DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FEDEX KINKO’S CHEVROLET: HOW WAS PRACTICE? “The car was pretty good in race trim. We always seem to run good here so we had a good top-10 car here in race trim. We struggle a little bit in qualifying but I think we’ll pick it up.”

DO YOU HAVE A NUMBER IN MIND OF WHERE YOU WANT TO BE GOING INTO HOMESTEAD? “I need to be leading by 50 [smiles]. These two racetracks, I feel like, we can make up points, and they’re going to be our two best opportunities. I don’t think we can be within a certain number going into Homestead. I think, honestly, we need to be in front come Homestead because I don’t know where we’re going to stack up at Homestead. That’s the racetrack that we have the least amount of experience on and I don’t feel confident having to go to Homestead and make up points. Right now, to still be in contention with three races to go is pretty amazing. I figured once we got in the Chase we could be contenders. Then we had back luck and I figured well, we’re going to be out by race five but we battled back these last couple weeks, got a top-five and a top-10. I think that’s what it’s going to take, at least two top-five finish these next two out of three races to win the championship.”

WHEN THIS STARTED YOU SAID YOU DIDN’T REALLY HAVE ANYTHING TO LOSE AND THERE WASN’T MUCH PRESSURE. HAS THAT CHANGED? “It’s still the same amount of pressure. For us it’s easy going and no, we’re not looking at who we have to beat. We’re not looking at the speed chart and saying ‘Oh, no we’ve got the 8 or the 31 or the 48 in front of us.’ It really doesn’t matter. We’ve got to do our own deal. We’re not going to make our car any faster by worrying about those guys.”

PHOENIX SHAPES UP TO BE HUGE FOR YOU. “It has the potential to be a really big race for us. Like I say, I think we can make up some points there. It’s a lot like Richmond and we run really well at Richmond. If we can get out of here with a run that I know we can do, a top-six or seven finish, it’ll put us in the running going to Phoenix and I think we can win there.”

DOES THE FACT THAT MATT KENSETH AND JIMMIE JOHNSON ARE NOT FANTASTIC THERE GIVE YOU ROOM FOR OPTIMISIM? “I think so. The 48 team has probably been, without a doubt, the strongest team throughout the Chase. Even though they’ve had bad luck, I think they’ve been the guys to beat. We’ve got as good a shot as any. As we’ve seen, luck plays into this whole Chase more than it has in the past. You never know what can happen. You can be 50 or 60 behind going into Homestead and end up winning it because of bad luck. As long as you put yourself in position to win a championship it’s very well possible.”

TONY STEWART HAS BEEN VERY STRONG FOR THE LAST SEVEN OR EIGHT RACES. “Everyone is behind us 120 percent. Last week the 20 team won that race because they had the best car and best driver. I finished eighth and that was probably the best that I was going to do there. There and Dover are probably my two worst racetracks and we got through both with a top-10 finish. I’m just not at my comfort level yet in the Cup series to go out there and run fast laps like those guys do and that will come with years to come. Right now I am still a Raybestos Rookie.”

TEXAS AND ATLANTA ARE SIMILAR. DOES THAT MEAN THAT YOU DRIVE A LITTLE TENTATIVE HERE? “Not really. This track, for some reason, tends to cater to my driving style quite a bit better. There’s not as much transition here at Texas as Atlanta where you’ve got real high banking and real flat straightaways. Here it’s a very good transition. It doesn’t wreak havoc on a car like it does at Atlanta. For some reason, this is probably my third-best racetrack.”

ARE YOU GOING TO USE THE SAME SETUP HERE THAT TONY USED AT ATLANTA? “Not really. It’s so much different. Me and him have had very similar setups in the past and it seems like we’ve kind of separated over the last few weeks. Not maybe because they’re concentrating toward next year or what have you but we’re kind of going with what we know. It’s working out good for them and it’s working out fine for us the way we’re heading.”

COMMENT ON THE IMPALA FOR 2007. “It’s definitely a change. It seems like Chevrolet has had a different car change over the last three or four years in a row. Whatever will get the manufacturer some notoriety that they need going back and forth is going to be a good thing. The Impala seems to be the best fit.”

LAST YEAR AT PHOENIX YOU WENT TO PHOENIX FIGHTING FOR A JOB AND THIS YEAR YOU’RE FIGHTING FOR A CHAMPIONSHIP. “Honestly, last year, I was under more pressure that what I probably am right now. I know that if we don’t completely fall on our face we can finish top-six or seven in points and that’s still a great year for our Raybestos Rookie season. I am still a Raybestos Rookie even though the performance may not show it. I know that my potential behind the wheel is not nearly at its peak yet. I know I’ve got a lot of room for improvement and that’s what I’m so excited about for the future.”

