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

JIMMIE JOHNSON, DRIVER OF THE NO. 48 LOWE'S MONTE CARLO SS, TALKED WITH MEDIA ABOUT RULES VIOLATIONS AND THE STRONG DRIVERS FOR SUNDAY'S DAYTONA 500

ON BOTH TOYOTA AND JUAN PABLO MONTOYA COMING INTO THE AMERICAN SPORT OF NASCAR "They're new. They're coming in. You have the hardcore NASCAR fan, who has never seen a foreign make in this sport. And with a foreign driver coming in, I'm sure he's getting some ribbing. When you come to NASCAR country, that's part of it. You've got to have thick skin to come into this sport. And Toyota has hung in. They fit the rules that NASCAR has set out for them to make their entry to the sport. And I welcome the competition. Lowe's is in this sport because they're competitors and we want to outperform them."

CAN THE FANS RECOGNIZE THAT IT'S NOT THE SPONSOR'S FAULT WHEN A TEAM CHEATS? "Nobody wants to get caught up in that or wants their reputation to be tarnished. A malt beverage company might be more forgiving. The family based companies don't want that reputation associated with their products. So it can have varying impacts on different corporations. It can challenge corporate mindset."

DO YOU THINK THERE IS A LOT OF CHEATING GOING ON BECAUSE OF CORPORATE PRESSURE TO PLEASE THE SPONSOR? It's not the sponsors' fault by any stretch of the imagination. You can go to a local short track and they've got a sanctioning body and rules in place to keep people from getting unfair advantages. Unless the sanctioning body provides you with a car for you to race in, people interpret the rules different and approach things differently.

"One short track rule is that you can go buy the engine out of a car that you raced against just to limit that from taking place because those guys can't have the technical inspection like they do here at a Cup race. You can see the pressure equate all the way from a short track all the way to NASCAR cup level. It's just the desire to win. I don't think corporate America puts that pressure on us any more than the teams do to succeed themselves."

WAS IT HARD TO DEAL WITH YOUR SPONSOR WHEN YOU WERE PENALIZED AT LAST YEAR'S DAYTONA 500? "Yeah, it certainly was one of the harder things we had to deal with. We have a very good relationship with our sponsor and we were able to work through our issues in a short period of time there and getting everything rectified and in control. For me, the longest thing that took place was with the fans. It takes a long time for the fans to forgive in some respects. Going through all that, that really was the toughest part. Even today, I can see some lingering affects from it."

HOW SO? "It gives the fans something to yell at your for during driver introductions. I was yelled at and called a lot of crazy things. Not as much now. Now, the cheater word is getting less and less in the screams."

HOW DO YOU THINK MICHAEL WALTRIP IS DEALING WITH IT? "I can only imagine. Michael is so good with the fans. I'm not sure how bad the impact will be on him with the fans, but for me it took a while.

DO TEAMS PUSH THE ENVELOPE MORE AT THE DAYTONA 500 THAN OTHER RACES? "If you look at each year, you have 61 cars trying to make this race the Daytona 500, the biggest race. And you get the infractions. When you roll into California and Las Vegas, you might see a thing or two lingering. But once the season gets going and you have your core group of teams and everybody there working, you don't see these issues. I think a lot of it is the fact that this is Daytona 500."

CAN YOU HANDICAP THE FIELD FOR SUNDAY'S RACE? "I think you're going to see - not in any particular order -- a race between the No. 20 (Tony Stewart), the 24 (Jeff Gordon), the 48, the 17 (Matt Kenseth), the 2 (Kurt Busch) and the 5 (Kyle Busch) - there are six in there. The 38 (David Gilliland) is showing a lot. I would put him as a wildcard. Five hundred miles is a long time and he's learning at a rapid pace. He's got a great piece of equipment as we all know. The 88 (Ricky Rudd) didn't show a lot of strength yesterday, in the Duel, I thought. But the 38 certainly did."



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

DENNY HAMLIN, DRIVER OF THE NO. 11 FEDEX MONTE CARLO SS TALKED WITH MEDIA ABOUT WORKING WITH TEAMMATES IN THE DRAFT, WINNING LAST YEAR'S BUD SHOOTOUT, AND AVOIDING THE SOPHOMORE SLUMP

WHAT HAS CHANGED IN THE LAST YEAR? "So far here in Daytona the help that is behind me has changed the most. Last year I was struggling just to find a little bit of help. You had to look to guys with yellow stripes on their bumpers as well to try to get a little bit of help. It's tough to say what has really changed for me in the last year because of a lot of things have stayed the same. That's kind of the way I want to keep it."

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THIS WEEKEND? WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO WORK ON? "The biggest thing that I've got to work on is just fine tuning our car and not getting overzealous with the conditions that we were in. Ultimately in the race things are just a lot different. When we get a 43-car pack out there, whatever it was handling is going to be worse. We got a decent starting spot and I'm pretty happy with that. It's just really fine tuning it from here on out."

ARE YOU PRETTY CLOSE TO WHERE YOU NEED TO BE WHEN THEY WAVE THE GREEN FLAG ON SUNDAY? "Yeah, I'm fairly close. I'm definitely in the line that I'd prefer. We're in a good spot. We're not totally up front. We're right there in the top 10 and that's all that matters. Handling is going to be such a big deal, after 10 laps you're going to be strung out anyway."

HOW MUCH DID YOUR SUCCESS HERE LAST YEAR AT THE SHOOTOUT AND RUNNING THE DAYTONA 500 LAST YEAR HELP YOUR CONFIDENCE? "I was just talking to Mike (Ford, crew chief) 30 seconds ago about how he thought the 150s were probably the best superspeedway race he'd seen me run just because I'm getting a little more comfortable with how I need to maneuver myself to put myself in position. I told him it's just going to come with time. I'm not going to be Tony Stewart right now. I'm not going to be one of the guys that just go right to the front and stay there all day. I just don't have that kind of experience at superspeedways yet. It's getting better and that's all we can ask for."

HOW HAVE YOU ADAPTED SO QUICKLY? "It's tough to say. I don't know whether it's the horsepower of the cars or what it is really because obviously I'm not used to the speeds that we are running from my past or anything. I think sometimes you adapt to certain vehicles and the Cup cars seem to fit that better than anything right now."

IF YOU CAN GET UP TO WHERE TONY STEWART IS IN THE RACE, CAN YOU TWO WORK TOGETHER OR IS HE IN A CLASS OF HIS OWN RIGHT NOW? "Tony is awesome on superspeedways. Tony has a lot of help as well. When guys get behind him, they want to push him because they know he can win and they want to go to the front. He gets a lot of help and he knows how to get those runs to the lead. I definitely think I can help him once I get there and he can help me because he's helped me time and time again. We're just one step behind on our setup from where they are at but we're a lot closer than what we were a week ago on it."

IS TONY STEWART A FAVORITE FOR SUNDAY? "It's hard to say that he's not. He's won just about everything but those guys got their cars pretty well. I got to ride behind him yesterday and their car really looked strong. I think the 38 is probably the strongest car of the whole bunch. Whether the experience level will come into factor or not, you never know. He's got a really, really fast car but Tony can take a car that is a little bit worse and win with it and he's proven that."

ON THE EXPECTATION LEVEL OF HIM THIS YEAR VERSUS LAST YEAR: "To me it's kind of amazing a little bit. We've still got to prove ourselves especially to the media and everything. We look all around and nine times out of 10 you see the headline that I won't make the Chase this year, that we're going to have problems and this, that and the other. Evidently we've still got to prove ourselves and prove that we're a championship contending team and we're going to do it again."

WHAT WILL CALIFORNIA BE LIKE AFTER ALL THE HYPE OF DAYTONA? "I'll be looking forward to it because we're going back to the normal racing, the racing where the driver has a lot of input. The setup wise, means a whole lot. For us it's back to the basics when we go back to California. Honestly I like Daytona but it's good to start your real racing next week."

