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

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT MONTE CARLO SS TALKED WITH MEDIA ABOUT MARK MARTIN POSSIBLY DRIVING FOR HIM AT SONOMA, THE SUCCESS OF HMS WITH THE NEW GENERATION RACE CAR, AND MORE

ON THE POSSIBLE PLAN TO HAVE MARK MARTIN DRIVE FOR HIM AT SONOMA IF THE BABY IS BORN THEN "We're just trying to make the best plans that we possibly can - not knowing when the baby may be born. We wanted to have a backup plan. The first person that we thought of was Mark Martin. And the way we've been working with him with Hendrick and the Ginn team, and him running a part time schedule, I thought that he might be interested and I threw it out to him. It took a little while to convince him. I talked to him about it. He's been very gracious and that's awesome.

"I hope we don't have to use him and hope it doesn't come to that. But wow, what an awesome opportunity for the No. 24 DuPont team to have a guy like that step in for me is we needed him to because those owner points are very important."

WHY DID YOU HAVE TO CONVINCE HIM? "Well, he made a commitment to his team. And because he's doing a part time schedule and he's been very appreciative of them working their schedule the way they have for him this year to give him more time off, that when you say, 'Hey Mark, I know you might not be running Sonoma, but could you come there and be on standby for me?' That puts him in a tough position with his own team."

YOU HAVE HARDLY EVER MISSED A RACE "And I hope I don't ever. I don't want to miss one. But there are only two things I can think of as to why I would miss a race. One is that I wasn't healthy enough to be there and two, would be because I have a baby being born.

"I expressed to her (his wife) early on and what a special occasion and moment in my life this is and how special it is for both of us and I wouldn't miss it for anything. I love racing, but I don't love it that much."

DOES IT BOTHER YOU WHEN PEOPLE BOO YOU? "It bothered me a lot more at the beginning when I didn't understand it and questioned what I'd done to get booed. Now as time has gone by, it bothers me less today than it ever has. We've got a huge fan base out there that pull for us and cheer for us. But I don't think anybody is going to ever compete with Dale Earnhardt Sr. or Dale Earnhardt Jr. fans. The numbers are just too big."

JACK ROUSH SAID TODAY THAT HENDRICK, CHILDRESS, AND GIBBS WERE PLAYING OUTSIDE THE RULES BY TESTING SO MUCH IN THE CAR OF TOMORROW AND NOT USING GOODYEAR TIRES AND THAT'S WHY YOU GUYS ARE WINNING "We're doing everything we can to be competitive and we're not doing anything wrong. We're testing at tracks that aren't at NASCAR sanctioned tracks, as they clearly state. We're not using Goodyear tires. If they're not available, then we're not using those. We're doing things to get laps and get information - just like having a seven post test and having a wind tunnel test. We're utilizing a track to just gather information and I would admit that it's definitely playing a role in helping us get to where we are. I don't know what the Gibbs teams or Childress teams are doing. But if the Roush teams aren't doing that, then that's their mistake."

IS IT BETTER FOR THE TEAMS TO GO TO THE CAR OF TOMORROW FULL TIME NEXT YEAR? 'Yeah, it is. We're always going to continue to compare this car to the Monte Carlo or to the older car. And as longer as you're comparing the two, one is going to drive better than the other. But from a financial standpoint and from a competition side, I think the results have been good. I'm not saying this car is perfect. It could use some tweaking. But we might as well run it everywhere. The only thing I wish we would have done is run this car on the 1.5-mile track this year. I'm a little disappointed that we're not going to get the opportunity to do that. The All-Star event was the perfect opportunity to do that."

WHAT DOES ADDING 100 MILES TO A RACE DO TO A DRIVER, PHYSICALLY AND MENTALLY? "It makes it difficult. This is a very long race, mentally and physically -- also on reliability on the engines and the cars. There are a lot of things that happen in the last 100 miles of this race - pit strategy and fuel mileage and so many things factor into it, that that last 100 miles really changes things."

