KASEY KAHNE (No. 9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Charger)

HOW DO YOU SEE YOURSELF RUNNING THIS WEEKEND: “I don’t know. We’ve had a tough time this year with this car, with all cars. We’re working on it and trying to get better. Maybe this week will be a change, maybe we can make some gains and get a top-10 on Sunday, but it’s tough to say right now, it’s tough to say until we get out there and we are actually racing on Sunday.”

ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO THE BUDWEISER SPONSOR FOR NEXT YEAR? “It’s a great sponsor. One of the best there is. I’m looking forward to it and looking forward to working with Bud. Everybody there is going to be a lot of fun and they have really neat opportunities and things for myself, so I’m looking forward to it. I think it’s going to be a good time and I want to make the most out of it. We still need to get our performance up this year before we put their name on our car. They need to run up front and right now we can’t do that. We need to fix our program before next year.”

IS THE NUMBER OF THE CURRENT DOWNFORCE CARS DWINDLING IN THE SHOP? “We’re not building new ones but we haven’t been wrecking them either, so there are still plenty of them in there. We are only going to run probably one or two of them if things go the way that we want them to, but we still have some good ones in there and some good COTs, it’s just a matter of putting the right setups on them and getting them around the corners.”

WHAT ALL CHANGES FROM ONE CAR TO THE NEXT? “It seems like always at the end of the day there is something different as much as people tell you there isn’t. At the end of the day there is something different. The way the pedals are mounted or the way the seat is mounted, or the way your seat insert comes out. There is always something about that car. The downforce numbers that are on them, but that one has more somewhere and that fits your driving style, so there is usually something unique. Last year I had two cars that were built identical and they drove just about identical, that’s the car that we won all six races with between the two of them.”

HOW EXCITED ARE YOU TO HAVE A GUY LIKE GEORGE GILLETT AS AN OWNER? “Yeah, I’m looking forward to it. He’s been good to me and good to our team trying to support us and get everyone excited to keep working and to keep trying to figure out how to go fast, so it’s been good. He’s a part of bringing Budweiser to Gillett Evernham Motorsports and it’s a great opportunity to all of us. We’ve done a good job, we just have to keep working and figure out the performance. Once we figure out the performance we’re going to have a lot of fun.”

IS IT NICE TO KNOW THAT HE CARES ABOUT THE RACING AS MUCH AS THE MONEY ASPECTS? “Well I think he cares about it and if you look at everything the guy’s done over the last however long, they do it right. They find the right people, put the right people in place and then get it done at the end of the day. They will trying and put the right people in place at Gillett Evernham and at the end of the day we are going to win races.”

WHAT MOTIVATED HIM TO COME INTO RACING? “I really don’t. I know that he has been a race fan for a long time. Him and his son have gone to a lot of World of Outlaw races over the years, which is pretty cool to me. I think when people like that kind of racing – that’s a race fan.”

IT’S A LONG WAY FROM AN ENGLISH SOCCER TEAM? “Yeah, a long ways. They have done that and I know he’s worked with Childress and he’s worked with some of these teams over the last eight years, trying to be part of one. It finally happened with Evernham. He didn’t just decide to come into this sport. He’s been working on it for a long time and been a fan for a while.”

DOES IT MAKE YOU FEEL BETTER TO KNOW THAT HE HAS A GENUINE INTEREST IN RACING? “Yeah, there are a couple things that you look at. One is does he like racing, and that seems like a yes. It seems like his family does and he does. So that’s good. Two is – is he successful, and he is successful in the things that he has done so far, so I don’t see why he wouldn’t be a successful car owner in the future with the situation that he’s in. I think you get a guy like that and he works hard to make sure at the end of the day that we win races. The only reason I’m here is to win races so I hope it all works out.”

WHAT IS YOUR PERSPECTIVE ON GIVE AND TAKE BETWEEN DRIVERS? “Yeah, everybody learns it. It’s part of driving. You want to get respect from the other guys. You have to show them that you can go fast and that you respect what they do, and I’ve learned that over the years. I think everybody that does a good job has learned that. Denny Hamlin is up front every single weekend. He understands how to run up front. He understands what he needs to do as a driver. What happened last week, I have no idea. I haven’t seen it. I saw Denny get his visor slapped down and then I saw him get pissed off a couple minutes later, so I was surprised by the situation.”

“Well you learn to race against them. You know every driver out there. You know what they do. We race so much that if I get behind a car I know what it’s going to do most of the time. And the thing that happened, what I heard happened, I would kind of wonder what Denny was doing, but I don’t know if I heard it correctly.”