WHAT NOTES CAN YOU TAKE FROM THE LAS VEGAS TEST TO HELP YOU IN CALIFORNIA AND THEN IN VEGAS? "Vegas is so much different than California now that you really can't transfer anything. The speeds are about the same but the banking of Vegas now is just a lot different. It will be interesting to see how Vegas ends up, they're having problems with the tires and I think they are shortening up the fuel cells again. It's tough to say how the racing is going to be."

ARE THERE ANY CHANGES YOU GET FOR BEING IN YOUR SECOND YEAR VERSUS COMING HERE AS A ROOKIE? "Everything really stays the same for us. The only thing that is really different is that things have kind of slowed down a little bit. I don't have to do all those things (where) the rookie has to earn his place in the sport. I'm still doing those things and still want to do them. We're definitely taking it more easy on the schedule. I had a tough schedule last year, a lot of things going. We took this year and said we were going to have a little bit more fun with it and be more focused on our Cup program."

HAVE YOU THOUGHT OF WHAT YOU WANT TO DO AFTER DRIVING? "I might be owning a team one day but that's a whole other endeavor. Yeah, if you're looking to throw away money just own a team. That's what J.D. says anyway (laughs). I'd like to own a team one day. Hopefully at one point in my career I'll hopefully be able to have the opportunity to do that.

HOW DO YOU AVOID THE SOPHOMORE SLUMP? "Run good. It's tough to say how you avoid it. There's nothing that we can do to avoid it. If we're going to have a slump, it's going to be because of bad luck. I don't think it's going to be because we didn't run well. I know as a driver, I'm going to be a better driver this year than what I was last year just because a lot of these race tracks I'll actually be going to for a second time. It seems like I've looked at stats and stuff and every time I've gone back somewhere it's been better. I'm really looking forward to the tracks that I do have a lot of experience at and I know the cars that we are bringing to track are better than ever. I look at the wind tunnel notes. I look at everything. So if the driver is better and the cars are better, we should be better as a whole. We just have to see whether we took two steps in the off-season and how many steps did the competition take. I think luck is basically what is going to happen."

AFTER A GREAT ROOKIE SEASON, WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE THE TEAM MAKE SOME IMPROVEMENTS THIS YEAR? "It's tough to say. We kind of struggled on pit road last year a lot, especially during the Chase. But I tell you, this year so far at Daytona we've been on it. I've gained six, seven spots every time I've come in the pits. I think a lot of it is they see how dedicated I am to one, the training program and two, the whole racing program. They're seeing that I'm working hard. I want it bad so they're working extra hard to make sure I'm getting everything possible. I rode them pretty hard last year and it's paying off this year so far."

AFTER HAVING THAT SUCCESS, HOW HARD WAS IT TO WAIT SEVERAL MONTHS BEFORE GETTING BACK IN AND BUILDING ON THAT SUCCESS? "Well the good thing is we ended the year on a really good note.

"We gained more points than anybody during the Chase last year and ended with a couple top-three finishes and that's what I wanted to do. Regardless of where we ended up in the Chase I wanted to have good finishes to just have momentum going into the next year. I feel like we had that, even though a lot of people don't think so. We're going to have a lot better year than people think."

WHAT IS IT GOING TO TAKE TO GET TO VICTORY LANE SUNDAY? "A lot of help at the right times that's for sure and we're getting a lot of help from guys that we didn't have help from last year. Then again our cars are a lot better. I think it's just going to be placing yourself at the right time and evidently you've got to be somewhere around Tony if you want to see the checkered flag first."

DOES IT BOTHER YOU PEOPLE SAY YOU WON'T MAKE THE CHASE? DOES IT MOTIVATE YOU? "It's a huge motivation. Actually in the lounge of this trailer there's some magazine where it had eight people's picks of the top 10 and we might be in two of them so it's motivation.

"You look at the past and some guys have problems their second year but you look at most of them and they have better years than what they've had. There's no reason that we should be taking a step backwards. We're going forward from here on out."

DO YOU FEEL PHYSICALLY DIFFERENT IN THE CAR BASED ON YOUR TRAINING PROGRAM? "Yeah, a lot different. I've worked at it really hard and tried my best to stay focused and stay motivated on it. You kind of get motivated when guys like Tony say that we're going to stick to it and we're going to do it. Me and him have just been hard at it just about every day. You kind of having a recovery time after a race. It was Wednesday for me really before I could really recover from what I experienced over the weekend. Now it's the next day, the night of. I just feel better in that aspect. Normally after the hit I had at the shootout I'd be sore and now I'm fine. There's certain aspects that benefit whether you see it or not. It's definitely when you feel better you're definitely going to be a better driver."

WHAT IS THE TOUGHEST PART OF YOUR FITNESS PROGRAM? "Probably (getting up early) in the morning. When I talked to my trainer he asked what time I wanted to do these things and I said just about whenever. He asked how I like mornings and I said 'I really don't do mornings' but they get me out of bed. If I'm ever late they kick me out of bed so I have no choice to show up."



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

KEVIN HARVICK, DRIVER OF THE NO. 29 SHELL-PENNZOIL MONTE CARLO SS, TALKED WITH MEDIA ABOUT THE AFFECT OF NASCAR PENALTIES AND THE ONGOING IMPROVEMENTS AT RICHARD CHILDRESS RACING:

ON A GOOD FINISH AT DAYTONA MAKING OR BREAKING THE REST OF THE SEASON: "Not really. I have had it both ways here. We have had 42nd place finishes and fourth place finishes and had bad seasons on the good finish and good seasons on the bad finish so it can go either way. For me, we approach this race as almost a whole separate week itself. Once you leave here, the season actually starts. We treat this as its own race."

ON AFFECT OF PENALTIES THIS WEEK ACCOMPLISHING NASCAR GOALS: "I think it is just a big message as to where they want to see everybody. They have made it a pretty clear message, I think everybody understands that they need to not to do the obvious cheating stuff and do the things you know are right and try to work within that box."

ON ANY CONCERNS AS A TEAM OWNER OVER HEIGHTENED SUSPENSIONS AND OTHER PENALTIES: "Not at all. I have told my guys at KHI and I know Richard (Childress) has told everybody at RCR that we are going to stay within the box whether we run last or first. That seems to be the way they want it and needs to be, as owners in all the different series, that the thing needs to be played. If they are going to let things slide, you have to play by the rules and if they aren't going to let things slide, you need to play by those rules. Nothing is going to slide and I like that message. I think it is going to make it a lot easier to know what is right and what is wrong."

ON IF NASCAR IS BEING CONSISTENT: "I think it is consistent and I think they have done a good job so far."

ON WHAT HAPPENED TO THE CAR DURING THE DUEL: "It was one of those deals where the stars weren't lined up right and it snapped the pinion shaft on the rear end gear. We haven't had one of those break since 2001. It is a matter of dropping the car off the jack, me letting the clutch out and something not timed absolutely perfect. It snapped the pinion. It is unfortunate but better now than Sunday."

ON RACE PLAN FOR 500 GIVEN STARTING POSTION: "I think you need to get to the front as fast as you can. Just for the fact that track position is important and you want to have your car handling as good as you can, it becomes harder to make it handle when you are in traffic. So you need to get to the front as fast as you can."

ON CAR OF TOMORROW: "We have tested it a lot. It is a little bit wider and a little bit safer and we are looking forward to that part of it. As far as how it will be on the track in a race, I don't think anybody knows until we get it on the track with everybody else and see what we have to work on from there. We have had a lot of testing with it and everything has gone really well. It is just a matter of getting it in a race and really understanding where the areas are you have to work on because we have worked on these particular cars for a long time. We need to just get in there and work on the things we need to work on after we race it and see what we need to fix."

