about trying to stay in because there's only one guy who is falling out. If there were 16 guys that had the capability of trying to get in, it would be all about who's going to find their way in. This year is much different that what the past two have been. I'm not sure what the reasoning is with that. Some guys seem to get a little bit further ahead in the season that they have so late."

HOW WILL THAT AFFECT THE WAY PEOPLE RACE WITH PEOPLE TRYING TO HOLD THEIR POSITION IN THE CHASE? "It's changed it a ton, completely. It's like a whole different world out here now. Before you'd be racing all the way to the end of the year but here with about five races to go, if you have a spot in the Chase you're playing a little bit light just to make sure you can stay in it. For a guy that's out, you're doing everything you can to get in it, but you're not taking any extra chances in order to try to do something different. The biggest thing is all about keeping your car going around the race track until the end of the race."

DO YOU WANT UPDATES ON OTHER POTENTIAL CHASE DRIVERS DURING THE RACE? "No, I don't want to know where all the other guys are. I'm worried about myself and that's the 5 car."

FIVE OF THE 10 CHASE RACES ARE AT 1.5-MILE TRACKS. IS THAT TOO MANY? "Oh yeah, it is. We're going to Loudon and Dover though and those are two pretty cool places. Martinsville, that's good. That's three. Phoenix and Homestead, those are not so cookie cutter race tracks. Atlanta, Texas and Charlotte are and you've got Kansas in there. So you've got four out of the nine.

I think it's a pretty diverse schedule. It probably could be even more so, maybe throw in a road course or something like that like at Mid-Ohio or somewhere else."

ON GOING TO NEW HAMPSHIRE: "I like going to New Hampshire. It's fun for me. I tend to run well there. I'm not sure why. Every time we've taken the right car there we finished in the top five sort of like here. If we can keep that string going this weekend and next weekend I think we'll be pretty good."

HOW MUCH HAS RUNNING THE FULL BUSCH SCHEDULE HELPED YOU WITH YOUR CUP EFFORT THIS YEAR? "Not the full schedule but running at all the companion races have helped me. The biggest thing is being able to have the track time and being able to understand what the car does over the long run and things like that. The Cup car and Busch car are so different you can't really translate information back and forth, at least we can't. Some of the other teams might be able to. For me it's been about what the track conditions do and things like that and trying to keep ahead of the game so if you go run low in the beginning and then you move up towards the middle and wherever you are at the end, you know where to run at what time of the race and that helps me a lot for the Cup races."

ON FINISHING STRONG IN THE LAST RACES LAST YEAR. HOW MUCH DOES THAT SET THE STAGE FOR 2006? "Last year we put ourselves in as a fake Chase player. We put ourselves 10th like we barely made it in. We went out there and tried to race it as if we were in it. We didn't do too bad. We figured about seventh in points with our calculations. It definitely could have been a little bit better. We had a wreck at Talladega. I wrecked myself at Homestead. There were a couple of other things in there we had happen to us. We had a motor failure at Charlotte or something. I think we fared pretty well and we ran well enough with all those guys even with them being in the Chase so we feel confident about it."

IS THERE A NEED AT THIS POINT FOR NASCAR TO STEP IN AND START POLICING HOW MUCH BUMP THERE IS IN THE BUMP AND RUN? "No, definitely not. It's between all of us. If somebody takes it too far and wrecks somebody they're going to get it back. That's the neat stuff about this sport is if you get somebody else that's not out there with you and doesn't have the strain and the stress and all the pressure on them taking care of things, then that takes the fun out of it. It takes the effort that some guys put in to try and pass somebody out of it."

WHAT MAKES YOU A CHAMPIONSHIP CONTENDER THIS YEAR? "(It's) my team. I wouldn't say it has anything to do with me really. I think it's more so my team and what kind of people you surround yourself with. They're probably one of the strongest bunches out there. They do an awesome job. They work hard. I'm not saying anybody else is any different than what we are but I feel very close to all my guys. We have a great working relationship and a very open relationship with them all. I think that's what makes the most come out of how you spend your time at the race track with your guys."

ON HOW HE REPLICATED THE CHASE IN HIS OWN MIND LAST YEAR: "We were just trying to see what it would be like. The pressure definitely wasn't there because we weren't in it but we wanted to try to feel ourselves out and take everything into consideration on what we needed to do and how we needed to play it. Maybe this year we can put what we learned last year to use."

