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

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 28 LOWE'S MONTE CARLO SS, TALKS WITH MEDIA ABOUT THE ALL-STAR RACE, HIS SUCCESS AT LOWE'S MOTOR SPEEDWAY, AND THE UPCOMING SPEED WORLD CHALLENGE:

ARE YOU ONE OF THE BRING THE TROPHY HOME OR BRING THE STEERING WHEEL HOME GUYS IN THIS RACE? SOMETIMES THIS RACE BENEFITS THE GUYS WHO ARE RECKLESS MORE THAN THE GUYS WHO ARE SMART AND PATIENT "In the end, if you're in a position to win, you pull all the stops out. But it's still is a race and there are a lot of laps and you need to get to the end of it. Taking a risk in lap five is not going to pay off - especially if you crash your car. So when it comes down to the end, it's a free-for-all at that point. But we certainly will be pushing really hard. It's more of a sprint race than a 500 or 600-mile race. So from lap one, throughout the entire race, it's a little more intense."

THERE IS NO INVERSION THIS YEAR. WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THAT? "I'm going to look like a fool. I have no clue what the format is, or how many laps we're running. I'm learning as I'm out here. So, I'm excited to hear that because the inversion - even last year when we won, I missed the inversion by one spot and had to start deep in the field and still found my way through. So I'm excited about that. Thank you for telling me."

HOW MUCH EASIER DOES IT BECOME TO WIN ON A TRACK WHERE YOU'VE WON SEVERAL TIMES BEFORE? "It doesn't really get any easier, but you have a little more confidence coming into the event. You know where you need to be on the race track and the right rhythm and try to hang on to that mentally and apply that each time you come back. So I guess I know where to look. It doesn't mean we're going to go out and run well, but I get excited to come here. When we find the right rhythm and what I need in the car, we know we can sit tight and be confident."

THIS RACE IS GOOD FOR THE FANS AND THE SPONSORS, BUT THERE IS ONLY ONE GUY WHO REALLY LEAVES HAPPY. THERE ARE A BUNCH OF WRECKED RACE CARS IN THE END. IS THIS A RACE THAT MAY NOT BE THE BEST THING FOR THE TEAMS AT THIS TIME? "No, I think all the teams look forward to this event. It's a great warm-up for the Coke 600 that's coming up. We will also be able to get some real race activity during the hours of when we'll be racing the Coke 600. I think all the teams look forward to it. Granted, you don't want to lose a race car, and some guys might be a little short on the race car count right now, but I think everybody welcomes this race."

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE SEVERE PENALTY THAT WAS HANDED OUT BY NASCAR TO THE NO. 8 TEAM FOR AERODYNAMICS INFRACTION AT DARLINGTON? "It just keeps growing - especially when you mess with the parts that NASCAR provides. They are pretty clear that if you mess with those things, you won't like what NASCAR hands down. They've lived up to that and you can see a steady progression from each violation increasing. And I don't expect it to get any lighter or any less. I think NASCAR is really trying to send a message not to mess with this stuff - don't screw with it at all. And I think the message is coming through. In some cases, it's really a risky situation for crew chiefs because the gray areas are where they are used to walking in. Anymore you can really get in trouble for that."

YOU REALLY SEEM TO HAVE ADAPTED WELL TO THIS TRACK "It's been a great track for us. We look forward to coming to in and we've had a lot of success here. I don't know why it's worked or why it's been this way, but hopefully it'll continue and we'll have that same magic we typically have."

HAVE YOU GOTTEN ANY COLD SHOULDERS BECAUSE OF ALL THE SUCCESS YOU'VE HAD SO FAR THIS YEAR? "Oh, I wouldn't say cold shoulders. Inside the garage area, everybody knows how hard this sport is and everybody knows how hard Hendrick Motorsports works. And even though they may not like the roll we've been on lately, I think there's a lot of respect for Rick (Hendrick) and for what we've done as a team, and been able to accomplish in the car. It's a good position to be in to have a target on your back. That's the position all drivers, crew chiefs, and owners want to be in. And we're excited about where we're at."

WHAT EXCITES YOU OR ATTRACTS YOU TO NEXT WEEK'S SPEED WORLD CHALLENGE HERE? "I really want to become a better road course driver. When I go to Watkins Glen or Sonoma, I can run in the top 10 and top 5, but not fighting for the win. I want to get more experience in road course cars and Cadillac was nice enough to invite me to participate in the SPEED World Challenge Race. They took me to Sebring and I tested the car there. I tested it here. It's just been more experience for me in a road course car."

WHAT WAS YOUR IMPRESSION AFTER YOU TESTED THE CADILLAC HERE? "I was surprised on a couple of points. I was surprised on how quick and good the production-based car is. The Cadillac is really an impressive car. The other thing is that it really reminded me of a Nextel Cup car. The weight of the vehicle and stopping power and the way you drive it was a lot like a Nextel Cup car. So it was time well spent on my behalf."

DO YOU HAVE ANY CONCERNS ABOUT IT LIKE ABOUT THE STANDING START? "The standing start is going to be different for me. They have a launch control that I really didn't figure out during the test, so hopefully I can figure out how to utilize it so I can really make it work for me. The part that I'm most disappointed in is the track. We won't be able to run through the infield and run a true road course because of all the motor homes and things that are going on during the 600 weekend. So the track isn't what anybody is really excited for. You're really on the oval with a couple of chicanes. That's the only part I'm bummed about, but I still understand why the course is like it is, so we just have to deal with it."

WOULD YOU EVER LIKE TO RUN ANOTHER WORLD CHALLENGE COURSE THAT'S NOT A NASCAR COURSE LIKE MAYBE ROAD ATLANTA? "I would. I would love to run the Corvette if that opportunity was there for me; or a Daytona Prototype events or SPEED World Challenge events. It's really a lot of fun to go run these vehicles and see new tracks. But the toughest part is the schedule. And it was hard to really cram in this race during the 600 weekend with how much responsibility I have with running the Busch car and the Cup car and now the SPEED World Challenge car. So it's going to be a busy, busy weekend for me."

AS MUCH AS YOU TRAVEL, WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE HOME FOR TWO STRAIGHT WEEKS? "It means a lot. For me it is a little different. Being the Lowe's driver at Lowe's Motor Speedway holds a lot of responsibilities. So even though I'm home and sleeping in my own bed, it's a lot of early mornings and a lot of work to represent my great sponsor and all the relationships they have here at the track. So it's been hectic, but to be home - there's nothing better. To hit some local restaurants and sleep in your own bed is nice. It's nice to be here in May."

YOUR FRIENDS DON'T GET TO SEE YOU THAT MUCH UNLESS THEY TRAVEL, DO THEY? "No, they don't get to see it much. We also have a lot of friends who come in at this time of year to Charlotte and we love the SouthPark area where we live. There's no place better to be. It's really just a fun time. My wife really enjoys it. We get to spend a lot of quality time with friends and showing them what we're doing and what's around."

WHAT'S YOUR NUMBER ONE CONCERN ABOUT THE STATE OF NASCAR? "I guess I haven't thought about it. I guess this would be a general comment - just making sure that we continue to grow. Our sport has done such a good job of showing growth. There are different arguments about TV packages and sponsorship packages and length of races and the Chase and adjustments to the Chase to make for better entertainment. We just have to make sure that our sport continues to grow and that it's here for a long, long time."

DO THE DRIVERS HAVE A LOT TO DO WITH THAT BY TALKING TO NASCAR? "There are times when we are approached about things, but it's not like we have a group of drivers that is in conversation with NASCAR. It's in their hands. It's been a family run sport for a long time. They brought it to this point so we all have a lot of trust in them and feel that they are going to lead us the right way."