ON WHAT TEAM EXPECTS TO ACCOMPLISH IN PRACTICE SESSIONS BEFORE DAYTONA 500: "We know what we need to work on. We feel like our car is handling good, we are just a little bit down on speed. We feel like we are a gop-10-car, we just need that little big extra to be able to win."

ON VERSITILITY OF THIS TEAM: "We were good last year at all kinds on all different kinds of race tracks and that is the way you have to be to compete for a champion. We were able to put ourselves in position to compete for that championship, just came up a little bit short. But we have to stay good on the mile and halves and you have to be good in the COT and keep the development going in the right direction there. We have to stay good at all those different kinds of race tracks. Atlanta has become our worst race track for whatever reason so we have to get better there try to minimize the bad days and make them mediocre."

ON RCR FURTHER IMPROVEMENTS DURING THE OFF SEASON: "I feel like we have made our current car a little better on the downforce tracks. We have done a fair amount of testing with the Car of Tomorrow. It is hard to tell until you get in to the season and see where everybody falls and know what you have to work on. I always talk about the adjustments you have to make as a team to make sure everything is going right. We will continue to do that and hopefully our COT stuff is headed in the right direction. I know our engine staff is working hard everyday to try and get the new engine in the car as soon as possible. It is a lot of hard work or a lot of people. We will be all right."

ON DESIRE TO BE IN THE CHASE AGAIN THIS YEAR: "I think any time you run for a championship, you want to continue to a part of that. Every thing that happened last year and being able to do that is something you just want to do a little bit better. That is what we want to do.

"We want to win a championship, but in order to do that, you have to be competitive for one first. We proved to ourselves we can do that. What we learned from being in it will carry forward to this season."

ON CALE GALE: "It is going to be a lot of fun to watch him make his first laps around Daytona. He is a great kid. He has done a lot in his late model cars, and had a lot of experience. For the most part, I think he will do a good job and it is going to be a lot of fun to see him get his first experience."



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

JEFF GORDON, DRIVER OF THE NO. 24 DUPONT MONTE CARLO SS TALKED WITH MEDIA ABOUT HIS POST-INSPECTION GATORADE DUEL PENALTY AND WHAT IT WILL TAKE TO WIN THE DAYTONA 500 FROM A 42ND PLACE START

ON THE CHALLENGES OF STARTING THE DAYTONA 500 AT THE REAR OF THE FIELD AND HOW HE WILL PRACTICE TO PREPARE "Obviously if you're starting up front, you can ride a little bit more and handling is not as much of an issue as it is if you're starting further in the back. We're going to have to have a really good handling race car and also a fast race car. I think we learned a lot yesterday in the 150's. We're just going to try not to take too much speed out of that car and really get that car to handle."

DESCRIBE YOUR EMOTIONS WHEN YOU FOUND OUT WHAT HAPPENED: "I was very disappointed. It was a great win for us and we pride ourselves on making sure we're within the rules. It's a job that NASCAR has to do and we're taking full responsibility. But it was a part failure. It was something out of our control - to an extent. We feel like a bolt backed off and therein lies the failure. We've got to make sure that doesn't happen as a race team. That's the only way we're going to be able to win races and to win this championship this year is to make sure those types of things aren't happening. Because the car was low in inspection, I'm totally in agreement and understand what NASCAR did and I feel like the crime fits the punishment because there was no unfair advantage on the race track. We convinced NASCAR of that and they are convinced of it and we feel confident of it."

ON THE HIGH OF STARTING ON THE SECOND ROW TO THE LOW OF STARTING SECOND TO LAST "The disappointing part is that we won the race. We had a great car and run and it was exciting. And all that gets taken out of your sail. We're going to try to maintain that momentum and the excitement that we had there and hold on to as much of it as we can. Obviously this is a dark cloud over that. But we did win the race. I feel like we won it fair and square. So we're going to try to do the best to get that DuPont Chevrolet from 42nd back to the front and hopefully do just like we did yesterday when with six or seven laps to go we're sitting there in the top 15 and can make some exciting passes and have some help from some other guys to be able to do it."

EVEN THOUGH YOURS WAS NOT INTENTIONAL, ARE YOU CONCERNED THAT PEOPLE MIGHT GROUP YOU INTO OTHERS WHO HAVE BEEN PENALIZED THIS WEEK? "Of course. You're always concerned with that and that's what's bothered me the most and kept me up all night is that people would think we did something to circumvent the rules. I will challenge any person in this garage area who is knowledgeable about how these cars travel on the race track to come and tell me that it was an unfair advantage - when they know all the parts and pieces of what exactly happened. It's easy if you say the car was low. But it wasn't low on the race track. The car was low in the height restriction that NASCAR goes through. That's why the penalty is what it is. If NASCAR felt this was more than that, we'd be in the same position as the other guys. I wouldn't have a crew chief right now. We'd have a points fine and a monetary fine. And so I think we've been able to live with the fact that we know that. I can say that is because if you know how these parts travel on the race track, by the time you get up to about 80 to 100 mph, the rear of the car is already traveling an inch or more. In the corners, you're traveling up to six inches. My car was not traveling any more on the race track, it was only not coming back up all the way when the car slowed down because the shock mounts wouldn't allow it because it came loose and got lodged at a lower travel. The bottom line is we were low. We take full responsibility for that. I'm just mad that it happened."

IS IT EASIER TO GO TO THE FRONT FROM 42ND AT DAYTONA VERSUS SOMEPLACE LIKE BRISTOL OR MARTINSVILLE? "No. You've still got to avoid the obstacles that lie in the way. You've got to make sure you don't create a wreck. You've got to make sure you don't get caught up in one. You need good pit strategy and everything. Believe me, it's going to take a lot. Trust me, there's a reason why nobody has ever won this race from that far back. We want to be the first one to do it and I think we're capable of it. There are a lot of good cars at the back of the field and we can all work together and get to the front. 500 miles is a long way around this place too."

ON BEING TOLD THAT THE CAR DIDN'T PASS INSPECTION DURING HIS POST-RACE PRESS CONFERENCE AFTER WINNING THE SECOND DUEL "Oh, I was in shock. And I wish I'd said less because my comments made it worse because anybody thinks the car is lower and that's an advantage. But when I found out just what was keeping the car lower was the fact that something failed and the shock was just holding the car down, but not making it travel any more. The springs are what create travel. As soon as they released that shock, the car came right back up. And yeah, we were real low. There's no doubt about it. But I do feel comfortable knowing we didn't have an unfair advantage on the race track."

ON NASCAR'S METHOD OF ISSUING PENALITIES "In my opinion and in my history in this sport, NASCAR creates penalties based on the intent of these rule infractions. I think NASCAR was very confident and Robin Pemberton said so himself that yes the car was low and so a penalty has to be put on the No. 24 car, but there was no intent to try to create the car to be lower. I wish I had a diagram to show you guys so you could fully understand it. But there is not a person in this garage area that if they have the facts, that wouldn't understand what happened and how it could happen and our job is to make sure it doesn't happen again because you don't want to go out there and win the race knowing that car is going to come in (and not pass inspection). It would be silly to do that. So we would never do that. That's why we are going to make sure this doesn't happen again based on the mounting of how we mount that shock."

BASED ON ALL THE CHEATING THIS WEEK, HOW FINE A LINE IS THAT FOR THE TYPE OF EXPOSURE THIS SPORT HAS HAD THIS WEEK? "That's the upside and downside of this sport. It's great to have the attention. And controversy sometimes draws more attention than positive things. I'm just hoping we can get everybody -- all the teams that have come in here and had issues - that we can get all of this behind us and go into this Daytona 500 and put on an exciting, awesome race and have a lot of people at home watching that enjoy the races."

DO YOU THINK YOU GOT OF LIGHT WITH THE PENALTY NASCAR ISSUED? "The only people who are going to think we got off light are the people that aren't knowledgeable about what the intent of what happened and how it happened. That's why I challenge anybody. There has already been a TV analyst for ESPN that's made a silly comment based on a lack of knowledge. You'd think it would come from somebody who has a lot of knowledge. If that person understands what really was going on, they would probably change their opinion of what was said.

