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

WHAT AFFECT DO YOU THINK THE ROLLBAR PADDING INCIDENT LAST WEEK AT ATLANTA WILL HAVE ON THE CHAMPIONSHIP? JEFF BURTON CERTAINLY FELT THE BRUNT OF THAT "Oh, I didn't realize that. I know that he was down a couple of laps, but I didn't know what led to that and why he was a lap down. That's unfortunate. And that's part of what we've all been talking about in this Chase. Everybody has had crazy luck. A lot of the teams have been strong. The No. 31 (Burton) is a great example of it. Those guys have been flying the whole Chase and really been scoring points rock solid. But luck is dictating this championship this year and it's really weird to see that happening week after week."

DOES HAVING EXPERIENCE HELP IN THIS CHASE? "Experience does play a big part in any race team. The more knowledge you have, and the more things that you go through helps. You learn from it. We (the team) are open minded guys and we're learning from those lessons and trying to do better. We've made mistakes in the past years and we've made mistakes this year, but we're learning from those lessons and trying to do better."

DO YOU FEEL SNAKE-BITTEN IN THIS CHASE? "No, I don't feel snake-bitten. I think in the previous two seasons, we did a good job in being consistent in the Chase. Maybe we didn't have the best performance. But this year, I feel like we're real competitive and we've earned our way back into this points battle. I feel real strong about the races coming up. I remember last year and my feelings here, I felt more on my heels trying to deal with Tony (Stewart) because he was so strong and was scoring so many points.

"This year I feel the opposite. I feel like we have been scoring a lot of points and performing well and closing the gap. I feel much more confident about this year's Chase than I did last year or the year before."

IF YOU WERE TO MAKE CHANGES TO THE CHASE, WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE DIFFERENT? "I don't know how to change it, but I think you should have more of a reward for performing than you do for losing a race. You've got a lot more to lose in any given race than you can win and control and score points. I'm hopeful that they'll review that for the entire series - not just inside the Chase, but for the 26 races before that as well. If we can focus more on performance than on bad races, I think it would be a good thing for it."

WHAT DO YOU LIKE ABOUT THE PHOENIX TRACK? "It's always been a good track for me. Our short track program and mile program have been getting stronger and stronger, so I carry a lot of confidence going in. And it's close to home. So I get excited for going back."

LAST YEAR, HOMESTEAD WAS A BAD WEEKEND FOR YOU. DID THE TEST THIS YEAR FIX THAT? "Well, we had the performance last year at Homestead and we were running strong in the race and then had a tire explode. So I think we've improved on our Homestead program when we were at the test. We left the test really, really competitive. Last year we left the test maybe tenths off the pace and scrambling when we went home.

"So it's nice to go home this time and just fine-tune and try to bring a little better product down. So I feel like we're going to be very competitive."

DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU'RE FLYING UNDER THE RADAR NOW OR DID THAT END AFTER ATLANTA LAST WEEK? "No, the public's eye is drawn to different things. For our own race team and the way we're respected in the garage area, we've been on everyone's radar all along. The public eye looks in different areas. From Sunday to Sunday, the hype that goes on between each event and there are different things that dictate that. But hopefully we can apply some pressure now."

HOW IS THIS CHASE DIFFERENT AT THIS POINT THAN PAST CHASE RACES FOR YOU? "I feel like we're in a much stronger performance situation than we've been in before. Our equipment is better and the team is stronger and we're really ready to race for a championship. Last year, against Tony, he was outscoring us each week just by a little bit. We had some panic in our system at that time. I was trying to catch the No. 20 (Stewart) and trying to find something. This year I feel like we're more the aggressor than we were last year."

ON THE BUMP IN THE TRACK AT TMS, WHY ARE DRIVERS JUST NOW COMPLAINING ABOUT IT? "I think the set-up of the cars now makes for a much more harsh bump. All of that hype and discussion of it, and from what package we had here in the spring, that bump was a lot bigger in the spring for me than it is for me now. I think that's all based on the handling of our race car. I think bumps are good for our sport on the various race tracks because it lets you search for different lanes. The one thing about that bump is that it goes from the white line to the outside wall and you can't go around it and find an advantage. But my car is driving a lot better this time than it did in the spring."

HAS DENNY HAMLIN SHOWN A LOT OF MATURITY FOR HIS AGE? "He's done a great job, there is no doubt about it. The Gibbs organization has done a great job of supporting him in giving him the tools he needs and also teaching him NEXTEL Cup racing the right way. Tony (Stewart) has had a big influence on that as well. He shows more maturity largely because of the situation he's in with his crew chief and his team. Yeah, he's mature, but they're teaching him how to be a champion. He doesn't need to go out and prove anything from week to week. They're teaching him how to be a champion."

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT ALL THE OPEN-WHEEL CHAMPIONSHIP COMING INTO THE SPORT? "Bring e'm on. I love it. I can't wait for these guys to get in and get a taste of NASCAR and see what we've been bragging about for so long and for our sport to get the respect - not only nationally, but worldwide - that it deserves. So I'm excited. Bring 'em on."

UNDER THE OLD FORMAT, IT ALWAYS CAME DOWN TO JUST A COUPLE OF GUYS AT THE LAST RACE. DO YOU THINK IT'S COMING DOWN TO THAT AGAIN THIS YEAR? "This Chase has been so unpredictable. Whoever the leader is, or the front guys, if they have a problem, it's a nine or 10 car race for the championship. So it's really hard to predict anything and I think everybody has realized that. I haven't attached any emotional value to trying to predict anything or try to understand it because it's been totally off the wall. It's been completely crazy all year long. So, I'm just going to go out and just try to control the things that I can touch and that I'm involved with and see what happens."

CAN YOU COMPARE WINNING A BIG RACE LIKE THE DAYTONA 500 OR THE BRICKYARD TO WINNING THE CHAMPIONSHIP? "I've never won the championship, but I would trade all my victories for a championship. In my life, everything I've done has been all about being the champion. That's been my goal."

WITH RICK HENDRICK'S SUPPORT, DO YOU FEEL CALMER THIS YEAR? "I think so. We've been through the ups and downs of the seasons with the disappointment of not winning the championship and all the different trying things that really try relationships in our sport. We've stuck by each other's sides and found a way through it. Believe me, there were times when it was tough to work through it, but Rick so good at that and he is a great people person. That's one of his biggest assets. Through the discussions he has had with myself and Chad, we were really able to focus on the right things and take a lot of pressure we're putting on ourselves off of us and have a great season so far. Rick is great you know, if you look at what he's done with Kyle Busch and bringing Jeff Gordon in and getting him his start and all the different characters he's had at HMS along the way; he's made winners out of all of them. That's just because of his skills to work with people."