WAS THE WHOLE SHOP IN ON YOUR CHASE PLAN LAST YEAR? DID YOU POST POINTS OR TALK ABOUT IT ON MONDAY? "No, it was just kind of a work in progress deal. It wasn't a big commotion or anything like it. It was just all of us realizing if we put ourselves in as 10th, how are we going to end up? Are we going to be strong enough to be championship caliber because this is where we need to be next year and this is where we want to be next year."

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE AT HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS FROM LAST YEAR HAVING ONE CAR IN THE CHASE AND THIS YEAR POSSIBLY HAVE THREE CARS IN THE CHASE? WHAT HAS CHANGED AT THE ORGANIZATION? "I think everybody getting closer together and all the teams working more in depth together and making sure that everybody shares information. We have our team meetings and stuff like that now with the crew chiefs and the drivers, so that's been a big help. The other thing has been communication between Jeff (Gordon) and Steve (Letarte). It's gotten a lot better from the beginning of the year. (I think) being able to work those 10 races they raced last year helped out. All the communication has gone a long ways. There hasn't been much development with any of the cars. We've got better bodies this year than we had last year but that's just the process of evolution. You keep coming up with better stuff as you go."

DID YOU HAVE THE DRIVER AND CREW CHIEF MEETINGS LAST YEAR? "No, it's something that Ganassi started last year I think. Casey Mears had told Jeff (Gordon) and Jimmie (Johnson) about it because they're pretty good friends. We thought about trying it so we did it for a couple of weeks as a test run and things worked out so we just kept going with it."

DO THOSE MEETINGS HAPPEN EVERY MONDAY? "No, it's right now as soon we're done with this."

HOW SIGNIFICANT IS THE PRESSURE OF GETTING INTO THE CHASE? IS IT TOUGH TO DEAL WITH? "Not really. We've had a very strong season so far. We've been proud of the way we've run this year. We've been proud of the way our cars have been this year so we feel like it's been a good season. We're confident enough in going into tomorrow that we know we can make it in. We had some great practice speeds. We were fifth in race trim and we were first in qualifying trim. I'm not saying we'll get the pole or anything tonight but I still think we have a great car. We always seem to run well here for whatever reason. It doesn't always handle great but it's always fast."

ON TONY STEWART CRASHING IN PRACTICE AND FIGHTING HIM FOR A SPOT IN THE CHASE: "I just heard that he crashed. I wanted to know how and what happened there exactly, if it was something there on the race track or if it was just him getting loose or if somebody hit him or what it was. All in all we don't necessarily worry about him crashing and whether or not if it hurts his chances (for the Chase). It doesn't. They're strong enough. They'll come back."

SO YOU THINK HE'LL MAKE THE CHASE? "He'll (Tony Stewart) be in. There's three (drivers) that are going to have the chance of coming out of it - ninth, 10th and 11th. Those are your three that are going to be out, one of those."

DO YOU EXPECT ANY EXTRA LEEWAY TOMORROW FROM THE GUYS NOT TRYING TO GET INTO THE CHASE? "I'm not expecting it, no. I hope they give it but I'm not expecting it. I'm sure they're going to be racing just as hard especially if it's a guy that hasn't won a race in a while or hasn't won a race at all this year. They'll be looking to win, of course, so if you're trying to pass for the lead they're not going to be too lenient on you. If you're solidly in you'll go for the win and try to win but if you still have to make sure that you finish the race then you'll probably take second.

"If you have a problem early, you know what you're racing for. For us, we're racing for 22nd. That will be first place for us."

ON THE CHASE CONTENDERS DOING WELL IN CALIFORNIA. YOU CAN'T REALLY LET UP CAN YOU? "You can and you can't. It all depends on who you are or who you want to be. For myself last week, man I was having a ball racing Kasey (Kahne) for the lead there. We were back and forth like five laps in a row. It was cool. I'm sure he thought the same thing but I'm sure he also thought 'What in the heck is this guy doing?'. That's what we're out here to do. We're out here to race and that's the fun part about it. Some guys like it and some guys don't like, whether they want to be easy or whether they want to race. That's just the way it is."

ON GETTING UPDATES FROM YOUR TEAM ON THE OTHER DRIVERS TOMORROW: "If we have a problem with about 150 (laps) to go, you want to know what you have to do or where you need to be. If you're running fine, top five, top 10, you don't really care if you're falling back into the 20s or something like that, you just want to know if you're on a hot seat or not, if you need to get on top of the wheel a little bit more. All in all it should be just fun. Hopefully after lap 200 we should hopefully solidly be in."