"Hey, we've all been in these situations before. I've had situations like this before. In this garage area, it's hard to say that anybody hasn't had some issue along the way as they go through NASCAR inspection. But to me, it is extremely important because the integrity of our team and our sponsors in this sport is built on the intent to go out there and compete on an even playing field with the rest of the competition. That's why I'm a little bit upset with ourselves right now than anything else that we had something so silly that happened that makes it appear that we're trying to get around the rules and yet I feel good that NASCAR made the decision they made because it really does prove that they understand there was no intent.

"The first thing that happens is as soon as somebody says or hears that the car was an inch low, your first immediate reaction is oh, my gosh. If I heard that, I would go ballistic. That's why I'm saying that if you know the facts and know exactly what happened, and Robin Pemberton said so in the Media Center last night, and we can diagram it and try to show...heck, I want to go over to that TV set with that car and show a shock mount so we can explain it to the people. We can't do that. We can't explain it to every single person. Everybody is entitled to their opinion. But there is no favoritism going on here. I feel like the penalty really fit the crime and had nothing to do with that win. That's the other thing I feel good about."

YOU'VE GOT TO FEEL CONFIDENT THAT YOU CAN GET UP TO THE FRONT IN THE FIRST 100 MILES OF THE RACE "Well, if I get there in the last 100 miles - that's where this race is going to be won. For me, it's not about how quick you can get to the front, it's about just getting there in the right time. If you get the right guys pushing you and get the right pit strategy, you can make up a lot of spots in a short period of time."

YOU'VE GOT TO FEEL LIKE THIS IS A MINOR SPEEDBUMP "No doubt about it. I'm way more concerned about how we get the car handling better and how we get to 42nd up to first and how we avoid the wrecks and all the things that come along with this great race that are going to help you or prevent you from winning this race."

EVERY DAY THERE SEEMS TO BE ANOTHER ISSUE GOING ON DURING SPEEDWEEKS "The penalties have fit the crime. When the intent is there, they're going to come down on you hard. Daytona is so important and so big and there is so much riding on it - especially for a lot of teams who are outside the top 35 in points - it's risk versus reward. And because this is such a big event -- and this starts your whole season off - guys are pushing the limits too far. NASCAR continues to crack down on it and make harsher penalties that it only makes everybody question those things that much more."

DOES EVERYBODY TRY TO GET AROUND THE RULES OR BEND THEM A LITTLE? "Hey, as long as this sport has been around and as long as it continues to be around, people are going to push the gray areas. Sometimes they're going to push it too far, and they're going to get penalized. There is a big difference between knowing that you're trying to get around a rule, and a (parts) failure that happens that prevents you from getting through the inspection."

HOW DO YOU FEEL NOW TO BE AMONG THOSE PENALIZED FOR CHEATING? "Yeah, I've just been happy through qualifying that we haven't been a part of it. And then last night, it just crushed me when I found out that we were going to be right in the middle of it all. If this were to happen to us, I would have rather that it happen to us during qualifying instead of the 150's because I think we could have rebounded with a good started position right now. We're in the hole starting way in the back.

NASCAR gets tougher and stronger and they learn more. As they create smaller boxes for the teams to work in, they you've got to get more creative. Their job is to have a rule book that states things very clearly. Our job is to push the limits of those all the way up until you exceed it and be in those boundaries. That's the only way you're going to be competitive out here is to push it to those limits. But you can't push it over the limits. That's clear. NASCAR's made it clear. We make it clear within our own garage and we know that. We've been in that position before and it's not fun. We don't want to be in that group now and that's why it's so upsetting that this has happened by a failure, not by our intent."

WHAT ARE YOUR CHANCES? "I think our chances are still good. We had a car that I felt could be a little bit better yesterday and we won with it. Today we're going to work hard on getting it to handle better. I think we've obviously won this race before - not from this far back. But anything is possible. To me, we've got to work on the car in practice, get this race started, and then see if we can slowly but surely work our way forward."

HAS WHAT IT TAKES TO WIN HERE CHANGED OVER THE YEARS? "Conditions change. Tires change. Aerodynamics change. Restrictor plates change. The weather changes. All those things are factors in what it takes to win here. Sometimes it takes pure speed. Sometimes it takes a good handling race car. Sometimes it takes both. This year, with the Goodyear tire we've got, I think it's going to take a good handling race car to win this race."

DID YOU LOSE SLEEP OVER THIS PENALTY? "Oh, yeah, I lost sleep over it. The win got taken out of our sails. You saw it live in the media center. When they brought that up, it was shocking to me. I knew that we had already scheduled a media session today and that we were going to have to deal with that."

HOW STRONG IS TONY STEWART? "He's strong. He's real strong. I think he's shown it every time he's been on the race track. Those guys are really good at having not just a fast car, but a really good handling car. And then you take a driver like Tony Stewart --- they've got a great package. They've got horsepower and a good handling race car and a good crew chief and I think those guys are the team to beat out there right now."

HOW WOULD IT FEEL TO TIE DALE EARNHARDT FOR THE NUMBER OF WINS? "When you know that your next win can tie a great like Dale Earnhardt, it just makes that win that much more special. Dale was such a special person. He's somebody that I couldn't even fathom that I would ever be even one (win) behind a mark that he had set. So it will be a very proud moment and I hope it happens soon. I hope it happens Sunday."

EVEN THOUGH YOU HAD A FAILURE, THE ATMOSPHERE IN THIS GARAGE PUTS YOU IN THE GROUP OF BREAKING THE RULES INTENTIONALLY "NASCAR has a tough job to do. They've got to govern the rules. When people break them, they've got to make penalties. The penalty has to fit the crime. Really, when I've looked at everything this week, I feel like every penalty fits the crime. If you look at intent and you look at the things they focus on that are big no-no's, I feel like we're going to be grouped into that just like anybody else. My biggest thing is that anybody who has knowledge of how these cars work and those parts and pieces and how the cars travel on the race track and off the race track, they're going to go look at the part just like Jeff Burton said he did. And they're going to say yep, that part failed. Somebody either didn't tighten it down, or it came loose in some way or fashion. Shame on us. And because it didn't meet the height stick, they've got to make a decision. And they did. They put us to the back of the Daytona 500. But I don't think that when you know all that, in any way, shape, or form, that you would change what infraction came."

DO YOU HAVE TO FACTOR IN THE INTENT TO CHEAT? "I think the first thing is intent. If they can prove that you intentionally did something to try to get around your rules to make the car go faster, that's your first strike. Now, if what you did was going to be such a huge advantage.. That's why when you're messing with that restrictor plate, airflow, or fuel - even anything around the spoiler - those things are all very severe. When you mix in intent and what it was and how much speed it can actually gain you, that's how you've got to pick and choose and how strong you're going to act."

WHEN YOU HAVE CLEAR INTENT, THAT'S ONE THING. WHEN YOU HAVE INTENT PLUS ADVANTAGE, THAT'S ANOTHER THING "Absolutely. How else can you do it? Unfortunately it's can't be as easy as black and white.

"Hey, we've got an issue out here right now where guys are getting hit from behind from bump-drafting and it's changing the aerodynamics of the car from the rear from the damage that's being done? What do you do about that? What about the guy who punctures a tire on the last lap and comes through that inspection line and the car is low because there is no air in the tire. What are you going to say about that? So of course you have to take every scenario and weigh it out and you've got to make penalties.

NASCAR has to make those decisions. It's no fun for them. They're not having a fun week. I'm hoping we can get this behind us and we can go into Sunday's race and we have an exciting race, and the cars go through inspection with no issues.