YOU WERE INTRODUCED AS THE DRIVER OF THIS CAR LAST FALL AT TEXAS. “Texas seems to be a special place for a lot of reasons. I have a lot of family here and last year that was our announcement. It kind of gave us that shot of confidence that everyone from FedEx is really behind me 120 percent and it’s just been a great year for us. This is the headquarters for FedEx Kinko’s. I’ve got the Kinko’s car, I’ve got a special paint scheme helmet and I seem to run really well with those. Everything seems to be going together for a great weekend.”

WHAT HAS THE SEVEN-RACE STRETCH OF THE CHASE BEEN LIKE FOR YOU? “I think it’s just the way the Chase is, when it is all set back to zero, it seems like everyone was top-10 every week to get into the Chase and then now it seems like everyone is spreading out all over the board and it’s back to the way it used to be. I think a lot of that has to do with a lot of the teams that ran 15th to 20th all year or in that range have gotten better. It’s not so diverse now from the top-10 cars to the rest of the field. I think now there’s 20 really, really good cars week in and week out and that’s why you see certain cars not run in the top-five, top-10 every week like they were early in the season.”

WITH WHERE YOU ARE NOW IN THE CHASE, WHAT IS THE CHALLENGE OF STAYING RELAXED AND NOT GETTING THE JITTERS? “As we get closer I get more and more excited about time off actually [smiles]. I’ve run both series this year so that’s been quite a bit harder on me than what I thought it would be but to me, I’m sitting back and I’m thinking really, no matter where I end up in points, I’m going to be happy that I’m sitting home on my couch and I’ve got two months to relax before the next season. And I’m really excited about what we’ve got going on for next year and how good we should be. As a driver, I know my comfort level from last year in the Busch Series to this year, which probably doubled and I know that’s probably going to happen again in the Cup series. If we can double our performance it’d be pretty good [smiles].”

WAS RUNNING BOTH SERIES MORE TIRING THAN YOU THOUGHT IT WOULD BE? “Yeah, quite a bit. It’s good in some ways and it’s bad in others. There some weekends where I’m like ‘Man, I never want to do this again’ and there’s other weekend where if I was sitting in my motorhome I’d be wanting to be out there on the racetrack. I think when you think about the Car of Tomorrow coming in next year, I don’t think there’s going to be as big of a benefit to us to run both series week in and week out. We’re going to look at that and utilize when we have the same cars at the same racetracks how to use those weekends to run both.”

YOU HAVE BEEN RUNNING AT THE FINISH OF ALL BUT ONE RACE THIS YEAR. IS THAT A BIG MORALE BOOSTER FOR THE TEAM? “I think a lot of it is running up front for most of the season. I qualified bad one race at Charlotte and it got me in a first lap wreck. I think a lot of it is qualifying well and running well. When you run in the top-10 there’s a lot more give and take than there is back 15th to 30th because guys there are fighting to stay on the lead lap and to do whatever they can to get to the top-10 where it is a whole lot easier to drive. I think that’s the reason why I’ve stayed out of trouble is because I’ve been around good guys.”

COMMENT ON THE BUMP IN TURNS 1 AND 2. “I drove a Chevrolet truck here yesterday and I noticed the higher you get on the racetrack the more violent that bump is. It is a very violent bump. I guess it’s from the tunnels. It’s a lot better on the bottom of the racetrack. It’s characteristic of the racetrack. We all know it now. I think it’s a little bit of a drawback to the high groove here because you know the higher you get the more you’re going to upset your car around that bump. It will be interesting to see how guys move up and whether they are successful doing it. I think it will impact it in some kind of way.”

HAVE YOU DREAMED OF WINNING THE CHAMPIONSHIP THIS WEEK? “No, not really. My dreams aren’t about racing. Racing, I do it 24-7 it seems like, especially when I’m home. I’m always racing. I haven’t dreamt about winning the championship but I do always seem to sit in my bed and stare at the ceiling and think about how I could be better inside the racecar and that eventually will make you better as a race car driver. I’m excited for what I know my potential can be in the future and I can’t wait to get to those times where I am as comfortable as I am in the Busch car.”

IS THERE AN ADVANTAGE TO BEING A RAYBESTOS ROOKIE IN THIS SITUATION? “I guess you could consider it an advantage because we have everything to gain and nothing to lose because our expectations have been so far exceeded that nothing is going to make this year a bad year for us no matter what happens from here on out. I think it’s somewhat of an advantage from the mental standpoint. I don’t think it gives you any advantage, really, out there on the racetrack.”

HAVE YOU EVER THROWN ANYTHING ON THE TRACK TO CAUSE A CAUTION? HAVE YOU SEEN ANYBODY DO THAT? “Just on video. I haven’t seen anybody intentionally do it from my own eyes but I have seen video of it. I’m sure it’s not the first or last for anything like that. Without getting into a whole bunch of debris conversation, it doesn’t make me too happy.”