DO YOU HAVE ANY CONCERNS ABOUT RUNNING BOTH MONTE CARLO SS AND IMPALA SS NEXT YEAR? "I haven't thought a bit about it. We're going to have great equipment. We tested the Car of Tomorrow. I feel very good about the current program we have in our race cars. But going into the COT, it's really going to be a question mark. We need to see what the final package will be so we can start working on it and trying to find speed and hopefully we'll know what the perimeters are soon so we can address that and get to work on the race cars."

WHAT'S IT LIKE TO RACE AT PHOENIX "In the race, Turns 3 and 4 at times have second lanes. Turns 1 and 2 definitely have outside lanes so you can work on someone and try passing him. I would love another lane or two at that race track. If there was progressive banking in 3 and 4 it would really help that. But I still think for a mile race track it puts on a great race. It's more competitive than what we have at Loudon and I'm excited to go out there. I think we'll perform well."

HOW TECHNICAL IS PHOENIX COMPARED TO OTHER TRACKS IN THE CHASE? "Every race track has it's own area that you've got to focus on so I still end up giving 100 percent if it's Darlington or Martinsville or Talladega or Phoenix - they're all different disciplines but you've really got to focus hard on the right things."

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

ON KHI DRIVER ANNOUNCEMENT FOR NO. 77 DOLLAR GENERAL CAR FOR 2007
"It has been up and down year at KHI and obviously we have tried to put the best situations together that we can and having to make some changes throughout the year, but we feel really good about the direction of everything, and with Bobby (Labonte) coming on board the last few races and continuing into next year. We are looking forward to Kertus (Davis) and everything that we are going to have going on with him in the 13 races. Bobby (Labonte) is going to run 18 races, and I am going to run four, and we are just going try and keep learning each week and keep making progress forward. Right now everything is on the right track, and we are looking forward to all of the situations that we have, and from there, we will see where it all goes, but it should be a lot of fun."

ON DRIVING FOR KEVIN HARVICK INC. IN 2007:
Bobby Labonte: "Kevin asked me at Richmond a couple of months ago, and asked me about driving the car, and I was like 'Yeah', I didn't have to hesitate because I have always admired what Kevin and DeLana have done with their race team there in Kernersville, and each year they keep getting better and better, and stronger and faster, so there wasn't any hesitation on my part. I just had to get the approval and everything going, and we went to work right away, and really, really excited that Kevin is giving me this opportunity to drive the car for a while this year, and am looking forward to driving the Dollar General Chevrolet next year. It is a great race car. Gene (Nead) is a great crew chief, and there is a great group of guys. I have been over to the shop a couple of times, and it is a beautiful place. It is a pleasure to drive for them, and hopefully we can get it rolling and get that thing into Victory Lane."

ON DRIVING FOR THE HARVICK'S IN 2007:
Kertus Davis: "I am really looking forward to it. Kevin and DeLana Harvick, I cannot thank them enough for giving me this opportunity. A lot of people know my story, me and my family has worked really hard to get me to this point in my racing career, and to have two champions, Bobby and Kevin, on my side being mentors and coaching me along the way. Hopefully we can get this Dollar General Chevrolet into Victory Lane pretty soon, if not this year, than next year of course, I hope. I am really excited about it, working with KHI, and all the employees at KHI, and everyone at Dollar General stores all around America. It is going to be exciting for me and I am sure for them also."

ON EMOTIONS ABOUT 2007 AND WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO FAMILY RACE TEAM:
Kertus Davis: "I am just ecstatic to get this opportunity. There are a lot of drivers deserving to get this opportunity and I am very fortunate to get it. I am really looking forward to the 2007 season and I hope I can make the best of it. I think Kevin and DeLana have a great team, and Dollar General is one of the finest sponsors in this series, as far as what my father continues to do, he hasn't really said. I know he has talked about maybe selling out and moving to Florida and retiring, which I think would be great. If not, he might continue in the racing industry in another role, as far as working with another team or something. I really don't know, that would really be a question that you would have to ask him. I don't want to speak and say nothing out of turn, because I know that he has some things in the works as far as next year, and I know that he has been talking to some young drivers that maybe have some sponsorship behind them that couldn't take it to a team at the top-notch level. I guess we would have to talk to Dad about that, but I know that he and my family are really excited, and I wish my mother could be here to see this. She doesn't come to the races that often, but my whole family is really excited and ecstatic for me to get this opportunity with KHI and Dollar General."

ON CHOOSING TO RUN THE GRAND-AM SERIES AND THE BUSCH SERIES; WAS THERE A CHOICE BETWEEN THE TWO?
Bobby Labonte: "Not really. Right now we are still planning on running about four races in the Grand-Am Series, and we are going testing in Daytona on Tuesday, so if everything goes right. We are kind of in limbo right now with sponsorship dollars; I think right now we are looking forward to the 24-hour race and then on after that."

ON PLANS WHEN BUSCH SERIES AND GRAND-AM RACES IN MONTREAL AND THE NASCAR NEXTEL CUP SERIES WILL BE IN POCONO, PA:
Bobby Labonte: "I think I am staying in Pocono. I worked out a pretty sweet deal with Kevin where I don't have to go far. (Laughs) We can just watch Kertus race together."

ON HOW HARVICK SPOTTED KERTUS DAVIS AND AN UPDATE ON THE No.33 CAR:
Kevin Harvick: "I think with Kertus, every time he got in the No.20 car, he was in the top-5 and ran really well, so you kind of start looking around and paying attention to what their current circumstances are with their current situation. I think definitely when he was in the No.20 was when we all kind of stood back and started paying attention. Obviously, they have run well with what they have, and everything that they try to do at the race track week in and week out, and he is going to work in the shop with Cale (Gale), and it is nice to know guys that are going to work on their car and know what the car is doing and also what they want in the cars. So that was the road that we were looking to go down. The No.33 is kind of the same plan that we had this year with Tony (Stewart), myself and Ron Fellows, and Cale (Gale) will drive the rest of them, most of the rest of them."

ON THE BUMP IN THE RACE TRACK OVER THE TUNNEL:
Kevin Harvick: "I don't think there is a problem anywhere. I think they do a great job with the facility, and anytime you have you have a race track that has been here for a while; you are going to get some bumps. They really haven't bothered me like they have in the past, and I don't think they are any worse than they have been in the past."

ON TOUGH DAY IN ATLANTA:
Kevin Harvick: "You know, it was just another race. I don't think anyone wants to run bad, but that was the first time that we have run bad all year, and it is what it is and we'll go from there."

ON NEW TIRE THAT WAS BROUGHT TO ATLANTA:
"I think the whole scenario the last four years in Atlanta has thrown us for a loop, so it has become one of our worst tracks and for some reason, we just can't get it together there the last few years."

ON OF RUNNING NBS RACE IN MEMPHIS AFFECTED PERFORMANCE IN ATLANTA:
"You are not going to fix that in forty-five minutes. I mean, as bad as we ran, you are not going to fix that in forty-five minutes, and we haven't been able to fix that in four years, so all the people think that forty-five minutes is going to fix that need to go outside and beat their head against the wall because they are retarded."

ON CONFIDENCE LEVEL GOING INTO TEXAS FOLLOWING ATLANTA:
"They aren't even anywhere similar. Our car has been really good in practice and this track has a lot of grip. It is a lot smoother, and the bumps are in different spots and for the most part, they are two totally different animals. You can race all over Atlanta, and we will get to the point when we can do that here during the race, but for the most part, they are two totally different beasts.

ON POINTS DEFICIT WITH THREE RACES TO GO:
"You just do the same things that you've been doing, and nothing is going to change. It is the same stuff that you've done all year to get you to this point, and one race didn't get us to this point, so we've been 100 (points) back, we've been 50 back, we've been 5 back, we've been in the lead, we've been all over the place, so it's been an interesting process. It's just that we didn't have one bad week, we had a few back weeks where we just had bad luck, and you can't control those things; just control the things that you can. We are racing as hard as we can and we'll see where it falls."

ON NASCAR.COM SURVEY OF 25 TOP BUSCH DRIVERS OF ALL-TIME:
"Obviously, I don't know a lot about the Sam Ards, and the races when the series first started, but Mark Martin has been the best to do things. We have been pretty good at what we've done too, but I don't think we've accomplished nearly as much as Mark as far as winning races, but we've been able to win championships and win a lot of races. I don't know, we're okay, but I think Mark Martin's been the best."

ON RUNNING RACES IN THE DOLLAR GENERAL CAR, AS WELL AS THE No. 33 CAR:
"Right now it looks like we are going to do 12 and 12; 12 for KHI, and 12 for RCR (Richard Childress Racing).

ON THE POSSIBLE DECLINE OF CUP DRIVERS PARTICIPATING IN BUSCH RACES:
"I don't think so. I think the only one I have heard talk about it is Carl (Edwards). I thin everyone else has bailed out for now. Every four or five years you get all worked back up to go after it again, but I think that people doing both is going to be maybe one. I think anytime you can make the guys that are running week in and week out that aren't running on the Cup side, make them a story for their sponsors. You know, if they aren't being talked about and aren't on television, it is hard to sell. From a team owner's standpoint, you have to have sponsors dollars to make it all happen. From that standpoint, I think it is going to make it a lot better, if we can make that happen."

ON RACING AT MEMPHIS AND THE FANS REACTION TO HIM BEING THERE:
"That was the biggest reason why we went to Memphis (the fans), because we could have just said 'hey, we're not showing up', but there was 38,000 people there that bought tickets a long time ago, when everyone committed to racing there. We made a commitment to the sponsors, the fans, and we have stuck to our plan from the beginning to do everything that we have set out to do, and we have been fortunate to have been able to have pulled all of that off. The Busch Series has always drawn a reasonably good crowd when all of us weren't there at the stand-alones, but obviously the crowds have gotten bigger and we have hopefully exposed more people to the Busch Series and they keep coming."

ON IF HE WERE A KING FOR A DAY IN THE BUSCH SERIES:
"I think the first thing that I would change would be that I would make five races that would be impossible for the Cup drivers to get to. The second thing I would do would be to put Cup rosters in place so that you couldn't use your pit crews from the Cup Series. And then I would seal the motors, so that you would have to run them twice. That would cut the motor bill in half and would save $500,000-$750,000 in motor costs. The fourth thing that I would do would be to cut the number of races back to somewhere around 30 or so, so then you can get it down to four or four and a half million dollars, which I think you could sell. Those are probably the top four things I would do. Sometimes it seems like you voice those opinions and they seem to fall on deaf ears on the NASCAR side."

ON THE IMPALA SS RETURNING TO NASCAR IN 2007:
"I think that it's not really a big change. Whatever is best for the Chevrolet brand, and if that is what they deem they need to do, then we are all behind it, and looking forward to it."

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

ON SITTING 84 POINTS OUT OF LEAD GOING IN TO SUNDAY'S TMS RACE: "To me, what I am looking at, are we in the position to press to try to make something happen? I still don't think we are there. I used the analogy this week, we are down by seven points, there is five minutes left to go in the game, it is fourth quarter - are going to punt or are we going to try to get a first down. We are still going to punt. We are still going to play our game, we are not going to try to get off course. If we leave here 84 points back, then we will have to think about it. For us right now, I really believe we still have a chance without us having to do miraculous things. Obviously, we are going to have to have a little help. But the way things are going this year and in this Chase, I wouldn't be surprised if we got a little help. My focus is on doing a good job so if we do get some help we can take advantage. The way you do that is to run well."

ON ACTION TAKEN BY NASCAR FOR DEBRIS THAT RESULTED IN LAST CAUTION: "Once it happened and they threw the caution, the damage was done for us. There is no going back on that. Where we are today and where we were Sunday after the race, what is the rule and we going to work hard to catch somebody, and if we do, what are we going to do about it because if we don't, the race track continues to get full of roll bar padding. Robby (Gordon) was only doing what he needed to do for himself. And, by the way, people have been successful at doing that in the past. What he did would have worked in the past and I don't blame him. It is just that NASCAR has been much more strict on things like that. I was upset that it had such a negative impact on us, it is nothing to do with Robby. At the end of the day, I think that rules are only good if they are enforced. If you can't enforce it at the time, then you have to do something later, because if you don't, it is a slippery slope and where does it ever stop."

ON WHAT ESPN WILL BRING TO THE SPORT NEXT YEAR: "I think ESPN brings with it a history of covering sports in a very good way. When they get into something, they really get in to it. They cover football with the pre-game shows, with post-game shows and shows all during the week. I think that is where we get the biggest benefit. We are going to be, because that family of networks is going to be covering the races, when Sports Center comes on, which is a widely watched show, they are going to be talking about NASCAR. They are going to be specific NASCAR Cup shows and I think those things are hugely beneficial. I think they way the cover sports, they do a great job. They do a good job of putting cameras in interesting positions. When you think about the number of sports they cover, the commentary is always good. Whether it is an 11:00 game on a Monday night, the commentary is always good. They do a nice job of presenting a good show no matter what is going on. Since this a major focus of theirs, I believe they are going to do it right. The better job they do, the more enjoyable it is to watch which obviously helps viewership.

"Lisa Cox (RCR public relations representative) and I went up there. We spent a lot of time talking to them. They had a lot of questions, they were very inquisitive. What they didn't know, they wanted to learn. I took that as being a really good thing. They understand they have been out of the sport for a while. They understand that there are some things they need to learn. They seem really inquisitive and want to do a good job. I think they consider themselves back at home. When I talked to them I got the sense they believe this was theirs, and should have never lost it. I think they are out to prove that they can do it, very well and at a high level. That is the sense I got."

ON BEING SATISFIED WITH THE SIZE OF PENALTY LEVELED AGAINST ROBBY GORDON: "I think it was enough to keep it happening again. I have nothing against Robby or anyone in particular. If the penalty is large enough, them people won't commit the crime. In my opinion, the penalty was very large, 50 points is very difficult to attain. Taking 50 points away is to me is a big number, is a really big number. It has everybody's attention."

ON NASCAR PLAYING FAVORITES: " As long as I have been racing, there has always been the talk in the garage, that if someone was doing well, they had to be cheating. That one particular car for three or four years is the company car. And then a few years later, there is another company car. I think this human nature. I will tell you this, I watch a lot of sports and I think it is harder to call walking on Michael Jordan that it is a guy coming in for his rookie year. I just do. The better reputation you have, the more leeway NASCAR probably gives, the worse the reputation you have, the less leeway they give you and I am ok with that. Some people deserve the benefit of the doubt and some people have proved that you can't give them the benefit of the doubt. In my opinion, that is kind of how NASCAR rules. I honestly don't feel in my heart, I honestly don't feel, lets be honest, the conversation is about Earnhardt, Jr., is Earnhardt, Jr. getting favoritism. That is what you are asking. If I believed that, I couldn't come here and do this at the level that it takes to do this. If I believed I wasn't going to get a fair shake, this is too hard, to come here believing you aren't getting a fair shake. We all joke about it and we all tease about, but when it really gets down to it, I have no inkling that the No. 8 car gets special treatment. I really don't. I don't think NASCAR can afford that. I think that if you look at where we are today, if you look at the exposure we have today, if you look at the amount of people, the bigger sports gets, the more people want to tell the bad side of the sport. For whatever reason, I don't know why, that is just how it is. We can't afford it, NASCAR can't afford, our sport can't afford it, our sponsors can't afford it, to have fans believe there is favoritism. Now, if you looking for favoritism, you will find it. If you are looking for the No. 8 car to get a break, then anytime something happens that he gets a break, well, hell, there is your evidence, he got the break, they gave it to him. But when people are doing that, they fail to look at all the things that didn't work out for him. NASCAR is in a tough spot and in defense of Junior, in some ways I think that hurts them, because in some way, I think that NASCAR has to put the shield up and say 'we can't show favoritism and sometimes, that actually hurts you. When you are having success, they look at you way harder than they do when you aren't. The inspection line is a very difficult thing to get through, but the better you do, the more they assume that you are getting something by them and I like that, I think that is the way it should be. I don't believe there is favoritism, I believe their best in the situation that they have. I don't believe they do everything right, nor does anybody. Our sport is different in so many ways from other sports. Instant replay, things like that, there are things we can't do that other sports can and what I have seen happen, is have created, that is NASCAR, much more of a situation, where you are in bounds or out of bounds. I think that is a good thing. The more we be in bounds or out of bounds, if you are out of bounds by two inches or by four feet, you are still out of bounds, the better I think we are. I think we are closer to the day than we have ever been. It is just too competitive for them not to be that way. If I honestly believed that Junior was going to get a break, or Jimmie Johnson or Jeff Gordon, that I wasn't going to get, I couldn't bring it on Sundays, couldn't do it because hell, I would be beaten before the race even started. I just don't feel that."

ON KEEPING TEAM UNITY WHEN SOMETHING DOES GOES GO WRONG: "In this sport, there are a lot of finger pointers. There are a lot of people that give on people really quickly. In all honesty, if you have a driver or a crew member or a tire changer that continually makes a lot of mistakes, at some point, you have to do something about that. In this sport, it is really important to always assume good intentions. You don't assume that the guy that made a mistake was trying to not do the right thing or he can't do the right thing, he just made a mistake, if you can't do that, you are destined to be a sleepless person. There are so many things that happen done in this sport, things just happen; stuff doesn't go right so assuming good intentions, is number one. Number two, when you or someone on your team makes a mistake, if you feel like everybody is trying to learn from and people care about it, then it is easy to go to the next thing. It is when somebody says well that is just bad luck or that guy over there did this and that is why I made the mistake, that is when it gets frustrating to me. Our team is full of good people, well rounded, solid people. We aren't training people here, if they make a mistake, I am not happy about it, they are even more unhappy with it. After the race on Sunday, everybody on our team said hey man, don't worry about it, don't worry about it, don't worry about it, but I was worrying about it, because I think the best teams, the person that made the mistake, it makes him sicker than it does everybody else. You have to be willing to learn from it, and move on. You can't keep it in your head, you just have to move on."

ON DENNY HAMLIN SUCCESS THIS YEAR AS A ROOKIE: "It is a significant thing, it is a big thing. To be third in points this time of year is a hell of an accomplishment. They haven't been, knock on wood, they may be from here on out, the fastest car in the Chase, but they have been very competitive and they have made few mistakes. Denny has driven like a much more mature driver than his experience would indicate that he should. Just like Carl Edwards last year. If you look at Carl's year last year and Denny's year this year, they look a lot a like. Both are with really good teams and both are exceptional drivers and do a really good job for 500 miles. That is the key; they can do it for 500 miles. A lot of young guys can do it for 200 or 300 but it is hard to do it for 500. Denny has done a nice job of not having 300-mile races. He's been able to do it for the whole amount and that is very significant. He and that team deserve a tremendous amount of praise. People talk about us and how much we have turned our program around, but think about that No. 11 team. How much they have turned that around. It is radically different than it was 12 months ago. I mean, just 12 months ago that was the talk of the garage, that FedEx was leaving and think about what the talk was compared to what it is today. Denny deserves a lot of credit as everybody does over there at Joe Gibbs Racing."

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

HOW WAS PRACTICE?: "It was real good. I'm very happy. This is a track that we've had on our radar for a long time to try and make some improvements. I feel like we've really made some big ones."

ON THE BUMP BETWEEN TURNS ONE AND TWO: "It's significant. One of the things that's keeping an outside groove from really forming is that it gets worse as you go up the race track. It's very significant. It makes Texas Motor Speedway that much more challenging."

ON NOT YET SCORING WINS AT THESE FINAL THREE TRACKS: "I'd be happy with one of the three but if we could get all three that would be incredible. When you look at the Chase and championship and the tracks we haven't won at, then you would think the last three races don't suit us but we're always constantly trying to make gains and figure out how to get the DuPont Chevrolet into victory lane at those tracks. I feel like we're going to show what we're really capable of these last three weeks. Our team, our race cars, everything we've seen the last several races the performance has been spectacular. I'm very, very happy with the position we are in as far as performance but unfortunately we're just a little too far back in points."

IS IT IMPORTANT TO YOU BY THE END OF YOUR CAREER TO HAVE WON AT EVERY TRACK?: "I think it'd be a cool thing to achieve but of course they always add tracks. I'd be all right if they hadn't added tracks. I'd only have to work on one which is Phoenix. That's really something to be proud of, just the number of race tracks that we have won at and the number of wins that we have. Really all we focus on is winning and the next track on the schedule and that's where the focus is, winning at the next track. It just happens to be these next three tracks are tracks we've never won at before."

HAS THE BUMP HERE GOTTEN BIGGER?: "I did notice it getting more significant the last couple of times. We've got the cars running faster, hooked up to the race track harder than they ever had so you start feeling bumps like that a little bit more. I don't know if the bumps got worse or our setups maybe don't go over the bumps as good.

"The problem is as you go up the race track especially down here in one and two but also three and four there's bumps at both ends in the exact same location. I think there's tunnels in both ends so I think that's where the bumps are. The bumps are always over the tunnel that's why I always say don't put a tunnel in a corner. I think a tunnel should always be on the race track but then it gets in the way of grandstands so we don't seem to see that very often. The bump gets much worse as you go up the banking so it's making it harder for us to get a second groove really worked in but we did see a few guys running, (Kasey) Kahne particularly ran very well up in that outside groove the last time we were here so obviously some guys can make it work."

IS IT A BUMP OR A DIP?: "It's significant, put it that way. It's something that upsets the car. We have them a lot of places we go. The problem is this track is so smooth. It has so much grip and it's so fast everywhere else except with that area that it stands out a lot more than typically. Atlanta last week, that track has a lot of bumps on it as well but because the track has worn and aged it doesn't have quite as much grip. The tires fall off everything. We don't complain about it as much."

IS THE BUMP REALLY THAT BIG OF A DEAL?: "Oh yeah. The primary thing we are working on is getting through the bump. That's on our mind, definitely."

ON JIMMIE JOHNSON POSSIBLY WINNING A CHAMPIONSHIP: "I think those guys have been in position and have earned a lot of respect because they have been there but at the same time they caught a lot of flack because they haven't been able to pull it off. Those guys are determined as anybody out there to pull off a championship because they've been so close before and they want it really bad. Obviously we're not giving up from where we are at in seventh and the way things have been going for us, but if I was going to put my bet on anybody I think Jimmie's determination and Chad Knaus and that Lowe's team, those guys know how to get it done at the end of the day."

IF YOU ARE COMPETING FOR A CHAMPIONSHIP, IS THERE A NUMBER YOU FEEL YOU NEED TO BE WITHIN GOING TO HOMESTEAD?: "I think there is always a range that you want to be within. Usually the range I want to be is leading (laughs). It doesn't matter by how much its just leading because you have to force other people to go after it. Anything can happen. I just know the range we are at right now is too far back and we need to close that gap significantly. We need to cut it in half the next two races at least. That's the only thing that will give us some excitement and encouragement for Homestead."

SO HAVE YOU STOPPED POINTS RACING AND ARE DRIVING TO WIN?: "We stopped points racing a few weeks ago. When we had our third problem straight in the Chase we stopped points racing at that moment and just started racing our guts out. If it means we take more risks, then we take more risks. If it means we stretch on fuel mileage, then we stretch on fuel mileage. It doesn't mean that we think we are out of it. It just means we're not points racing."

DO YOU PREFER RACING TO WIN?: "Oh absolutely. But don't get me wrong, I'd rather be up there leading the points and paying attention to what we need to do to win the championship. We didn't really have a choice. You go out there and do what we're doing now and hope that it turns around or some significant gain in the points happens some way through your performance and through what happens to other guys. Then it'd put us right back into it."

WHAT IMPRESSES YOU MOST ABOUT DENNY HAMLIN?: "A lot of things. I'm extremely impressed with his driving ability. I think he has a lot of talent but I've always said the thing that has impressed me the most is the job that he does in Martinsville. I think Martinsville is one of the really tough race tracks on the circuit. It's impressive to win back- to-back Pocono races but I think it's something else to go and run as good as he has at Martinsville. I don't care if you run thousands of laps in a late model there, you get in a big heavy Cup car and it's different a deal."

ON WHERE THE TEAM IS NOW VS. THIS TIME LAST YEAR: "We're a long ways ahead of where we were. Just really the last six months we've made huge gains with the setups, the cars, the comfort, the chemistry. I wish where we are at today we were (at) six months ago. I think it'd be a totally different deal happening with this championship but it's got me extremely excited for next year."

ON THE CHANGE TO THE CAR OF TOMORROW NEXT YEAR: "It's really all about what we are learning. We still have the current car that we're going to run a lot. The Car of Tomorrow I feel like we're going to find a lot of the same technology, a lot of the same philosophies. To be able to have a crew chief like Steve Letarte and the job he's doing and the pit crew and the team we have, I don't care what car we are driving. We could run anything out there and I'd feel good about it."

ON TERRY LABONTE'S LAST RACE HERE: "Terry's been an awesome teammate. We attended a dinner last night that was really spectacular. I learned more about Terry last night in an hour or two than I had in the 12 years of being his teammate. I've never seen the guy talk so much being as excited as he was and surrounded by people that have supported him for so long. It was very cool. He's been that quiet guy but yet he's been a solid class act on the race track and off. It's sad to see a guy like him not be out there on the race track after this weekend but it's pretty awesome what he's accomplished over the years especially winning his first championship and then going 12 years and winning your second championship. I think that says a lot about his driving ability."

ON TERRY PUSHING HIM TO PIT ROAD LAST WEEKEND: "Terry has always been a great teammate. We battled for the championship in '06 and we never had any controversy or issues. I asked Terry last night, 'I can't remember any (issues). Do you?' And he was like no I don't remember any. The teams battled within themselves at the shop but Terry and I always got along great and raced each other hard and clean. I don't even know if we've ever bumped wheels out there on the race track. But Terry is the kind of driver that is meticulous. He's probably one of the most patient race car drivers I've ever been around and why he was always there at the end of the day. The guy just knew how to avoid the instances and stay out of trouble but position himself to be there in contention at the end of the race and that takes a lot of patience."