"We're up against the fact that unless we can take every media member and fan and every driver and crew chief in this garage area and show them exactly what happened and allow them to understand it, they're going to make their own opinion. We understand that and we take full responsibility for is. I feel like it didn't have anything to do with our win. But now we've just got to put it behind us and go out there and get that DuPont Chevrolet fired up and ready to go for this race. And the only way to turn it into a positive it go out there and drive to the front on Sunday. And then, we have to go through that inspection again after the race and get through that clearly. We have every intention of making sure that happens."



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

JEFF BURTON, NO. 31 CINGULAR WIRELESS MONTE CARLO SS, TALKED WITH MEDIA ABOUT THE UPCOMING DAYTONA 500, RULES VIOLATIONS AND PENALTIES, AND THE INTERNATIONALIZATION OF NASCAR:

TELL US ABOUT YOUR PREPARATIONS THIS WEEK AND YOUR THOUGHTS GOING INTO THE 500. "Certainly after qualifying on Sunday we were pretty down with the speed we were able to lay down. But my guys are a pretty resilient bunch. We felt pretty good about racing yesterday pretty well. Hopefully we'll bolt in a little more horsepower for the 500 and we'll try to make the car drive even better than it does. So far the car has driven really well and I feel really good about our chances. I feel optimistic about the 500 and I feel very optimistic about the year in general. We'll see: this race has a habit of odd things happening pretty consistently. We just want to go out, stay out of the way and get in the middle of it when we need to and when we don't, don't - position ourselves to have a chance to win the Daytona 500. It's something I've never been able to do. I have a huge desire to make it happen and I think I've got as good a chance as I've ever had."

HAVE YOU FOLLOWED THE SITUATION REGARDING RULES VIOLATIONS THIS WEEK AND WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT IT? "First of all, I'm a proponent of big penalties. I think that in any sport the more severe the penalty, the more prone people are to do the right thing. Any time you have a competitive nature and you have a competitive group and winning or losing is at stake, if you don't make people do the right thing then they never will. I learned that at a very early age with my father cheating with me as a seven year old (did I just say that?). It's just what happens. Competition brings out the best in people and it brings out the worst in people. So NASCAR's job is to make sure it's a level playing field for everyone and when someone steps out of the bounds, whack them. I believe the bigger the hit the less it happens. I know personally - we have conversations about what we're willing to do and what we're not willing to do - and because the penalties are so large we're willing to do very little that we think can get us into trouble. This is a risk-versus-reward business and the higher the risk the less opportunity for reward. So I'm a proponent of big penalties, I'm a proponent of points (penalties) and a proponent of suspensions - but I think points are the biggest.

"I say this now as I know it's coming: the 24 car not having points taken away. I was concerned about that this morning, the part was confiscated so I went and looked at the part and it's my opinion that what happened to the 24 car was a screw-up. And I'm also of the opinion that probably on the race there wasn't much performance gain. Because on the race track the car's different than it is in the high sticks. When you look at the part it was beat up pretty badly. It wasn't machined to work one way which I suspected it was until I went and looked at it. It seemed by me to be an honest mistake. So the question is: what should the penalty be? There has to be a penalty. Mistake or not, there has to be a penalty. My concern was that the penalty wasn't steep enough in relation to the other penalties. So . what was the advantage? It seemed to me that the advantage was he won the race - they took that away - then should there be points and a suspension?"

ACTUALLY HE KEPT HIS WIN. "Well, so did Richard Petty - I don't know how that works. That's how it's always been, I'm not saying that's how it should be. At some stage they're going to say 'It's not like that any more, if you get caught, you're not going to get the race and we're going to penalize you.' I don't know how you win the race but that's the way it's always been. "It seems to me that the penalty met the crime. I really do and I believe that one of the worst things that can happen to anybody in life or anything else, you have to look at each situation for what it is and I'm not defending Jeff Gordon and Steve Letarte. I'm looking at what the situation is. It's my opinion that if you look at what Michael Waltrip's group did and what the 17 did - if the 17 got 50 points, or whatever the penalty is, then the 55 should have been 10 times that. In this case (the 24) I don't think they deserved a point penalty or suspension because there was probably a negligible gain on the racetrack and if you look at the part it wasn't intentional. So . it probably wasn't much of a gain, it wasn't intentional, it's not like they set out to intentionally cheat which should be dealt with differently if they did. So I went in there very uncomfortable about the penalty. After looking at the part, I'm very comfortable with the penalty. Because I think they looked at the situation for what it was, the way it happened, they looked at all the evidence and made the decision based on that. In some ways I'm very proud of them for that because they held - I'm sure they had a lot of pressure on them to (fine) points too following the week's incidents. But I'm sure that after looking at it, they've done the right thing.

DID MICHAEL (WALTRIP) GET OFF TOO EASILY? "Yes. In comparison to the 17 and 9, it's my opinion . you can make the case that the 17 and 9 were penalized too harshly, you can make that case. But I'm not going to say that - like I've just said, I believe in harsh penalties. But based on their penalties I think the 55 got off exceptionally easy. That's nothing personal against Michael - that's nothing to do with it - I just think they got off exceptionally easy in comparison to the other penalties."

WITH THIS SITUATION AND ALL THE MEDIA COVERING EVERYTHING BUT WHAT'S HAPPENING ON THE RACETRACK, HAS THIS BEEN A BAD WEEK FOR NASCAR? DO YOU BUY THE "THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS BAD PUBLICITY" MANTRA"? "I don't buy that . I think it's been a bad week for our sport. I believe that you can make the case that NASCAR has done the right thing in most instances. Again the difference in penalties between those teams was too small, I think it should have been a bigger difference but I think NASCAR has taken a stance in saying: 'Hey, this is wrong and we're not putting up with it. You broke the rules, you're going to be penalized.' Anything else might be worse. Now we may not know about it but if NASCAR didn't take a stand and do the right thing, then that would be worse than them taking a stand and doing the right thing. So I think it's been a bad week for our sport, I don't think it's been a bad week for NASCAR."

ON THE CHEATING THIS WEEK IN GENERAL "I think it's a shame we've spent the week talking about cheating. This is the start of probably the most competitive year we've had in our sport, this is the start of debatably the biggest race of the year, it's the start of a lot of things that are going to happen during the year, yet here we are talking about cheating and it's disappointing that that's where the conversation is. By the way, you guys haven't created the conversation - the topic's been created because there it is. It's in our face - how can you walk away from it? That's why it's been a bad week. We should be talking about competitive the race is going to be, we should be talking about Junior having the wreck . we should be talking about things that have to do with racing. Instead . we've given the perception that we're a bunch of manipulative guys that are out there trying to screw everybody out of a win. That's just not good for our sport."

IS THERE A BIGGER PICTURE THAT NASCAR IS TRYING TO SEND OUT TO FORTUNE 500 COMPANIES, TO FANS IN EUROPE AND SO ON? "I don't know. I'm certainly not involved in closed-door discussions with NASCAR on what message they're trying to send. I'd like to believe that what they're trying to do is make sure the sport is fair. I mostly look at our sport from a competition standpoint. For our sport to be what it needs to be, they need to police it. It's their job to make the rules and enforce them."

ON NASCAR HANDING OUT MORE SEVERE PENALTIES "I may have my timescale wrong, but over the last three or five year they've continued to escalate it. They've continued to make penalties larger, they've continued to make fines larger and suspensions longer. I don't know that they're trying to send a message, other than to say to the competition that it's got to be fair.

"I do believe that when you come to the Daytona 500 with 61 cars (if that's the right number) trying to make the race, that puts more pressure on them to police it even harder. Because it needs to be fair for every single team trying to make the Daytona 500 or, by the way, the 55 cars, or whatever it is, trying to make the race next week - all the competition needs to know, and their sponsors need to know, that it's a level playing field. So I don't know that they're trying to send a message but I believe the message is 'Hey, it's going to be fair.' I don't know if that's a message, other than a philosophy."