ON RACING AT DOVER, WHAT IS THAT LIKE AND WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FROM THE NEW GENERATION RACE CAR? "I think a lot of us really think it's going to be a big challenge for the car of tomorrow - the hard transitions into the corner and also off the corner are a challenge for us. I'm hopeful we get some more practice time. It's going to be really tough on us. The way we load the tire there, and the way this car of tomorrow works, we could potentially see extra wearing - especially on the right front. So hopefully we get in there and can get some good quality laps in and understand how the bigger cars work and take care of the right front.

HOW CHALLENGING IS DOVER? "Dover is one of the toughest tracks we go to. The straight-aways are elevated higher than the center of the corner so you almost launch off the straightaway into the corners. It's concrete so there is a lot of grip. Aerodynamics is very important there with the high speeds that we run. It's a very intense track. It's also narrow. So if you spin out, you hit something. So it's really a challenging race track that I've always enjoyed. I think the car of tomorrow is going to make it more challenging yet."

HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO JOIN JEFF GORDON AND DALE EARNHARDT AND BECOME A THIRD TIME WINNER HERE? "That would be quite an honor. I feel like we've got a great chance. We've found our way to victory lane twice; maybe we can do it a third time and join the high ranks of Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon in that category."

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

JEFF BURTON, NO. 31 CINGULAR WIRELESS MONTE CARLO SS, MET WITH MEMBERS OF THE MEDIA AT LOWE'S MOTOR SPEEDWAY AND DISCUSSED THE PENALTIES HANDED TO THE NO. 8 TEAM, THE MENTAL TRANSITION BETWEEN THE ALL-STAR RACE AND THE COCA COLA 600, ON THE ROLE A DRIVER PLAYS WITH TEAM LEADERSHIP AND OTHER TOPICS.

ON IF ANY DRIVERS ARE SAYING THE ALL-STAR RACING ISN'T SO GREAT FOR THEIR TEAM SINCE A LOT LEAVE WITH WRECKED RACE CARS: "Well this race can set you back, I mean, if you bring your best equipment here, which is what we all do, and you loose it, then you have lost something that is a resource that you need to be earning points with. It potentially can have a negative effect, but this is an important event too. It is important for us to come out from an ego standpoint and from a team moral standpoint, it is important for us to come out here and compete at a high level. It is a fun race. It's a real exciting race. A lot of energy, a lot of excitement. You just go lay it out there and see what you can get done. I still think you have got to be smart. I don't think you just throw caution to the wind and not worry about what happens, I think you still have to drive smart, but certainly more aggressive than normal."

IF YOU ARE NOT LEADING THE RACE DOES THAT MAKE YOU ALL THE MORE CAUTIOUS?: "I think that the guys that feel like they have a chance to win certainly are more aggressive than the guys racing for 10th. The race for 10th isn't going to be as hard fought as it would be on a normal Sunday, but the race for the lead may be more hard fought."

ON THE PENALITIES HANDED TO THE NO. 8 TEAM: "Yeah, it was severe and it should be severe. Nothing against DEI or anybody else, right now with The Car of Tomorrow, what NASCAR is trying to do, severe penalties are what will keep us in line. It is real important to start the thing off on the right foot. It will make everybody dot their I's and cross their T's. I hate to see any team get penalized, but as much as NASCAR warned us about making sure we do everything the way they want us to do it we have to make sure we do, and they send a strong message to every team out there that we need to be doing that."

THE TRANSITION FROM THIS RACE TO THE LONGEST RACE NEXT WEEK, HOW DOES THAT AFFECT YOURSELF AND YOUR TEAM'S MINDSET? "Well this is a much more relaxed weekend. We come here this weekend to have fun. It's kind of like going racing with no points and going out to have a good time. Next weekend is much more serious, it's much more businesslike. That is the way that I approach it. This is kind of like an off weekend. We come out here to do what we love to do, which is race, but without all the pressure that racing for points has."

ON WHETHER OR NOT THE PENALTIES HANDED TO DEI WERE FAIR: "I think they were fair. Obviously, I don't have all of the specifics, but I do agree with stiff penalties. I think that stiff penalties, especially if taking points away is a way to get all of the teams' attention. We all know, especially with The Car of Tomorrow, what NASCAR's agenda is with making the cars more alike, and they have been very clear about making sure that we abide by the rules. I hate to see any team get penalized, because the majority of the team had nothing to do with the reason the penalty was there, but they all get penalized and I hate to see that. At the same time, it's got everybody's attention."

ON INCREASE OF NO. 8 MERCHANDISE SALES OF 110 PERCENT SINCE DALE EARNHARDT, JR. DECIDED TO LEAVE DEI: "Dale's decision to leave DEI is separate of anything else. We can try to pull all of those things together if we want to but the reality of it is, Dale's decision to leave is only, that is all there is, it is out there by itself. How NASCAR makes rules and judgments has nothing to do at all with that."

ON THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF DEI AND RCR MERGING ENGINE PROGRAMS: "I am really excited about it. I think that one of the things that it allows us to do is to put a lot more resources into our engine department. If you look at where Hendrick is, you look at where Roush, Yates are, they have a huge percentage of the field. They have a lot more money, a lot more resources to deal with. This puts us in that same ball park. I think that certainly is a step in the right direction. I am excited about it. It's a whole lot of work ahead of them, it's a whole lot of stuff that has got to change in order to make all of this happen but I think that the concept is really good."

DO YOU SEE THAT AS A DETRIMENT OR A DETERRENT FOR JUNIOR TO COME OVER TO RCR? "If it's a deterrent for Junior to come to RCR, because Richard is doing what's right for his company, then Richard can't worry about that. Richard has got to do what he has got to do to make sure that his cars compete at a high level and if that doesn't suit somebody or a particular person's best interest, then Richard can't worry about that. He has got to do what is in the team's best interest. Not one person can drive his ship, except Richard. Richard needs to drive his ship where he thinks it needs to go. If anybody that would be looking to come to RCR views that as a detriment, then that's okay. Richard is doing what he thinks is right, and that is what he should do."

ON BILL BRODERICK'S INVENTION OF THE HAT DANCE: "Well I am not that old. I don't know how it all got started, but Bill was certainly the guy that was always in the middle of it. He had an unmistakable look. It was pretty hard to miss Bill. When he was there, in victory lane, you couldn't miss him. He made it famous, for sure. Honestly, it is kind of part of tradition now. It is fun to do. It is neat to see all of the sponsors that are involved in the sport and take pictures with different people in victory lane. It's kind of fun to be honest."

WHAT DO YOU DO WITH ALL OF YOUR HATS? "They take them from me, I never get them. They always think that I am not a hat guy, so I don't really care. They always take them back."

TONIGHT IS DIFFERENT THAN ANYTHING ELSE YOU GUYS DO. HOW EXCITING IS IT TO SWITCH THINGS UP? "It's fun. It's neat to do something different. It is a little nerve racking at the same time, because it is different."

ON HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS' DOMINATION: "They deserve a tremendous amount of praise and respect. I look at what they have done with great admiration. As much as I want to beat them, as much as I want to compete against them, I also respect what they have been able to do. It is our job to it better than they are doing, and we have not done that. We have done it at times, but we have not done it as much as they have done it. So, we have got to find a way to get better. I don't hold that against them. They deserve whatever praise they get."

ON THE ROLE THAT A DRIVER HAS IN TEAM LEADERSHIP: "It is different for every team. There is no stereotypical way for a driver to be a leader. Every driver has got to do what he thinks is in his team's best interest. That could be anything, it just depends. My group is a group that doesn't need a lot of love and attention. They understand that I am busy. I understand that they are busy. My group is very professional and they understand. With my group it is easy. I come in and work as hard as I can. They know that I give 100 percent, I know that they give 100 percent and we have respect for each other."