DID YOU KNOW HE WAS GOING TO PUSH YOU?: "I had no idea. I was rolling along there and then at the last second somebody said Terry is going to come down there and push you and I'm like OK. It's funny because if you look back on that it hurt Jimmie by me getting pushed because the caution didn't come out but it could have been something that really helped us a bunch if we had been out of gas and not been a fuel pump issue."

ON TERRY LABONTE'S STORY ABOUT PLANNING TO RETALIATE WITH DALE EARNHARDT: "One thing about Terry, you don't want to get him mad. He might be extremely patient and just a super nice guy and a clean racer but don't make him mad. Everybody knows that the Labonte brothers can get upset but it takes a lot to get him upset."

WOULD YOU CONSIDER RUNNING A LIMITED SCHEDULE WHEN YOU'RE ABOUT TO RETIRE?: "I think it's a great option. I think if you can position yourself to do something like that you'll probably see guys race longer because it's a grueling grind, 38 weeks and the championship, but that's what the sponsors want and as a competitor you want to battle for the championship. If you get to that point where you feel like you still want to be out there, are good enough to be out there but maybe not battle for the championship, then that sure is a nice option to be able to still get out there and compete at selected events."

ON NOT BEING READY FOR RETIREMENT: "I'm not ready for that, no. I'm ready for a vacation but I'm not ready for that. I still feel like I've got championships left in me."

ON HIS PREVIOUS FINISHES HERE: "It does (go in extremes). I can't explain it. It just happens. We've been here before and been in contention to win. We've been here before and I felt like we didn't have a car capable of being on the lead lap. It's hard to explain why one year you can be good and the next year you can't. A lot has changed in the sport - the setups, the cars and everything. That's something we've been trying to get on top of. I feel like we started to hit on something here earlier this year. I feel like we're a lot closer right now than we've ever been."

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

ON RUNNING THREE RACES AT TMS: "As far as the racing part goes, it is good. But there three times as much media and sponsor responsibilities so that makes it pretty busy. The racing part doesn't wear me out but going back and forth with the other stuff between the garages that is a little tough."

ON LEARNING SOMETHING IN TRUCK RACE TO USE IN BUSCH OR CUP RACE: "There isn't a whole lot you can gain in the truck race. I have always run pretty well here in a truck and the Busch car, but not very well in the Cup car. I don't know why that it. We are going to do what we have always done which is try to work on the car and run the best we can."

ON PLANS FOR 2007 BUSCH SERIES: "We are talking about that right now, whether or not to go full time or go 20 or 25 races. This year all the flying back and forth was ok."

ON JUST HAVING FUN NOW RACING, TAKING A LITTLE MENTAL BREAK, ENJOY SEASON SUCCESS AND PLANNING FOR NEXT SEASON: "That is what we would like to do. We would like to come in out of here with a good finish and have a strong finish to the season and get ready for next year's Daytona 500. We have run well this year and we have had a great year in the first 26 races or the regular season. Since the playoffs started, we have been pretty bad."

"I think there is a lot of hype and for us we started out bad and kind of dug ourselves a hole. Maybe it was just all mental and we felt like we had to come back right then and there the following two races instead of taking it through the 10 races to come back from. That might have been part of it. We just have to get a little bit better at that and look more forward toward next year. Trying to fix that."

ON TESTING ANYTHING ON 1.5 MILE SETUP HERE AT TMS TO USE NEXT YEAR: "We haven't really changed anything, the front shocks and stuff are about the same. Everybody is still doing the coil binding thing. Our rear stuff has been a little different from our teammates so we are going to somethings a little closer to what they are doing and see how that works for us."

MEDIA Q&A'S WITH RICK HENDRICK, RICK HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS (HMS)

WHAT HAVE BEEN THE CHALLENGES STAYING ON TOP OF THE SPORT AS IT HAS EVOLVED? "I think just trying to keep everybody together. When you have success you've got teams that want to gain or grow then you have a lot of people offering your folks opportunities. You can't have one crew chief and one car chief. You've got a lot of people that are car chiefs that have gone on to be crew chiefs other places and good top mechanics that have gone on to be car chiefs at other spots. The real critical thing is to keep everybody together. The most important thing to me now in these last three races believe it or not, I'm looking at it as we race as hard as we can. If we win it, great but we just go about our job and try to remind everybody if we don't win it we've got to come back next year, it's another year. Don't burn ourselves up. Don't start finger pointing. Don't talk about woulda, shoulda, coulda. You can't help the things that have happened. You just get on with it. I think the Chase puts a lot of pressure on people.

"Like you said, it gives everybody a shot to win the deal. But you've got a lot of new teams coming in next year and they need people. Where are they going to go to get people? The top choices would be the guys that have won it and have been there. If you can get that experience, that's what they are after. Keeping your folks together and keeping them motivated and keeping them to work together, when you have situations like Talladega. That can cause you a problem. A credit to our guys, they had handled that themselves before we got to the plane that night, as far as the 48 team and 25 team. Jimmie went to the 25 shop and congratulated them. It was just a racing deal. Those kinds of situations can really tear down an organization that works really hard to make everybody work together.

"There's where a guy like Terry Labonte comes in. He's like the statesman. He'll stand up and tell the guys why this is important. I don't care if you're Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr. or Matt Kenseth. If Terry Labonte walks up in the room and says something, he doesn't show up much and he doesn't say much, but when he says something you know he's thought about it and he means it. He's been really good for our organization."

WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES FOR YOUR ORGANIZATION TO MOVE FORWARD? "This is me. I try not to worry about everybody else. I challenge everybody in our organization, and say that all we need to do is come back every week and be a little bit better. Look at where we are and where we're weak and let's be a little bit better, each team and forget about everybody else. If we can do that then well stay where we need to be. If we start focusing on everybody else we'll get off track. We've just got to make our deal a little bit better. If we come back the same as next year, we're going to get beat. There will be people stepping up. I think Jack (Roush) had five cars in the Chase. I'm telling you, people don't realize what an unbelievable job that was. I've told him that a million times. But everybody caught up. Everybody kept working. You can see teams out here, they kind of dip then they start clicking and start hitting on it. Just because you are one of the top guys when this last three is over doesn't mean when you start next year somebody else hasn't figured something out. You're going to have to move the ball and do it every week and you can't wait until the end of the year. You've got to work every single day and show up every single race better than you were last race or you're going to get beat."