DO YOU PLAN TO GIVE ANY EXTRA ELBOW ROOM TO ENSURE YOU GET THROUGH THE RACE WITHOUT KNOCKING A FENDER IN? "Well yeah. I'm always driving my race car the way I need to be driving it, that's to give a little bit of leeway and make sure I don't hit or run into anybody. I don't need to knock any fenders in or anything like that. It's all up to other people whether or not they want to race you hard and let you go or what you want to do there. I remember the spring race here this year, (Tony) Stewart and I were still kind of mad at each other about earlier in the year. It took me 25 laps to pass. Here lately it's been really good so I haven't had any beefs with anybody. I'm actually looking pretty good coming in here."

WHAT IS IT LIKE KNOWING IF YOU HAVE A MECHANICAL FAILURE YOU MAY NOT MAKE IT IN THE CHASE? "The biggest thing is hopefully the oil pan is strong enough to hold all the rods in. If you've got a carburetor issue or a distributor problem or something like that, like what we had a couple of years ago here, hopefully we can fix it and still return and get a good enough finish or somebody else can have a problem that can keep us in. But we don't wish any bad luck on anybody else because we don't wish any on ourselves. That's part of the sport. That's what it is. You give and take and you take what you can get."

IS IT STRESSFUL? "That part of it is but for me to just go out there and race is what I'm out there to do. I know that if I have a parts failure, it wasn't my fault."

HOW DO YOU RACE THIS RACE? "You have to go out there and race it like you would any other race. You can't take any more chances than you regularly would. You definitely have to make sure that you're there at the end of the race and if somebody else has a problem behind or if there's any other Chase contender that blows up or wrecks, then it's game on because you know you're in. Besides that if everybody is fighting for the top 15 then you definitely have to know to watch your P's and Q's and what you do."

DO YOU HAVE TO BE SOMEWHAT OF A FATALIST AND SAY WHATEVER HAPPENS JUST HAPPENS? "That's what it is for me anyway. Whatever our destiny is set forth for us is what we're going to receive so we'll see what we can get."

HOW MUCH ARE YOU TRYING TO PUT THE CHASE OUT OF YOUR MIND? "None. I haven't thought it. I'm just here to race and do what I know how to do, that's hopefully to finish in the top five. We have three times in a row and if we can do it again that will just be icing on the cake. If we can win, shoot, that will be 100 candles on the cake."

WHAT TRACK DO YOU WORRY ABOUT IN THE CHASE? "Talladega is one. Atlanta and Texas are the other two we feel most concerned about."

WHY ATLANTA AND TEXAS? "We suck (laughs). We've got work to do. I don't know what it is. We run good at Charlotte. We had a car capable of winning at Charlotte earlier this year and got wrecked there but then Texas we were running around 15th, 20th all day and we ended up 15th. It's funny in the beginning or middle of the race we can be up front racing with the leaders and then somehow at the end of the race, we just didn't have the car capable enough to finishing up there. (It was the) same thing with Atlanta. The middle of the race I took the lead from Dale Earnhardt Jr. a couple of times last year and was battling Mark Martin and Jeff Burton up there. At the end of the race we were 12th. We finished 12th there every time."

DOES IT TAKE THE PRESSURE OFF THAT NOBODY EVER REALLY EXPECTED YOU TO BE HERE? "No that doesn't really make the pressure any different. The biggest thing is we wanted to be sure and that's why we set forth our fake Chase last year. We made it in this year and hopefully we can learn what we learned last year and put it into effect this year."

THERE'S THE POSSIBILITY THE DRIVER WITH THE MOST WINS THIS SEASON MAY NOT QUALIFY FOR THE CHASE WHILE TWO GUYS WITH ZERO WINS COULD BE IN. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THAT? "Consistency, that's what this sport has always been based on. It's been based on that even more so if we were running the other points format. You can come into the Chase and light the world on fire at the beginning of the year and fall off and be mediocre and miss the Chase. Kasey's done that. I'm not saying he'll miss it. The biggest thing for him is it's not that they weren't running good. They just had bad luck sometimes. That takes you out a lot. We had a couple of those earlier this year but we were able to keep our 10th, 11th and 12th places going more so than our 28th and 30th (finishes)."

ON CHANGING THE POINT SYSTEM AND GIVING RACE WINNERS MORE POINTS: "There's been talk about that over the past few seasons on whether the winner needs to receive more points. I think it would be fair. Winning a race at this level nowadays is so hard to do. If you were rewarded a few more points I don't think it'd be a bad thing."

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

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT YOUR MOMENTUM RIGHT NOW? "Oh, I think the only team that has more momentum than us right now is the No. 17 (Matt Kenseth). I feel really good about things. I wish we were locked in right now so we could just start thinking about what we're going to do in these last 10 (races). But we're not in that position. So we've just got to get everything we can. If we can't get ourselves in, it's just a whole new ballgame for everybody and I think our chances are as good as anybody's."

ON THE LOOSE LUGNUTS LAST WEEK THAT PROBABLY COST YOU A WIN, IS THAT SORT OF A FLU SHOT THAT IMMUNE YOU? "It's a good wake-up call. The think I liked about that is that is wasn't that a NASCAR official saw it. It was our own guy who came on top of the box to Steve Letate and said they're not all on there or they're not tight, we need to come back in. And that was good. And that was smart. That's what a good, smart team does. Luckily we had a good enough car to make up those positions. I don't know if we had the car to win. When we went into nighttime, I felt like the No. 9 (Kahne) was better than us. The No. 8 (Earnhardt Jr.) than us on the long runs. I think we were a second or third place car. It was a good lesson to happen to us."

DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU'VE MADE ANY HEADWAY WITH NASCAR ABOUT STOP PAYING POINTS AFTER 30TH POSITION TO KEEP ALL THE JUNK OFF THE TRACK? "It doesn't seem like I have. Every time I bring it up, it seems to get passed along in the conversation fairly quickly."

DO THEY GIVE YOU A REASON WHY THEY WANT TO KEEP IT THAT WAY? "No, it's always they they'll think about it or consider it."

WHY DO YOU HAVE THE MOMENTUM RIGHT NOW? "Well, because we've had three top fives in a row and I think we've gained a lot of points over the last 10 or 12 races and our team is just getting better and better all the time. I feel like our intermediate program has really stepped up. To me, I feel like we're going to be really strong at a lot of tracks in these last 10 (races). Texas is one of the tracks I'm concerned about and I feel like we're going to be pretty decent when we go back there. New Hampshire is a track we have some concerns about. I feel good about all the other tracks. I think because Matt Kenseth won two in a row, he's been consistent. Harvick has been consistent. And if he wins this weekend, because he's strong here, that could be another guy that has a lot of momentum."

DOES YOUR EXPERIENCE WINNING CHAMPIONSHIPS GIVE YOU AN EDGE OVER A LOT OF THESE GUYS? "Yeah, but the Chase has changed everything. When you're dealing with 10 guys instead of just a couple of guys and it's just not about being consistent and you've got to push, the Chase is different. When it comes to that, I don't feel like I've won any championships. I don't think we have a big advantage. Any advantage we have is just experience and being in tight positions in the points and being able to stay calm through a lot of those situations. Even though Steve Letarte is young and inexperienced as a crew chief, I feel like the guy just handles himself so well under pressure. Between my experience and his, I feel like it just trickles down to the team and makes us a strong team all together."

WITH THE CHASE CHANGING EVERYTHING, ARE YOU FEELING THE PRESSURE MORE OR ARE YOU ENJOYING THE PRESSURE? "You want to be in a pressure situation. That's a good thing. We have a lot of pressure this weekend to make it in the Chase. And then we'll have a tremendous amount if we can make it in the Chase in those last couple of races - really the last 10. But if you can be consistent, it comes down to the last race. I enjoy that, but nobody wants to have to deal with pressure. You hope you've gotten yourself in a position where there is no pressure. But that's impossible to have happen in the Chase format."

HOW DOES EXPERIENCE HELP IN THE CHASE? "I just think experience helps you know that you've been through a lot of different situations and helps you to stay calm. It's about not overreacting and not losing your composure and just being able to handle those pressure situations because you've been through them before. I think that can help you be more consistent and be a threat every weekend. If you have a bad race, it helps you bounce back."

IS THERE MUCH DIFFERENCE ONCE YOU GET TO THE CHASE? "To me, it depends on what your competition is doing. A guy who finishes fifth or sixth every weekend can win the Chase. So you don't have to win. Obviously our goal is to go out there and win every race. But if our competition is winning races, then we'd have to win races as well. That's what I'm excited about. I like the last 10 tracks. Texas is a little iffy. Other than that, I feel pretty confident at all the tracks. And I feel like we're even going to be better there. Our momentum has really been coming on stronger and stronger as the summer is coming to an end. I feel like our team is just getting better and better."

IN THAT RESPECT, WAS SONOMA A TURNING POINT? "Ah, well... it was just nice to get a win. To get a win just helps your confidence and tells you that you can do it. Road courses are tracks that we've been confident at. But I would say that Chicago did more for our confidence than anything - and then just the consistent finishes here over the past month.

"There are some areas where we've improved the set-ups and the aerodynamics of the car and all the things we've been thinking about, we've been putting them to the test on the seven post test and in the wind tunnel and we've finally have gotten the cars to perform. If you're fast on the race track, everything else seems to follow along with that."

HOW MUCH DIFFERENT DOES THIS WEEKEND FEEL COMPARED TO THE OTHER WEEKENDS IN THE 26 LEADING UP TO THE CHASE? "It's a little different. There is a little more media attention and everybody is talking about the same thing, so there is a little bit more build-up. To me, those things don't really get me until we go out there and start the race and I think, oh man, we've got to make sure we finish in the top 25. Right now I'm feeling pretty good. All I've got to do is go qualify. We had a decent practice, so things are still pretty calm for us right now."

IS IT HARDER TO GO OUT AND SAY I'VE GOT TO FINISH IN THE TOP 25 OR I'VE GOT TO WIN? "Well, winning is pretty hard. But sometimes it can be pretty tough to get in the top 25 too. I think that as long as we don't have a major problem, then we're okay. But you just can't guarantee that that's not going to happen."

WHAT CONSOLATION PRIZE WAS IT TO FINISH 11TH LAST YEAR? "Well, I was proud of our performance in that we were able to make gains and we didn't give up. The consolation prize was that I had to go to the banquet (laughter) when I was kind of looking forward to taking that weekend off. I took it anyway and got in trouble for it. That was the consolation prize (laughs).

ARE YOU COMPETING IN THAT OVERSEAS RALLY RACE AGAIN THIS YEAR? "No, I'm not. They moved it, actually. The dates work out. I did it last year because I had to cancel the year before. I had made a commitment and I wanted to hold to it this past time. And so I did that, and it was fun and exciting.

But unless they move it to a new venue or do something a little different, it's kind of one of those little checkmarks of something you've accomplished or done."

WHAT ELSE WOULD YOU LIKE TO DO? "Well, I'm going to do it. I'm going to run the 24 Hours of Daytona in January. So I'm going to be doing a little bit of testing over the off-season in that car, and I'm looking forward to that."

WHAT'S MORE STRESSFUL: HAVING TO RUN RICHMOND AND KNOWING THERE IS AN OUTSIDE CHANCE YOU WON'T MAKE THE CHASE, OR HAVING AN OFF-WEEK DURING THE CHASE? "Wow. I think this one because I think you can have an off-week in the Chase and if you're strong enough, you can still win the championship. But if we don't have a decent finish, we don't have a shot at the championship. So to me, this is a little tougher right now."

THE CHASE SURVIVED LAST YEAR WITHOUT YOU AND DALE JR. LAST YEAR. WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT BEING THE TWO MARQUE DRIVERS IN THIS SPORT AND BEING IN THE MARQUE EVENT? "Popularity is a funny thing. To me, I watched the Chase last year and it was very exciting and it came down to great drivers and guys who were capable of being tremendously popular and great champions in our sport. Tony Stewart is a guy who has a lot of those qualities and he won the championship. So it's interesting how people feel like it's not as exciting or draws more attention if Junior or myself are in there. I just don't know how I really feel about that because I don't feel our sport needs to have that but if other people do, then I'm not going to complain about it either because I want to be in it. I'm very fortunate to have a great fans base and I know how disappointing it is for them if we're not in there battling for the championship. We set that expectation from our past wins of championships and if you're not in it, it's a disappointing year. And if you are in it, I hope it can bring more and add more. I don't really look at it that way. I don't know how to judge that. That's not the way I go about it. I just don't think oh if Junior or I aren't in it, there aren't going to be as many viewers watching. That's not my concern."

DOES IT SEEM MORE NORMAL TO BE RACING AGAINST JUNIOR FOR A CHAMPIONSHIP? "I don't remember racing Junior although he was in it. I remember racing Kurt Busch and Jimmie Johnson. I think you're confusing the battles I had with his dad (laughs). Don't get me wrong - I know a lot of his fans remember a lot of those things as well. I think it would be very exciting if Junior and I were battling. When we go places like Talladega and we're battling for the win, you see the people standing up. If I win they throw things at me. If he wins, they all stand up and cheer (laughs). We all know that happens. I think between Junior and myself and Tony Stewart are basically the three most popular guys in the sport from what I hear. I think if it comes down to any battles among those three, there is going to be more attention drawn on it from the media and the fans just because of the popularity."