ON MAINTAINING BALANCE BETWEEN BEING A DRIVER AND A TEAM LEADER: "I think the young drivers come in and they want to be friends with everybody. They want to spend all their time with the team. (INAUDIBLE) . because that's how you did it before you got here. You would all work together till late at night. You were all together all the time. As you are in this sport and you have some success, your time starts to be pulled away and you are not able to spend as much time with them as you used to be able to. There is an adjustment there. There has to be professional respect, there has to be friendly respect...(INAUDIBLE) . and the guys on the team have as much to do with that as the driver. I have had guys on the team that resent that I have come to the race track, they get here at seven in the morning and I walk in at 10 in the morning, they are here till six at night and I walk out at quarter after noon. I have had some people that resent that. It is important for the team to understand what the driver's role is as well. Understand that we may not be at the shop on a Tuesday at two o'clock, but we're in Topeka, Kansas doing something on Tuesday at two o'clock. I think the more experienced crew members understand that, and the guys that have been around a lot, understand that. The drivers have to understand how many hours the crew guys are working and have a lot of respect and understanding for that. It takes both parties for it to work." Contacts:

ON EXPRESSING ISSUES WITH THE CREW PUBLICLY: "I don't agree with expressing it publicly. When we talk about our car not handling well or having problems, I don't agree with doing in the public to try to fix the problem. I think the fans deserve to know what is going on, but I don't think that you fix your problems like that. And by the way, the driver doesn't have a good day everyday either. And when your team hasn't had a good day, you want them to treat you the same way you want to be respected and treated when you don't have a good day. It is important to understand that not everybody is going to be on the top of their game everyday. Honesty is paramount. We don't have time not to be honest. We have to be honest with each other, we have to be able to tell each other, right then, right now, what we expect. If we can't do that, we can't be successful."

BEHIND THE HAULER CHAT WITH DENNY HAMLIN, NO. 11 FEDEX FREIGHT MONTE CARLO SS

DENNY HAMLIN, NO. 11 FEDEX FREIGHT MONTE CARLO SS, MET WITH MEMBERS OF THE MEDIA AT LOWE'S MOTOR SPEEDWAY FOR THE WEEKLY TOP-12 BEHIND THE HAULER CHAT. HAMLIN TALKED ABOUT PERSONNEL CHANGES TO HIS PIT CREW, COMMENTS HE MADE IN DARLINGTON, THE MORALE OF HIS TEAM, HIS ROLE AS A LEADER WITH THE NO. 11 TEAM AND OTHER TOPICS.

ON WHAT HIS TEAM HAS DONE THIS YEAR TO CONTINUE THE MOMENTUM THEY BUILT LAST YEAR: "The biggest thing is we ended last year on a good note. We used the motivation from all season to make the Chase and we used that as our motivation."

ON IF ANY DRIVERS ARE SAYING THE ALL-STAR RACING ISN'T SO GREAT FOR THEIR TEAM SINCE A LOT LEAVE WITH WRECKED RACE CARS: "Well it's a lot of fun because we get to go as hard as we can but the biggest thing is it puts a little stress on the teams because they know that they have a car out there that may not be able to come back to the race shop. I don't know, I think it's a pretty good atmosphere and I like the way it's set out. This will be my first one so we'll see how it works."

DO YOU LIKE THIS TRACK BASED ON YOUR TEAM'S STRATEGY? "Well I don't know, the track's never been too good to me. It's probably my second worst race track other than Dover. I've wrecked one in testing. This car right here is a car that we can afford to wreck so we'll see if we can hopefully give it all or bring back nothing."

ON HIS SATISFACTION WITH THE CHANGES TO HIS PIT CREW: "I'm glad everything's done. It's just something that's been ongoing for the end of last year all the way to now. It just now reared its ugly head. We felt like we could deal with it before because we weren't contending for wins like we are now. Everyone has kind of stepped up their game this year and the pit crew has kind of just stayed where they were. They could ring off great stops and we could give up good track position spots on weekends. We feel like in order to be a championship contending team all around we needed to make the changes that way by the time the Chase starts we're going to be full speed ahead."

ON GETTING OFF TO A GOOD START IN THE ALL-STAR RACE AND GETTING A GOOD QUALIFYING SPOT: "I think it's just motivation for those guys. A lot's been made that I was putting down my crew, which is not the case at all. I was very frustrated in the way things went down at the end of that race but I also admitted that I gave away a race or two. It's interesting to see what gets put out in the papers. It's always the negatives and not the positives but I think they're going to take that as motivation. You'll probably see them have one of the quickest stops tonight."

DID YOU GET ANY BACKLASH FROM YOUR COMMENTS ABOUT YOUR PIT CREW? "No, I've talked to all the guys and everybody's upbeat about it. A lot of the guys, all we've done is just move them around. Two of the guys are no longer on the pit crew but the same guys are working in the shop and preparing my race cars...it is all about putting people in the right position, the carriers and the changers making sure they get along and in the long run this is going to work out to be better."

ON THE CURRENT MORALE OF HIS TEAM: "The morale's high. We constantly do things to motivate each other every single week. When I do something wrong they let me know. That motivates me to do better and I think it's going to be the same for them."

DO YOU REGRET YOUR COMMENTS FROM DARLINGTON? DO YOU THINK ANY OF YOUR COMMENTS CAME OUT TOO HARSH? SHOULD SOME OF THOSE COMMENTS BEEN SAID TO THE TEAM RATHER THAN IN FRONT OF THE MEDIA? "In turn maybe but I feel like I'm going to say exactly the way I feel whether I'm on camera or not. Like I said, I think those guys will use it as motivation and it was not meant to hurt team morale, more to just (say) 'Let's step up here.' It's time to step up if we're going to be winners and championship contenders. It's time everyone steps up including me. There's many race tracks where I'm not nearly as good as what I should be. When I make mistakes I'll call myself out on that. I think it was the time and place to say it."

WHY SAY IT NOW? "It was frustrating because you don't stay on top of things very long in this sport. There's waves of success and I feel like we've had a really good wave these last two months and just haven't capitalized and got a win and unfortunately with this sport winning is just about everything. When it comes to the Chase the way they formatted it, it doesn't matter if we're leading the points if we don't have a win we could be 12th. That means a lot. Last year we score more points in the Chase than any other driver but we started too far behind and that's what I didn't want to happen this year was to start 50 points behind, score the most points, have the best finish average but we didn't get a win so we're not champions. That's what I don't want to happen at the end of the year."

HOW LONG HAVE YOU FELT WHAT YOU ARE FEELING? HOW LONG HAVE YOUR FRUSTRATIONS BEEN THIS WAY? "Well there's been a lot of situations this year. There's been Martinsville where we've had lugnuts fall off. Phoenix we had lugnuts fall off. There's just been a lot of things going on this year within the team and the best way to make things better is to change the chemistry with the guys. People do it all time within teams. Hendrick and Roush, those guys totally switched teams so we're just changing a very small aspect of what makes that car go faster every week."

WERE YOU LOSING CONFIDENCE WHEN YOU PULLED IN TO YOUR PIT? "Yeah, I mean a little bit. A little bit was a loss of confidence but for the most part I knew that if we could just maintain. I don't care if I gain any spots or anything like that. If we could just maintain we were going to be OK. We just can't afford to give up those big spots like we did last weekend."

IS THERE ANY KIND OF JEALOUSY IN THE GARAGE OF HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS' DOMINANCE THIS SEASON OR DO YOU TRY TO MODEL YOURSELF AFTER THEM? "Really you model yourselves after them. They've done everything right. They've got great cars week in and week out. Even though they may not have the best cars they do the best with them and they don't make mistakes and that's what got them the wins that they got. They've capitalized on people like myself and the 20 and different guys making mistakes on pit road or on the race track. You've got to give them credit. They're not making mistakes when it really counts."

