Jeff Gordon Weekly Top-12 Hauler Chat at Chicago

Jeff Gordon, No. 24 DuPont/Nicorette Monte Carlo SS, met with members of the media and discussed the key to his success this year, if he's talked to Kyle Busch since Daytona, on if he ever had dreams of competing in other forms of racing, his bowling tournament in Indianapolis and other subjects.

ON HAVING NICORETTE AS A SPONSOR THIS WEEKEND: "You know what? Times are changing man, times are changing around the world and times are changing here in NASCAR as well and I think by seeing Nextel be the title sponsor, it was one of the beginnings of change and having Nicorette on board our DuPont/Nicorette Chevrolet, I think that it just shows how things are changing in the garage area here as well as the fans. People are wanting to live healthier lives."

ON THE TRACK AND DRIVERS SAYING THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST TRACKS AROUND: "It's a great track and today's the first day to be on the track since last year and already I've seen where the grip level has gone away which is a good thing. It's going to make for more side-by-side racing for the groove to widen out and I think we're going to see an incredible race this weekend."

ON A THRILLING WIN FOR HIM HERE LAST YEAR: "Nobody ever forgets those things but I think that we put our differences behind us and we've been racing clean and hard and had some great battles since last year and have no issues. What I want to do is go out and have a car like we had last year, as competitive as that one was, and hopefully it's Matt (Kenseth) but whoever it is, go out there and make a clean pass on him for the win and get us another victory here."

WHAT'S BEEN THE KEY TO YOUR SUCCESS THIS YEAR? "I think just our entire team has stepped up. I think that we just try to always find the areas that we can be better whether it's the performance of the cars, whether it's our pit crew, whether it's a feel that I'm looking for or something that I'm doing as a driver and I think most of all it's just great communication with a lot of great people that have stepped up and brought a great chemistry within this team out there onto the race week in and week out."

HAVING WON HERE LAST YEAR, DOES THAT GIVE YOU A MENTAL EDGE ON THE COMPETITION? "I think it takes a little bit of pressure off. I think when you go to a track that you haven't won at and you get asked that question 'This is one of those tracks you haven't won at. When are you going to win?' That adds pressure but it's competitive, it's a great track. We've run good here in the past and we now have a victory because we had a strong car here last year and we're going to try to duplicate that and come out and be strong again. But competition changes, the cars change, a lot of things change since last year so we got to step up if we're going to win this thing this weekend."

HAVE YOU TALKED WITH KYLE BUSCH OR ANY OF THE GUYS ABOUT DAYTONA AND SOME OF THE ISSUES KYLE HAD? "I haven't had a chance to talk to him personally. I've talked to his team and Alan (Gustafson) and certainly a lot of folks at Hendrick and I'll be looking to talk to Kyle. Yesterday I had a full day. I thought I was going to get a chance to do it and I got here to the track but it just got too late. I didn't want to talk to him on the phone. I want to talk to him face to face. I think everything's fine. I don't see any issues there."

WHAT IS IT ABOUT YOUR DRIVING SKILL THAT GIVES YOU THE EDGE OVER OTHER DRIVERS? "I think that this is a team sport and I look at myself as just one of the guys on the team and when we're all hitting on all cylinders and working together then we're one of the strongest teams out there. If I had to say anything about my driving I would just say that all the racing I did growing up to get to this level helped me to be very diversified as far as being able to go to a lot of different types of tracks and be competitive on road courses, on superspeedways, on short tracks, intermediates and I pride myself in trying to get my team the best that I can week in and week out and I'm not going to any track thinking that we're behind because maybe I don't like a track or because I don't run good at a track. I go into it thinking why can't we win here and let's go make it happen."

DO YOU EVER HAVE DREAMS OF DOING OTHER FORMS OF RACING? "One thing I always wish I could do is remember my dreams because I don't seem to be able to remember them when I wake up. As far aspirations, I think there was a time in my career where I thought about Formula One and how cool it would be. It's a very prestigious worldwide series with some really cool cars. Who wouldn't want to do that? We have Scott Speed there now but there really just hasn't been an American who's really made a strong presence there. From the standpoint of that and the standpoint that I do like Formula One, I would like to see an American competing at the top level but I knew a long time ago that when I got into NASCAR and got with Hendrick Motorsports and started winning races and championships, that I was pretty much going to be here for the rest of my career."

ON HEADING TO INDIANAPOLIS: "Off-weekends always come at a good time, we just wish we had more of them. I'm looking forward to going to Indy. It's the first year that we haven't tested before we go there so it's going to be pretty unique going there without any testing. I thought we were really strong there last year even though we had some issues so I'm excited about going back. We have our bowling tournament there for the Jeff Gordon Foundation and Riley Hospital for Children so it's always a special time. I get to see friends that I hadn't seen in a while, that I grew up with and we get to go and represent Indiana and try to win another Brickyard 400."

WITH STEVE LETARTE AND CHAD KNAUS BACK AT THE SHOP FOR THE NEXT FEW WEEKS, WILL THIS TEAM COME OUT OF THIS THAT MUCH STRONGER AND MORE PREPARED FOR THE CHASE? "You know, that's the way I'm looking at it. I'm looking at it as we're actually building some communications skills. While he's not here we're having to work harder on talking on the phone and working with the team and building ourselves stronger and talking more and even getting closer as a team than we did before. So I think there's ways we can come out of it even stronger but I think it's going to be important for us to keep the chemistry going. The last two or three weeks have gone well. If we can keep that going and then Stevie come back and we have a strong couple outings, I think we're actually going to be better prepared for the Chase than we were before."

WHAT WILL YOU DO ON THE OFF-WEEKEND? "I'm going to be changing diapers and just hanging out as dad and I'm excited. I'm looking forward to it. We're just going to pretty much stick around home. Towards the end of the off-weekend before Indianapolis or the off-week, we're going to be in Charlotte with family and some friends that we haven't had a chance to visit with yet. I'm doing the family thing, I'm looking forward to it. It's going to be fun."

WHEN ARE MOM AND BABY COMING TO THE TRACK? "I don't know. We'll have to see. We're talking about possibly Indianapolis being the first, maybe just race day. I don't think she'll be there for the whole weekend. We got to get some logistics and things worked out there first. You know you just can't pick up and go like you used to be able to. As far as their first full weekend, it's undecided yet. We're just going to play it by ear. Whenever Ingrid and her are comfortable with it all then she'll be there."

ON MEDIA NEEDING MORE BABY PICTURES: "Man, I've given you guys like four our five. I cherish those photos and that time and the privacy and all that but I know our fans and the media want to see some and we were fortunate to be able to have some shots that a friend of ours took and we put them on JeffGordon.com and we'll just kind of see how it goes from there."

ON THE DIFFERENCE IN ATMOSPHERE RACING IN A BIG MARKET LIKE CHICAGO: "I was downtown yesterday and it's just really cool to get a chance to come to an area like this. I think here and Kansas are like perfect places for NASCAR and their growth because you got big cities nearby but you still have that Midwestern culture and feel to it that I think so many race fans seem to relate to and we get huge crowds and big fans here and it's a great race track so it's perfect."

ON THE RESEMBLANCE WITH THE PLAQUE THEY UNVEILED TODAY: "They did a good job, very good job. I always am leery about seeing myself in bronze or whatever it is. No, I was impressed. They did a good job."

SIX OUT 13 TIMES THE BRICKYARD WINNER WENT ON TO WIN THE CHAMPIONHIP. WHAT IT WOULD MEAN TO YOU TO WIN THE BRICKYARD AND THE CHAMPIONSHIP IN THE SAME YEAR: "I think that's a coincidence. I think that winning or losing the Brickyard doesn't mean you're going to win or lose championship. I think the strong teams do well at the Brickyard and I feel like we're a strong team so we're certainly optimistic to be able to run well there but that doesn't guarantee anything and we'll see how it goes."

DO YOU THINK OTHER TEAMS WILL SEE YOU AS MORE OF A THREAT FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP IF YOU WIN AT THE BRICKYARD? "Maybe, I don't know. If the media pumps it up, maybe. I think that there's certain races throughout the season when you win those races, I think it does get the attention of the garage area. The Brickyard is one of those races because not only is it a very difficult to win at, it's a very challenging track and so it takes a really good car and team to win there but it's always very prestigious. It's a big momentum builder and I think it's in the middle of the summer when things are really getting going for the Chase and so I think all those things put together really set the tone for that team and also send a message to the rest of the teams."

ON THE SPONSOR FOR DALE EARNHARDT, JR. NEXT YEAR: "I don't know what is going to happen there. There's a lot of things to work out. Rick Hendrick's been heavy at it and I've been changing diapers. I wish I had more for you, I just don't. I've been pretty busy here lately and between family and my team, that's where my focus has been and haven't been involved with a lot of the conversations."

ON IF THERE IS STILL A LOT OF EXCITEMENT ABOUT DALE EARNHARDT, JR. JOINING HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS: "Very much so. I know I'm really looking forward to him being my teammate. I think Hendrick Motorsports obviously has a lot to offer. We're proving that year in and year out and I think that's why Junior made the decision that that's where he'd like to be. We think the world of him and that's why the decision was made to bring him over there. All the sponsors and numbers and all that stuff, it'll all work itself out."

ON HIS BOWLING TOURNAMENT AND HOW GOOD OF A BOWLER HE IS: "I'm not a very good.you know what, about six, seven years ago I was doing some bowling and got into it and was doing it probably once or twice a week and I wasn't bad back then. We started the bowling tournament back when I was doing more bowling because I thought it was fun and a great way to bring people together and raise money for charity. It's been such a hit we keep it going but my bowling skills have definitely died out since then. The great thing about the event, you don't have to be a great bowler to just come over and have fun."

WHAT'S YOUR HIGH GAME? "I bowled a 215 one time. That was a long time ago."

WHAT CELEBRITIES ARE COMING TO THE BOWLING TOURNAMENT? "I'm not really sure. I'm not prepared to answer that question right now. I'm not sure but I'm sure if you go to JeffGordonFoundation.org we can give you more details."

ON HIS THOUGHTS ABOUT QUALIFYING: "The only thing that I see from kind of being on the outside looking at it, I do think they should qualify those guys together. I think that the drawing for qualifying and the luck of the draw should play out as much as it has in the past especially some of these places we go where we start qualifying at like four o'clock and if you draw the last number, you're going out when it's almost dark and that's a huge advantage. Whether they should lock in 25 or 35, I don't know. I haven't done the math or looked at close enough to really have an opinion on it."

DALE EARNHARDT, JR. SAID HE HAS ALWAYS ENJOYED THE RIVALRY YOU HAD WITH HIS DAD AS WELL AS HIMSELF. CAN THAT CONTINUE AS TEAMMATES AND CAN TEAMMATES BE RIVALS? "Well we're competitors. Dale and I never really had a rivalry and I don't feel like Junior and I have a rivalry but we have competitiveness on the track that built a rivalry among our fans and I don't see any reason why that can't continue. We're going to be sharing information, we're going to be working together to try to make our teams and our organization but we all know like we've seen here recently, once you get out there on the race track it's all about winning for your team and you're going to do everything you can to win it. I don't see that changing in any way. It should be fun really."

DO YOU THINK THE TRANSITION CHANGES THE WAY HIS FANS SEE YOU? "I think some maybe. I think if there's any fans out there that maybe do have some kind of a respect for what we've done or what I've accomplished, then they might change their tune a little bit but for the most part no. No, I don't expect there to be any change. I expect for the cheers and the boos pretty much stay the same way."

HOW DO YOU ACCEPT THE FACT THAT SOME PEOPLE LIKE YOU AND SOME PEOPLE DISLIKE YOU? "I smile and I wave and try to win races. When I win races and they throw things at me, I revel in it. It only makes it that much more rewarding. I'm not encouraging people to throw things but I'm just saying that those things only motivate me that much more, the boos, because I know there's a lot of fans out there that do pull for me and so if I didn't have that, it'd bother me but we have a great fanbase and a great support from those fans and so I'm very content with it all."

WILL YOUR FANS EMBRACE DALE MORE THAN THE OTHER WAY AROUND? "The thing about Earnhardt fans is that they are very committed and so those guys and gals are not going to sway, you're not going to be able to change them and we're not trying to and don't expect them too. I think that a lot of my fans, they look around and they respect other drivers and sometimes they pull for other drivers but I think they are also loyal when it comes to pulling for me and I think that there's no stronger loyalty than an Earnhardt fan."

ON THE BRICKYARD AND WHY THE TRACK REWARDS THE TEAMS THAT ARE BEST PREPARED: "You got long straightaways, flat corners, four corners that look the same but are totally different from one another. It takes horsepower. It takes aerodynamics. It takes a good setup, a driver that can really hit his marks and give good information back to the team. To me it takes the best team overall to win there and I think that's the common denominator."

ARE THERE ANY TROUBLE SPOTS HERE? "Yeah, there's some transitions that make the car a little bit light. Every year the grip goes away a little bit, the groove moves up and the bumps get a little bit worse like most race tracks and that's the only thing that I'm seeing right now but we've been just focused on one and two laps runs. We really haven't done a whole lot of race runs to figure those things out yet. We'll know more tomorrow."

WHEN YOU HAD A ROUGH YEAR IN 2005, AT THAT POINT DID YOU EVER FEAR THAT HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS OR YOU HAD FALLEN OFF AT ALL? "I guess yes. Sometimes you wonder 'O.K., have I gotten the best out of my career? Do I not have maybe what some of these other young guys have? Am I not pushing hard enough? What is it?' But there's also that little bit inside there of confidence of winning four championships and winning 70 plus races that you're constantly searching to try to get that back and get that feel that you're looking for. I think what happened to us is we got a little bit off on our game. We started focusing on what was working at Hendrick so well with Jimmie and the other teams that we said 'Well maybe we need to do that to go faster.'

"To me, I drive different. You'll hear some guys say they drive off the right rear. Some guys drive off the right front and so when you see your teammate running really fast doing well, then you go 'Well just put what he has in' and that doesn't always work and that's what I think we really started to learn just before Robbie left and when Steve came in and I think Steve's just been able to continue advancing in that direction and now we feel confident in that we're going to build the bodies the best possible way we can but we're going to do them a little bit different. Now we won't be able to do that obviously with the new car but even in the setup almost always Jimmie's car is set up looser and it's just because that's the way he drives it. I can make my car tighter and still go just as fast and this year I think we've been able to prove that and that's why we focus on what's working for us and using the general information from all the other teams that they're learning to go faster and make the cars better and applying it to our setups and my driving style."

WHEN YOU GO BACK TO INDY, ARE THERE PEOPLE OR PLACES FROM YOUR PAST YOU LIKE TO VISIT? "Not necessarily places. I'd like to go to Frank & Mary's and get some catfish but I'm not eating a lot of fried foods these days and it's hard to get there that race weekend. But yeah, I got some buddies of mine that went to high school there and we always touch base and get together. Probably one of the guys that I wish I could hang out with a little bit more between his schedule and my schedule, just doesn't ever seem to work out very well, is a car owner of mine for years in the USAC series. He's just such a neat, nice guy. Now with his role with USAC and our hectic schedule, it doesn't seem to work out."

ON PREVIOUSLY GOING FISHING WITH SOMEONE HE WENT TO SCHOOL AND RECONNECTED WITH: "That was elementary school, that was way, way back. I was in Sonoma. I went and hung out with him."

WHAT WAS THE FIRST CAR YOU EVER HAD GROWING UP? "I had a 1980 Chevy Stepside pickup truck that was just a piece junk that was about to rust away that me and my dad fixed up and it was a little project we had. It was fun. Never really fully completed it because it had just a straight six with a column shifter. We were going to put a V8 in there and put some power into it which is probably a good thing we didn't do that. My dad kind of knows where it is. We sold it and I think somebody stays in touch with him and says they still have it."

WOULD YOU EVER WANT IT BACK JUST FOR FUN? "No, after that I bought a brand new Chevy Stepside pickup truck. That was a cool truck. I wouldn't mind having that truck back. I have no idea where that thing is."

EVERYONE STILL SEEMS TO THINK OF YOU AS THE KID. DO YOU FEEL OLD? "I don't feel old, I feel comfortable. I feel like when I was kid, while it was great to be the young guy coming in and doing well, I felt like I didn't really have much respect and that I was constantly just trying to earn that respect and prove that I belong here and that I want to be here for long term. And I feel like now that I'm more accepted and so I feel more comfortable with my role in the sport and still being competitive and that's what really matters most to me is being able to come in here and do the job for my team. They provide me a great team and cars. I just want to do my part. In that sense, having the year that we're having, I don't feel old at all because we're running so awesome."

DOES AGING AFFECT YOUR MOTIVATION OR APPROACH TO RACING? "No doubt, it affects my approach but I wouldn't say it takes away from it, the motivation. I think if anything it kind of adds to it in some ways.

"In some ways the clock is ticking. When somebody writes an article - and I try not to read too much stuff that goes on out there but Mr. Edwards keeps me educated - when you see somebody doubt you or says that you've probably seen the best days are behind him, that motivates you for sure. But I think these days I do less of that as I do, especially with the baby. I feel like I just look at life different. I'm excited about life and my place in it and my place in the sport and I'm just having a good time, man. I'm enjoying having a good race team this year and performing well. Every time I go to the track looking forward to being there and being in the car. That's the toughest part is when you go through those years when things aren't way. It's tough, man. You get out there and you're driving harder than you've ever driven and the best you can be is 15th on the board, that's tough to get through especially with our team as good as I know we are."

ON HOW BEING A FATHER HELPS HIS MOTIVATION AND HIS EXCITEMENT ABOUT LIFE AND RACING: "That's the way I look at it. Sure, it's tough to leave home when the little baby is sitting there and you give her a little kiss and go 'bye bye' but I think that Ingrid's fantastic in the way that she handles everything. She's been very supportive and she knows that this is an important part of our lives and my life and so she's very supportive of me doing what I'm doing so I don't feel guilty for leaving and coming here and doing this but I'm extremely excited on Sundays when it's all over to get in that plane and get home and see her as soon as I get home. In that sense and as well as when I look down the road as she gets older of having her here and letting here come.just see how she takes this experience and what she thinks of it is something I look forward to. Obviously if she's here and experiencing that I want her to know that daddy's not bad, he's pretty good (laughs)."

ON THE FIRST TIME HIS DAUGHTER COMES TO THE TRACK: "We're not fully committed to that yet. We're going to wait and see how things go but that's what we're looking at right now. You guys probably won't see her because she's just going to come in to the bus and I don't know if we're going to take her out or anything, noises and all that stuff. It's all kind of new to us so California, she might come to the California race as well. It's probably going to be a little bit later in the year before she's there for the whole weekend."

IF YOU HADN'T MOVED OUT OF THE INDIANAPOLIS AREA, HOW DO YOU THINK YOUR CAREER MIGHT BE DIFFERENT? "I'd probably be in the IRL right now and I would have had to pay for that ride, that's how things would have been different. I would have been with a lesser team. I would have had to pay to get there. Hopefully we could have shown one of the better teams what I could do and maybe get fortunate enough to move up to a top team but that's pretty much the way it was looking for me. Or I'd still be racing sprint cars which I would be fine with that too. Of course if I had gotten behind the wheel of a dirt late model a little sooner I might be still be racing dirt late models cause that was fun. I had a blast."

WOULD YOU HAVE HAD AS MUCH FUN IN THE IRL AS YOU DO IN NASCAR? "I think it's all about being competitive. You want to be competitive. You want to be competitive and you want to win. You want to win championships and it didn't matter where I went, as long as I was doing that I was happy."

Jeff Gordon Chicago Audio

Jimmie Johnson, Weekly Top-12 Hauler Chat at Chicago

Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe's Monte Carlo SS met with media and discussed how the team is doing so far this year, returning to the Brickyard as defending winner, teamwork at Hendrick Motorsports and other topics.

WHERE WOULD YOU SAY YOU ARE IN THE SEASON? AHEAD OR BEHIND? WHAT GRADE WOULD YOU GIVE THIS TEAM? "We've been doing a good job. I'd certainly give us probably an A or A-minus. The real benchmark is where the points leader is. There is a big gap between Jeff (Gordon) and us. All in all, we've won some races and we're in a good position for the seeding if we transfer into the Chase and it looks like we're doing what we need to make the Chase. So all-in-all, it's really been a good season."

WHERE HAVE YOU STRUGGLED AND WHERE HAVE YOU EXCELLED? "I really can't say that we have any weak points. We have some races that have not gone our way with strategy. We've had a couple of tire failures that we couldn't control and those really are the issues that have us further back in the points than where Jeff is. I think we have a couple dnf's and you really can't control those things. But all in all, we've been strong on short tracks and intermediate tracks and superspeedways. We've been strong everywhere."

WERE YOU ALL SURPRISED LAST WEEK THAT SO MANY ROUSH CARS DID WHAT HENDRICK DOES BEST. DOES ROUSH COMING UP SURPRISE YOU? "I can say that I've had more surprised that they've had struggles. Roush has a great company and great drivers and my opinion has been like everyone else's, like what's going on? Why haven't they been up front fighting for wins? And it looks like they've got their stuff going in the right direction."

SO IT'S BACK TO NORMAL FOR THEM? "You can't count them out. The No. 17, and No. 99 - all those guys are so strong. I've been shocked that they haven't been up there fighting for the wins."

WERE YOU SURPRISED ABOUT KYLE BUSCH'S COMMENTS AFTER THE DAYTONA RACE ABOUT A CONSPIRACY AGAINST HIM AT HMS? "Yeah, I was really surprised to read and see all that stuff. It's unfortunate that he thinks that way. From the Hendrick side, we haven't done anything to push him out or eliminate him from meetings. In fact, I thought we worked well together through the race and I thought our teammate situation was working really good through our debriefs and events and the race cars.

"Hopefully his opinion will change and he won't have this chip on his shoulder thinking that everybody is trying to push him out."

ON THE IDEA THAT HE WALKED AWAY FROM HIS GUYS EARLIER IN THE YEAR WHILE THEY WERE FIXING HIS RACECAR. DOES THAT MAKE HIM AN AUTHORITY ON TEAMWORK? He's a young driver and he's going through a growing process. It's good for him. He has all the skills to be a champion. He's an amazing driver and through this process I think he's going to do some growing and he needs to. Hopefully as he moves into a new team he can grow and do the right things to have a very successful and promising career. I really think he's probably one of the fastest guys on the track week in, week out but he needs to grow a little bit and mature in other areas to become a team leader and have some stability in his racing career.

WHEN DO YOU STOP BEING TEAMMATES ON THE TRACK? "It does on the last lap. You've seen that with the Martinsville race with Jeff on the last few laps. I think that what it boils down to in the heated moment, you race people the way that they race you. Jeff did all that he could to get by me and all but wrecked me. And I respect him for that. He wasn't going to roll over and let me cruise on to victory in Martinsville. I've been in positions - racing Vickers, I think I passed him in a Talladega race, got past him on the last lap and got the win. So you work together as much as you can but at the same time when you get to the end of the race you've got to do what you can for your team, for your sponsor. You get out there and race people the way they race you."

ARE THINGS GOING TO WORK OUT WITH THREE SUPERSTARS NEXT YEAR - PEOPLE WHO ARE USED TO HAVING THE BALL, SO TO SPEAK? I think that in motor racing it's a little different. We're each the leaders of our own teams. So with Junior whatever the sponsor and car number that is, that's his responsibility and he's the guy there. Jeff's the guy on the 24. I'm the guy on the 48. So that dynamic already exists and is different when you can have a lot of top guys on one team, where the egos may clash. In our environment it's really about how we can grow our team, how we can make our cars better and we're all working to the same goal - to have the best car out on the track. I think the situation's different in motorsports, especially in NASCAR. I see in F1 where it's tough and the guys are big rivals but in NASCAR it's always been different.

"The other part of this is how Rick Hendrick runs his business and the way that Hendrick Motorsports has been founded and put together. It's about all of us working in the same direction. That culture we have at Hendrick will prevent anything from taking place at Hendrick Motorsports.

"If it does we can nip it, if things do start going the wrong way, Mr. Hendrick knows what he wants, knows how to run his business and get it back into shape.

ON RETURNING TO THE BRICKYARD AS THE DEFENDING WINNER: "I'm excited to go back. It's the first time I've ever been excited to go back to Indy. I've always struggled there. And after our victory last year, I'm really pumped up to go back."

MANY TIMES THE GUY WHO HAS WON INDY HAS GONE ON TO WIN THE CHAMPIONSHIP. HOW SPECIAL WAS IT FOR YOU TO DO THAT IN THE SAME YEAR LAST YEAR? "It was very special to do it and to be in the category of guys who have won both Indy and the championship. I look back at last year and the All-Star race and Daytona 500. It was just an awesome year with all the big events being taken down by the No. 48. I hope we can go back and get the Brickyard trophy again. It was a great experience and it really got our team fired up."

DOES IT SHOW YOU WHAT YOUR TEAM IS MADE OF? "It does. I think it's more of the high you ride after winning a major event. You win the Daytona 500, I'm sure you've seen through time, that, that team is on cloud 9 for a while. The All-Star? Same thing. The Brickyard? Same thing. With the Brickyard being as late as it is in the season, that momentum and that confidence that it brings you can help carry you into the Chase and to the championship."

IF YOU DON'T WIN IT, WILL YOU LOOK AT THE PERSON WHO WINS IT AS MAYBE POSSIBLY MORE OF A THREAT TO WIN THE CHAMPIONSHIP? "I think so. It's so funny because you want to spin things to benefit you. So if you win it, you get in there and you talk to your guys to get all the momentum going in the right direction. If you don't win it, you try to pick apart who did win it and then find a way to pump your guys up. So, I'm sure it would, though."

YOU HAVE THE BEST RECORD IN TERMS OF TOP FIVE'S, BUT YOU HAVEN'T WON AT CHICAGOLAND. DOES IT GIVE YOU ENCOURAGEMENT? "I'm just excited to come to Chicago. It's where I had my one and only Busch win. I know we always run well here in the Cup car, so I get excited. The fact that we haven't won here doesn't discourage me by any means. It gets me excited knowing that we have a top five qualifying effort here in the past and also top five finishes."

WHAT WILL IT FEEL LIKE TO DRIVE THROUGH THE GATES AT INDIANAPOLIS, KNOWING THAT YOU ARE THE REIGNING CHAMPION THERE? "I'm not sure I'll really think of it because every year you've got to focus on that event and the challenges that you have there. Without our crew chief (Chad Knaus) it's going to be tough. It's a tough race track in general. I'll be more concerned about the qualifying session and the race session and the things coming up that weekend more than anything. I'm sure at some point I'll kind of look around and take in the fact that we've won there and how amazing that it, but I'm pretty sure my mind will be focused on what we need to do."