IN PROFESSIONAL SPORTS, EVERYONE KNOWS THAT THERE IS A DELINEATED, PROGRESSIVE PROCESS OF PENALTIES FOR, SAY, DRUG VIOLATORS. WOULD NASCAR BE BETTER SERVED WITH DEFINED PENALTIES FOR SPECIFIC VIOLATIONS? "I wouldn't be opposed to that. I wouldn't be opposed to listed set of penalties that this is what we do for this case - I wouldn't be opposed to that. The negative to that is we have many more moving parts than the NBA and what they consider a drug policy: by the way if you get caught smoking dope, you can keep doing it until you get caught the third time. Or maybe it's the second time now, they've really toughened it up. It's difficult to make a rule that says that if it's a shock that holds the car down, this is the penalty. If a carburetor is found to have a hole a 16th of an inch to large somewhere, then this is the penalty. You see my point. There's so many moving parts on the car, there are so many components on the car, it's difficult to pinpoint every single component and say this is always the penalty - there would always be things that were being violated that weren't in the rules. I don't know how you can say this is always going to be the penalty when you don't know what (the violation) is going to be. Flexibility is required and, in some of it, there should be no flexibility.

"The reason I went to (NASCAR) this morning is that I wanted to make sure that the penalties were being handed out consistently. It didn't feel to me like it was. But after I looked at the part it looked like it did. So, everything needs to be looked at individually with, once the determination has been made, this is all the information, this is all the facts, this is the history of what we've done for penalties, it needs to lay within that history. It needs to be similar to that history of penalty and fines. Then if they do that, and they do that consistently, then I think it's okay."

IS NASCAR NATION READY FOR INTERNATIONALIZATION, AND WHAT SORT OF BATTLE WILL MONTOYA AND TOYOTA FACE? "First of all, the sad thing about the conversation is that it's a shame in our society we have to have a conversation about someone being from somewhere different means they have to be looked upon differently. It's a shame that we haven't got to the point where we're all the same, but we're not. As far as NASCAR nation being ready for it, it sure looks like it is.

"There's a lot of enthusiasm about Juan Pablo and I know that some people are upset about Toyota being involved . there's people upset about the new points system, so you're never going to make everyone happy.

"I think the great opportunity we have with Montoya in particular and with Almendinger and people coming from other forms of motorsports is . number one I'm a huge motorsports fan, primarily a NASCAR fan, but I'm also a motorsports fan. The opportunity for NASCAR fans to understand how good a race driver Montoya is . what that will say is that there are a lot of really good drivers that don't race in NASCAR. By the way, when the F1 fans and fans from other series see those guys struggle then they'll say wow, maybe that NASCAR group is a little tougher than we thought it was. So I think the fans are going to gain a greater appreciation for the talent level in both forms of racing. I don't think this sport gets the respect in Europe that it should. And I don't think we give the European sport as much respect as we should. So I think that at the end of the day, when Montoya runs well (and he will run well) a lot of respect will be given to that form of racing and vice versa. Now when he struggles then people will realize that this is difficult. We're viewed in other countries as a very unsophisticated, under-engineered form of motor racing when in fact it's very complicated and very precise .

"I think the fans are the winners in being able to gain an appreciation for how difficult it is to be successful in both forms of motorsports."



BEHIND THE HAULER CHAT WITH MARK MARTIN, NO. 01 U.S. ARMY MONTE CARLO SS

MARK MARTIN, DRIVER OF THE NO. 01 U.S. ARMY MONTE CARLO SS, TALKED WITH MEDIA ABOUT PUSHING THE CURRENT RULES AND RULES FOR THE UPCOMING CAR OF TOMORROW

ON NASCAR CONSISTENCY WITH PENALTIES: "If they continue to do what they are doing, they will be consistent. "

ON THE NEW RIGHT SIDE TIRE: "It is not that difficult. It is more of a challenge to get your car handling properly, but racing is challenging. "

ON HOW CAR IS RUNNING AND HANDLING: "We are going to use the about 2 ½ hours we have left of practice before the Daytona 500 to see if we can make any improvement on our U.S. Army Chevy."

ON THERE BEING MORE TEMPTATION TO PUSH RULES HERE THAN OTHER PLACES: "There are 61 cars that NASCAR felt it necessary to make it fair. There are a lot of cars that went home before this race. They have busted people for things they haven't really looked at before. Certainly people are getting the message that the rules are going to be strictly enforced. With that many cars, it is for good reason."

ON CONSIDERING DOING MORE RACES WHEN BRISTOL GETS HERE: "Why do ya'all keep saying that? (LAUGHS) I don't know, Matt Kenseth has $200 on it. We will see if he wins it or not. (LAUGHS) I have a plan that I am very happy with. If I wanted to run the full season, I certainly could. I don't want to, I haven't asked to, if fact I said no to that over and over again. Let's just not worry about whether or not I am fifth in the points going in to Bristol, and just let me do what I want to do, and that is what I have on the schedule. I just don't see any need to be worried about the what ifs."

ON HOW HARD IT WILL BE NOT TO PULL IN THE NO. 6 PITS DURING THE RACE: "I hope it's not hard. If it is, I am in trouble. I don't know, I have had people around me speculate that I would do that. I don't know if I will or not. I have run two races so far and that car wasn't in those races. I knew where my pit was; I found my pit board ok. At the same time, I was in the 6 car for 19 years. But I have drove a lot of other things too. I have drove 60, I have drove the No. 9 and some other things. Obviously considering that the colors haven't changed much if at all from when I drove the car, there is a chance. I have done a lot more dumber things than that."

ON WHAT MAKES PEOPLE BEND THE RULES: "I think most of the infractions that have been caught this week that are in things that have been commonly done in the past. It is competition and people pushing the limits. It is Daytona. Whether or not it gives you an advantage or not, it makes you think you are trying harder if you do that. A lot of the things that have come down this week are over things that probably give them a performance advantage that their intent was to do. I know for a fact, a lot of the things won't make the car run faster, but that was the intent. It made it bad because it was to gain an advantage even though it probably wasn't going to give them an advantage."

ON HAVING A CONVERSATION WITH CREW CHIEF ON THIS ISSUE: "No Ryan (Pemberton) is more conservative than some of the other crew chiefs I have worked with in the past. I think we are good there. Ryan seems to be more conservative."

ON WHAT IS BEING SAID IN THE GARAGE: "I don't think anything out of the ordinary whatsoever has happened so far. All the things that have happened are things that have been done in the past. The message from NASCAR is clear 'We are tightening up guys'. I applaud NASCAR for that cause I don't think 25 points got anybody's attention. People hated to lose them but stepping it up will get their attention. There is no amount of money that will get their attention because there is so much at stake in this business. When you starting taking 50 points, that really takes their attention. A 100 points sent the message home."

ON NASCAR ENTERING DIFFICULT WATERS TRYING TO DEFINE INTENT: "Always in the past, it didn't matter if it was intentional or not. That is the unfortunate thing, we have had lower quality springs in the past that some would not hold their free height where your cars would be low after the race with no intent. You still go penalized even though you didn't intend for that to happen. I think the penalty is always going to be there, whether it was meant to happen or not. But, if you meant to cheat the competition, I think the penalty should be worse than if you cheated the competition by accident."

ON NASCAR TIGHTENING UP IN PREPARATION OF CAR OF TOMORROW DEBUT: "I am not sure. I think one of things was there 61 cars for the Daytona 500. I think that is part of it. Certainly, the rules for the COT and the way that car is, it tightens the box up like I have never seen. It is incredible how the box has tightened there. Because the box is tightened, it is like a handful of spaghetti. I think they may be sending a message 'Hey, everything we lay out, you are going to have to follow and if you don't follow it, shame on you. You are going to get caught'. All these things are small things. I am unaware of the Michael Waltrip issue, I don't really know anything about that. But I will bet you anything in the world, whatever performance improvement that would have been gained by whatever might have been done there still would have been small. Like I say, the things that have happened here this week with the Evernham cars and the No. 17 car, are things that have been done forever, that's not knew. I am pretty sure that I know what they did on the 17 car and I am pretty sure there was no advantage by it but they were sure trying hard. You know what I mean, that is what racers do. So many of these things, you are just trying so hard. I think that this week will go a long way in corraling up those things. I think it is good. Certainly, I don't think the teams are going to want to lose 50 points and darn sure not 100. When you have the competition that we have today, people just need to be playing it straight. Racers is so different today because there really are no gray areas. It used to be so much more fun, you used to be able to be creative and bring things to table if you were smart and creative. There are just hardly any areas to work anymore. For me, I am not even smart, and I used to be able to bring things to the table. Man, you could put the world on pause and 10 years I still won't come up with anything. The box is really tight today. It is a different world."

