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

YOUR SUCCESS HERE, PRETTY IMPRESSIVE, HOW DO YOU KEEP GOING? Thank you. You know, I love the road courses. This team has given us, you know, great equipment to come here and perform well, and I feel like it was a goal of ours over the off-season to get better at the road courses. Felt like we had some failures last year and we didn't have the performance we needed, and we really stepped it up. You know, it's nice to be competing, you know, up front more on these tracks now.

HAVE EXPECTATIONS CHANGED EITHER FOR THE GOOD OR FOR THE BAD AFTER FIRST PRACTICE? This is definitely a different track than Sonoma for sure and it takes a different package. That's what we're doing here right now is figuring out what package is going to be best for us.

At one time throughout the practice, I thought we were pole material there towards the end. Some guys knocked out some lap times that were going to be tough for us to match up to. We drew a great number and we will just have it wait and see. I definitely don't want to do what we did in Sonoma which is go off the racetrack and be 11th. We want to be solid in the Top-5 and I think we've got a real shot at that.

DO YOU THINK WE SHOULD ADD A ROAD COURSE TO THE CHASE OR LEAVE IT HOW IT IS RIGHT NOW? I always felt we should have had one but I'm a little biased towards that. I also think the Chase, you know, it's all about really the best team ask driver, and I think that if you incorporate a road course, it just completes the package. You've got a Super Speedway, you've got intermediates, you've got short tracks. The only thing that's missing out of it is the road course. So obviously I'd be in favor of that.

YOU'VE BEEN USED TO WINNING BACK-TO-BACK ROAD RACES BEFORE, HOW DID IT FEEL THIS WEEKEND? Well, obviously we've got ... we're carrying momentum from Sonoma, and this is a great race car. It was obviously fast there. But you know, I feel like Watkins Glen has always been one of those tracks where it's much more competitive among everybody. It's a little bit easier road course to drive. It's faster.

You know, it's still challenging, but I feel like Sonoma is much more of a finesse racetrack, and you've got to keep it on the racetrack there and it's not as easy to do as it is to do here.

So I think the competition is going to be a will the tougher, and our chances of winning here are still good, but the challenge is going to be even tougher, I believe.

WHAT IS THE MAIN COMPETITION YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT? We might only have a couple of guys ... of course, Terry Labonte I think surprised all of us there at Sonoma. Usually it's somebody like Tony or one of the road course specialists, guys that they come in, or a Robby Gordon, something like that. But we saw the Penske cars really step it up there and we see them stepping up here now.

So I think you've got Kurt Busch, you've got Boris Said (ph) definitely runs well here as well. The list goes on and on; Jimmie Johnson. There's just a bunch of guys that are going to run well this weekend. You're going to see a much tighter field here than what you saw in Sonoma.

IS THIS AN EASY COURSE? It's never easy here. Even when we were winning here, we were still being challenged like fellow like Boris or Robby or Tony.

This is definitely a racetrack that we run well at, but like I was saying, just there's other guys that run well here, guys that you wouldn't typically think that would run well on road courses, can run well here, because it's so fast. The turns are just a lot more forgiving here than they are anywhere else.

We've created a lot of our own situations here the last couple of years from failures and having some problems. I feel like we've really worked hard to make sure things don't happen again. The only way we're going to have a shot at winning is to make sure we're there at the end and hopefully with the car in one piece.

YOU TALKED EARLIER ABOUT YOUR SUCCESS HERE Road courses are all about being comfortable and being able to fine-tune the car all the way around the racetrack. If you can pick up, you know, a tenth of a second at every corner, then, you know, you're over a second gate. It's one of those things where, at Sonoma, anyway, but here it would be a little bit less than that.

It's one of those things the more comfortable you can get, the more you can fine-tune and the more you just continue to gain on it, and there's a lot of guys that come to the road courses and they just aren't comfortable enough to know and really feel that area like they do on an oval.

So, I mean, we've ... I think that's something that's helped me out on the road courses is getting comfortable right away and other guys are starting to get that same thing now as well.

ON THE FIELD BEING TIGHTLY BUNCHED AT THIS POINT IN THE CHASE Obviously it's working. It's creating a lot of excitement, it's going to be tough. It's a real challenge for everybody trying to make it in that Chase and it's extremely important. I think that, you know, it's a championship within itself, and then once we get past Richmond, then it's going to start all over again and be even more intense. So it's definitely working.

PETTY SAID TODAY, THEY ASKED HIM ABOUT IF ANYBODY COULD BEAT YOU OR TONY STEWART HERE AND HE SAID THE CHEVY, IT'S REALLY HARD TO BEAT THE CHEVY. Well, I disagree with that personally because I battle with the Dodge out in Sonoma quite a bit, and a Dodge is fastest is practice today.

Those Penske Dodges are going to be tough this weekend. You know, I think that when it comes to a road course, I put a lot more of my thoughts as to who the competition is going to be into who the team and the driver is. I don't look at the make. Tony and Gibbs Racing, they put together a great road course package. I think that, you know, the Roush cars do the same thing. And now the Penske cars are doing the same thing, as well.

THIS WEEKEND IS GOING TO BE MAJOR FOR A LOT OF DRIVERS, I MEAN, VERY, VERY IMPORTANT. HAVE YOU PERSONALLY FELT ANY PRESSURE BEING OUTSIDE THE 10 IN TERMS OF WINNING THIS WEEK? Well, I think every weekend we feel that same pressure, you know, but there's nobody that's very comfortable right now with where they are at if you're, you know, about six through 14th, you're not comfortable. And so, you know, every weekend right now in every position, every point is critical. That's only taking the intensity level up.

I don't know, I'm trying to just stay focused on our race and do what we need to do. This is a racetrack that we have the opportunity to come out of here with a good finish, and I want to make sure that we capitalize on that. So we've got to do everything right. We can't have mistakes made. Last week we made a mistake and we made up for it the best we could, but we can't afford to have those types of things happen. Especially places like here and Bristol where we run so well.