IS THERE A REASON THAT INDY HAS BEEN SUCH A BAROMETER THAT IF YOU WIN IT, YOU WIN THE CHAMPIONSHIP THE SAME YEAR? IS THERE SOMETHING ABOUT BEING THE BEST-PREPARED TEAM? "It's such a hard track to get right that I think the top teams are the winning teams at that track and then that carries over to the championship."

WHAT IS DIFFICULT ABOUT SETTING UP THE CAR FOR INDY VERSUS A 1.5-MILE TRACK? "It's so flat and you have real narrow corners. The car really has to perform and there is a very small, thin line to run around that track. And it's tough to get the car to turn so well on a flat race track. So you really have to have a refined race car to do that."

IS IMS BUILT MORE FOR INDY CARS THAN STOCK CARS? "Yeah, I think even now, IndyCar would like an even wider race track so they can run side-by-side. If there is an aero-sensitive track, Indy would probably be the worst track for it. But with the history of the track and the shape of the track, nobody wants to see it go anywhere. But one of the cold, hard facts is that it's a narrow race track and you can't run side-by-side on that race track."

HOW DO YOU THINK NASCAR SHOULD REVISE THE QUALIFYING PROCEDURE? "I believe there has to be something to protect the owners that have been in the sport and have earned their way into the top 35. I'm in favor of it. Granted, I haven't lived through the Friday nightmare that a lot of these guys have and I certainly sympathize with them. When you support the sport and help build the sport, you should have something for that. We've all talked about franchising our sport and I'm sure it will never happen. But this is the only thing that these owners have that they can count on that they can sell to their sponsor. So even though it's tough for everybody out there, I'm in favor of the 35 like it is."

YOU HAVE A TEAMMATE RIGHT NOW (KYLE BUSCH) WHO FEELS LIKE HE'S ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN. WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THAT? "I don't see somebody on the outside looking in now with Kyle. I think our team has done everything in its power to make him still feel at home. The teammate situation has been working better than it ever has. And frankly, I was shocked to hear his comments after last week's race. So for one, that doesn't exist now. At Hendrick Motorsports, we are four drivers trying to win a championship for HMS. We're not independent satellite teams. The culture at Hendrick is to work together. I'm not saying there can't be bumps in the road and if there are, Mr. Hendrick will smooth that over. But the only way we've been able to get to where we are is by working together. And we're not going to change course."

DO YOU REALLY FEEL LIKE YOU'RE TURNING INTO THE 27 YANKEES OUT THERE? "No, I don't, because our teams are still independent enough and we have our own goals. We're all kind of separate teams but fight for the same cause. If we were all like sharing the car, like an endurance race where the four of us all rotated through the car, it would be different. But we all kind of have our own agenda and our own guys and our own teams so that makes it a little different."

Jimmie Johnson Chicago Audio

Kevin Harvick, Weekly Top-12 Hauler Chat at Chicago

Kevin Harvick, No. 29 Shell/Pennzoil Monte Carlo SS, met with members of the media and discussed racing at Chicago, his team's performance this season, his plans for the off-weekend, returning to Indianapolis and his success there, crew chief suspensions and the amount of communication they should have with their team, his opinions on NASCAR's drug policy and preparing for the Chase for the Championship.

ON RETURNING TO CHICAGO: "Obviously Chicago has been very good to us and we've always performed very well here so we always look forward to coming back. Everything's kind of just going along and going pretty good."

ON ASSESSING HIS SEASON SO FAR: "I think performance-wise it's been very good, we've just had a lot of things go wrong and I think it shows the maturity and the experience of the team to keep ourselves in contention to be where we need to be and still have as many things go wrong as we've had go wrong. So performance-wise I think it's been pretty good."

ON WHAT THEY NEED TO IMPROVE ON THE SECOND HALF OF THE SEASON: "I don't think we need to do one particular thing better. I think it's just trying to get the momentum on our side and get things going our way to go along with the performance of the race cars being pretty good. We need the momentum to shift and hopefully we can get through that part of it and we can just stay away from the 42 car we'll be in good shape."

IS IT HARD NOT TO SECOND GUESS YOURSELF ABOUT NOT PUSHING HARDER IN SONOMA AT THE END? "No, I mean that's your job (laughs). You can second guess that. We had two-tenths of a gallon left. If we would have pushed any harder we would have run out of gas."

ON HIS PLANS FOR THE OFF-WEEEND: "Right now we have two tests in the two weeks and right now we don't have anything really planned, just to stay at home and relax and not do a whole lot there. That'll be a good thing in itself. Everybody has these trips planned to go this place and that place. Man, we go every week; I don't know why you'd want to leave home if you had a weekend off."

ON RETURING TO INDY WHERE HE HAD A TOP-FIVE FINISH LAST YEAR: "We know what it's like to win there and Indy is just one of those places that everybody wants to win at. It's kind of like our mid-season Daytona so you bring your latest and greatest stuff. Well you usually do, this year you won't. You kind of got what you got with the current car so we'll have our latest engine package and everybody will be kind of one step up from what they normally are just for the fact that it's Indy and everybody wants to win there."

WHERE SHOULD A CREW CHIEF BE WHEN HE'S SUSPENDED? "I don't know. I don't know that it really matters if he's not here or if he is here outside the race track. With the technology of today's world you can be anywhere in the world now and be accessible from text message or something in a e-mail or something of that nature and you can keep track of everything that's going on at the race track anyway. They probably shouldn't be here, that's for sure, but I don't know that they're ever going to be out of touch."

SHOULD THERE BE SOME EFFORT TO CUT OFF SOME OF THOSE MODERN FORMS OF COMMUNICATION? "Well the only way you get that is to go to jail, I guess, and I don't necessarily know that they're sending them to jail. It's a sport and the average fan can keep up with all the same information on the internet so that's kind of the monster that's been created just through evolution of time and with the way that things are right now. With those guys being away from the track, unless everything goes perfect, it's the time when things go wrong or you have somebody get hurt or something doesn't go as it should be going, that's when the crew chief really earns his money. These things are set up to function without.you can take pieces of the puzzle out but they have to function weeks at a time without that key piece, that's when it really starts to show."

ON IF THE SUSPENSION OF A CREW CHIEF MAY NOT BE THAT EFFECTIVE AND IF THE PENALTY SHOULD BE MORE IN THE POCKETBOOK OR THE POINTS: "Like I say, I think that the crew chief being gone is a severe penalty and not being in the garage and not being at the race track to be able to look, touch, feel your car is a severe penalty especially if things aren't going good on that particular weekend. If everything is going perfect, it's no big deal. I think the penalties are pretty strong and I think the crew chiefs being out of the garage is still a pretty severe penalty."

ON A YOUNG DRIVER BEING BUSTED FOR DRUGS AND HOW THAT NEWS SETTLES WITH OTHER DRIVERS: "Here's how I feel about the whole thing. I believe every driver and every national series should be drug tested a couple times a year randomly regardless of who you are, what you're doing. I think we owe it to the sponsors and the fans to 100 percent know that this is a clean environment. It would eliminate a lot of those problems of the younger guys that disrespect the sport and the system. Shame on NASCAR for not policing our garage better than what they police it right now. I think we're all professional athletes and should be treated like professional athletes in other professional sports and shame on them for not doing that."

DO YOU THINK THIS IS A PROBLEM AMONG YOUNGER DRIVERS? "I don't think it's necessarily a problem but I think there would be zero speculation and speculation is something that I believe is not something that should drive anything in our garage. I don't believe we have a huge problem but it's still the black eye of the one or two guys that do have a problem. That just kind of frustrates me a little bit."

WHAT IS THE DRUG POLICY FOR NASCAR AND DO YOU THINK DRIVERS ARE AWARE OF IT? "There's a random testing policy that we all sign at the beginning of every year that they can drug test us at any time."

DOES IT SCARE YOU AS A DRIVER TO KNOW THAT SOMEBODY MIGHT BE UNDER THE INFLUENCE OUT THERE? "That's why there shouldn't be a speculation, there should be a couple times a year everybody should be on guard all the time and for those of us who have no interest in even really looking to find a party scene or anything like that, I just think it would be good for the sport if they just cleared the air and there was never any speculation about it whatsoever."

NINE RACES TO THE CHASE, HOW IS EVERYTHING GOING FOR YOU? "Performance-wise it's going really well, we just need momentum. We need some momentum to get back on our side. We have good cars every week; we just seem to be in the wrong spots sometimes."

ON CHICAGO BEING A SPECIAL PLACE FOR HIM: "This place has been really good to us, to win the couple races here and always run good here. It's been very good to us."

WHAT SHOULD THE PUNISHMENT BE IF SOMEONE IS CAUGHT OR BUSTED FOR DRUGS? "I believe we all make mistakes in our lives and I believe if you go through the whole recovery period, do the things that you need to do to clean your life up, you deserve a second chance but if I was in charge I wouldn't give anybody a third chance."

DOES THIS PUT A CLOUD OVER ALL DRIVERS? "The problem that I have with it is I that I have to answer all the questions that I know nothing about, that's the problem that I have with it. I just don't like having to answer a lot of questions and a lot of speculation over somebody's ignorance. That to me is something that could be easily fixed and should be fixed."

WHERE DOES YOUR SUCCESS AT INDIANAPOLIS RANK IN TERMS OF YOUR CAREER ACCOMPLISHEMENTS? "Running at Indianapolis, I grew up an open wheel and grew up in Bakersfield (Calif.) a huge Rick Mears fan and always wanted to race at the Indy 500 so winning at Indy for me was pretty special and every time we go there it's just the history and the mystique of the whole race track. You got the old grandstands and covers, just everything about Indy is just really neat for everybody to participate in just knowing the history of everything that's gone on."

WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO GET BACK TO VICTORY LANE AT INDIANAPOLIS? "Track position is important. Obviously you got to have the whole package. You need horsepower, you need your car handling good and you got to put yourself in the right position there with 25, 30 laps to go on the last pit stop to capitalize on a good car and be able to have that track position at the end of the race."

SIX OF THE 13 BRICKYARD WINNERS HAVE GONE ON TO WIN THE CHAMPIONSHIP, WILL THAT BE A CONFIDENCE BOOSTER FOR YOU? "There's a lot of things that you can read into it but I think we all go there with the intentions of winning and if it leads to that then I'm good with it."

ON NOT TESTING AT INDY THIS YEAR AND IF IT MAKES IT MORE OF A CRAP SHOOT: "We were just talking about that. The year we won the race we didn't test there and we sat on the pole and won the race so hopefully it works out the same way."

ON IT BEING A CRAZY YEAR WITH SPONSORSHIPS AND CAR NUMBERS: "I stay out of it, that's what I do so it really hasn't affected anything that I've been doing."

ON WINNING HERE IN THE CUP SERIES AND IF HE THINKS ABOUT WINNING IN THE BUSCH SERIES HERE AND IF IT WEIGHS ON HIM: "Not really, we race the Busch Series to go out and try to win races. I don't know that you narrow it down to one particular track. We've been successful here in both the Busch car and the Cup car and hopefully we can continue that this weekend."

Kevin Harvick Chicago Audio

Denny Hamlin, Weekly Top-12 Hauler Chat at Chicago

Denny Hamlin, No. 11 FedEx Express Monte Carlo SS, met with members of the media and discussed qualifying at Chicago, his response to Tony Stewart's comments on their on-track incident last weekend, the incident itself, looking forward to an off-weekend and racing at Indianapolis.

Select quotes from driver interview:

DID TONY STEWART'S COMMENTS AFTER LAST WEEK'S INCIDENT DISAPPOINT YOU? "It sure did. Definitely. Even if it was a situation where I had wrecked him from behind, he still probably shouldn't have thrown me under the bus as far as he did. But I was the guy in front. It was a little bit of disappointment so that's why I've taken this week to kind of calm down and I'll think with a much clearer head when I talk to him today."

ARE YOU DISAPPOINTED THAT EVEN YOUR TEAM OWNERS DIDN'T COME OUT AND DEFEND YOU? "Not really. I think at the time neither Joe nor J.D. Gibbs had seen a good replay and I don't think they had realized it but we had talked since then and they know exactly what happened. Millions and millions of people watching, with opinions, know what happened. Let them judge. I don't need to sit there and blast Tony. There's no need for that.

"It's painful to watch somebody trash you the way they did and especially if I was behind him and totally blatantly wrecked him and took him out he still should not have taken the route he took. For me to be the leader and then say the things he did, that was pretty tough and hard to understand. I'm going to get an explanation later on."

TONY SAID YOU HAD A LOT TO LEARN - DOES IT MATTER THAT YOU ARE AHEAD OF HIM IN POINTS? "I don't feel like I'm ahead of him. He's still the leader at Joe Gibbs Racing without a doubt. He's the guy who really, when I need help, I'll still go to regardless. But there's a point where being a leader doesn't make you right."

Denny Hamlin Chicago Audio

Jeff Burton, Weekly Top-12 Hauler Chat at Chicago

Jeff Burton, No. 31 AT&T Mobility Monte Carlo SS, met with members of the media and discussed the top-35 qualifying rule, the team's performance so far this season, the teammate situation, the new Hutchins hybrid device, NASCAR's drug policy, how the NASCAR community bands together in times of tragedy, how frequent air travel is a big part of the lives of the NASCAR community, what it would be like to win at the Brickyard and the prestige of winning there and how willing he would be to assist a teammate that is leaving.

Select quotes from driver interview:

ON GRADING HIS SEASON SO FAR AND WHERE THE TEAM HAS STRUGGLED AND EXCELLED: "I'd give us a B. I think we've done a nice job. We've been reasonably fast. We need to get some more speed. Our downfall honestly has been the Car of Tomorrow program. Hasn't been our downfall but certainly hasn't been our strong point. That's the area right now that we need to improve in, but same as last year, I think that we just need a little more speed. We're a good team, we're a consistent team. We're not great right now and we have to strive for greatness if we want to win this championship."

ON THE REALITY OF THE TEAMMATE SITUATION: "Teammates are vital to success. The better the teams work together the better opportunity for success. Obviously this game has a lot to do with funding. It has a lot to do with managing the funds that you have. Having more teammates allows more money to be spent, more revenue, more resources. Obviously that benefits all the teams. The teamwork concept is more advantageous off the track than on the track. We have a duty and a responsibility to our fans, our crew members, our sponsors to go out and try to win with each and every race and the AT&T car can't expect the Jack Daniel's car to pull over and get out of the way. They're here to win too. So we compete on the track with great respect for each other, use each collectively to try to do it better than everybody else."

ON HOW THE NASCAR COMMUNITY REALLY COMES TOGETHER IN TIMES OF TRAGEDY: "Well I think there's a lot of respect for what the France family has done for the sport. One thing that this sport is is compassionate, there's no question about it. As fierce as we battle and as much as we may disagree and all those things, this is a compassionate garage. I don't know, it's always been like that as long as I've been in this sport. It's been like that. I surely hope it continues to be like that. It's a terrible time for the France family to lose Bill and then Bruce, that's pretty hard to imagine. I feel really bad for Lesa and her son and the whole family. It's hard to imagine what they're going through. I feel really bad for a 15-year-old boy to lose your granddad and a father within that amount of time. I feel really bad for him.

"What I think is really cool about this sport is that a lot of times things are done behind the scenes a month after the fact and a lot of things are done not for media, not for those reasons, but for the right reasons. Everybody always is very supportive at a very obvious time when it's needed, the question is who needs it, when do you need it, six months from now how do you help and that's what this sport will do a really good job of."

Jeff Burton Chicago Audio

Kyle Busch, Weekly Top-12 Hauler Chat at Chicago

Kyle Busch, No. 5 Kellogg's CARQUEST Monte Carlo SS met with members of the media and discussed his new team prospects, on the possibility of driving for Penske, how he feels he is being treated at Hendrick Motorsports, on participating in the HMS team meetings, and the teams he's considering. An audio file of the interview can be downloaded by clicking the link below.

ANYTHING NEW ON THE TEAM PROSPECTING? "No, not much new. Just still working with some of the teams and organizations to see what's out there and to see what all we can work on further. There are no decisions and we're not quite to the point where we need to let anything out. But probably as soon as two weeks or maybe as far (away) as six weeks (before any announcements will be made)."

HOW DO YOU FEEL YOU ARE BEING TREATED AT HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS? "Oh, it's just been a difficult transition period from where I felt like there was a really good team chemistry going on between all the drivers and teams and everything was going really well. And since that transition came when Junior was announced he was joining Hendrick Motorsports, it's been real different. So I'm just frustrated in all of that and just frustrated in last week's results and the way it came down; and overall mostly, probably, just being able to have the chance to be in the record books for the last regular restrictor plate car winner and be the only driver to win in the same day with Busch and Cup. Being in that position, instead of complaining or whining about it I guess I opened up my mouth to another can. So, oh well."

YOU SAID IT HAS CHANGED. HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE RELATIONSHIP NOW? "Well, it used to be where we would call each other and talk to each other and text message back and forth and I had a sit down with Jeff (Gordon) there before the Coca-Cola 600 and that went really well and then since all that's happened, I'm in the team meetings just sitting there listening. I don't even really talk about what my car does because they all seem to talk amongst themselves. I'm sort of just sitting there in the corner."

DO YOU THINK YOU'LL REACH A POINT WHERE YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO ATTEND THE TEAM MEETINGS? "It don't matter if I'm in them or not in them because I miss a lot of them due to having to get ready for the Busch race and going out for driver intros and getting in the Busch car. They have their meetings right at that point. I'm going to miss it this weekend. So, we still do well enough without them. My crew chief and engineer go in there and listen and talk about what my comments were and stuff like that. We've done that about 85% of the time anyway."

ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE CAR, WOULD YOU HOLD ANYTHING BACK IF YOU FEEL THEY'RE NOT SHARING WITH YOU? "I'm not helping anybody but myself and this team for winning races. And I'm not helping Jeff Gordon. I'm not helping Jimmie Johnson or Casey Mears. They are able to go back and see what I run and that kind of stuff. But for me, it's just to go out there and to try to win races and keep winning with my name."

DO YOU THINK IT'S A WORKABLE RELATIONSHIP FOR THE REST OF THE SEASON? "We'll be fine. Everybody is making a big deal out of this for no reason. We're fine. Everything is going to be fine."

WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR PERCEPTION OR IMAGE IS WITH THE FANS? "My perception has been horrible since I came into this sport, so it doesn't really even matter any more."

Kyle Busch Chicago Audio

Martin Truex, Jr., Weekly Top-12 Hauler Chat at Chicago

Martin Truex Jr., No. 8 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS, met with members of the media and discussed teammate operating with teammates, making the Chase, going to the Brickyard, NASCAR's qualifying format, possible new teammates and the upcoming weekend off.

Select quotes from driver interview:

DALE EARNHARDT JR. HAS SAID THAT IT MATTERS A LOT TO HIM WHO REPLACES HIM AT DEI. WHAT SORT OF TEAMMATE DO YOU WANT? "I'd like to see someone that's like him, that's easy to work with, fun to be with, but is really good at what he does. It could be a great teammate to share information with. One of the best things we've got going on for us right now is our teamwork, through all the teams. We've got a great system going and it took us some time to get that going, it took a while for Jr. and I to get on the same page and it's taken Paul a little time to get on that page with us. So it will be a bit of a setback for us, I think. You know, someone who wants the whole company to be a success not just himself. That's the way we've always done things. One of Jr.'s strong suits is he's a team player he's not out there just for himself."

WITH JR. MOVING ON YOU'RE PROBABLY GOING TO BE THE TOP DRIVER AT DEI. HOW DOES THAT FEEL? DOES IT BRING A LOT OF PRESSURE? "It doesn't really change that much. The only pressures I feel are the ones I put on myself to perform. They're really the only ones that matter to me. Everybody's got expectations - I've probably got higher ones for myself. I try to do the best job I can do. I love my team, we're having a lot of fun right now and real excited about the future with Bass Pro coming back and all the stuff that we're working on. It's looking really good for us now .. we're doing really well, the racecars seem to be good everywhere we go. It just goes back to me and Bono getting experience and building up our notebook and it seems that every time we go back somewhere we're know more and we're smarter."