MARK MARTIN HAS 3 FEWER STARTS THAN ANYBODY ELSE AND HE'S STILL ON THE CHASE BUBBLE AT 15TH IN POINTS. IF HE KEEPS THAT UP, WILL OTHER DRIVERS TRY TO MAKE PART-TIME RUNS AND STILL BE IN THE HUNT? "When you get to the point in your career like Mark has then yes, you'd consider that. But when you're in the prime of your career, and you've made a commitment to your team and sponsors, then that's where it gets really tricky and tough to juggle. In order to get your sponsors to commit the dollars it takes to be competitive these days, it's very difficult to convince them that you're not going to have your lead driver every weekend. I credit Ginn Racing and the U.S. Army for working that out.

"It's amazing they've been able to work that out. Only a team like that could do that. They didn't have a Mark Martin before that. They needed a Mark Martin to get them to the next level. They were willing to bend the norm to do that. I can tell you one thing. What Mark has done has probably extended my career because now when that day comes and I feel like I can no longer race full time in the Cup series, I still might want to race part time."

WOULD YOU HAVE CONSIDERED THAT BEFORE MARK MARTIN WAS SUCCESSFUL AT IT? "No. Every time I've ever thought about it or brought it up to anybody, they've always said well no, there's not a sponsor that's going to be able to do that. It's important for this No. 24 team to race for championship and battle for it - and I think they always will, whether I'm driving it or not. If we maybe have a young, up-and-coming driver to bring along slowly, then that might be a great opportunity to do that - where I still race like Mark is and then we bring him in after that. That's a scenario that I can possibly see. But I can't see that going for more than a year."

DID YOU SAY ANYTHING TO KYLE BUSCH AFTER THE ALL-STAR RACE? "We did talk. We had a few different things going on this week. He is an aggressive driver. And that was an aggressive move. I think Kyle maybe learned something out here about having siblings. You sometimes thing they're going to maybe give you a little space or a little bit more room, and that isn't necessarily always the case. And in that situation in the All-Star race, Kurt (Busch) definitely didn't give him an inch. He didn't really have to. And Kyle made an aggressive move and it's unfortunate it ended up the way it did."

TALK ABOUT THE CAR OF TOMORROW AND HENDRICK'S SUCCESS WITH IT THIS YEAR "I think as time goes by with this car, it's going to be hard for any team to have a big advantage. This car really, truly does eliminate a lot of those advantages. But I think when you talk about rolling it out and it being new to everybody, we really have been able to show, along with Gibbs, that we've got a bit of an edge. I don't know if that will be able to last forever. I hope it does.

I think when we bring it out full time next year, you'll see it close the gap and it'll be better off for everybody in the long run."

ON CHEVROLET'S SUCCESS THIS YEAR "Oh, the Chevys are performing fantastically. We're very happy with our engine package and all the resources that we get from them. More importantly, I think these Chevy teams are some of the best teams out there and it's a good combination to have right now."

ON WHERE THIS YEAR RANKS: "This has been a great year for me personally, for us as a race team. We have really been searching since about 2002, to get ourselves back in championship form, winning races. Doing it consistently. This is the first year really since then that we have been able to show that. It is exciting. Things like this only help our whole organization and our team for years to come. Because it proves, you can lose it a little bit and you can get it back. That is what we have been able to do this year."

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

DENNY HAMLIN, NO 11 FEDEX FREIGHT/MARINES MONTE CARLO SS MET WITH MEMBERS OF THE MEDIA TO DISCUSS THE COCA COLA 600, CREW CHANGES AND CAR OF TOMORROW:

ON GETTING BREAK THROUGH WIN HERE AT LOWE'S MOTOR SPEEDWAY: "I think it is a good step for us. We didn't run that well in the All-Star race last week but we are coming back with our best car and everything is the best stuff for our team. I think we have a good shot at it, we will know exactly how good a shot we have of winning this thing on Saturday during final practice."

ON HOW MENTALLY DRAINING IT HAS BEEN TO HAVE BEEN SO CLOSE TO A WIN THIS YEAR BUT NOT GETTING THERE YET: "It has been draining but at the same time it has been uplifting because we have been running as well as we. We don't have the wins and that is going to cost us when we go to the Chase but we are competitive. If we win races in the Chase, that will pay enough bonus points, toward that Championship and that is all that matters for us. "

ON DIFFERENCE OF RUNNING 600 MILES VERSUS 500 MILES: "It is pretty tough. Everyone is talking about this race being one of the toughest. I think finishing off at night is a whole lot easier. But, with the speeds picking up, that is tough. Having to run your fastest when you are most tired is something a lot of people don't think about.