ON TAKING THE FUN OUT OF IT: "It takes it out for me but doesn't necessarily take it out for someone who doesn't know any different. Regan Smith, I don't know, not very long ago. I don't even know what year, maybe 1984 or something like that. That is just wrong (LAUGHS). But, he just doesn't know the difference. A lot of these guys they just don't know the difference. So I am not going to sit here and say it takes all the fun out of it. When I was coming along, I heard those old guys yapping about how good the good old days were. How wrong the kids were and all that stuff. I don't want to be one of those guys, because when they were saying it, it wasn't very attractive to me. I didn't care much for all that and I am not going to stand around saying all that now. I don't want to be a naysayer like that, sort of the old timers syndrome. I don't want to sign up for that. It is different and yes, it has taken the fun out of it for me because I don't feel like I have a way to contribute anymore. When we first started Roush Racing, I felt like I could pay attention, be a part of the team and thought of things we could do that gave us advantages. We saw and felt that advantage, and that was a blast for it, it was fun. I feel that window is a lot smaller now, it is a lot, lot smaller. But for guys coming along that don't know, they are just thrilled to be here and be doing this.

ON MORE TALENTED YOUNGER DRIVERS IN THE MARKET NOW: "Yes, ok and here is why. There has always been that talent but it wasn't in NASCAR because there was no room for it, no one interested in it. But it was still out there not given the opportunity that is obviously being given today that Jeff Gordon brought here and then grow - the sponsorship, the money, the backing and all that. If you were Regan then, you were lucky if you were driving a dirt track car, and winning races. If you were doing that and did that for another five years, you might get luck and be given an opportunity to drive a back marker car here for another five to six years. And if you made that back marker car run better than everybody thought it should, then you might get a chance when one of the old guys retired, to move up to a good enough car that you might be able to win in. That is how it used to be, it is different now."

ON THOUGHTS OF IT THERE WILL BE MORE INFRACTIONS FOUND: "I think you will continue to see some more infractions pop up because they are cracking tighter. Certainly there will be less intentional and more accidental infractions and there are accidental infractions believe me. Things happen. The quality of springs are better today but there is a thing out there that isn't right they have got to fix. These guys are building these cars that when you hit them in the back, it bends the frame down and takes the quarters down. Then you are that much low after the race. And they say well we got hit in the back, well that is bull. That is not right and I know that happened yesterday. Same deal as Jeff Gordon except his deal was different, his frame wasn't bent, it was another thing, it was another thing, but if your frame is bent, then what are you supposed to do. That is what the teams say, what are you supposed to do. Well if you are smart, you make you car so it bends and you get your teammate to run into. We bump draft out there right. That is the next thing that has to be fixed on this deal. It is not fair for somebody to race with the quarter panels an inch low. And if you are smart and agressive and they are, it has happened already and it will happen in the 500. I am not going to say nothing to NASCAR, they ought to know what is going on. They measure the cars, they ought to see it. They should have known about this a long time before I do. I heard about it after the two Talladega races last year. This has been going on and if you are smart, and you are agressive and build a frame where it will bend easy and have your buddy hit ya. Boom, you now have a giant, I am talking about a giant, advantage if you can get it down an inch.

ON NASCAR AND FANS READINESS FOR INTERNATIONAL FLAVOR: "I think so. I don't feel awkward or uncomfortable. I think Juan Pablo Montoya is one of the greatest things that has happened to NASCAR in my time. He is a world-class champion driver that is coming in here and really make his mark. That is huge for us. That makes everyone of us drivers more recognized for what we have done and our successes. It is great.

ON THE FOREIGN MANUFACTURER COMING IN: "I'm not as comfortable with that one but I'm not against it. Yeah, those words you used to explain, I'll try not to use them. I am one of those traditionalists. I'm not the most comfortable with that but let me tell you what the other side of the coin is. That's creating jobs and giving opportunity to young people who want to be in this sport to do and realizes their dreams. It will open up jobs and opportunities and it will also force the other manufacturers to step up their game which can only be good for the successful individuals in this sport. There are two sides. I'm riding the fence on it. I'm not on either side but I did want to point out, not only put out the negatives because there are positives to it that I named."

ANY SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES WITH DRAFTING NOW THAT YOU ARE WITH A NEW MANUFACTURER: "I feel good about our car. I've been blessed with great cars and great engines over the past few years. Certainly stepping into Hendrick power and the Monte Carlo has not been a dramatic change based on the great stuff that I've been in the last few years. I do feel really good about the power that I have here and the speed that we have in our car. We just still need to get our arms around the handling just a little bit better to be able to reach its full potential. I feel that my car has the potential to be a contender to win this race but we don't have that harnessed yet and we only have two and half hours left. We're going to work on that but the potential is there. We just haven't got our arms around it yet."

HOW COMPETITIVE CAN YOU BE WITH THIS TEAM THIS YEAR?: "I think that we can have some flashes of brilliance. I don't think that we can post the kind of consistent level that we all are working toward. I think that this is a long term commitment from Bobby (Ginn) and all the guys here. They finally have the tools that they need to build a team that can be a contender, I mean a heavy hitter kind of contender in this business. That's comforting to me because number one, it's a great challenge and number two, I feel that they have a use for me and need me here for a long time because we know it's going to take a long time. It makes me feel good to be needed. It makes me feel really good to be a part of it so I'm real excited about that. We're all hopeful that we can have our flashes of brilliance but we also realize that we are not yet on the level of Hendrick or Gibbs or Childress at this time."

WITH ALL THE SCRUTINY ON THE CUP CARS, HOW DO YOU THINK THIS HAS AFFECTED THE BUSCH RACE? WILL THEY BE MORE CAREFUL? "Boy, I couldn't answer that question. I am so busy over here that I barely get there and I dodge straight in the car. I don't know what's going on down there. I never even hardly saw my crew before I jumped in to go out and practice."

HOW HARD DOES THAT MAKE IT TO COMPETE? "It is. I am definitely not involved and immersed in that program. I'm piling up in their car and whatever they are giving me is what is and that's it. My real focus here has been the Daytona 500 and the U.S. Army Chevy."

HOW DO YOU LIKE YOUR CAR? "I like my car. My car has the potential in it to be a contender to win. We don't have that furnished yet. Our car is good. It has great potential."



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

KYLE BUSCH, NO. 5 KELLOGG'S/CARQUEST MONTE CARLO SS, TALKED WITH MEDIA ABOUT HIS PERFORMANCE AT SPEEDWEEKS SO FAR IN LEADING THE MOST LAPS AND HIS CHANCES FOR A WIN IN SUNDAY'S DAYTONA 500:

HOW DO YOU FEEL FOR SUNDAY? "I feel pretty good for the way we've run so far down here in Speedweeks, we've been the class of the field, I feel like. And the guys haven't got enough recognition for being able to bring me the best car down here, leading the most laps both times round in the Shootout and in the Duels.

"So a lot of praise should go to those guys for bringing me a well-prepared car. We just haven't been able to close the deal out and we need to turn that around Sunday."

A LOT OF PEOPLE ARE SAYING YOU'RE THE CAR TO BEAT. WHAT DO YOU REALLY HAVE FOR (THE RACE)? "I think we've got a lot of form. The biggest thing is getting out there and getting the respect of the competitors and that we've got a good race car, that it's good enough to draft with.

That it's a good race car that can run up front, hopefully for the full 500 miles. If we can stay up there, it'll definitely help our chances of staying out of a wreck."

LOOKING AHEAD TO NEXT WEEKEND, WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD IN CALIFORNIA? "The biggest thing about going to California is getting out of Daytona and restrictor-plate racing. It's not that that's a terrible thing but it's not one of my specialties. You're more in control in California - there's more on the hands of the driver, the crew chiefs and the setup and everything else that goes on there to enable you to have a fast race car."

PEOPLE SAY THAT CALIFORNIA IS THE FIRST REAL RACE OF THE YEAR. WITH ALL THE DRAMA THAT'S GONE ONE HERE IS THAT STILL TRUE? "There's enough that's gone on that probably everyone's ready to get out of here and go on to California. But (Daytona) is the first race of the year, it's a points race so you have to go about it as if it's the same as any race and do the best you can."

YOU WERE RIGHT BEHIND MONTOYA. HOW WAS HE DOING? "He was doing just fine. He was leading the race and we were just biding our time riding behind him. The handling on his car started to go away on him and he started sliding up the racetrack a little bit. Then as soon as we were able to get past him - by him - it looked like he had a right front wheel bearing problem. I saw a little bit of smoke from the right front corner a couple of laps before he had the problem and we got by him. So all in all, it was a tough break for him and he needed the laps to get the experience and finish the race and get accustomed to what happens out there and what it comes down to at the end of the race."

IF HE'D FINISHED HOW DO YOU THINK HE WOULD HAVE DONE? "I don't know. It's hard to go back and predict what could or should have happened. I feel like we should have won the race. I think that David Stremme had a very fast race car and (Montoya's) teammates' cars are pretty good so I would predict him for at least a top-five finish."

YOU THINK YOU'VE GOT A GOOD CAR FOR SUNDAY? "Yes. I think we've got a good shot for Sunday. We've led the most laps down here in Speedweeks and (the team) guys haven't got the recognition I think they deserve."

ARE YOU CONCERNED EVERY TIME YOUR CAR GOES INTO INSPECTION? "No."

WHAT HAVE YOU GUYS DONE TO ADJUST TO THE NEW, HARDER TIRES? "Well it's hard to do anything really. All the stuff in the rear is given to you: the shocks are given to you, the springs are given to you, you can mess with track-bar heights but there's a limit on how high and how much split you can go on that. You can mess with the front end but anything you do in the front pretty much helps the grip in the front not the back. So far in Speedweeks, people have been complaining of tight but if you get the tight out of it then you're loose and you can't really do much to fix that. The tires just don't have the grip that we need in order to go through the corners as comfortable as we'd like. We can start going as fast as you want to but that's all until the tires start to slip and you have to start lifting."

HOW WILL WEATHER AFFECT THE RACE ON SUNDAY? "If it's warm and sunny then it's going to be a single-file, follow-the-leader kind of race. Everyone's going to get spread out, the cars that really handle will get to the front and it will look more like a July race, with the leaders sliding around and everyone all over the place. Hopefully there won't be too many wrecks, but there are a lot of people complaining about their cars, that they can't get them to do what they'd lie to do and follow in line and stuff. It's definitely going to be a wild race, I think."

WHAT DO YOU THINK NASCAR CAN DO TO GET CONSISTENCY IN THE PENALTIES HANDED DOWN? "There's not much that can be done. If you look at it, every scenario's different. The Jeff Gordon scenario whether that was on purpose or on accident. It was on accident to me because it was something that just happened. If you misalign those little teeth and it will slip and it's very easy to do. As a matter of fact, I've done that a couple of times on the rear end. We have the same mounting setup on the shocks as we do on the rear end side of it. So it's happened before there but it doesn't hurt you or help you as much anywhere else as much as it does here at Daytona. Jeff Gordon's situation was different from Michael Waltrip's situation, which was different from Chad Knaus's situation last year, which was different from the 9, the 19, the 10 and the 17 from this year. It's all in NASCAR's hands and they have to do what they feel is right. What comes of that is what comes of it and it's difficult to pinpoint all the reasonings for what goes on."

WHAT'S GOING TO STAND OUT MOST FOR YOU ABOUT SPEEDWEEKS THIS YEAR? "Probably in everyone's minds it's all the scrutiny and all the stuff that's happened to Michael Waltrip Racing."

BUT YOU'VE LED THE MOST LAPS OF EVERYONE. WHY ISN'T ANYONE TALKING ABOUT THAT? "You're right. It's not necessarily a big story to me, but it is for my guys. They're the ones that gave me top-notch race cars, the equipment to come out here and race as well as we have. They deserve more of the recognition than I do. It's a shame they haven't got that and that I haven't had even one post-race interview on TV. I guess I'm not worthy enough."

LAST YEAR YOU LEFT HERE AND SAID "I HATE THIS PLACE." STILL FEEL THE SAME? "I've gotten over that from last year. The biggest thing is that last year we didn't have a very good car for the Shootout and I was so frustrated to go up there and lead some of the race and then get back in traffic and not finish very well. This year I'm frustrated again as the same thing happened in the Shootout - I led the most laps and then I got shuffled to the back and then couldn't quite make it back up to the front at the end. The same thing happened in the 150s but it's just a part of racing. I've become more accustomed to it and you can't expect the best all the time. You just have to accept what comes with it."

BUT DO YOU STILL FEEL THE SAME ABOUT DAYTONA? "It's restrictor-plate racing. I'm not a very big fan of it but I'm getting used to it. I know I'm getting better at it - I'm understanding more about it. To tell you the truth I like being down here, I like the way everything goes on with it being the biggest race and so on. The whole program is a little drawn out I think. If it was a four day event I think everyone would be more happy than having to be down here for a week and a half."

WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO IN THE PRACTICE SESSIONS TODAY? "We need to get our car to handle better. Because yesterday, even leading, our car was getting a little tight out front and when I got back in traffic I was out of the racetrack - the car wouldn't get planted into the racetrack into the corners. You can't make the car as good on old tires and others on new tires - that's just the situation - but if I can make it handle better we can have a better shot at winning."

THE WEATHER FORECAST CALLS FOR A WINDY DAY ON SUNDAY. HOW DOES THAT AFFECT THE CARS IN THE RACE? "The wind is going to be terrible. For as bad as the cars are already driving it's going to make it worse. Two days ago we had the wind blowing behind us down the back straightaway into Turn 3 and we were all driving up the racetrack and having to lift and fight a terrible push. If the wind is the same you'll see that again. If the wind reverses and blows up the back straightaway, you're going to see terrible conditions for our cars coming off Turn 2 and pushing up off 2."

WHO ARE THE DARK HORSES IN THIS RACE? "People that will surprise include Junior - he can always surprise you - he doesn't have the car, it looks like, to be excellent but it looks like he'll be pretty good.

WHO WILL BE REALLY GOOD? "Tony Stewart. Jeff (Gordon). Jimmy (Johnson) may be a dark horse as he hasn't run as well as he'd like yet. Kurt (Busch) has had some pretty good race cars and Matt Kenseth is pretty good too."

WHO'S THE TOUGHEST GUY TO PASS WITH FIVE TO GO? "Pretty sure it would be Tony Stewart. I haven't had that opportunity yet. But it looks like he can make the moves and get by anybody any time he needs to - so he'd be the toughest to pass."

YOU NEED A DRAFTING BUDDY OUT THERE. HOW DO YOU CHOOSE ONE? "You don't necessarily choose one. You try to get behind whoever's good and do what you can. Guys will do the same to you. They'll get behind you if they think you're good and they'll help you out as much as they need to, to get themselves out front. It's not necessarily who you have to choose it's who you can run well with.