ON HAVING THE CAR OF TOMORROW TO DEAL WITH NEXT YEAR AND IF THAT MAKES IT MORE OF A WILD CARD FOR TEAMS TO STAY ON TOP: "I think next year is going to be an unbelievably up and down year. There will be so many variables coming in - the Car of Tomorrow, the standard car, new teams, trying to figure out this car, no testing. You have to maintain your fleet, build a new fleet and merge them in. It's going to take more manpower at time when more teams are starting up. It's going to put a lot of stress on everybody. Then we've got a new motor too so we've got to deal with that. So we have to run two parallel motor systems and two parallel car systems and integrate it in. It's going to be a challenge for the guys that have been here but for the new guys it's really going to be a dogfight."

ARE YOU CONCERNED ABOUT THE NUMBER OF TEAMS COMPETING NEXT YEAR AND SOME GOOD TEAMS GOING HOME AND NOT BEING ABLE TO RACE? "Yeah, it is. I'm in the automobile business so I look at the economy as a whole. If one piece of the economy struggles it's going to affect everybody sooner or later. When you've got this many teams trying to show up to race some good teams aren't going to make it and some good sponsors could end up leaving the sport. I think next year is going to be the biggest shake out that we've seen. I think we'll see a lot of people that won't be there in '08 that are there in '07 because it's going to be a very, very competitive deal and it's going to be a lot of pressure. It's going to be a lot of new faces. It's going to be a lot of people shifting around. I think it's going to be a wild year. I really do. I think you're going to see people changing in the middle of the year. I think you're going to see teams doing radical things three-quarters of the way through the year. I don't think you've seen nothing yet compared to what drivers, crew chiefs and teams are going to be doing next year."

ON THINGS IN RACING GOING IN A CIRCLE AND HOW THE CAR OF TOMORROW PLAYS INTO THAT: "This is definitely a new deal for us. I know we can figure the car out. We've got too much talent in that garage area. The question is do we have time and can we race and figure that car out and put on a good show and run the other car. NASCAR is going to have to be pretty creative as we roll on because we don't know how good this thing is and we've got to have a good show for the fans or people won't watch it on TV and won't show up at the race track. We've got to protect our investment.

"I feel like I'm a stakeholder in this. I've got single purpose buildings and if I don't have these cars race then I'm in deep trouble so it's our benefit for this thing to work. NASCAR works with us extremely well but we've got an awful lot on our plate. That's just pure and simple when you're going to run 38 weekends and you're going to introduce a new car and get those cars ready and tweak them as well as run the old cars and keep those cars competitive with a bunch of new folks there. That trailer is going to be awful busy net year. I'm glad I'm not Mike Helton next year."

HOW WOULD YOU COMPARE THIS IN THE HISTORY OF NASCAR?: "Not this much. I've never seen this much change. I can remember when we brought out the new Monte Carlo. I can remember way back when you were probably wearing diapers when they put the back glass in the super sport, but we did it and we always worked our way through out. This year we have so many things happening. We're going to run Busch races up north. There's so many new deals happening. Are they going to change the rules in the Chase? If they change the rules in the Chase, how is that going to affect our strategy for the year? The new car, how is that going to play into it? Is it good to run a new car in the middle of the Chase? There's so many variables. We've always been able to deal with it and we will deal with it next year. Next year there will be a new story every week because of something whether it's a good team that didn't make it or a team that's shifting or realigning or manufacturers realigning. It's just going to be pretty exciting I guess."

ON RATINGS AND ANY POSSIBLE SPONSOR CONCERNS: "Not really. No. I was thinking the other day when you can watch the World Series, football, basketball, pre-game, racing, we just got an unbelievable amount of sports. I think we've got to figure out when the fans want to watch it, how long they want to watch it, can we make them shorter, better prime time night races, whatever. I haven't had any of our sponsors mention anything about that."

ON JIMMIE JOHNSON'S ATTITUDE DURING THIS CHASE AND HOW HE'S BEEN MORE POSITIVE: "I think Jimmie has taken the same approach that we've all taken here. You can't do anything about this Chase deal. It's the luck of the draw. He had a spark plug wire. You run so good the first race then get wrecked then you come back and have a cut tire in the last race last year. You win four races in the Chase one year and you don't win it. I try to tell Jimmie this, you won Daytona, the Indy race, the All Star race. There's guy that would take that in a career and you've done it in a year and you led the points. You can't let this championship thing eat you up. He and Chad (Knaus, crew chief) last year, we met off-season and spent a lot of time talking about this (being) not life threatening. We want to be here for 10 years. You guys are young. You'll be the guys to beat every year but in order to do that we can't let the pressure get to you.

"So we started the year with a different attitude. Chad has taken it in stride. As soon as we had problems, we said hey let's just go win races and don't worry about it. If it happens it happens. Let's try and see how many races we can win. I'll tell you it's a whole lot more fun. They're asking me how many rooms I want in New York. I said 'Hey, I'm going like we're not going to win it. I'm going up to just be a part of it.' You can't do any more than you're doing. You go to the track as good as you can and be very competitive. You cut a tire, you get caught in the pits, somebody spins in front of you like poor Mark Martin. He's had two races where it wasn't his fault and he just gets out of the picture.

"When you have that many good cars running that close together, is it anybody's fault? It's really not. The guys are trying to do the best they can. The guys that aren't in the Chase are trying to save their jobs. The guys in the Chase want everybody to give them a break. How do you race 43 cars out here at this speed and not have things like that happen? I think what we have to do is pay more points for the winner. "

ON HOW WHEN THE CHIPS ARE DOWN THE 48 TEAM PERFORMS THE BEST: "They're a good team and they're good every week. If they're not good they'll figure out a way how to come back. When they have had a bad week it's because they had back luck. They are good but so is Matt Kenseth. He had a gear problem but they find a way to come back and that's why they are still up there in the points. Jeff's (Gordon) situation, you brake a fuel pump, you brake a piston, and you can't come back from that.

"Like Tony Stewart, you know Tony Stewart was a championship caliber team but for circumstances he didn't make the top 10 but he's going to win races. If you went by wins or points for wins it probably wouldn't have been a question if Tony or Kasey Kahne were in the Chase or not.

"The good guys are going to figure out a way. Every good team will have a bad day. You will get there and you're going to be a 20th place car because you just missed a setup because there's too many good teams. But day in and day out when you can be in the top 10 in practice and qualify up front and come back. I think you see Tony, Jimmie and Jeff, nobody is cutting their wrists because of this championship deal because they can't control it. It's not because they don't have a good team. It's not because they haven't run good. They just had bad luck. It's one thing when you get beat. When you get out there every week and you can't keep up and you're running 11th and 15th and waiting for everybody else to brake, that's a discouraging deal. But when you lead the most laps in Kansas and you come to pit road and there's a car sitting in the middle of pit road and you have to go around then you end up giving up points there or you're on the last lap in Talladega and you're either going to win the race or be second or third and then you're 16th, there's just nothing you can do about it."