ON HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS HAVING GOOD TIMING: "They're running well when it counts and it seems like they're getting their cars better and better as the races go on. They're really working well and it's something that Gibbs and myself are modeling ourselves after is the Hendrick teams."

ON MANY DRIVERS ATTENDING THE PIT CREW CHALLENGE WHILE HE DID NOT TO AVOID A BAD APPEARANCE WITH HIS CREW: "It was a lot of people in different positions and a couple new guys and I was one of the only drivers to show up last year. I had other obligations. I could not make it. I heard they did well and were really looking good and no penalties, which is good. That'll mean a lot come tonight for qualifying."

ON HIS TEAM HAVING NO PENALTIES: "That was one of the best things I heard all night was that there were no penalties. That just shows the focus of these guys that they're stepping it up. By having no penalties they're very aware. I think if they would have had penalties it would have just been more questions. It just shows that those guys are already stepping up."

ON HOW HE HAS GROWN THIS YEAR BY FEELING COMFORTABLE TO BE MORE VOCAL: "Basically I've stepped up, Mike (Ford) has stepped up, everyone at the shop has gotten better. The body guys have gotten better. The motor has gotten better. The only thing that hasn't gotten better is our pit crew. Not saying skill wise but when it comes down to the pressure situations we weren't stepping up to the level that we needed to. That's why we felt like we needed to make a change to see if we could get some of that chemistry back."

ON THE ROLE OF BEING A DRIVER AND A TEAM LEADER AND THE FINE LINE BETWEEN SPEAKING OUT AND SPEAKING OUT TOO MUCH: "I think Mike (Ford) has kind of taken that role of being the team leader. Last week during the race he sat them all down and gave him his two cents worth. A couple pit stops later was when we had that real bad one. I think guys were getting nervous. They felt like. Look if we're in contention to win this race, if we're going to do it we need to be better and not make mistakes. I think that got in their heads a little bit and caused some problems. For the most part my pit crew has been great every weekend it just seems like it (the errors) shows up more when it really counted."

ON LEARNING HIS ROLE AS A LEADER ON THE TEAM AND BEING A YOUNGER DRIVER: "I feel like I'm definitely one of the guys that they look to to be a confidence booster or anything like that. I'll sit here in a team meeting and I'll talk to them and I'll tell them this weekend that nothing was meant personal to them but I feel like they're better than that and in order to be better than that it's going to take a lot of practice and guys being moved around. We felt like we had to make that decision. If I don't perform as a driver then eventually they're going to be looking for a new driver. It all goes full circle."

ON IF DALE EARNHARDT JR. WOULD BE A GOOD FIT AT JOE GIBBS RACING AND IF HE WOULD PUSH FOR HIM TO BE CONSIDERED FOR A TEAMMATE? "I think everyone knows my relationship with Junior, off the race track it's very good. Him on Tony's (relationship) is very good on the race track so I think it would make a great fit. He'd bring a lot to Gibbs. Whether he's even interested or not, we don't even know."

ON IF THE BIG PICTURE AT THIS POINT IN THE SEASON IS THE 26 RACES TO THE CHASE OR IF IT'S THE ENTIRE SEASON: "Right now we're thinking 26/10. Right now we're looking and we might as well be 12th in points because we have zero wins. That's the way they formatted it and everyone complained because wins didn't mean enough. We're getting further and further behind but when that Chase starts that's how many more points we've got to make up than the rest of the guys. The way that they're not making mistakes, we need to be on a level playing field come Chase time. If we're down 50, 60 points it's going to be really hard to make up so that's kind of where the frustration comes from."

HAVE YOU HEARD ANY BOOS YET? "No, not really."

WHEN YOU WERE A LOCAL RACER WINNING ALL THE TIME DID YOU GET BOOED? "Yeah, it seems like all the winners get booed. I wouldn't mind having a few every now and then. That means that you're doing something good, you're making other fans upset that they're driver isn't winning. For the most part I've had a large support from my fan base. I'm actually pretty surprised and even Dick Berggren said to me 'Man, you've got way to many cheers.' I said 'From what I've accomplished I feel like I've gotten way too many.' I've got a good fan base and hopefully I can keep them."

DOES IT STING WHEN YOU DO GET BOOED? "No, it's really confidence. For us we look at predictions and use that as kind of our motivation. If you get booed that's more motivation. I think the fan response motivates more than anything.

"It never did (bother me). You know when you get in that car you got a job to do and you got to do it to your full ability. The only way to do that is to give it your all."

BEHIND THE HAULER CHAT WITH KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 PENNZOIL PLATINUM MONTE CARLO SS

KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 PENNZOIL PLATINUM MONTE CARLO SS, TALKS WITH MEDIA ABOUT THE COCA-COLA 600 AS THE LONGEST RACE OF THE YEAR, WHAT THE ALL-STAR RACE MEANS TO HIM, AND MORE:

DO YOU LIKE THIS RACE? THERE IS NO INVERSION THIS YEAR "I'm not really a huge fan of this race, anyway. I think it always tears up a lot of cars and really not for a whole lot at stake. It probably would be a little bit cooler if we could rotate it from track to track, but I don't really know what the format it. I know it's 20 laps for four times, so we'll see what happens."

WHAT DO YOU DO AND WHAT DOES THE TEAM DO TO PREPARE FOR RUNNING THAT EXTRA 100 MILES NEXT WEEK AT THE COCA COLA 600? "I don't do anything. I just drive a little bit further. But you know, for the most part, our stuff is all certified on the dyno to go 600 miles anyway. So, for the most part, we really don't do a whole lot different."

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE RCR / DEI MERGER TO BUILD ENGINES? AND WHAT DOES THAT DO TO THE POSSIBILITY OF HAVING DALE EARNHARDT JUNIOR JOIN RCR? "I can't speak for Dale Jr. I don't know anything about that. But I know from my standpoint, I don't know how it could be bad. Obviously it's going to give us more resources and more people and more engines and more cars on the track. It's just going to give you more of anything. And when you can have more of everything, you're going to wind up getting somewhere faster than you would by yourself."

WERE YOU SURPRISED BY THE STIFF PENALTY NASCAR HANDED OUT TO THE NO. 8 TEAM AFTER DARLINGTON? "No. At the team meetings and at the car of tomorrow meetings, that was exactly what the penalty was told to be and that's what they did. That's what they told you it was going to be from the beginning."

WILL THIS ALL STAR RACE BE MORE OF A TEST FOR THE COCA-COLA 600 NEXT WEEKEND THAN A RACE? "It's just one of those things where you go out and race just as hard as you can and whether or not I'm a big fan of it, we're still going to go out and race just as hard and try to win. That's just the nature of who we all are. So, it's one of those deals where you always gain information and you can always make things better for next week."

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE COCA-COLA 600 RACE? "The 600 is long, but it's really only 100 miles longer than we normally run, so it's not that big of a deal. But it's our longest race. Coming to Charlotte is always kind of special because you get to have all your guys at the shop who don't normally get to come to a race."

DOES THE EXTRA 100 MILES WEAR ON YOU AT THE END OF THE NIGHT, OR IS IT JUST ANOTHER 100 MILES? "You're programmed to go 500 miles. So that last 100 miles is always a little bit different than what we normally do. But all in all, it's really not that big of a deal."

NOT GOING TO DOVER FOR THE TEST...DOES THAT HELP? "It helps a lot. It's ridiculous how much we test right now because we're right in the middle of the season. We're basically running two race teams per team with the COT program and the old car program. It's hard on our guys now and I think it was a good call on their part to not go."

ON THE BIG PICTURE, ARE YOU LOOKING AT 26/10 OR THE ENTIRE SEASON OR JUST WINNING RACES? "I think right now you just have to try to win races and be competitive week in and week out and try to position yourself in the Chase and then hopefully have a good plan at the end so you can go out and race for a championship."