"I do think running the Busch car here is one track where we can benefit and learn information for Sunday. But the biggest challenge is patience. We all know that it is 600 miles and we have a long race out there. You can go a lap down and it just isn't that big of a deal. You are going to get the lucky dog. I think that is why this race has long green-flag runs because they know this race is extra long and they have to be around at the end."

"You lose concentration, you lose water from your system. The mental part of it is a lot, just as much of the physical part. You save a little bit at the beginning for sure. Even if you go a lap down early in this race, it isn't that big of a deal at all. Last year we ran up front most of the time and got a top-10. The way we are running this year, we are running a lot better, so I think we should be able to be somewhere in the top three or four.

"The biggest think is to try and get a clear head three or four hours before the race. We have the driver's meeting but after that, no one is really allowed near me. I really don't like to talk to a whole lot of people, friends or family. I just like to take some time to think about what we are going to do strategy wise and meet with the team."

ON WHAT HE HAS LEARNED AFTER ISSUES WITH CREW: "With my team, we are as tight as we have ever been. I feel like I am close enough to them that I can speak out when I need to against or for them. Most of the time I am speaking out for them, nine times out of 10, I am. But when you have situations when you are losing races on pit road, that is one of the situations where it at least should be a given that you should at least be able to hang on to your position, maybe lose one or two. You hate to give them away on pit road. I have done it as much as they have this year, we are going to win them and lose them as a team either way."

ON RACING IMPALA SS FULL TIME IN 2008: "I like it, I definitely think going to the car early is going to benefit our team. We are running really well with it. Right now we have a little bit of advantage on some other teams. It is going to be better for myself and Joe Gibbs Racing, we will just have to see if we can are able to keep on a roll with it."

ON IMPORTANCE OF RUNNING WELL AT CHARLOTTE: "It means more to run well here not only for the fans, but for the families of the guys and ladies that work on these cars. The can come and watch the races."

ON CHEVY DOMINANCE RIGHT NOW: "Well, I think it because Chevy has the best tams and the best drivers when it boils down and you look at it. There are five or six teams that run well every single week who are the big names and those are all Chevrolet teams. That is more the reason than it is that we have better bodies or better engines or anything like that. Until the new R07, we were behind on engines to Ford or Toyota. I think it is more the talent."

ON HENDRICK PERFORMANCE: "You have to not make mistakes and that is what Hendrick has done and that says a lot for their talent. We have saved a lot of the end of the races, we have run well at the end, but we are coming from too far behind trying to make up for the mistakes we have been making. Mistake free races should equal a win."

ON THE CAR OF TOMORROW AT DOVER: "It will be the biggest test for the Car of Tomorrow so far. We will be going as fast as we have ever gone in the car. Aero is such a big deal for those cars; it is going to be interesting to see if guys are able to run behind each other. I know on the short tracks, the little aero we have, it was pretty tough."

BEHIND THE HAULER CHAT WITH JEFF BURTON, NO. 31 AT&T MONTE CARLO SS

JEFF BURTON, NO. 31 AT&T MONTE CARLO SS TALKED WITH MEDIA ABOUT THE DEMANDS OF A 600-MILE RACE, THE AT&T DECISION, BROTHERS RACING WITH EACH OTHER AND MORE

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT RUNNING THE NEW COT FULL TIME IN '08? "I think that's the right call. In the financial interest of the team owners, they were much better off having one car; and the teams can concentrate on that car rather than having to have potentially three different kinds of cars today. For me, I think it's 100 percent the right thing to do."

WHAT DOES THE EXTRA 100 MILES ON SUNDAY POSE PHYCIALLY FOR YOU, THE DRIVER, IN THE CAR? "A lot of it depends on the weather. The hotter it is, the harder it is. It's supposed to be warm on Sunday. Of course if goes into the night and the temperatures will cool down quite a bit. It does add a little bit - there is no question about it. Six hundred miles is a long race. Conditioning is really important. If you're borderline on 500 miles, then 600 miles can put you over the edge. And you might not be as sharp as you need to be at the end of the race. But at this level, there's not much excuse for that. You need to be in shape and you need to be ready. I would imagine most people are."

TALK ABOUT THE ADJUSTABILITY AND DURABILITY FACTORS IN THE CAR "The adjustability thing is really difficult. We talk a lot about having adjustability in the cars, but really, with having to make pit stops and not wanting to lose track position on the race track, it's hard to get a whole lot done. You'll pull some spring rubbers and certainly make some adjustments to the trackbar and air pressure. But it's a difficult thing to do to build a car that's adjustable. We talk about doing that, but it's a hard thing to do. In all fairness, you don't see many cars here that really run well during the day and then run bad at night. You'll see some cars that aren't as good in the day that are better at night. But a really good car is a really good car. We're going to try to be good in both segments. In the races I've won here, I can honestly tell you we were good in the day and at night. That's the way it has to be."

HOW MANY CHANGES DOES THIS TRACK GO THROUGH IN THE COURSE OF A 600-MILE RACE? "You get the first obvious change which is getting more rubber on the track after the Busch race. The first run on the race track is always the slickest. You get through that run. And then the next segment is from day to night and the next segment is the continuing of the rubbering up in the cooling conditions. It changes during the night quite a bit. It doesn't happen one, two, three, four, it happens slowly and steadily. And staying ahead of that is what's difficult. Staying ahead on adjustments and what you can do to your car so that you don't get behind at the wrong time is really important. If you're going to make mistakes on changes you make to the car, those mistakes need to be made early so you can learn from them and hopefully not make that mistake early. Sometimes in doing the wrong thing you learn what the right thing to do is. Hopefully you can get that done early, not late."

ON THE AT&T DECISION GOOD OR BAD OR INDIFFERENT FOR THE SPORT OF NASCAR? "I don't think it's bad for NASCAR at all. I'm not an attorney and believe it or not, Richard (Childress) and everybody at AT&T has asked me to stay focused on driving the car and not worry about this. So believe it or not, I haven't been involved in the minute-to-minute of this thing. From my prospective, the ruling wasn't about NASCAR's ability to grant exclusiveness. It never challenged that. The ruling was about what AT&T's grandfather right allows them to do into the future. The judge ruled that they had a right to be here. That doesn't change the fact that NASCAR can still grant exclusivity to its sponsors, which is an important factor. NASCAR needs that right. They need that ability to do that. This ruling doesn't change that in any form or fashion. In particular with AT&T, they were allowed to move forward based on the grandfather clause said, not on what NASCAR's ability to grant exclusivity is. The way I view it is that NASCAR has done an incredible job of moving the sport forward. They have all of my respect. The other thing is - and it's real important for you all to know - is Richard Childress and myself and AT&T, only want what's best for NASCAR. For us and for our sponsors to be in this sport, it has to be healthy. It has to provide proper marketing ability for the sponsors and this does that. This judge's ruling doesn't change any of that. Nextel-Sprint has done an incredibly good job with marketing this program while two other cell phone companies were here. There is no reason that can't continue in the future. It's certainly been more stressful than I wish it were. I wish it wasn't as difficult as it has been. But when you look at it for what it really is, I don't see how it changes the game plan at all. I don't see how anything is impacted from a negative standpoint at all. I really don't believe it does."

WHAT DID IT DO TO SOLIDIFY YOUR FUTURE AT RCR AND YOUR FUTURE PLANS? "Richard (Childress) and I have a plan and we're working on that plan and executing it. Certainly getting this behind us is really important, but it would take some very, very strange circumstances for me not to be at RCR."

HOW DO YOU PREPARE FOR THE LONG 600-MILE RACE PLUS RACING IN THE BUSCH EVENT? "Hydration is really important. Nutrition is really important. It's too late to train for it. It's too late from a physical fitness standpoint, but it's not too late to start eating specifically for a race weekend. I eat differently than I typically do on a week. That gets kicked off tonight. And the nutrition part of it is really important and being smart - not trying to do too much on Sunday before the 600. Getting proper rest is important, which is difficult to do with an 8:00 race on Saturday night. The good thing is there is nothing we have to do on Sunday morning, so we can sleep in. The hydration, nutrition, and proper rest are really important."

TALK ABOUT GOING TO DOVER AT HIGH SPEEDS WITH THE TEST BEING WASHED OUT "Certainly the test would have been beneficial. At the same token, we were able to go to Darlington and I thought, for the most part, all the teams did a really nice job of responding to the challenges that Darlington threw at us without at test. I think having a test at Bristol and a race at Darlington - those things are very beneficial to what we're going to be doing at Dover. So, obviously we're all a little bit nervous about it but for the most part, I think we'll be okay."

THE DOVER TRACK IS NICKNAMED THE MONSTER MILE. IS THAT FITTING? "Oh, yeah. Darlington's nickname and Dover's nickname are the two most fitting of all the race tracks. Dover is just a physically demanding race track. It's very difficult to handle well there. When you hit, you hit hard. It's one of the most difficult race tracks we run on. The corners are really wide, but the straight-aways aren't. It's just a really tough race track."

AFTER THE ALL-STAR, WHAT DO YOU EXPECT OF THE TIRE FOR THE 600? "I expect a lot different. In the 600, you're going to get longer runs. With this tire specifically, there's going to be the people that can take off and run fast aren't necessarily going to be the people that can run good after 80 miles. We didn't have that on Saturday because of the shortness of the races. The longer runs will have a positive impact on the race. These tires are not conducive to 20-lap races. They're just not. They don't make enough grip to put on great side-by-side action. But they do put make enough grip to put on racing action later in a run. That's a major difference between a 600-mile race and a 25 or 30-mile race. It is a major difference - 600 miles versus the All-Star race. This tire just doesn't work with an All-Star format. I think it works fine for the 600 format, but for the All-Star format, it's not the right tire."

HOW QUICKLY CAN FORTUNES CHANGE IN RACING? "It changes as quickly as life can. This sport is really no different than life. Everybody is here working hard and trying the best they can. Sometimes things happen to people for no reason. Sometimes people deserve it. Sometimes the hardest working people are the luckiest people. There's not a whole lot of difference in this sport than in life. If anybody thinks they're at the top now and they're never going to find their way to the middle or bottom, they're wrong. By the way, if anybody is at the bottom that thinks that they don't have a chance of finding their way to the top, they probably won't because they're mentally beaten. But the fact is that they can. But it can turn on a dime."

HOW THIN IS THAT LINE BETWEEN RUNNING LIKE JEFF GORDON IS NOW COMPARED TO HOW KASEY KAHNE IS RUNNING? "It's thinner than you think. Let's don't forget that it wasn't that long ago that when you watch the No. 24 at a 1.5-mile or two-mile race track they were a 20th or 30th place team. They weren't competitive at all. That's really tough. It's a very fragile thing. When you're doing well, the reality is that we all think we know why, but we don't 100 percent know why. It's the same thing when we're doing poorly. It's a difficult thing to do. I can remember coming over here and everybody picked us to win the championship in 2001. We came over here 25th in points - running bad - and won this race. Somehow, some way, we won this race. We went to Dover the next week and finished something like eight laps down - with no mechanical problems. So that's how tough this sport is, which makes it good. It's what makes it a challenge and what makes it fun. But I can assure you that nobody stays on top forever. That's just how it works."

WITH YOUR EXPERIENCE, DO YOU ALLOW YOURSELF TO ENJOY THE HIGHS MORE? "I appreciate it more, but I don't enjoy it more, if that makes any sense. My personality is such that I'm on to the next thing pretty much all the time. That's good when things aren't going well because I can get on to the next thing, and when they are going well I don't take as much time as I could to enjoy it. But if I did that, I'd be forcing it. That's not who I am. My personality isn't that. I do appreciate it more."

HOW DO YOU MENTALLY GET TO EACH RACE? "I look at the race weekend as part of the week. It's what am I going to do this week? I don't look at it as how do I prepare for Sunday. It just depends on the week. Every week is different. Next week we're going testing for two days. So that week I'll do differently than I'll do last week where we didn't test any. It's a moving target. You need to be in tune with your body and your mind. When your mind needs a break, you need to know it. When your body needs a break, you need to know it. I think that's real important."

OF ALL THE TRACKS, IS THIS THE PERFECT TRACK TO RUN A 600? "Oh, yeah. I think this is the kind of race track you'd want to have a 600-miles race. At some of the tracks we run on a 500-mile race is too long."

ON CRACKING DOWN ON FANS WHO THROW THINGS ONTO THE TRACK "We don't have any room for fans that cannot conduct themselves in a fashion that's respectable. This is about the fans. It's about having them come out and have a good time. Throwing stuff on the race track fits no part of that. If there is a fan out there that believes he wants to throw something on the race track, we don't want him here. The sport can do just fine without selling him that ticket. There is no reason for it. You can't make it work. If that's the kind of person you are, we don't want you here."

LAST WEEK KURT AND KYLE BUSCH GOT INTO IT. DID YOU EVER HAVE THAT HAPPEN WITH YOU AND YOUR BROTHER, WARD BURTON? "Yeah, just not in front of millions of people. Ward and I went through that at a local level, where we were on different pages with where we were in our lives at that point. We didn't understand that racing isn't more important than family. And we learned the hard way. But we did it in front of maybe 1,000 people - not millions of people. And that's one of the great advantages of being able to grow up and being in this major scene is that you can make mistakes without it being so glaring. But Ward and I had a time when we didn't understand how to race against each other and still have a lot of respect for each other. They'll be a day when it becomes to any brothers that family is more important. And hopefully it doesn't have to get ugly before you realize that."

KURT BUSCH SAID TODAY THAT WHEN HE AND KYLE FINALLY TALKED, HE TOLD HIM THAT HE WAS PROBABLY DRIVING A NOTCH TOO AGRESSIVELY THIS SEASON. BUT YOU WENT OUT OF YOUR WAY TO SAY NOT SO, AFTER LAS VEGAS. IS IT POSSIBLE IT'S BOTH WAYS? "I didn't say he wasn't driving aggressively. What I said was that Kyle has driven me with a tremendous amount of respect. Kyle is aggressive. And Kyle tends to err on the side of aggressive rather than passive, that's for sure. His aggressive nature has put him in some positions that he would have been better off not being in. And at the same time, his aggressive nature has put him in that car. So it's a Catch 22. Experience will teach him when to push that button and when not to push it. Only time will take care of that. I don't have a problem with Kyle or with Kurt. They have both raced me this year with respect and the way I'd like for them to race me and that's how I judge people."

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

KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 SHELL-PENNZOIL MONTE CARLO SS MET WITH MEMBERS OF THE MEDIA TO DISCUSS WINNING THE ALL-STAR CHALLENGE, THIS WEEKEND'S COCA-COLA 600 AND RACING THE IMPALA SS IN 2008:

ON SPENDING THE $1 MILLION DOLLAR PRIZE FOR WINNING THE ALL-STAR CHALLENGE: "I haven't even seen it yet, I will probably never see it. But I have the trophy, that is at my house. That is the most important thing; that we were able to rebound. We have struggled on the mile and a half tracks this year. So to make things happen, we brought a different car and did some different things last week and everything worked out. So hopefully we can do the same thing, run decent this week and go from there."

ON UNITY ON HIS TEAM: "This group has been around together for a long time. We communicate well and understand how this sport works. We have been through the ups and been through the downs and kind of stay in the middle of the road and don't really get too wound up about anything. Everybody is excited, regardless of how even you try to stay with your mood. Every body is excited and pumped up."

ON EXPECTATIONS FOR SUNDAY'S RACE WITH TIRES: "No matter what the tires are, what the situation is, Charlotte has always been one of those races where the first part of the 600 you have to pretty much survive to get your car where it needs to be for the end of the race. You are going to have to have an adjustable car. Have it as free as you can in the beginning to be competitive at the end."

ON DIFFERENCE OF RUNNING 600 MILES VERSUS 500 MILES: "Mentally, you are prepared to run 500 miles or 500 laps, whatever the case may be. You have to mentally prepare yourself a little differently. You are obviously going to have a few extra pit stops than normal. You just do everything a little bit more than what you normally do. It is not anything really different, you just have to do it a few extra times."

ON NIGHT RACING: "Obviously for the driver it is cooler, but the lights, the way the racing always goes, the track has more grip - things just seem to be a little bit faster than they normally are. Night racing is where we all grew up. We all grew up racing at a Saturday night or Friday night short track, what ever the case may be, I guess it just brings out the best in all of us. It is a lot of fun and exciting to watch."

ON A DRIVER GETTING IN A RHYTHM: "When things are going your way, obviously you know things are going your way. We haven't had a whole lot go our way to be honest with you. We have won two really big races, but the stuff in between has been kind of up and down. The performance of our cars had been really good, we have been able to rebound from days that were probably were not going to be very good and come back and make decent days out of them. So I think that shows the maturity of the team and how good it is."

ON RACING IMPALA SS FULL-TIME IN 2008: "I think that is a good plan for the teams owner and our guys. It is really hard to race two different types of cars. I understand the transition year and everybody knew it going it. I think it is a good decision, both financially with the team owners to keep them with one fleet of cars. Concentrating on one style of car is the biggest thing. Right now we are running two completely separate race teams with one race team. I think changing that is going to make that better."

IF THERE WAS THIS DRASTIC OF A CHANGE ON THE BUSCH SIDE, HOW WOULD YOUR TEAM HANDLE IT: "We would deal with it. We obviously wouldn't deal with it as well as a Childress or somebody like that. We would get by; it would just take us a little longer to get up to speed. That is the hardest thing. With the bigger teams they get up to speed quicker than some of the people that can't make things happen as quick. You just have to be able to react quickly and over the years they have been able to react to a lot of things at RCR. The Car of Tomorrow is just one of the things they have had to react to."

WHAT IS THE KEY TO A FULL WEEKEND OF RACING LIKE YOU ARE DOING THIS WEEKEND: "Hydration is the most important thing. We train at least two days a week during the season and prepare yourself over the off-season. You just do what you need to do. It is just kind of what I do. You get a rhythm during the year. Things start going good and you start feeling good and we race two or three times pretty much every weekend, so it is something you become used to. You try to eat as good as you can, it is hard to eat good on the road sometimes, because you end up going so many places in such a short period of time, you don't do as well as you want there. But in the end, the most important thing is the hydration."

BEHIND THE HAULER CHAT WITH CLINT BOWYER, NO. 07 JACK DANIELS MONTE CARLO SS

CLINT BOWYER, NO. 07 JACK DANIELS MONTE CARLO SS:

TALK ABOUT RUNNING THE NEW CAR AT DOVER NEXT WEEK. DO YOU HAVE IT FIGURED OUT? "I think we've got the consistency figured out, I just want to be a little bit better. We've got the top-10s; we need to get into the top-fives, start cracking into that. Getting to where we can race for a win. That's what we're out here to do, win races. You can't do it running ninth and 10th. We've got to get a little bit better and I think we can do that."

HOW DO YOU PREPARE FOR DOVER? IS IT LIKE BRISTOL OR MORE LIKE A MILE-AND-A-HALF TRACK? "It's smack-dab right in between. It's fast like a mile-and-a-half and it you really got to pull on the wheel. It's got a lot of bank like Bristol. I like Dover. It's one of my better tracks so I'm excited to go to it."

HOW WORRIED ARE YOU ABOUT THE HARD TIRE? "It's hard. It's definitely down on grip but the speeds of the track and things like that are why Goodyear has to do that. It's just unfortunate. You can point fingers but it's just the nature of the beast right now. The speeds are up and Goodyear has to do their job. If they make a softer tire and they start blowing out then everybody's going to blame them. If they don't then everybody blames the car and going to fast or the track or the pavement.

It's a hard situation. It's a balancing act right now. NASCAR and Goodyear and everybody involved have done a good job."

HOW PREPARED ARE YOU PHYSICALLY AND MENTALLY? YOU PLAN TO RUN 900 MILES THIS WEEKEND. "And whatever we run over at the dirt track. Hopefully we run quite a few over there. It's a big weekend. It's a lot of fun. This is why they pay you to race. All of them others is just a bonus - the little, short Busch races and things like that. It wasn't but a couple of years ago you'd kill to have an opportunity like this. Now you're whining about getting paid for it or how much you're getting paid. This weekend is why they pay you the big bucks."

HOW DID YOU FIRST START OUT WITH RCR? "Just racing in the Midwest. Racing in the Dodge Weekly Series at the time and just hoping and praying for a dream come true. Ran an ARCA race in Nashville and ran really well there; almost won our first race ever.

As luck would have it, Richard (Childress) was in his motorhome at a rain delay in Pocono watching that race. It's just incredible to know now how everything took place and timing that was there. It's just unbelievable that he finally gave me a call."

WERE YOU PRETTY NERVOUS ABOUT IT WHEN HE DID? "Oh, yeah. Then he gives you the opportunity and you've got to make the best of it. Richard's not a very patient person when he gives you an opportunity. When he takes a chance on somebody he expects results. I'll never forget going to Texas, of all places - was my first race - and I'd only been racing asphalt for about a year and a half. Texas is quite a bit different than I-70 in Missouri so it was a big change, a big step. It was hard. I remember wrecking - we wrecked our first race there 17 laps in the race and I remember thinking 'oh, man, we're going back to Kansas'. Then we went to Nashville and almost won again there. Nashville has always been my saving grace and bailed me out of a lot of situations."

YOUR TEAMMATES SEEM MORE OUTSPOKEN. ARE YOU KIND OF LIKE THE SILENT PARTNER? "I'd say I'm kind of an in-betweener. I think they're both outspoken but they go about it two different ways. Don't get me wrong, Kevin (Harvick) speaks his mind no matter if it's right or wrong and Jeff (Burton) usually speaks the right thing (laughs). Then I'm in between."

HAVE YOU EVER WANTED TO RUN THE INDY 500? "Not really. Indianapolis, other than racing during the Brickyard, obviously with the history and the tradition behind that race, it's an important race. In my life and the way I grew up, stock-car racing and Nextel Cup racing was it. That's what you worked your whole life for and that's as high as the ladder goes, in my opinion."

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT NASCAR DECIDING TO USE THE NEW CAR ALL NEXT SEASON? "I think it had to be done. You can't run both. It's just too much strain on these guys. Wind tunnel time. obviously where everybody's behind Hendrick on this new car, they're throwing everything they've got on trying to pick that car up and make it a better car but then you can't stop progress on the old car because you're going to go get your butt whipped on these big tracks with them other cars. It's just way too much time and effort and strain being put on these crew chiefs and their crew members. It's been a long year already and we've hardly even got going. I think it's probably for the best. If they're going to do it, do it. If they're not, let's go back to racing the other one."

BY RUNNING IN BOTH RACES, WILL YOU GET ANY KNOWLEDGE FROM SATURDAY FOR SUNDAY? "You'll get to see a lot of what the track goes through and things like that. You just get in the swing of things. That's the biggest thing for me is get out there, run a race, run pass, pit stops, coming in off pit road, you just get in the swing of things and I think that's a huge advantage when the green flag drops on Sunday. A guy that's been out there for 200 laps vs. a guy that's been out there for a day and a half; I think that's a big advantage."

SO WILL THE FULL SEASON OF THE NEW CAR AFFECT THE NUMBER OF BUSCH RACES YOU RUN? "No, probably not. I was already looking at the Busch Series to run some more races next year. I like the Busch Series. The first year that was why I ran the Busch Series. To gain more experience, I'd try to get as much seat time as you could. But now, I like racing there. I enjoy it. It's very competitive and the cars are fun to drive. As long as there's a Busch Series I'm going to try to be a part of it."

IS DOVER DEMANDING? "It is. It's a long time. 400 miles at any track is a long time. Dover is one of those tracks. You get off in a corner, a lot of speed, you've got to yank on the wheel and make things happen pretty quick because the corners are tight and you're going pretty fast. It's just one if those tracks that I enjoy. I like that type of race track and you've just got to get comfortable and get suited in and good to go."

DO YOU HAVE A MESSAGE FOR THE TROOPS ON MEMORIAL DAY? "Yeah, it's thanks for everything you guys do. That's why we're able to come out here and enjoy our jobs and race and put on good shows for you guys to enjoy on TV. You guys make it all happen."

ARE YOU CONCERNED WITH JEFF GORDON RUNNING AWAY WITH THE POINTS LEAD? "Well, the one thing about running away with it is he's not going to run far because we all know we're going to be back on an even playing field before too long. You just got to be caught up by the time that Chase rolls around. