DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FEDEX GROUND CHEVROLET:

“WHAT IS YOUR MINDSET ENTERING TOMORROW NIGHT’S RACE AND YOUR THOUGHTS ON YOUR FIRST SEASON? “We’re trying to concentrate and do the same things we did in the spring. The car is very similar to the way it was, setup-wise, and out there on the racetrack it’s pretty good. I think we ended up 20th. We made one qualifying run and that’s basically all that’s up there. We should be pretty good come tomorrow. I’m pretty confident that we’ll have just as good a car as we did in the spring.”

HOW HELPFUL IS IT FOR YOU TO COME BACK IN THIS SITUATION WITH THE SAME CAR THAT YOU HAD IN THE SPRING? “We decided after California if we gained more points on the 9 [Kasey Kahne] we were going to bring our second-best car and then save this one for Loudon for the start of the Chase. But since he did gain a little bit on us and we have to somewhat race our way in we feel like the best thing to do is take our best car and we can turn it around for Loudon. I feel like our short track program’s been really good. This is the same car that we finished second to Junior with in the spring as well as we ran second to the last lap at Loudon with this car. This is really a good car for us and today again it was really good for us.”

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE MIX OF RACETRACKS IN THE CHASE? “I think there’s a pretty good balance there. There is a lot of mile-and-a-halfs but that’s what we race on most of the time. Up until probably 10 weeks ago that’s really all we’ve been running all season. The only thing is doesn’t have is a road course and we only race those twice a year so I don’t think it’s fair to have it in the Chase. Those are really good racetracks for us, I feel like and I think that if we do make the Chase, running those last seven races at the end of last year is really going to be a big benefit for us, having notes and something to go by. I think the other three tracks we have run this year. To have experience going into the Chase, I don’t think it’s too often that if somebody is in the Chase that they haven’t been there before so it’s good that we decided to run those last seven races. Hopefully it pays off.”

ARE YOU FEELING THE PRESSURE OR ARE YOU ENJOYING IT? “I’m really not feeling any pressure. I feel like, performance-wise, we should be able to get in with no problem. We’re fast enough. I just think the only thing that could really take us out of this is something happening. Pitting and a caution come out or just getting off sequence and that’s the thing. A lot of people think you could get caught up in a crash or blown motor; there’s a lot of things that can get you a 20th or 30th-place finish and that’s cutting a tire or anything happening. The things that you can’t help are the things that would be able to bite us. Performance-wise, I don’t think it’s going to be a problem.”

YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE ROLE THAT NASCAR PLAYS ON PENALIZING DRIVERS. “I’m a big fan of just like everyone else of letting us police it and let us handle it ourselves, not necessarily in a physical manner but you’ve got a guy that does you wrong on the racetrack he better realize he’s going to get it right back. I’m more of a fan of letting us handle it because when you have NASCAR in it, it is going to be a judgment call. Most of the time it’s right, sometimes it’s questionable so I say just let us handle it.”

HOW DID TESTING DIVERSITY CARS FOR JOE GIBBS RACING GET YOU TO WHERE YOU ARE TODAY? “It was pretty fortunate. I was with a great team, Dean Motorsports, and we were coming off that great season of 25 of 35 races that we won. So obviously Gibbs thought that we had good equipment so they invited to come there and they were going to buy our equipment. They invited me to go there and help them pick out there new diversity drivers, which Aric Almirola was a part of that audition. I kind of help say ‘This is a guy that probably would be pretty good.’ I’m proud in that aspect but they had ulterior motives, also, of bringing me to that test. I ran the cars good, really good times, of course they were my own racecars so I’m going to run good. I was just joking around with those guys and asked if they had any test driver spots available and they said ‘Well, we’ll have something else. We’ll call you in a few weeks.’ Just right place, right time, I guess.”

YOU HAVE CURTIS MARKHAM AS YOUR SPOTTER. HAS THAT KEPT YOU CALM THIS SEASON? “The one-eyed bandit has kept me out of more wrecks than anybody could [smiles]. He’s been a great person, especially around the Richmond area. He’s the guy that ruled all the short tracks. It’s good to have that connection, through Richmond and Virginia and we both raced the late model series. But he does such a great job at what he does. I don’t feel comfortable with anybody else on the radio. There was one instance this year where we had a situation where I had to have somebody else spot for me just in practice and I was completely freaked out about it. Hopefully he’s around for years to come.”

HAVE YOU BACKED IT DOWN A LITTLE BIT SINCE POCONO TO PROTECT YOUR PLACE IN THE CHASE? WHEN YOU SEE THE DRIVERS WHO ARE OUT OF THE CHASE, DOES IT SURPRISE YOU TO BE WHERE YOU ARE? “It really does. At best I’d hoped at this point of the season that I would have maybe a chance to get in come Richmond and probably a long shot. But to be in it now and just basically hope that you don’t have a problem to get in, that’s definitely more comfortable. As far as backing it down, I’ve calmed down a little bit and not took a lot of chances, but I think more so as far as Mike’s [Ford, crew chief] concerned. Not pitting early, not short-pitting, not doing anything that would catch us on pit road a lap down or something like that. At Watkins Glen making sure that we were the last ones to pit or just making sure that we were fine on fuel. We’ve been really conservative, always taking four tires, never taking two, never taking none. If we do make it in the Chase, it’s going to be wide-open again. To have this streak of top-10s like we are and still playing it fairly conservative, I’m pretty confident that if we get in the Chase we can be a contender.”

HOW SPECIAL IS IT FOR YOU TO COME BACK TO YOUR HOMETOWN AND RACE WITH A CHANCE TO MAKE THE CHASE? “It’s got it’s goods and it’s bads, for sure. This is probably the busiest week, as far as my personal time, all year long. I definitely told all my guys, no more next year. I’ve got to concentrate a little bit more on the race car. This is fun for me. This is what it’s all about, the pressure of making it or not making it. I definitely agree with Jeff Burton in the fact that pressure is worrying about whether you’re going to have a job next week or not. This is what we live to do. It’s great to have it end right here, especially on a short track. A short track for me is great, hometown is awesome, it’s amazing how other people perceive me around Richmond. To me it’s unreal.”

IF YOU BECOME THE FIRST RAYBESTOS ROOKIE TO MAKE THE CHASE, WOULD THAT MEAN SOMETHING TO YOU AND WHAT DOES THAT SAY TO YOU ABOUT WHAT YOU’VE BEEN ABLE TO ACCOMPLISH? “I really never put an extreme amount of pressure on myself to make it this soon. I hope that I’m going to have years down the road to prove that I’m a championship contender. But you don’t want to be the one who falls on his face half, three-quarters of the way through the season, either. And I felt like once we did get in that top-10 we just needed to maintain what we were doing or get a little better. I feel like we’ve gotten better over these last few races and we’re building momentum going into the Chase. Hopefully we get to use that momentum and it actually means something. It’s a situation where we’ve kind of woke up and found ourselves in this points battle. We didn’t do it by going out there and winning a ton of races or anything. We were solid. It seems like we’re a fifth to a tenth-place car every single week. Some weeks we’re better than that. To run outside the top-10 and consider it a bad day this early in my career is definitely a good thing.”

ARE YOU EXPECTING TO RUN MORE CONSERVATIVE OR MORE AGGRESSIVE IN THIS RACE? “I’d say this is probably going to be the most conservative I ever drive, probably this race right here, because this track you can get in trouble racing side-by-side with guys. It kind of depends on where the 9 car is running, really. If I can see him in front me, then I’m going to continue to be conservative. If he’s behind me, then we’ll see where we’re at. We’ve got to be aware of where we’re at. This racetrack will get you if you don’t pay attention and you’ve just got to stay on your toes all the time. I hate being a driver and saying that you’re not going to run 110 percent all the time but it’s something you’ve got to do to get in this Chase. As far as the whole Chase thing, being that I’d never been really in a point battle where you had to get in the top-10 to make a playoff or anything, I think it was as early as Martinsville eight races in and I crashed out. I think it’s the only DNF that we’ve had so far this year and I said ‘That’s it, our Chase hopes are over’ and everyone was saying ‘No, no you’ve got tons of races’ but I wasn’t thinking that way. I didn’t realize we were going to go on that roll like we have over this late spring and early summer. This was definitely a big spring board. It seems like, honestly, ever since Richmond, or you consider cutting my hand, ever since then we’ve just been really, really solid. I think we’ve really stepped it up and I’ve learned a lot about these race cars these last 20 races or so. Ever since Richmond, really, I’ve learned a lot about what I need to do to be faster and it’s worked out for me.”