“I didn’t see it so it’s hard to say when you don’t see something, but from what I heard, I don’t know what Denny was thinking, but I may have heard it wrong. I haven’t seen it. I wasn’t on that side of the race track. I was on the other end.”

EVERYONE IS RACING FOR SOMETHING WHETHER IT’S TO STAY IN THE TOP 35, OR YOU ARE RACING FOR A CHAMPIONSHIP. DOES THAT MAKE THE CHASE MORE INTENSE? “I don’t know. I don’t think so. I think it’s all about the same. I think the Chase guys are going to want it a little more, but at the end of the day they are only going to get what they can get because they know they can’t fall out of the race.”

WOULD YOU BACK OFF FOR A CHASE DRIVER? “I just race them like I race them every week. I give plenty of give and take every week. I feel like when my car is good I will race harder than when it’s not as good. When it’s not as good I’m going to give a little bit more because you don’t want to put yourself in a position to take that type of a chance. When your car is good, yeah you will race a little bit harder whether it’s a Chase guy or not. Last year I was in the Chase and I don’t remember other guys easing off on me and I don’t feel like easing off on anyone else unless the situation is the right one. I don’t know. I just feel like it’s the same racing, you just don’t go out there and wreck a Chase guy but at the same time you are going to go out there and race them like it was any other race. Like if it was race number seven.”

ARE THEIR GOING TO BE MORE RESPONSIBILITIES WITH BUDWEISER THEN THERE WERE IN THE PAST? “Definitely more things to do, but at the same time I’m not going to have as much for Dodge and some of the other sponsors, so I think it kind of evens out. I’m super happy that we’ve got the main sponsor on our car. Budweiser, I mean, it’s is going to be a great fit. I’m really excited, really pumped up about it. I don’t think it will be too much different. Maybe a little bit here and there, but we already run pretty hard.”

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT RUNNING THE COT AT TALLADEGA COMING UP? “I think it is going to be the best Car of Tomorrow race that we’ve had yet as far as the way the cars drive. You can race side by side and you can do things out there and have fun. I think it’s going to be the most fun that we’ve had driving that car. Whether it’s the car or the tire I don’t know, but when we drive the Car of Tomorrow or even the standard car, but I think mostly with the Car of Tomorrow, it definitely hasn’t been a very fun year. I’m looking forward to Talladega just because I think it’s going to be a little more fun and exciting. We’re here to have fun and try to win races and we haven’t had enough fun and haven’t won any races. So, I’m looking forward to Talladega.”

TALLADEGA HAS A REPUTATION FOR GIVING PEOPLE ENOUGH ROPE TO HANG THEMSELVES. WILL THERE BE MORE OF THAT ROPE OR LESS? “I don’t know. The way that the tests went it was kind of up and down on how the cars were bunched up. I feel like it’s going to be pretty exciting. I think when you get in that big draft it’s going to change things. We don’t have that when we test, only maybe 10 cars so it’s going to change a lot with the bigger draft and I just think we are going to have some big holes and when you find the right opening you are going to have to go.”

ELLIOTT SADLER (No. 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Charger)

WHEN YOU ARE COMING UP AS A DRIVER ARE THERE CERTAIN UNSPOKEN RULES THAT YOU HAVE TO LEARN TO RESPECT? “Yeah, I mean as you come in as a rookie and stuff you definitely need to respect all of the guys that are around you especially the guys that have been doing this a long time. How you race them 99 percent of the time is how they are going to race you. My personal opinion on what happened between Denny Hamlin and Kyle Petty is you know Kyle was trying to get out of his way and Denny just caught him a lap faster then he thought. I don’t know, maybe Kyle lifted a little bit trying to pull down and they just hit each other. I know for a fact that Denny Hamlin has a lot of respect for Kyle Petty, because we all do for what he’s done for this sport both on the track and off the track, so I don’t think this is a disrespect thing. I don’t think it was a taking him out or anything like that kind of purpose. It’s just two guys not clear on which way they were going to go and it just caused problems for both of them. I know that Kyle is frustrated trying to stay in the top-35 in points, and I know that Denny is very frustrated tying to win a championship. Both guys are racing hard and trying to do their best and get the best points and the best position they can but also trying not to tear up their race cars every week.”

WHEN YOU WERE COMING UP DO YOU REMEMBER A DRIVER OR TWO WHERE YOU THOUGHT TO YOURSELF, ‘MAN, I REALLY HAVE TO REMEMBER THE WAY THIS GUY WORKS’ “You know Dale Earnhardt and Ricky Rudd to name a few are old school racers. If you hit them they are going to hit you. So, you always were very careful around certain guys and if you slipped up and got into them a little bit, well they are probably going to come back and hit you too. Just good old school guys like that. But if you paid them respect and you raced them like you should then you would get that in return. You see a lot of that in this sport – probably more than you guys recognize. How you race somebody is how you get raced. Some guys that come in now, some of these young guys are idiots and just race three and four wide and bump you and move you around, well that’s how they get raced by everybody else too, so you can make your learning curve hard or you can make it easy.”

SO IT’S ALL ABOUT HOW THEY RACE YOU AS OPPOSED TO WHETHER YOU’RE A CHASER OR NOT? “You know, this has been a question every year since the Chase started. How do you race the Chase guys? Should you pull over, should you do this? When I was in the Chase in 2004 it’s your responsibility as a racecar driver to race how you would normally race. Just because you are in the Chase doesn’t mean that these guys are going to pull out of your way. They shouldn’t – we’re all racing for something. Whether it’s a win, the top 35 in points or whether it’s some guys looking for a ride for next year. We all have our purposes and feel like our backs are against the wall, especially this late in the season and if you haven’t had a good season. But it’s your responsibility as a guy in the Chase to race people smart. It’s not going to hurt us as much if both of us get in a wreck together it’s going to hurt you because you are trying to win a championship. I think yes it is everybody’s responsibility to all 43 guys, but I think more pressure is on those 12 guys in the Chase.”

ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO THE RACE NEXT WEEK AT TALLADEGA? “I don’t know. We’ll see when we get there. The test was pretty hairy. A lot of bump drafting is going to be going on – a lot. You can’t see as good with the new car as you could with the old car. The greenhouse is a lot bigger. The wing is a lot bigger, so it’s going to be pretty interesting. The rules have made it, you know with this new car, kind of made the cars like with the old rules where the closing rate can get really big and nobody is able to get away. It’s going to be a lot of double and triple file racing. We’ll see how it works out.”

KURT BUSCH (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger)

HOW HAS YOUR CHASE EXPERIENCE BEEN UP TO THIS POINT? “I’m one carburetor short of leading in points, so for us it’s been good. We’ve worked hard to get into the Chase and we’ll still continue to give a good effort all the way up until the end. Each race it just continues to get tougher and tougher the closer you get until the end. There are still plenty of races to go. Eight races as a matter of fact. And we feel like this weekend is a great opportunity to get the Miller Lite Dodge to run good on a mile-and-a-half track. The same type of cars that we had earlier at Michigan and Pocono where we have a couple wins this year, so I’m looking forward to it. I can’t wait to hit the track and be out there with the downforce car and to just feel the downforce again and have a good weekend.”

HOW MUCH HAVE YOU WORKED ON THE OLD STYLE CAR AND HOW GOOD DO YOU FEEL ABOUT HAVING THAT CAR THIS WEEKEND? “I feel like we have a better chance this weekend than we would against the other teams just because Pat Tryson has come aboard the last few months and looked at our downforce cars and said you know what we still have enough time to make an impact and make a difference. So we have been in the wind tunnel working very hard on our downforce cars. You might even say that we’ve worked a little extra hard compared to some other teams. So yeah, it’s a bit different. I mean we’ve been in the COT the last three races. It seems forever and a day ago since we raced one of these downforce cars. So here we are and we feel like we are really prepared and ready to go.”

WITH THE POSITION THAT YOU’RE IN NOW DO YOU JUST HAVE TO GO FOR WINS UNTIL YOU GET BACK CLOSER IN POINTS? “We can just build consistency and that will get us right back in the game. Wins are nice. Those extra 10 points to win help you, especially with how tight it is right now. You can’t just get it all back in one week. The good thing is that we have eight weeks left to go do it.”

HOW DO YOU REGAIN THE MOMENTUM THAT YOU HAD COMING INTO THE CHASE? “I can’t wait until we find a new word to use. The momentum thing is actually starting to bug me, but you go out there and you race every week like there is a fresh week ahead of you and if you do well then that is great. The next week you could fall off that soap box just as quick. The way that the Car of Tomorrow races and then the downforce cars are, you just can’t carry success from the Car of Tomorrow into your downforce setup, so it’s all new. It’s fresh each and every week. The way that we’ve been running out on the racetrack it’s been great. We’ve had a third place car at New Hamshire, we were running third at Dover with 15 laps to go and we got a flat tire. So, a couple quick things took us down to 11th in points instead of the top three. You could say that our momentum has fizzled or we’re here at a downforce track ready to go.”

WHAT IS THE KEY TO THIS TRACK? “Kansas Speedway has spent the time to help build this facility up and with the way that the asphalt has cured over the few years gives us more opportunities to race side by side and feel the grip of the asphalt from the bottom lane to the top of the race track. And Goodyear, Goodyear has had time to develop a better tire and getting the feel for the G-forces and the loads that the tires see here and so they come back with a better tire to help us race. It just continues to get better. Racetracks in many ways are like golf courses, they get better with age.”

WHAT DID YOU TAKE AWAY FROM THE TALLADEGA TEST WITH THE CAR OF TOMORROW? “As always Talladega will be the wildcard in the Chase. But yet, leading to the future of our sport with this Car of Tomorrow at Daytona and Talladega it really is exciting to have that many different things to work on. We don’t know what gear rule we’re going to have or what restrictor plate we are going to have. The front springs, where do we run the sway bar, the track bar, so there is a bunch of different options. Where we were with the old car it just seemed like everything was scienced out. We didn’t change much when we go to the racetrack with the old cars. And then the draft itself, it seems like I don’t know if more violent is the word, or just more dramatic that if you’re in the draft you’re just motoring. You’re going pretty good with the guys with you. If you lose the draft, which it’s easier to do, then you are sitting there like a fish out of water. So it’s going to be really interesting.”

IN THE OLD CARS AT TALLADEGA SOME DRIVERS USED TO LOOK THROUGH THE WINDSHILD OR THE CAR IN FRONT OF YOU TO MAYBE TWO OR THREE CARS IN FRONT OF YOU. DOES THE WING BLOCK THAT NOW, OR DID YOU NOTICE ANY PROBLEMS THERE? “It’s a bit different because we used to run a 55 degree spoiler angle at Daytona and Talladega which meant that it laid back a little more and so you could see a bit better with where the cars were in front of you and through the guys windshield in front of you, so with the wing there is still the obstruction just like there is with a rear-spoiler on the car, you just have to look a little bit stronger and you have to predict more moves from the other guys. It’s going to be a bit different, it’s not the same, so you have to react and make changes. Whoever does that the best will probably have the best shot at winning.”

ON JEFF BURTON “I really like Jeff Burton. I think he puts on the cap of being the drivers’ voice. If there was one guy who could lead our opinion or voice what we have to say most of us would turn to Jeff Burton with his years of experience and his savvy ways of relaying information as a driver would to the sanctioning body. There is no union in our sport, but if we had a guy I think it would be Jeff Burton.”

ON BUMP DRAFTING AT TALLADEGA “It is a double edged sword. With how comfortable the cars are to draft. The bumpers line up and you are able to bump draft and the cars are very stable. The rules will still be enforced the same way where there is the “No Zone” that NASCAR doesn’t like to see you bump draft in the corners or through the tri-oval and hopefully the drivers will respect that, but at the same time the cars are easier to drive. So it will be interesting. It’s just part of the balance. It’s safer to drive these cars, but anytime you get safer the drivers get more aggressive.”

WHAT HAVE YOU NOTICED ABOUT THE ROUSH CARS AND WHY THEY ARE RUNNING SO MUCH BETTER? “I probably shouldn’t say this, but maybe because they are low on the right rear corner. It’s great to see all the teams working as hard as they are. We’re working on every area of this Car of Tomorrow knowing that we haven’t driven it in to victory lane just yet so we don’t know what to do. It’s an exciting challenge to work on a car and try to beat the best. The best right now are Hendrick and the Gibbs cars have done okay, and now the Roush cars have won a couple of these COT races. Bristol and Dover have now seemed to match up with themselves better. Everybody used to say that Bristol was the little brother to Dover and I never bought that, but now with the Car of Tomorrow and the way that it drives, man, they are almost identical. So it’s really interesting how the teams and everybody has begun to play catch up or is now winning races. It’s just the evolution of a new car and the game of being the best one week and not being the best the next.”

WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE REASON FOR THE INCREASE IN CAUTION FLAGS AT TALLADEGA OVER THE LAST COUPLE YEARS? “Restrictor plates would be one. Competition level would be another. And then the evolution of drafting would be the third one. Guys before would just race their cars and I’m sure they new they got tight behind other cars, but they would just work on it or deal with it. Now it seems like there is this quote of dirty air or the aero push. So, those things pop up when you are driving around and it just creates a different environment. You know, before the cars would really spread themselves out and cars would win by a lap. I watched Bill Elliott come from a lap down by himself and drove by everybody and win a race there. That’s not going to happen anymore. What happens is if you miss the pack of 35 or 36 cars driving around then most likely you’re probably going to go a lap down and you’re not going to get back in the draft. So the draft instead of being a four or a five car pack leading is now a 35 car pack. So with more cars it the mix you are going to have more yellows.”