HOW EASY TO MAKE THE MISTAKES, THOSE GUYS WHO ARE IN THE BACK THAT DON'T HAVE THE EXPERIENCE THAT YOU DO AT THESE TRACKS OR JUST TRYING TO KEEP IT CLEAN, HOW EASY IS IT TO SLIP UP HERE? It's very easy, whether you're trying it take it easy or whether you're pushing. Obviously the harder you push at any racetrack, but especially on a road course, the easier it is to make a mistake.

You know, I think I that's also what separates fast guys from, you know, the guys that are just out there, you know, in the middle of the pack is that the guys up front are pushing hard, getting the most out of the car and also putting it out there on the edge of making a mistake.

That's the one thing that we try to pride ourselves in is coming here and being smooth, not making mistakes, hitting our chips, our breaking points. And staying on the racetrack is half the battle at these road courses.

TONY STEWART AID AT SONOMA HE WOULD LOVE TO RACE FOR A TITLE ON A ROAD COURSE, HOW MUCH WOULD YOU LIKE TO RACE HIM ON THE LAST LAP? Oh, I'd love to. I think he's a great race car driver and he's really stepped up his road course program. He's a guy that I would love to race, you know, on a road course. I mean, it's fun to race anybody for a win, but somebody like Tony, with his talent level, it's even more fun.

Yeah, I hope that's the case but I think there's too many other guys in this garage area that will have a shot as well.

SO MANY THINGS HAVE HAPPENED TO YOU IN THE LAST SIX YEARS, DO YOU PUT THOSE OUT OF YOUR MIND? No, you learn from them and you try to make sure those things don't happen again. If I made a mistake, then I try to make sure I don't make that same mistake. If the team made a mistake, we try to focus on not letting that happen again. But you always put it behind you and move forward. You have to.

WOULD YOU SUPPORT PUTTING A ROAD RACE COURSE IN THE LAST TEN RACES OF THE SEASON? Yeah, somebody else I think already asked that. But absolutely. I'm a big fan of the road courses, so I would love to.

OF COURSE YOU WOULD. I'd love to see it. (Laughter). But I do think to make the Chase complete, the only thing it is missing right now is a road course. You have a Super Speedway, you've an intermediate, you have a short track, you just don't have a road course. You know, I'd be in favor of it for sure.

I'M FROM MONTREAL ... And that's where I'd like to have it.

THERE'S A RUMOR THAT JACQUES VILLENUEVE MAY BE JOINING THE CIRCUIT, WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THAT? I feel the same way as I do about Juan. It would be great for NASCAR and great for those guys. To have two F-1 drivers switch in the same year, I don't know if we'd know what to do with ourselves. I don't think Bernie won't know what to do with himself, either.

I think that it's exciting, but at the same time, it's a huge challenge for those guys. To not grow up racing on ovals and with a rear engine, a high-downforce car, it's just a big transition and it just takes time. But if the team owner, and I believe Chip Ganassi is committed to Juan Pablo with his past experience together, that commitment is there to give him the time that it's going to take for him to adjust, and I would imagine over time he will.

HOW WAS YOUR PRACTICE? We started off really good. When it came time to make a qualifying run, we had one car get in front of us, which was, you know, a little bit of a deal, but we definitely needed to go a little bit different direction. So we were not the fastest but I feel like we've got a shot at the Top-5.

WHAT WOULD YOU SAY IS THE BIGGEST DIFFERENCE BETWEEN INFINEON AND WATKINS GLEN AS A DRIVER? It really is a big difference. That racetrack, there's a lot more elevation changes, a lot slower corners. You know, it's a lot easier to go off the course in Sonoma. This is a much faster track. There's three really nice braking zones and passing zones I feel like.

But see, as challenging as this course is, it's not as challenging as Sonoma is.

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

HOW IS YOUR TEAM? "We're fast. The car's fast. I'm fast. I just got to make sure I don't screw it up. It's real easy to wheel hop and spin out and get off the corner too hard and get in the sand trap. I've seen other guys do it. I see guys do it all the time. You just don't want to be one of them guys. You don't want to be making those mistakes but it's hard. You can only drive harder and harder and try to get quicker and run faster laps."

ON THE DRIVERS IN THE TOP 10 NOT BEING THAT GOOD AT WATKINS GLEN: "Great."

ON THE FIRING OF HIS BUSCH CAR DRIVER, MARK MCFARLAND: "Mark has got a lot of talent as a driver. This is a case of where his personality and his mentality didn't match well with what we were looking for. I talked to him several times about what he could do different, how he could be more emotional, project his personality better to the media. Those are things obviously that you just don't learn overnight. I tried my best to prolong that decision and we had pushed it back probably four or five times to give Mark time and to help Mark because Mark's got what it takes under the right circumstances. He obviously has a lot of drive and determination but you've got to show that, you know. You've got to show that emotion to see it, (to) believe it. I believe it but not everybody else is that close to him so do they believe it? Do they see it? No.

So everybody has got this big question mark over Mark and he's got to really sit down and ask himself what he's got to do to prove how driven he is because that's the question on Mark McFarland. That's the unknown. I hope that he understands that we tried our best with him. I gave him the opportunity to continue to work in the shop and go to the race track to sort of give the perception that he's still interested and wants an opportunity if anybody is willing to give that to him. With that said, this weekend Martin (Truex Jr.) is going to drive the car for us which I appreciate DEI and everybody being on board with that and allowing that to happen. That's not just a phone call to Martin.

You've got to ask Teresa (Earnhardt) and Richie (Gilmore) and everybody else if they can do it so that was cool of them. We're talking to Robby Gordon about driving it at Michigan and California because Shane Huffman is not cleared to race those two tracks and Shane will drive the remainder of the races. We were planning on doing a two-car team next year with Mark and Shane. Obviously now that plan has got to be revamped and thought about and worked out. I talked to Budweiser and they've given me the opportunity to run seven races if I want to next year. I'd like to run every one of those in my own car so maybe that's the second team we're talking about. Maybe Mark can run it four or five races, run about 12 races with a second team and continue to see if Shane can be productive in the 88 car with Navy.

So that's really where it stands whether you want to hear it or not. Shane won't be racing the Hooters Cup races. He'll run a few but he won't race that five race championship deal at the end of the season so we're going to look for somebody that can fill in for us like Johnny Rumley or somebody like that. I've got a boy that races late models that I'm going to move up into the car probably next year if continues to be productive as well."