HOW HARD HAVE THE UPS AND DOWNS IN THIS YEAR'S CHASE BEEN FOR YOU? "I'm not making light of the championship but I look at life a lot different now. It's not life threatening. We do the best we can. You can't control it. It's one of those things where you've got to have good luck. You do the best you can. Yeah, I'd like to win seven or eight championships but hopefully we can get that 150th win this week and just make the guys as good as they can be and be competitive. This championship thing is the luck of the draw and a crapshoot right now. You've got to have good luck. You're running third or fourth or you pit and you come out of the pit and somebody runs over you. That could be the championship, one race out of 36. That's one situation. In the past if you were good all year you'd have a good enough lead (where) you could just run safe and that's probably not good for the sport. I just don't think the championship the way it's structured is necessarily a representative of the champion."

WOULD JIMMIE JOHNSON ALREADY HAVE A CHAMPIONSHIP IF WE WERE OPERATING UNDER THE OLD SYSTEM? "Oh yeah, I think so."

ON BRIAN VICKERS' LAST COUPLE OF RACES WITH THE ORGANIZATION AND HIM GETTING THAT FIRST WIN IN THE 25 CAR: "Because of my dad and Ricky (Hendrick), that was very special and those guys work hard. It's tough when you have four cars there and one car works just as hard and they don't seem to get the results. It's hard to motivate those guys on the team. It meant a lot to see the team win. I think it did the team a lot of good. Brain is a special guy. Him and Ricky were close and we're friends. I look at him kind of like a son. Maybe we were too close, maybe could have been some of our problem. I want to see him do well and win another race and carry a good momentum for that team so when Casey (Mears) comes over we can pick up and go right on."

ON THEIR DRIVER DEVELOPMENT EFFORTS: "I've kind of left that up to Doug Duchardt and Doug has got a young guy he's been looking at and been talking to. The problem is if we go spend a lot of time and effort in a young guy now, where are we going to put him? If we get a guy ready for Cup, where is the seat going to come (from)? So we're looking at doing some things with other teams to work together on technology and maybe have a guy warehoused somewhere. We don't know. That's totally Doug Duchardt. I'm not in the driver development program."

IS THAT BECAUSE OF THE TEAM LIMIT? "It is and because of the age of our guys. We're happy with our guys. Unless something happens that I don't know about, our guys are there for a while. To get a guy ready and develop him in your organization and then have him walk in one day and say 'Look, if you can't get me an opportunity to go Cup, I'd like to go somewhere else.' That's not good for us. And with the Busch deal like it is today, all our sponsors want our Cup guys in there. We wrecked 51 cars in the Busch Series the year before last. Man, our guys were like get these drivers to come in here and work on them. We don't want to fix them anymore. And our sponsors were saying if we have a choice of a driver development driver or a Kyle Busch or Casey Mears driving the car then we'd like to do it that way.

"I don't know what the answer to that deal is because we need more slots for the young guys to learn but the sponsors and the fans want to see these guys that are Cup drivers drive the cars so we're kind of in a trick bag there. I don't know what the answer is there."

WHO IS JIMMIE JOHNSON'S BIGGEST COMPETITOR FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP RIGHT NOW? "You know what I've learned in this deal, I'm worried about all of them. Anybody that is mathematically there is a threat because things just turn around overnight. If two or three of these guys have a bad race then here's a new guy. If you look at the record, Kenseth has been good all year and he's sitting on top so he's got to be one of your main concerns. But any of those guys, Hamlin can get on a streak. We could have a pile up here Sunday and then in Phoenix and then all the sudden Homestead Jeff's back in it or whatever so I'm kind of worried about all of them."

ON JEFF GORDON'S NEXT WIN TYING HIM WITH DALE EARNHARDT: "Jeff with his age and the years he has left and his talent, that's going to come so that's not going to be a big milestone because I've been expecting him to do that here pretty quick. I see in Jeff too, and I'm sure you guys have, where he was so burning to get number five. This thing is so competitive and you just don't have much control and there's so much competition. I think you just come out here and want to race and be competitive every week and lead and be up front.

"He and I laughed about this the other day. I think maybe some of the good luck he had early on in his career is catching up and we're getting some of the average luck now. You've got seven or eight motors in the race in Charlotte and you lose his motor running second. Then the fuel pump deal. For 10 years and 800 motors a year, we've never had that brake, never. You just have those kind of things happen that driver you nuts. I think all these guys in the garage are learning you just got to show up everyday and do your job and take what you get. Nobody's going to dominate this thing anymore. If you do, then NASCAR's going lay your stuff out in the garage and let everybody see it. It just ain't going to happen."

ON BEING COMPETITIVE: "I am very competitive. I hate to lose and I keep it inside. We're all competitive and we want to win. You want to do the best you can. Let me tell you, you don't want to ride home on the plane with me after we had a bad day. I don't say much. I'm not myself. My job is to make us better and look at ways where we are short and make the team and organization better. It bothers me when we have good guys that work hard and do well and we come up short. It's one thing when you know you're behind and you've got to fix it. When you just have bad luck, that drives me nuts and I hate to get beat when we run good enough and things happen out of our control. I am competitive. At my age I wouldn't be walking this concrete and pavement if I wasn't competitive. To me the exciting thing is a watch guy like Terry and Kyle Busch. I've got both ends of the spectrum. I've got a young kid who can drive the wheels off a car and is trying to learn and doing a good job. And you've got Jimmie who I've know since he was 16 driving for me. To see these guys mature and Chad. I'm as proud of our crew chiefs. All four of those guys started in the organization at basic jobs and to see those guys running the organization. I sit back on the bus sometimes and listen to them and I think how I can't believe that I really am old to watch these guys be able to grow up and do this. It's almost like a family and a tradition and we enjoy it and it's the toughest it ever has been."

ON TERRY LABONTE: "He's brought an awful lot of class and character to our organization. He's just been a great friend. You love being around him when we go fishing and when we do things together off the track. Some of the most fun I've ever had testing would be with (Ken) Schrader and Terry. We'd go to Phoenix and just listing to Terry and Schrader. They're funny together. He's a good person and has a good family. You want to be around somebody that is that kind of guy. When I was sick he stepped up, his wife stepped, anything for my family. He's one of the neatest people regardless of racing that I've ever seen. He's a great person."