Martin Truex Jr. Chicago Audio

Clint Bowyer Weekly Top-12 Hauler Chat at Chicago

Clint Bowyer, No. 07 Jack Daniel's Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS, met with members of the media and discussed his race at Daytona, momentum from last year, preparing for qualifying, on whether or not he should have won already, Kansas Speedway, making mistakes, staying positive and pressure on the team.

Select quotes from driver interview:

ARE YOU HAPPY WITH YOUR IMPROVEMENT OVER LAST YEAR? "Absolutely. When we've run good it was always easy and then when we'd struggle most of the weekends that we would push too hard and end up crashing or end up making a mistakes or doing something that would take a 20th-place run and finish 40th with it. And those are the things we've come a long way with. If we've got a 15th-place car we can possibly squeeze a 13th out of it, if not we're going to finish 15th with it instead of having a 15th-place car and finishing 30th with it like last year."

ON SUCCESS BUT NOT HAVING YET WON A RACE: "It's a good feeling, obviously. I don't know what to think. I don't know whether that's good or bad - whether I should have won already or not but I think our day is coming. We've shown the potential to win races, we just have got to get it to all fit together. I think we have all the pieces of the puzzle, we've just got to get them put together right and we'll win."

Clint Bowyer Chicago Audio

Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Weekly Top-12 Hauler Chat at Chicago

Dale Earnhardt, Jr., No. 8 Budweiser Monte Carlo SS, met with members of the media and discussed his sponsor relationship with Budweiser, racing at Chicagoland Speedway, what he expects his relationship to be like with Jeff Gordon when he joins HMS in '08, how teammates work together, the timeline for when his new sponsorship will be announced, new sponsor demands, his desire to keep the No. 8 on his car, his hopes for the type of driver who will replace him at DEI, his expectations as an owner of his Busch driver Brad Keselowski and possibly putting Andy Pilgrim in the car on road courses.

Select quotes from driver interview:

ON HIS SPONSORSHIP WITH BUDWEISER COMING TO A CLOSE AT THE END OF THE 2007 SEASON: "It would be cool if they did stay at DEI, but wherever they decide to go, will be the right choice for them. They always make the right decision."

"I've really enjoyed my relationship with Budweiser and things like that, that you're comfortable with and that you know and you're familiar with and things you want to keep and continue to enjoy. I felt like we've only accomplished have of what we could do together. So that part of it is kind of unfortunate and sure, I would have loved to continue working with Bud, but under the circumstances, that's not a possibility. We'll have to change our frame of mind and see what the opportunities are for our primary sponsors next year. And those should be in line with what I like and what I enjoy. And I'm excited to put that together and see what it looks like, you know."

WILL YOU STILL HAVE A PERSONAL SERVICES CONTRACT WITH THEM? "My association will be over at the end of '07. Budweiser and we came to an agreement on that. So I think that will help us and them. But as far as our future, our future's apart. But you don't have to pay me to drink the beer. It's good beer and I'll always drink it. And I enjoy it. That's part of my life. The relationship I had with Budweiser and the partnership we've had for all these years is a big huge chunk of my life and it'll always be very memorable to me. And they'll always be a huge part of that and that success that I've had and the races that we've won. And when I look back on it in 20 years from now, it'll be a real positive thing for me."

DOES THE BUDWEISER DEAL AFFECT WHAT YOUR CAR NUMBER WILL BE? DO YOU STILL WANT TO BE NO. 8? "I would still like to be No. 8, but that's between the owners and obviously NASCAR. I don't have any influence, I reckon."

ON RACING AT CHICAGOLAND SPEEDWAY: "I enjoy it. This track is starting to age really well. The shade of the asphalt has changed quite a bit. The track is going to really come in with a second and third groove during the race, just like it did last year. Those are fun race tracks. And I look forward to it. I really do. It's a fun track."

HOW DO YOU EXPECT YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH JEFF GORDON TO GO NEXT YEAR? "I think we'll be fierce competitors on the track. I think we'll race each other like we do now. We like to beat each other. I like to outrun Jeff any chance I can. I think he feels the same way about me just because of the fan base and the differences between the two. But we'll be teammates and we'll be in team meetings together. We'll be doing things like that where we'll be essentially working toward the same goal. But when we get out on the race track; when we pull out of the garage and out on pit road and get ready for practices and things like that, that'll still be a high level of competition between me and him. I think that has to remain. That's can't go away. I don't want it to go away. But I like the rivalry him and my dad had and I'd like to continue that."

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chicago Audio

Mark Martin, Weekly Top-12 Hauler Chat at Chicago

Mark Martin, No. 01 U.S. Army Monte Carlo SS, met with members of the media and discussed teammate Regan Smith and his progress, what drivers need to do to win at Chicago, Ricky Carmichael, conversations with Bobby Ginn, and working and racing with teammates and relationships with them.

Select quotes from driver interview:

JAY FRYE SAID A COUPLE WEEKS AGO THAT REGAN SMITH IS GOING TO GO FULL TIME NEXT YEAR. DO YOU THINK THAT HE'S READY FOR THAT? "Yeah. Regan's ready. 100% ready. Everybody here is real proud of him and I know I talked to other drivers who all think that he's doing a great job and think he's ready. We're excited about getting him going."

ON INTERNAL TEAM ISSUES WITHIN GINN RACING: "There's certainly things going on here but here's the thing that you have to remember. This has always been the little team that could and did. This team has won twice. It should have won 10 times. We've had a lot of back luck when they had the deals closed, inside of 10 laps to go sometimes. So the core group here are still here and will continue to be here. The No. 01 is sponsored for 2008 and the driver lineup is set for 2008 and the crew chief is set for 2008 and I know the team members are the same team members that have been involved at that place for long time. So don't forget that this is the little team that could. I look and I expect it to get back to that. Trying to go through explosive expansion is a really tough thing to do and for various reasons, haven't been as successful as expanding as quickly they had hoped. They'll be getting back to the core and getting stronger so it's exciting for me in that respect. Because I see it getting stronger."

WHAT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY THAT TEAMMATES HAVE FOR EACH OTHER? "The responsibility is to do the very best for your own result. That's your number one responsibility, is getting the best result that you can.

"(Your teammates) aren't your teammates really because if they were, they would only be on the track to make sure you won. It's not the correct terminology. That's not correct, I don't think. In any other team sport, the team is out there to win for the team. They've been called teammates here so long, that's just what everyone calls them. At the end of the day, your responsibility is to do the best that you can for your own team, which is your crew chief, your sponsor, your people that work on your car. Now you can't do something dirty to someone that your owner owns their team too, or that you work together with to make a deal stronger. You work together off the race track. You work together in the shop and in the garage and when you go out on the racetrack and you don't do something that's not going to help you that hurts someone that is your 'teammate'. At the end of the day, you're not going to do something that hurts your effort to help your teammate, because then it re ally would be a teammate. Then you would only be out there to make sure that your teammate did the best that he could do. You work together. until it really comes down to the bottom line."

Mark Martin Chicago Audio