WHAT DOES THE TEAM DO WITH THE DRIVER TO TURN THINGS AROUND WHEN THEY'RE AT A LOW LEVEL (IN REFERENCE TO HIS CUP TEAM)? "We're at the level now where I know what I can do, they know what they can do and we both see that in each other. When things don't work out you really don't get too upset about it and go 'What have we got to change? What have we got to do?' It's just circumstantial. Things happen. Maybe you didn't put a right spring and shock combination under the car to get it to handle or maybe the driver hit the fence and screwed it up or whatever. You just go to the next week and hope that there was a lesson learned and you don't repeat those mistakes."

DO THE ROAD COURSE REGULARS WORRY YOU AT ALL? "No, not at all. I like most of these guys. Even though (Scott) Pruett took me out at Infineon, I still think he's a pretty good guy. Boris (Said) is one of my best friends, not just in racing but in general in life itself; he's one of my best friends. Ron (Fellows) is almost like an uncle to me in a way. He's taken care of me a lot of times and done a lot of things for me. He shows he genuinely cares about me personally and he's a great person, almost like family. It's fun when these guys come around and race, and they enjoy driving stock cars and I enjoy racing with them and watching them drive. They really show us what these things are capable of when they get out there."

IS THERE A FINE LINE BETWEEN BEING CAUTIOUS AND TOO AGGRESSIVE WITH ALL THAT'S ON THE LINE BEFORE THE CHASE? "Absolutely, especially here. With so many corners and so many opportunities to screw up you definitely gotta be. you're more erring on the side of caution than recklessness - not recklessness but aggressiveness."

IS THERE MORE PRESSURE ON YOUR BUSCH TEMA BECAUSE OF THE NAME ON THE CAR AND WHAT KIND OF A RACER DO YOU WANT IN IT? "Mark was a good driver but if he run 10th or 43rd, his mentality and attitude didn't change. I don't know whether it's because this was a high-pressure situation for him. Maybe it's asking too much of a driver to get in there and go 'hey, god dang, I don't like this! We gotta change this, I want to run better than this.' That's what I want. I want somebody to put there foot down and go 'I screwed up. I'm mad,' or "we can't get the car to handle.' I need to see that - that shows how much they want it. True champions are never satisfied. People that are successful don't get satisfied or they level off. You need to have a guy that continues to strive. Mark's been racing for a long, long time and he knows the ins and outs of this sport. I just expected him to have more of a killer instinct or killer mentality to him. He's had a few opportunities in the sport already driving for Ray Evernham and driving Trucks and stuff, you know. You gotta seize these opportunities. I feel like he's well capable behind the wheel but that doesn't always cut it. Shane, he's red-faced and out of control and fast and furious about his opportunities. He's really seizing this moment; very thankful and knows he's gotta get the job done and we're gonna put him in there and see if he's telling the truth. He knows the deal know, everyone knows the deal."

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE CUP RACE IN CANADA NEXT YEAR? "I'm all for it. I like Canada. I'm a big Matthew Good fan (one of Canada's most successful alternative rock bands in the 1990's). You ever hear of Matthew Good?"

HOW ABOUT JACQUES VILLENEUVE? "I don't know. Has he got a ride yet?"

HE'S THINKING ABOUT IT. "Well, he's gotta do more than think. Somebody's gotta hire him first. You can't say 'hey, I want to drive Cup cars' and snap your fingers and there you are. You got to come over here and see who wants to hire you. Less he's going to build his own cars. He could do that."

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

KNOWING WHERE YOU ARE AND WHAT'S AT STAKE, IS THERE A FINE LINE BETWEEN CAUTIOUS AND AGGRESSIVENESS? There's a fine line between cautious and aggressiveness every week. When you're racing for points, which is what we do, whether you're leading the points or you're 15th in points, there's a real fine line. And the reason that we don't wreck more than we do is we understand that when you're wrecked, you're sitting there without a chance to finish the best possible finish you can get.

It's no different this weekend than any other weekend. I do believe that more people will have trouble this weekend just because that's the nature of road courses. Overall the best way to gain points is to finish well and the only way to finish well is to be aggressive.

THIS HAS PROVEN TO BE A REALLY GOOD WEEK FOR YOU. WE TALKED TO YOU LAST YEAR WHEN YOU ANNOUNCED YOU WERE GOING TO CHANGE THE CHANGE. WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE IN THIS ORGANIZATION? Well, I think right now, we just are all working together really well. There's a tremendous amount of commitment to go from where we are today to make the next step. There's no one in the company that believes that we're hundred 100% where we need to be and we're working really hard to make sure we do get to where we do need to be.

There's a lot of unity and there's a lot of commitment. Richard when I came here told me he would do everything he could to turn this program around and get it to prominence, and that's where we're heading. We're not there by any means, but we're certainly heading in that direction.

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THIS TRACK? This is a great racetrack. This is a lot of fun and it's so different than Sears Point. It's like a Super Speedway of road courses, it is a challenging racetrack, obviously there's a big elevation change on the back straightaway, there's fast corners, there's slow corners, there's long straightaways, there's short straightaways.

It's a lot of fun. Typically we run very well here. We have gone some years here without some good finishes but feel good about being able to come here and run well.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE A ROAD COURSE RACE IN THE CHASE FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP? No. It makes sense for a road course race to be in the Chase because if you look at the percentage of race that is we run, I think they should be represented ... I think it should be equally represented in the Chase. And if you look at the percentage of road courses, two races out of 36, it just would not make sense to have a road course race in the final ten.

THIS IS A COURSE THAT HAS DEMANDING TURNS, BRUTAL ON BRAKES, THAT'S ONE THING. EVERYBODY SAYS, WELL, THE ONLY THING YOU CAN DO IS STAY BETWEEN THE LINES. THAT'S EASIER SAID THAN DO. WHAT KIND OF SETUP DO YOU NEED TO BE SUCCESSFUL HERE AT WATKINS GLEN? You can go out there and stay between the lines all day long. You just have to understand you might run 35th. When you come out here and you look at the quality of these teams and the quality of the drivers, you can't go out there and ride around and run good. You've got to run and you've got to be on the edge of not having a good day, and that's the only way you can succeed in this sport. And what you've got to do here is you've got to have a car that's fast, and you've got to have the track position at the right time of the race. And if you do that, then you could succeed. But it all hinges, as it does every week, on having the driver and the car signal each other so you can make good lap time.

I BELIEVE IT WAS TWO YEARS AGO HERE THIS WEEKEND WHEN YOU LEFT ROUSH, AND NOW LOOK WHERE YOU ARE NOW, I MEAN, DO YOU THINK ABOUT THAT, HOW FAR YOU'VE COME AND WHERE YOU ARE RIGHT NOW, ACTUALLY CHALLENGING? Well, when I left Roush, I left Roush thinking that for me, coming to Childeress would be a positive thing. You never 100% know what's going to happen for sure but to this date it feels like a positive move to me. Although last year if you were interviewing me, I think I would have said it wasn't a good move.

So, things take time. This sport, it's a fickle business. You can be on top one day and on the bottom the next. We have to continue to work hard and by no means have I decided that, you know, everything is great in the world and from now, we have a lot of racing to go, you know, this year and the years ahead of us.

So this isn't a sport in my opinion that you judge your success year by year. I think you judge your success when you look back on your career. You judge it by this is what I was able to do, and I believe that right now, we can have the success we need to have at Childress, but we have to continue to work hard and have to be committed if we're going to be able to look back on my career and say, hey, this was 100% the right thing to do.

IS IT A COINCIDENCE THAT YOU AND KEVIN HARVICK ARE SO CLOSE, OR IS IT THAT YOU GUYS KIND OF BROUGHT EACH OTHER UP TO THIS POINT? Oh, it's definitely not a coincidence. There's no coincidence that all three teams are running better than they did last year. That's not a coincidence. That's because our stuff is better and we've been able to take advantage of it.

There are times in this sport where things don't add up, but this year, for sure, I can tell you that our cars are better, our engines are better, we've improved a lot of things in our business. We've been able to take advantage of those things up to this date.

GOING TO MICHIGAN NEXT WEEK, TALK ABOUT THAT PLACE. Well, Michigan is a lot of fun. It's a lot of different grooves, four-wide racing sometimes. To me it's one of the most run race tracks we go to. Most race drivers really like Michigan and I'm one of them.

It will be a fun race. It's getting four races to go is where we're going to be at that point, and there will be a lot of pressure and a lot of intensity. That's going to be a really fun race.

DID YOU INVESTIGATE WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR CAR LAST WEEK, ANYTHING UNUSUAL? Well, I think at the end of the day a couple things compounded on us. The first thing is that we were not able to run practice the way we normally run practice, and I wasn't able to do a good evaluation of the car, because it was times (ph) were so excessive in practice, we just couldn't run that many laps and that led us down a path which was eventually the wrong way to go.

When we with were in practice, the changes we were making were positive changes but we were not able to evaluate that, we were not able to put a set of tires on and go out and make a 15-lap run and understand what the long-term consequences of those setups were.

So we just made a wrong move on the setup. We did that together as a team. That wasn't just Scott or our engineer or me. We all collectively decided what we wanted to do but we just didn't have enough information to make the right decision.

YOU SAID THAT THINGS GOT SO BAD AT THE END, SPRING COLLAPSE OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT, WAS IT REALLY ... WHATEVER ... WASN'T HELPING IT RIGHT? We got way off. I think that at that racetrack, you know, a car that's really tight can get matched at front. It can hide that a little bit. And had we had a race that turned into where we had a lot of cautions or whatever, we could have won a race with that set up but once we got those green flag runs, we were in trouble.

Then we started kind of not panicking, but we started making huge changes trying to get it back and we just never caught back spares up. At the end of the day, all of the trouble started on Saturday as it normally does.

IS YOUR TEAM MAYBE GETTING A LITTLE ANXIOUS TO TRY TO CLOSE THE DEAL? You know, I don't know. I think that ... I think that we're all smart enough and we don't have really people on this team that haven't been here before. We're a really mature team and I think we all understand that if we continue to run well that we'll get our wins and certainly when we ... when you we put ourselves in position an awful lot this year and certainly there's a sense of frustration about that.

But at the same time, we're also mature enough and smart enough to understand that, hey, we still put ourselves in position. You know, it's okay. I'm more concerned that we finish 15th versus finding a way to get backup there and finish 8th or 10th with a struggling car at the end. At the end of the day, this is a mature team and they understand that we've just got to keep doing what we're doing.

YOU MENTIONED ADDING ROAD COURSES TO THE CHASE ... No, I think if you look at the percentage of races that we run on road courses; that would make no sense to run a road course in the Chase. It's two races that we run out of 36, doesn't add up to a percentage that matches the Top-10, the final ten races.

So I wouldn't be in favor of that.

WHAT ABOUT AS FAR AS THE CHASE FORMAT IN EITHER THE TRUCK OR THE BUSCH SERIES? I'm a proponent of the Chase format. I'd like to see it in all the NASCAR series. I think it puts on the best show. I think it makes the most excitement. Without a doubt, I think that in the Busch Series and in the Truck Series both, it would be beneficial to those two series.

THERE'S SO MANY CUP GUYS THAT RUN IN THE BUSCH SERIES NOW, IF THAT SHOULD HAPPEN, DO YOU THINK THAT MAYBE THERE SHOULD BE SOME SORT OF RULE STATING THAT THE REGULARS MAYBE GET MORE POINTS? No, I think that you just have to run every race. I think that you know, a driver ... a driver winning the championship, he ought to have to attempt to run every race. And a car owner ought to be allowed to win a championship with three or four din drivers if he chooses, but a driver should have to attempt to make every race to win the championship and I think that eliminates any issue.

Because, you know, most likely, a Cup regular is going to win the championship this year, and you know, he shouldn't be eliminated ... if he runs every race, he should not be eliminated from having the possibility to do that at this point.

But certainly you should not be able to run ... you should not be able to run 15 races, somebody else running another 10 for you and then you run the last ten and win the championship solely. I don't think that would be fair.

JUST A QUICK COMMENT ON FORMER TEAMMATE MARK MARTIN AND THE SEASON HE'S BEEN HAVING, HIS LAST SEASON AGAIN. Ya think? (Laughter).

Well, we're still ... we're still yet to be decided it's his last season. I'm less convinced it's his last season than the rest of the world. He says it is, but we'll see. Proof's in the pudding. I keep waiting for him to return all the gifts from last year and he hasn't done it yet.

Mark is one of the best drivers in this sport. The only thing he misses from being able to say that he is, you know, it would be a championship, but every driver in here know that is Mark Martin is capable. He is as capable today as he was ten years ago. He is more mature, he is smarter, he's wiser and his driving ability is as good as it's ever been. So you know, if Mark decides he isn't going to race again next year, it isn't because he can't do it. It's because he just doesn't want the stress of all the stuff of run this full schedule. But as far as capable, capability, it's there.

I'M COMING DOWN FROM MONTREAL AND UP THERE THERE'S RUMORS ABOUT THE FACT THAT THE FORMER F-1 CHAMP JACQUES VILLENUEVE MIGHT JOIN THE NASCAR CIRCUIT. I WOULD BE INTERESTED TO KNOW IF YOU HAVE AN OPINION ON THAT? I would love to see ... I think it's good for our sport for people like Jacques and people like Juan that want to come in and experience this. I think it would be good. Those two guys are both world-class drivers. There's no question about it. It would be a transition for both of them because these cars are ... they are heavy, they make a lot of downforce ... I mean they make a little bit of downforce, maybe a tremendous amount of horsepower. When they drive ... when they are driving good, they are driving bad. They don't drive very good at any point, and I think that would be a ... that's going to be the biggest transition.

But you know, a racer is a racer, and world-class drivers like can come here and have success, but there will be a time of adjustment for them, no doubt.

WHAT WOULD BE THE BEST ADVICE TO GIVE TO F-1 DRIVERS WHO WANT TO SWITCH? I think the biggest thing is to understand ... I think that the environment here is so much different. And the accessibility of the fans, the accessibility of the media, the openness of the way we do things here is radically different than what's done there; the sponsors, they require it, and the fans require it, and it's a great thing, because it's what makes our sport great.

But at the same time, the racing part of it, you know, what I learned is racing's racing. I don't care if you're racing quarter midgets with a five-year-old or if you're racing for a NASCAR championship or an F-1 championship. It all boils down to the same kind of thing, and that's having the right equipment, the right driver and taking advantage of it.

Those, you know, an F-1 driver when he comes here, has to understand that there is going to be an adjustment and he's going to have to be patient, and the people around him are going to have to be patient as well.

HOW MUCH DO YOU WORK OUT? Right now, four days a week.

FOUR DAYS A WEEK? HAVE YOU EVER HAD YOUR HEART MONITORED? Not during a race.

During practice, or behind the wheel? Yeah, I have done it once years ago. I messed with a heart monitor, but it's been a long time.

AFTER RACING MARTINSVILLE, WHAT DO YOU FEEL LIKE, THAT'S PROBABLY ONE OF THE TOUGHEST TRACKS IF IT'S HOT? When it's hot, Martinsville is really hard.

DOES THE PUBLIC APPRECIATE WHAT YOU GUYS GO THROUGH, YOU REALLY CAN'T, CAN YOU? I don't think anybody can appreciate with a anybody goes through. You know, the old saying, you've got to walk in somebody's shoes to really understand what they are doing. You know, when you watch ... I think we've become immune to things. I think when I watch a basketball player and he's shooting a 25-footer, you're like, why didn't he make that. And then you realize, go and try to shoot that, you realize it's hard. I think the professional athletes make things look easier than they really are, and I think it's hard for any fan to truly appreciate what they are watching.

HOW HARD IS MARTINSVILLE RACING IN THE HOT SUN? It's a difficult thing. There's no question that the heat is a tough thing. The physical ... you know, you go to Bristol and run 500 laps there, there's a hard days work. At the same token, that's what we do. And if we can't, if we can't do it, then we shouldn't be doing it. You know, by no means am I claiming that you have to be in the shape of a wide receiver in the NFL to be a highly-successful driver.

But you do have to be tough. And you do have to ... you know, there's drivers here that don't work out at all. We have drivers that could indeed be a wide receiver but both are able to be successful. So I don't think you have to be ... I don't think you necessarily have to be a world-class athlete to compete at this level. But you certainly have to ... you certainly have to be able to do things that many world-class athlete couldn't do.

DO YOU SEE A LOT OF GUYS TAKING CHANCES, IN POSITIONS 3 THROUGH 11? I think everybody's approach is different. I think some guys will take chances and some guys feel like they can't take chances. I just don't see the racing that different on the racetrack. I think as we get toward two or three to go, I think that's where you might start to see it.

But right now if you look at those Top-12, you know, they all believe, hey, if we just have good races, we can be in the Top-10. And they are probably right. I mean, if Greg Biffle or Kasey Kahne, either one of those guys have the next five races they run well and finish well, they can find their way in.

So I think right now, that no one is really in panic mode. The people that are 15th, 14th, they are a little bit in panic mode trying to make something happen probably. But I think that 12th and forward, you know, the approach would be, hey, let's finish well, let's run competitively and if we do those things, we'll get ourselves in.

YOU RAN GREAT LAST WEEK, THREE POLES THIS YEAR, YOUR TEAM IS REALLY COMING TOGETHER. YOU'VE GOT TO GET A WIN RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER, DON'T YOU THINK? Well, we'd like to think if we keep putting ourselves in position, those things will happen for us. It's not a given that we're going to win races. We've got to go earn it and we've got to go make it happen. This team is capable of winning. We've just got to keep putting ourselves in position.

YOU'VE BEEN WITH THE TEAM NOW A LITTLE OVER A YEAR AND A HALF. WITH ALL OF THE TEAMS THAT ARE DUMPING THEIR DRIVERS AFTER A FEW MONTHS IF THEY ARE NOT PERFORMING, YOU GUYS HAVE DONE IT THE WAY THAT PEOPLE USED TO UNDERSTAND IT TOOK A YEAR AND A HALF OR TWO YEARS TO TRULY GEL. DO YOU THINK THAT'S STILL THE WAY IT SHOULD BE? I think every situation's different. You know, I believe that if you look around and you see no chance of success, whether you're a car owner or a driver, then little patience is given anymore.

At the same token, you have to look at the situation. You have to understand, what's affected the outcome of the races to truly give a fair assessment. All I can do is worry about what we're doing. I can't worry a whole lot about what other people are doing. At the end of the day, this sport has been ... there have been a lot of changes in it, it's nothing new, and it will be like that two years from now.

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

BY RUNNING IN THE BUSCH SERIES AND NEXTEL CUP SERIES, IS IT AN ADVANTAGE TO HAVE MORE TIME OUT ON THE TRACK THAN SOME OF THE OTHER GUYS? "I think it doesn't hurt anything. It helps get you in the rhythm. It helps the driver more than anything. The setups are quite a bit different but all in all I think it's good for me."

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THIS TRACK? "I enjoy road racing so it's something that I look forward to each year so the couple of races we get to do on the road courses are a lot fun for me. We've been fortunate to have a lot of success here and hopefully we can keep that up."

WHERE DID YOU LEARN TO ROAD RACE? "I started road racing when I was racing go-karts. That's all I did. We didn't have ovals on the West Coast so I raced go-karts on road courses from the time I was five until I was 16. I ran a couple of road races in the touring divisions on the West Coast."

DO YOU WISH THERE WAS A ROAD COURSE IN THE CHASE FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP? "If you're going to determine the champion off of 10 races, I think it needs to be part of the Chase myself."

LEADING THE BUSCH SERIES POINTS AND BEING A TRUCK OWNER, DO YOU THINK THEY SHOULD ADD THE CHASE FORMAT TO THOSE TWO SERIES? "I think it would add a lot of excitement to the series. I think a lot of guys in the Busch and Truck (Series) and I know our team, it takes them a little bit to get going at the beginning of the year. It'd make it a lot more exciting."

ON GOING TO MICHIGAN: "Michigan was good to us the first time. Our car was good and hopefully we've made it a little bit better than it was last time. Michigan is one of those places where you can move around and make your car work really good if it's not handling real good. It's a lot of fun to race on from the top to the bottom so I'm looking forward to it.

DOES THE TRACK CHANGE A LOT OVER 400 MILES? "It does change a lot. The groove kind of gets wore out and then you have to hunt around to find some more grip."

HAVE YOU HAD MEETINGS WITH NASCAR ON FINDING A SOLUTION FOR MAKING THE BUSCH SERIES BETTER? HAVE YOU SAT DOWN WITH NASCAR TO TALK ABOUT COST SAVING IDEAS? "I don't know that they've (NASCAR) specifically met with me but we have talked about it just in general conversation, nothing as far as a specific meeting or anything like that. I know they're working to trying to get the costs down in the Truck and Busch cars to keep it competitive and keep everybody able to participate."

DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOUR EXPERIENCE HERE GIVES YOU AN ADVANTAGE OVER SOME OF THE OTHER DRIVERS? "I don't think so. Jeff Gordon has been here quite a bit so there are a lot of guys that have a lot of experience here. I don't think I have an advantage in this garage."

ON A ROAD COURSE RACE BEING SO CLOSE TO THE CHASE: "I think it's another race for us. We know what our schedule is and you have to have them at some point. I think it's good. It breaks the schedule up a little bit at the last part of the year before the Chase."

CAN YOU COMPARE THE RCR HORSEPOWER LAST YEAR TO THIS YEAR AND HOW MUCH OF A DIFFERENCE IT HAS MADE FOR YOU: "Everything has changed at RCR and I don't think it's the engines that make the cars run faster. The engines are better. The cars are better. Everything is a little bit better. We still have some work to do on our engines and our cars and everything that we got but everything is better and everything is running really good. We just got to keep progressing in that direction but it's not just one thing. It's not just the engines that make it run better."

IS THERE A FINE LINE WITH BEING CAUTIOUS WHEN YOU'RE SO CLOSE TO THE CHASE? "I think you just go for it, man. That's what gets you to this point. You just go as fast as you can go because everybody that's in the Chase or outside of the Chase, everybody is fast. You have to run as hard as you can run and try to put yourself in position where you need to be and if you don't you're going to run 20th. You have to go pretty much as hard as you can go to make it happen."

WITH THINGS BEING BETTER OVERALL, DO YOU FEEL YOU ARE IN THE POSITION TO MAKE A RUN FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP? "I think we're in an OK position. We just can't make any mistakes. As long as we don't do that I think we're OK. There are some things that you can't control and things happen so it's still a lot of pressure on everybody to make it happen and perform and do the things you need to do to get in the Chase. Right now it's going to come down to who is going to make the least mistakes in the next five weeks."

IS THE ROAD COURSE GOING TO THROW SOME DRIVERS OFF BECAUSE IT'S SO UNPREDICTABLE? "Oh yeah. It's going to be interesting regardless just for the fact that it is a road course and there's a lot of chance to get in trouble and a lot of opportunity to break stuff. It's something that definitely throws a twist in it here at the end. You can make a lot of points or you can lose a lot of points so it's real easy to do one way or another."

ON TIME RESTRAINTS WITH BEING AN OWNER AND A DRIVER AND THIS SCHEDULE AND MARK MARTIN SAYING HE DOESN'T HAVE THE ENGERY FOR THAT: "He's older (laughs). It's something that I enjoy doing. I don't have any kids. I don't really do anything else other than race so that's kind of my hobby, what I like to do in my spare time. When I do have spare time I spend it at the shop or (doing) whatever it takes to make it all go around. Driving the Cup car is a huge commitment and then throw in driving the Busch car. There's a lot of things going on but I enjoy it. I feel like I found a good balance with time for everything."

HOW DO YOU AS AN OWNER GIVE YOUNG DRIVERS THE TIME TO MOVE UP YET GAIN EXPERIENCE? "I don't think anybody like Carl Edwards or any of the guys that came up the last few years (like) Kyle Busch have had any problems. If you find the guy that can do it, they can do it and things are going to go good and you're going to see those flashes of brilliance come out of them and know that they can do it once they get the experience. You have to see some shining star of hope. I don't think they saw any signs of hope and that's probably why they made a change. It's definitely possible to get a guy and make him come up and do what he needs to do and get him the experience. You have to take the time in that first year to take the bumps in the road and the sponsor has to be good with it."

WILL THE SPONSOR WAIT AROUND LIKE THAT? "Dollar General has been really good with Burney (Lamar). They let us put Jeff in there one week to let us evaluate the car. They understand that there's going to be some bumps in the road. He's had those flashes of brilliance so they've been very patient.

They're looking forward to next year and doing what they have to do to hopefully be in the top 10 and top five and have a chance to win some more races. They expressed that that's what they wanted coming in so they've stood behind him and stood behind us and it's been fun to watch it grow but you have to take those bumps before you can get to where you want to be."

AFTER THE BUSCH RACE DO YOU HAVE A TEAM MEETING TO DISCUSS WHAT YOU LEARNED FROM THE BUSCH RACE TO GO INTO SUNDAY'S RACE? "Todd (Berrier, crew chief) and I will talk about it. Obviously he's doing the crew chief stuff on the Busch car for the last week here. Most of the time Todd and those guys and the other crew chiefs will be on pit road and talk about it. We won't sit down but we'll pretty much already know what we'll need to do."

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

WHAT WILL THE RACING BE LIKE FROM HERE UNTIL RICHMOND WITH DRIVERS TRYING TO GET INTO THE CHASE? "It's just racing. Everybody has to do what they can to get maximum points. That's something we've always had in our sport. And it will always be there. I think all you're going to see is good hard racing. I think part of being a good points racer is recognizing when a situation is coming up that you need to be a part of and then how to get kind of get away from that or around it. I don't see the intensity from the guys around the bubble area in the Chase. I don't see that affecting the race. I think it's going to make it more exciting and a lot different competition on the race track."

WHY ARE TONY STEWART AND JEFF GORDON SO STRONG ON ROAD COURSES? "I don't know. They both have great equipment. I know Jeff has awesome equipment. They just have a feel for it and an understanding of where to find speed. I think all of us recognize that braking zones are important so I think everybody focuses on that. But I think they have found a way to get through the corners or back to the gas just a little bit earlier. And when you have 11 corners on a race track, all they need is a little bit in each corner to really impact the total lap time. They are both very talented at it and I'm hoping I can improve my road course skills this weekend and be able to race with them."

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO YOU TO BE HAVING SUCH A GREAT SEASON? "It's such a special year for me to be able to win the (Daytona) 500 and the (Brickyard) 400 in the same year. I really never thought I'd have a chance of winning the 400. So it's a special year and it puts a lot of confidence in myself and my team to know we're capable of winning races that we didn't think we were. It just builds more confidence and a championship mindset and a personal victory of beating a track that's beaten us."

IS THERE ONE PARTICULAR COMPONENT THAT'S CRUCIAL TO WINNING AT THE GLEN? "I think brakes probably mean the most. I think you can over-abuse brakes and wear out on the race track pretty quick."

WHAT DID YOU LEARN LAST YEAR THAT YOU CAN BRING BACK THIS YEAR AT THE GLEN? "We were competitive in the race here last year. I think we finished in the top five, but I wasn't able to run for the win and be able to race with Tony (Stewart) and I think Jeff (Gordon) came up there late and I think some of the other road course specialists got in there and were really dicing it up. In my heart, I just can't accept the fact that those guys can catch and drive away from me. So I may be over reacting with some of my comments about not thinking I've done a good job on road courses, but I've just found that I should be able to win on every type of race track and I'm just challenging myself to step up to the plate and do it better."

WHAT MAKES YOUR TEAM SO SPECIAL? 'I really think our team is all together, and we think alike. We're really a team. I don't know how to describe it, but we pick each other up when we're down and help each other out and motivate each other. We really are a tight-knit race team and I think that's very important. I'll sit here and brag about my team, but as I look around there are five or six teams that have that same thing going for them. That's why the Chase is so competitive this year. There are five or six teams that are very capable of winning this championship."

WHAT PITFALLS DO YOU SEE COMING UP BETWEEN NOW AND THE CHASE? "Bristol has been a hit or miss race track for me, so I think it's probably the biggest challenge we have coming up."

AS A PART OWNER OF YOUR CAR, DO YOU EVER HAVE A CHANCE TO TALK TO JEFF GORDON AND GET HIS INPUT? "Yeah, but not really from the car owner aspect but from the teammate aspect and trying to make our cars as good as we can. We definitely spend a lot of time talking about driving styles and set-ups and how to communicate with our engineers and crew chiefs and really, all four teams work through all of that as one unit."

DO YOU EVER TALK ABOUT VICTORY NO. 76 FOR JEFF GORDON? "No, we haven't talked about that. We talked about 75 and how amazing that is. He doesn't know where all those victories came from."

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT CHANGING THE POINTS SYSTEM AND PAYING MORE FOR A WIN? "I think NASCAR has done a good job of making the point system exciting and entertaining. The only think I would ask is that they not be under the assumption if they make more points to win that it's going to change the racing. We race as hard as we can. We do everything we can to win races. Nobody is out there riding around. I just don't want anybody to think that it would make us drive harder and make the racing better. It's not going to do that."

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

ON RACING AT THE GLEN "Sometimes it is easier said than done - especially last year. I was doing just fine until about 10 laps to go and I ended up spinning out in Turn 1 with a wheel hop. It's definitely a tricky place - especially with braking getting down into Turn 1. But all in all, it's a fun place to race. I enjoyed it here last year. We had a good run going. We were running like 13th so it was going to be a good day for us."

DO YOU LIKE ROAD COURSE RACING, OR IS THIS JUST A NECESSARY EVIL? "Yeah, I like it. It's fun. I had a good time with it. Here last year, we weren't too successful at it. But at Infineon this year we were running up there in the top 10 and probably had a pretty good shot at a top five, but got offline one time and about four guys got by me and I ended up 11th."

WITH WHERE YOU ARE IN THE POINTS RIGHT NOW, IS THERE A FINE LINE OF BEING CONSERVATIVE AND AGGRESSIVE? "Yeah there is, definitely, because the points are so tight. There are only 111 points that separate us all. So, you've seen it here the past few weeks with Kasey Kahne and Dale (Earnhardt) Jr. and Tony Stewart. You either have one or 1 and a half bad weeks, and you're out of it. It's going to be a pretty tight race all the way up until Richmond."

AT INDY, YOU SAID YOU WOULDN'T HAVE A GOOD CAR AND WOULDN'T RACE WELL. IS THAT STILL THE CASE? "Well, we didn't race well, but we finished well, so we made a day out of it. So we just need to make a day out of it here again this weekend and I think we'll be okay."

WOULD YOU SUPPORT HAVING A ROAD COURSE TRACK IN THE FINAL 10 CHASE RACES? "Yeah. You have to have all the different variables of all the race tracks in there. We have (everything) from Martinsville to Talladega in there right now. So, if you throw a road course event in there it would be pretty cool. I think we should have at least four of them each year. We have four restrictor plate races each year and you have to build a special car for that, so why not have four instead of two road course races each year because we have to build special cars for that anyway also."

DO YOU AGREE THAT WITH INDY, THE GLEN, BRISTOL, AND MICHIGAN, THAT AUGUST IS THE MOST DIFFICULT MONTH OF THE YEAR? "Yeah, that's probably a pretty good assessment. Bristol is probably the toughest. Indy, with the heat, it pretty tough. Watkins Glen, just because it's a road course event (is tough), but Michigan is probably the least strenuous during the month of August. It's kine of a tough place, but all in all it's probably the easiest."

IS MICHIGAN A FUN PLACE TO RACE WITH ALL THE GROOVES? "Yeah, there is so much area and so much room to move around and try to get some passes made. It's not like Bristol or Indy where everybody is fighting for the bottom or a road course where everybody is fighting for that one line. It's definitely a place where there is a lot more room to move around and places to pass somebody."

WHAT IS IT ABOUT HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS THAT MAKES IT SUCCESSFUL? IS IT MONEY OR TEAMWORK? WHAT IS IT? "Oh, I think it's Rick Hendrick. He hates to lose. He doesn't like it very much when his teams fall behind or anything like that. We're always trying to stay either on top of the curve or ahead of the curve. We want to make sure that we're always ready for whatever comes up next. You don't always know what that is, but we try to keep up with it as much as we can. So, the biggest thing for us is to try to be successful week in and week out."

WITH ABOUT 4 HOURS TO GET READY FOR QUALIFYING, HOW MUCH DO YOU HAVE TO HAVE YOUR SET-UP IN TACT BEFORE YOU GO OUT? "We're going to start out in race trim and get accustomed to the track and find out my braking points and see if they've changed any of my markers out there. As soon as we get that squared away, we'll put it in qualifying trim and see if we can get a good qualifying spot for Sunday."

DO YOU THINK THE TRACK IS GOING TO BE FAST AND THAT WE MIGHT SEE SOME MORE RECORDS BROKEN TODAY? "I'm not sure. It all depends on the tire and some other circumstances. The weather is obviously pretty nice today and that might play into somebody's advantage as far as getting some fast times."

SHOULD THERE BE A CHASE FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP IN THE BUSCH AND CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES? "Oh, yeah; definitely. If you look at it, I could still have a chance for the championship in the Busch Series coming down with 10 races to go. But as of right now, there is too much ground for us to make up. We're some 500 points back. So that's pretty tough to try to come back and do. But in the Craftsman Truck Series, the points are pretty tight. It's been a great year over there. I've seen a lot of good racing. I think it would definitely add more excitement to that series as well."

IN THE BUSCH SERIES, SHOULD THE BUSCH GUYS GET MORE POINTS THAN THE PART-TIME CUP DRIVERS OR SHOULD IT REMAIN A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD? "I think what NASCAR could probably look at is having more non-companion events. If there were 10 or 15 non-companion events, you wouldn't see guys doing the full schedule. It would be way too much work. Right now, they've been pretty helpful with being able to help us out and get the schedules aligned so we can get back and forth and do what we have to do, but if they came up with more races...I wouldn't say they can or they should..but like Hickory or Myrtle Beach or putting some of those short tracks back on the schedule and be able to have more non-companion races."

A YEAR AGO, YOU WERE 20TH IN POINTS AT THIS TIME IN THE SCHEDULE. YOU ARE TIED FOR 4TH NOW. WHY ARE YOU SO MUCH BETTER? "Oh, the experience level and trying to understand the race cars and the races better. The team is really gelling together very well this year. We've had a great time and a great experience being able to run as well as we have. I'm probably just becoming a smarter racer. That's probably the biggest thing."

IS THERE ONE DEFINING MOMENT THAT YOU CAN LOOK AT AS A TURNING POINT TO GET THAT EXPERIENCE LEVEL? "No, there is no real defining moment. It just takes work and it takes a process over weeks. I've had some pretty big screw-ups this year and I've learned from those. You want to go on to bigger and better things. Of course right now, we're doing that. We're in fourth; tied for fourth, and we're just looking toward the Chase trying to get ourselves in there - locked in there - and to make a strong run at it in the last 10 and try to become the youngest champion."

IS THAT ROOKIE YEAR IN THE NEXTEL CUP SERIES OVERWHELMING? "It was. It was pretty tough. There were some times there when it got even harder. But this year we've worked with our race cars and gotten them handling better. And we've been able to run up front more often. It's just been better. But in the Busch Series program, I've kind of fallen wayside to it. We're kind of backyards. But it's a little bit awkward. But all in all, I think Hendrick Motorsports as an organization, we'll be able to get that deal fixed up and we're heading into next year with a strong Busch program and hopefully we can keep our Cup program going the way it's been going."

WHAT DID YOU LEARN AT THE GLEN LAST YEAR AND YOU CAN APPLY TO THIS YEAR'S RACE? "The biggest thing for running at Watkins Glen for me is that last year we were running 13th with 10 laps to go and ended up having a situation where the rear wheel lock-up and we ended up spinning ourselves out. So, this year, learning from that, it was just a case of me trying too hard to get a couple more positions before the end of the race where we ended up losing about 20 spots. So for us, this year, it's just to try and go out there and run the best we can. We've got a lot better equipment and I'm a smarter race car driver, I think in my opinion, and the team is definitely gelling a lot better together so we can hopefully have an easy weekend."