DO YOU THINK IT'S LIKE TWO SEASONS? "Well, last time I looked at the calendar, it was all one season."

IS THERE A JEALOUSY FACTOR IN HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS WINNING SO MANY RACES THIS YEAR SO FAR? "Not really. We had that same kind of success last year and it just kind of goes in cycles. They've had good cars. I don't think they've had the best cars at every race, they just haven't made the mistakes and they've been in the right position to capitalize on the right situations."

ON GOING TO IOWA? "We're going to race the Busch East-West race there and it should be a lot of fun. We're looking forward to going there and having a lot of fun on Sunday."

ON THE STATE OF NASCAR, WHAT'S THE BIGGEST ISSUE YOU WANT TO BE FIXED? "We don't really have any issues. I think the car of tomorrow is probably the biggest thing we've got going right now. If there is any issue, it's just maintaining the cost of the sport to keep the teams able to afford what they need to do."

JUNIOR JOHNSON WAS SAYING THAT THE DRIVERS NEED TO SPEAK THEIR MINDS AND HAVE CONTROVERSY. DO YOU THINK THE DRIVERS ARE LESS WILLING TO SPEAK UP BECAUSE THE SPORT HAS GROWN SO MUCH, OR IS THAT JUST PART OF THE SPORT? "Oh, I don't think so. I think the guys who are going to speak their mind are going to speak their mind and guys who aren't, aren't. It's really not any different than it's been before."

DO YOU THINK IT'S IMPORTANT THAT EVERY DRIVER HAS HIS OWN PERSONALITY? "I think it's important that we don't speak our minds to you guys (the media) and that we keep it in house as we try to make our sport better."

ALL THE DRIVERS SAY THEY DON'T MIND THE BOOING. IS THAT TRUE? "I don't mind. I don't care. I don't really pay attention to it. As long as my team is happy, I'm happy."

YOU MENTIONED GOING OUT TO IOWA. WHEN YOU GO TO A PLACE LIKE THAT, DO YOU HAVE A FEELING LIKE YOU CAN KIND OF LET YOUR HAIR DOWN? "Yeah, it's definitely fun. That's the main thing. You go out and have a good time and race hard and do things that you normally don't get to do."

HOW CHALLENGING IS THE TEAM LEADER ROLE TO A YOUNG DRIVER AND WHEN TO KNOW HOW OUTSPOKEN TO BE AND WHEN TO LET YOUR CREW CHIEF HANDLE THAT ROLE? "That's a good question. I don't know that I've figured all that out yet. Sometimes you say something that you shouldn't. You try to work with your team as much as you can. Sometimes you try to step up in the right situation. The more experience you have, the better off you'll be."

HOW DO YOU REPAIR SITUATIONS WHEN MAYBE YOU SAY SOMETHING THAT YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE SAID? "It all depends on the situation. Nowadays, most of the younger drivers have older teammates to look up to, to help with what you should and shouldn't do. So I think most all teams have somebody to be the team spokesperson."

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

KYLE BUSCH, NO. 5 CARQUEST/KELLOGG'S MONTE CARLO SS, MET WITH MEMBERS OF THE MEDIA AT LOWE'S MOTOR SPEEDWAY AND TALKED ABOUT COMPETING FOR HIS THIRD CONSECUTIVE CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES WIN IN CHARLOTTE, ON HOW THE NO. 8 TEAM'S PENALTY AFFECTS OTHER TEAMS, ON HIS BAD LUCK THIS SEASON AND OTHER SUBJECTS.

ON GOING FOR HIS THIRD STRAIGHT TRUCK SERIES WIN IN CHARLOTTE: "Well we are obviously looking forward to the opportunity being back with Billy Ballew Motorsports and Richie Wauters and all the guys over there to try to three-pete here this weekend with the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, but you know, we're okay, we're just trying to get our first runs in here today. Truck feels pretty good. A little bit better than what we tested here. We felt like we had a pretty good race truck when we tested, a couple guys picked up some time. A little concerned about that, but overall, I think it will be a good night. Not much to learn right now, just basically trying to get ready for tonight's race."

HOW IMPORTANT IS IT FOR YOU TO GET THAT THIRD WIN HERE TONIGHT? "Well you know, it's not so important to get the third consecutive win, as it is just to win and get Billy Ballew back to the victory lane and get myself and all these guys (back there). They work awfully hard and they have got a lot of time that they spend preparing all these trucks and getting all these trucks built and everything ready, so it is worth their while to be able to celebrate a little bit. I feel like we've got a pretty good shot tonight and we got Bill Lester running a lot better in the tests, so hopefully he will be confident enough in his equipment that he can get the job done as well, too."

ON THE PENALITIES HANDED TO THE NO. 8 TEAM AND HOW IT AFFECTS OTHER TEAMS KNOWING NASCAR IS IMPOSING THESE KIND OF PENALTIES: "Well, not being too particular or knowledgeable on the devices that they were penalized for, I don't know exactly what the enhancements were, but, NASCAR obviously found something to not be in order or in ordinance with the rules, so they felt it in their discretion to have to come up with a penalty, and that's the penalty they came up with. The severity, was it harsh? Yeah, I think so; it was a little harsh for what it was. I don't think it really paid much dividends to the performance or advantage or anything like that. As Eury said, I have read a couple things that it was an honest mistake. It was a part that was manufactured early in the development of the COT and it got misplaced and put on the car, by accident. I think that was probably the part that was okay, but I guess what I heard in the background of that was that they tampered with the seals and they actually moved it. That's where it became a problem. NASCAR seals those to the deck lid, the wing brackets, every week and you are not allowed to move them once they are put on there. I guess the seals were broken, so that is where the severity came from that they obviously did tamper with it."

IF THIS WAS AN HONEST MISTAKE, DOES THAT MAKE TEAMS NERVOUS THAT THE PENALTIES ARE SO SEVERE? "It should, obviously it should. If there is going to be a hundred grand and a hundred points and six week suspensions I think that crew chiefs are really going to take that into consideration obviously if they want to stick around for race weeks but also keep their job."

ON THE NEW FORMAT OF THE ALL-STAR RACE AND IF THAT AFFECTS THE WAY HE RACES AND IF IT MAKES IT EASIER NOW WITH A LITTLE MORE PURE RACING: "Last year, I am not sure if it was different in the past, but last year the inversion came after the first segment, because I won the first segment and then the invert came out and we started like eighth or 10th, we were on the outside, so one of those two spots. Going through one or two, Kasey Kahne got a little bit loose and wrecked half the field. I believe that if I was out front, and started on the pole because I won the first segment, then we would have a better shot of keeping our car in one piece, obviously, and being able to continue on in the event but we got taken out so early that I never got to really mess with the rest of the All-Star race. It would have been nice, because it was my first All-Star race, to try to complete through at least the whole thing, to learn about it a little bit. I have got to take this year again, as basically my first and try to get through the whole thing so that I can learn a little bit about it. As they keep changing the rules, it just keeps adding excitement, adding drama to the event and making it what it is. It's just the All-Star race, everybody goes for broke and there is a million dollars at the end of the deal when you finish first, so that is pretty much what it is all about.

ON HIS OPINION OF JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: "He's a fiery guy. He likes to go out there and ruffle some feathers, sort of like I did when I came into this deal and maybe still do today. It is good to see that, I believe in that kind of stuff, it's just racing. You are out there to race, so you race as hard as you can every lap and get the most out of your equipment, and the most out of your car and obviously a couple drivers have gotten a little frustrated because he's not so easy to pass. I don't think that the world of racing revolves necessarily around how easy you are to pass; it's all about trying to win races."

ON HIS ATTITUDE ABOUT LUCK, IF HE NATURALLY HAS BAD LUCK, IF IT EVENTUALLY EQUALS OUT AND IF THERE'S ANYTHING HE CAN DO ABOUT BAD LUCK: "Well, you just kind of have to go along with it. Last year it was a pretty good year. It was our sophomore season, everybody kind of plays a little bit to the sophomore slump, but we didn't have one. This year I feel more like it is probably my sophomore year, you know, having the bad luck that we have had a little bit. Hopefully it will come and it will go and you have your good years and you have your bad years. Obviously this year it started off running well at Daytona, running up front for most of the race there with Tony and Kurt, and then they got involved in a crash. Then everybody thought, well the 5 car was the third best car, so it's their race to loose, and obviously we lost it."

"We had ours up there and we had ours down at the end of that race and then we went on to California, Atlanta, and Bristol and here and there and everywhere and we've been all over the board. In the Busch Series as well, not being able to close out the deal and win a race. It's been real frustrating for me. I am real down on myself just because it's not going the way that I want it to be going and I'm trying to do everything right.

"There was some bad luck happening there. I tried changing my luck a little bit and I threw away a new pair of shoes that I thought were bad luck, you know. Just trying to figure it all out and get through it all. Like you said, it must just come and go in spurts and times and this is just one of those times that we have to go through it and hopefully get it out of our way before it comes down to crunch time, to be involved in the Chase and go after it at the end of the year. Try to win some races. Like last year, we were running pretty good and made it into the Chase, I think that we were like fourth when we got started at the Chase at New Hampshire and then we didn't finish seven out of the last 10 races. We just stumbled all over our feet and just tripped and fell. Right now, I think that we are stumbling a little bit, but hopefully we can gather ourselves back up and get ready before the Chase comes down and be solid through the Chase."

HOW BEAT UP WERE YOU AFTER THE WRECKS AT TALLADEGA THIS YEAR? "The first one, you know the Busch Race was obviously the worst one, but I was a little sore getting back into the car on Sunday. My shoulder got hit on the headrest when I was upside down there because my headrest comes up over my seat. We are working on widening that out so that we don't have that problem again. You learn as you go with that kind of stuff. I felt pretty comfortable within the race cars though, I felt safe. I got out of the first one and got involved in the next one the second day, minding my own business running on the bottom and trying to fall to the back and having cars run across my nose. That was a bad deal. Monday I felt back to normal, I actually wasn't too sore and got back to the gym and was working out as normal and throughout the rest of the week. I am always sore, just because of working out all the time and being in the gym. As far as being beat up, I wasn't too bad."

ON IF THE BIG PICTURE AT THIS POINT IN THE SEASON IS THE 26 RACES TO THE CHASE OR IF IT'S THE ENTIRE SEASON: "No, it's to the Chase right now. You've got to be in the top 12 in order to make your season. Right now we are 11th, so we are almost on the brink of falling out. I think that there is only 80-something points that separates seventh through 12th. We come out of Charlotte with a good day or something like that and we could probably move all the way back up to that point. It is all about trying to keep the consistent finishes going and get back up to the place, you know, Jeff's got a 200-point lead and I think it's another 150 or something points between second and fourth or second and fifth. There is quite a big point's gap."

SO IN THAT SENSE ARE THERE TWO DISTINCT SEASONS? "Oh yeah. It is just like the NFL. Everybody doesn't want to say it, but it is. You've got your regular season that goes on for your first 26 races and then you've got your playoff's at the end. That is pretty much what this deal is all about."

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

DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 8 BUDWEISER MONTE CARLO SS TALKED WITH MEDIA ABOUT THE ALL-STAR RACE AND HIS FANS AND THE DARLINGTON PENALTY AND HIS DISCUSSIONS WITH TEAM OWNERS AND MORE:

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE BEARD? "I had to do my ESPN glamour shots this morning. They are televising the races, I reckon. My mama said I could keep it if I wanted to, but I had my fun."

ON THE PENALTY "We were told at the start of the year about the money and the points. The suspension was a surprise. It never entered my mind, I guess. In Darlington, I knew NASCAR was going to do something. I just never thought that the suspension was going to be one of them and I guess I should have because we've seen it before. We can handle the other half of it but it's going to be different with Tony Gibson (as crew chief), but me and Tony have talked. We'll do the best we can. I feel pretty confident in him. I support Tony Jr. I was really proud of him. Not to be taken out of context - I'm not proud of cheating, but I was proud of him trying to give me every advantage he can give me. And that's what I want him always to do."

AFTER THE PENALTY WAS ANNOUNCED, WHAT DID YOU SAY TO YOUR TEAM TO LIFT THEIR SPIRITS? "They had built me a new car for the All-Star race and I just wanted to check it out. They were really proud of it and I wanted to see this car. I called Tony Jr. about three times that morning - just telling him what I heard and what I knew. He can handle things like that. It doesn't really bother him that bad. He was obviously upset with being penalized and having his name in the news. But he's pretty tough. He can handle it. We're all good buddies."

ON THE RCR / DEI ENGINE PROGRAM "I think that's a great move. I was telling Richie Gilmore last year at this time that the Chevy teams ought to consolidate down to one engine program. Depending on the teams you brought in, that would cut the costs tremendously. That's probably going to cut 25 to 30% off the engine shop expense on each side - hopefully, if they do it correctly - and I think it's an awesome idea because the sport's getting so dang costly now. They should be able to get an advantage from it. As far as performance-wise, both of them have got a little bit to offer each other, I'm sure."

DOES THAT IMPACT YOUR DECISION ON THE FUTURE? "No, not really. We're still thinking about where we want to go and putting everything in a row and getting everything lined up. It wouldn't impact my decision, though. Absolutely not."

HAVE YOU TALKED TO TERESA EARNHARDT SINCE YOU MADE YOUR ANNOUNCEMENT TO LEAVE DEI AT THE END OF THE YEAR? "I sure haven't."

YOUR MERCHANDISE SALES HAVE INCREASED SINCE YOUR DECISION TO LEAVE DEI. WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THAT? "It's great. I wanted to say that aside from my crew's commitment to support me and for them to say what they said and how they said it and the delivery and how they told me was great. The other thing that has been overwhelming and a big surprise was the fan support that I've had. If I can take a moment..

"When I first started driving race cars, I got all my daddy's fans because I was his son. I didn't get them by whipping guys butts on the race track because that didn't happen for a long time. And so, throughout my career, I always knew that I had earned some of my dad's fans just by being his son and only by being his son. Once they started pulling for me, whether they found things about me they didn't know they liked, and things we had in common and they got closer and felt closer, I don't know. But initially we earned a lot of his fans, you know. And I always knew that. There really wasn't any way to know where the sport was going to lay and I have gotten a lot of feedback from my fans and I just want to thank them and it's really helped me to sleep at night. I made the decision because that's what I wanted to do and it's what I feel is best for me. But it does ease your mind a little bit when somebody tells you you've made the right decision and they're behind you. Right or wrong, my fans have been great about supporting me."

HOW NERVOUS WERE YOU ABOUT THAT FIRST DRIVER INTRO AFTER MAKING THE ANNOUNCEMENT? "I've done some things and gotten booed before, so I know what that's like, believe it or not (laughs). Had we lost 100% of our support from our fans, I made the decision. Honestly, I feel like if everyone in this garage were saying it's something I shouldn't do, I probably still would have done it. I just felt that strongly about it. And I feel like I made the right decision. I didn't really beg or anticipate my fans to follow me or support me, but they've been really overwhelming about what they've said and writing me. Just coming out of my shop, they've been telling me in person; that was really awesome. I'm sure some of them are disappointed, but I'm pretty proud of them."

HOW DOES IT FEEL TO COME INTO THE ALL-STAR RACE NOW? "Well, my team's really put the pressure on me because they've build a brand new car. I want to run the high line in practice, but we only have one bullet. They've only got the one car. We've got an old one up there (in the trailer) but it's not special. They didn't build it just for this. It's just a regular old car we dragged down here. It don't have the extra stuff you know, like the extra ignition box and extra battery and stuff like that. So I'm nervous to run it hard in practice and get out there and run like I want to run. But I'm excited. I love driving. I just love being in the car and being on the track. It's helped in getting a lot of the stress I was dealing with off my mind. I'm really enjoying driving."

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO YOU THIS WEEKEND, THE 20-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF YOUR DAD'S FAMOUS PASS IN THE GRASS? "I can't believe it's been 20 years. It feels like maybe 10. I can remember it you know, I was here (laughs). It's weird you know, just how time has gone by. Man, it don't seem like 20 years. It sure don't. That was an amazing day. It was pretty wild. Imagine if you will, with the media coverage that this sport gets today, if that race were to happen tomorrow night - that exact deal between two drivers - it would be incredible."

YOU WANT TO STAY AWAY FROM TALKING ABOUT NEGOTIATIONS FOR A COUPLE OF WEEKS, BUT ARE YOU PLEASED WITH THE WAY THINGS ARE GOING SO FAR? "Yeah. I'm very pleased. Things are good. We haven't hit any speed bumps or obstacles, and the temperature of the conversations that we've had up to this point have been very good."

HAVE YOU TALKED TO ANY CAR OWNERS YOURSELF? "Yes."

DO YOU WANT TO TELL US WHO? "No."

WHAT'S YOUR TIME FRAME FOR GETTING THE DEAL DONE? "I don't really have one. The Motorsports Authentics or whoever we're working with, I guess, the diecast and hats and shirts people and my sister and the owner of the team are going to want to do it in x-amount of days. So we've got this much time to get this much done. But to me, it's about making sure it's the right decision and no matter when that happens, I'll be very, very happy."

WITH ANY OF THE CAR OWNERS YOU'VE TALKED TO, HAS ANYTHING JUMPED OUT AT YOU YET? DO YOU FEEL STRONGLY ABOUT ANYTHING? "They all are fun to get to know. It's really neat to get down to the core of some of these guys and understand them more. You don't have that ability, you know, when you're driving for another team. You can't spend that time with them. That's been really fun. They all can basically offer the same little piece of the puzzle, but it's really the guy and the company, I guess, that seems to be the most comfortable fit for me."

DO YOU HAVE A FEELING YET? "No.

"I'm going to listen to everybody and some guys are such good guys that they'll give you advice on what to do regardless of how to fix them. Some of these people just actually want you to be happy, which is awesome."

DOES THAT SURPRISE YOU? "It's just been a long time (laughs) since somebody has actually talked to you like that."

SO DO YOU REALLY FEEL GOOD ABOUT WHERE YOUR FUTURE IS HEADED? "Absolutely. There's a big, new world out there. I'm really excited about my opportunities and the possibilities and what's going to be on the table. I'm excited about how the response has been from some of the owners. Their excitement really makes you feel appreciated and makes you feel necessary - like you'd be an asset - and that's really a great feeling."

DOES YOUR LEVEL OF ENTHUSIASM SURPRISE EVEN YOU? "I didn't know what to expect. I didn't know whether this was going to be good and bad. You know, I just didn't know what to expect. But I've just been open to whatever happens, happens. If it doesn't work out like I thought it would, or should, I'll deal with that and I'll move forward and make the best of any situation I could possibly put myself in. But hopefully it's the best decision I could make for myself. Hopefully I'll be happy with that - that I made the best decision for me."

Richard Childress Press Conference

Richard Childress, owner of Richard Childress Racing (RCR), met with members of the media at Lowe's Motor Speedway to discuss the announcement that RCR and Dale Earnhardt, Inc. would combine their engine programs and the favorable ruling handed down in the AT & T/Cingular Wireless case in Federal Court.

ON NOW HAVING AT&T: "It sounds great to me. I am just really happy for AT&T that we are going to be able to re-brand our car to AT&T and carry on. We want to get back to really trying to win this championship. It is just a great day for RCR and AT&T."

ON WHEN LOGO WILL BE ON THE CAR: "Hopefully, if everything works well, we will have them on there tomorrow night."

ON RCR/DEI ENGINE DEAL: "I spoke with Teresa (Earnhardt) a couple of months ago. It was an idea I had and I spoke to her about it. Ritchie Gilmore and I got together with Max (Siegel) and started talking more about it. It really makes sense for us to put our programs together. Looking at their stuff, looking at our stuff, we both have great people, great product, we just want to be better. We are looking really more further down the road, a couple of years down the road. With what Toyota doing what they are doing, the model that Yates and Roush put together. Hendrick is doing about 11 or 12 teams right now and we feel we can only be more powerful."

ON IF DECISION HAD GONE THE OTHER WAY, HOW WOULD THAT HAVE AFFECTED YOUR ORGANIZATION: "I never look at what-ifs. AT&T won and that is all I am concerned about today. I don't look back at what would have happened if it had went the other way."

ON HOW NASCAR REACTED: "I haven't really gone in to any detail with them."

ON WHAT IS BIG PICTURE: "The big picture is AT&T, I guess until it goes back to court. AT&T will be branded AT&T and we are really excited about the new look for the car and the new AT&T."

ON WHEN IT GOES BACK TO COURT: "I have no idea."

ON RENEWAL DISCUSSIONS WITH AT&T AND HOW THAT AFFECTS JEFF BURTON: "Jeff and I have a plan that we are going to announce pretty soon. I am sure we will start talking to AT&T pretty soon. Jeff is very happy where he is at and I am very happy with Jeff. We will be making some announcements pretty soon."

ON RCR/DEI ENGINE DEAL HAVING ANY IMPACT ON DALE EARNHARDT, JR. POSSIBLE COMING TO RCR: "I haven't talked to Junior or Kelly (Earnhardt Elledge) either one. This is something we had planned and been talking to Teresa, Ritchie and Max about before Junior made his announcement last week. I think it is something that is going to be very positive for both companies. We are just going to be stronger."

ON HEARING RUMORS ABOUT DEI TALKING WITH RYR: "I don't know much about that deal, no more that what I read in the media so it would be hard for me to comment on the DEI side."

ON ANY TALKS WITH JUNIOR: "I haven't spoken with Junior since he left DEI."

ON RELIEF ON HAVING AT&T SITUATION RESOLVED: "We are wanting to concentrate on this championship. We have our R07 engines in our Chevys here at Charlotte. We are excited about having those in the cars. We are excited about a lot of things. We are fired up. We want to come here and win this race. We are excited about getting our DEI/RCR program together. Lot of good things going on right now."

Nextel Wake-Up Call with Kenny Wallace, No. 78 Furniture Row Monte Carlo SS

Kenny Wallace, No. 78 Furniture Row Monte Carlo SS, was the guest of today's Nextel Wake-Up Call at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Wallace spoke with the media about campaigning for the Nextel fan vote for the All-Star Challenge, on what the All-Star race means to drivers, on his focus on being a race car driver and other topics.

ON NEXTEL'S INVOLVEMENT IN THE SPORT: "Whenever I see yellow nowadays the first thing you think of is Nextel but it is just different. It doesn't bother any race car driver on the race track. There's no distraction but when you come in the tunnel it's a complete different look. As a race car driver you don't really notice it."

ON CAMPAIGNING FOR THE NEXTEL FAN VOTE FOR THE ALL-STAR CHALLENGE AND THE FAN RESPONSE FOR FAR: "First of all I will be extremely honest, that's the way I always am. This whole NASCAR fan vote thing is because of one and two people - I'm lucky that they're here and I'm going to embarrass them - my wife Kim and my business manager Alison Marshall. He has no idea this is totally by coincidence, J.R. has helped me. But the people that got it started are my wife and Alison. I want to race my way into the Open because I'm a racer. This is my 21st year in racing. I'm slightly embarrassed, completely humble and then I told Rusty I said 'Aw man, I'm embarrassed about this. They're trying to vote me in that darn thing.' Then Rusty straightened me out. He goes 'You crazy Herman? You know how much that darn thing pays to start?' I'm like 'Oh, oh yeah money.' I got a bill in the mail the other day for five hundred dollars. I'm like 'What's this for?' That's buttons. I'm like 'How come the darn fan club isn't paying for this?' (laughs) It's been really awesome. So I love my wife and I want to thank her. She's the one that got it started and Allison Marshall helped her, Brenda Hay, everybody at the fan club, of course SPEED TV, all my friends, John Roberts, Jimmy Spencer and that crazy guy from the west coast now Riki Rachtman. The biggest message I want to send out is I'm a racer and I'm humbled and quite thankful they all started this. It's like the greatest Grateful Dead, Jerry Garcia, his music wasn't very good but they packed the darn stadium every concert. I don't win a lot of races but I do love racing and I am a race car driver."

ON WHAT THIS RACE MEANS TO DRIVERS: "This race is everything. This is the All-Star race. It's no different than Major League Baseball. It's a huge deal. I can only compare it to that because people want to be in anything that's an all star. For Nextel and everybody at NASCAR to agree on a popular fan vote that just reminds me of Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. is so popular. I hear people go 'Oh my gosh if he's not in the Daytona 500 next year we'll have to shut auto racing down, by popular demand by popular vote' so in my way that's the way I look at it. If NASCAR and Nextel want to have a popular vote for their all-star race then I think it's just incredibly awesome because we want our most popular driver in the Daytona 500 next year and hopefully he'll join a team that has points but I'm sure the story will be next year if Junior doesn't have a guaranteed number that will put him in the 500, I think all winter long all the writers will be going 'What happens if he blows a tire? What happens if his transmission breaks?' So that's a popular vote, right? The popular vote for the 500 is God we've got to have Junior in the race. So I compare it to the Nextel All-Star race. If they want a popular vote for somebody to be in it I think it's great, not because I'm running for it but it's good. We've been doing it for two years running, this is the third year. My other brother Kenny Schrader was the first one in and then of course Kyle Petty last year. It looks like it's a battle royale this year. The third year everybody had a wake up call (thinking) 'Oh popular vote.' So Clint Bowyer, Carl Edwards, there's a lot of great car drivers (in the vote), Robby Gordon, we'll just have to wait and see. It'll be a barn burner there towards the end of the Open tomorrow night."

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT NEXTEL OPEN? "Well the Open is bumping the All-Star race right in the rear end because what's happening is now that we have this series that is incredibly crazily competitive - 49 to 51 cars showing up every week. I don't have it in front of me but if you look at who's in the Open it's a little silly, these are All-Star drivers they just haven't won enough races. It used to be where if you won one race a year ago you were in the challenge. Now you're not. So there's guys in the Open that you cannot believe are in the Open and that's just where our sport is headed. You got like one last week to get in the All-Star race and that might not even guarantee you."

ON REMINDING MEDIA THAT HE'S A RACE CAR DRIVER AND WHAT ELSE HE COULD BE: "(Laughs) A crazy son of a (expletive). That's about it. That's a joke around the SPEED TV set. That joke started at SPEED TV because I've done TV. I was interviewed on Wind Tunnel, really Dave Despain started it. About four years ago I was on Dave Despain's Wind Tunnel and there was a lot of people thinking should Kenny Wallace be on Wind Tunnel because Wind Tunnel is only reserved for people like Roger Penske and Chip Ganassi. So Dave Despain said to me 'Kenny Wallace, what are you? Are you a race car driver? Or do you do TV? What is it?' So that's where that started. Then everybody at SPEED would go 'Race car driver.' SPEED will give me these deals; these itineraries and I'd go 'Guys, I've got to practice at that time.' (And they would remember that) oh I'm a race car driver, so that's where the joke started."

IF YOU WERE A FAN AND HAD A VOTE, WHO WOULD YOU VOTE FOR? WHY HAVEN'T WE SEEN BETTER RESULTS FROM THE DRIVERS THAT DROVE IN THE OPEN? "It's getting better. Guys that win the Open are running in the top five in the All-Star race so the results are there. It's been more competitive.

"If I were to vote somebody in, it would probably be Bobby Labonte in the All-Star race because he's a champ. He's my closest comrade as far as racing goes. It'd probably be Carl Edwards or Clint Bowyer because they're both Missouri boys. They're both nice to me."

IF THIS RACE WERE TO EVER LEAVE CHARLOTTE HOW DIFFICULT WOULD IT BE FOR ALL THESE TEAMS TO GO TO A FAR AWAY TRACK? "I think there's a fine line that teams walk, a very fine line with today's money with Goodyear and how much the tires are a piece. The days are over where we go 'Hey, let's just go run that race.' Well hold on, how much will it cost us to go run that race, a quarter of a million dollars? Then you've got to start taking a look at it but if you have a budget you simply are a racer and you race wherever they hold a race. It's a fine like you walk nowadays because of the cost.'

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT TERRY LABONTE BEING CHOSEN TO TEST FOR THE BUSCH SERIES RACE IN MONTREAL IN A RICHARD CHILDRESS RACING CAR? WHAT DO YOU NEED FROM HIM IN ORDER TO GET READY FOR AUGUST? "I think it's interesting when we went to Mexico City Richard Childress Racing was picked with Jeff Burton and Richard Childress Racing was picked with Terry Labonte. This is news to me (about Terry Labonte testing) but obviously NASCAR has a rapport with Childress to help find out new road course configurations. I think it's neat that NASCAR keeps some of the drivers that are just a little bit retired. I'm sure my brother Rusty could go up there and finish in the top 10 just a year or two after retirement. So Terry is a good choice. I'm hoping that they'll open up some of that information to the NASCAR Busch Series to keep it the Busch Series for some of the guys that don't know how to figure gears out so maybe NASCAR will think about something like that."

ON THE OPEN RACE: "I think what's interesting about the Open is I think of how our sport is. I think of Jeff Burton. He's really good now but for the last five years he's been in the Open and the story's been what's wrong with Jeff Burton he's struggling. In just months he's now a hero and in the All-Star race. I think he's been in the Open for the last four years because he hadn't won in five years. Is that right? That's pretty incredible that one year changes a driver's career and now he's back to being an All-Star."

IF YOU GOT IN THE NO. 8 CAR COULD YOU BE IN THE ALL-STAR RACE NEXT YEAR? "I think all of us drivers are humble. Robby Gordon is full of confidence and so am I and Robby was one of my biggest supporters when I was in that Pennzoil car. Robby would come up and say 'Wow, equipment matters.' And I said yeah. The drivers that struggled with. are they getting the job done in 2001 when I was driving that Pennzoil car and I was qualifying in the top five or top 10 every week or sitting on the pole in Rockingham. They looked at a driver like me and they're like 'Holy crap, Kenny Wallace just jumped in that Pennzoil car and is running top 10 every week. That really helped me mentally and changed a lot of people's thoughts on me. When I got in that car I thought 'What in the heck have I been driving the last five years?' Man, you just never know. It's like why did Jack Roush ask me to drive the car at Phoenix and I'd start dead last and finish 16th. How good is my talent? I don't know. What does Teresa Earnhardt think of my talent? I know we're friends. I know I'm 43 years old. That doesn't matter to me. I'm 43 going on 33. So that's always a loaded question. There's just so many variables. I really appreciate you asking me something like that. That makes me feel good and I think I can get the job done in any car but when will I ever get an opportunity again like I did when Steve Park got hurt. It was incredible for me to run up front like that. I don't know. I read on Jayski they got Tim Andrews testing. I don't know what that was all about. Will DEI go the young route again (or) will they try to hire somebody nobody's ever heard of? We'll see."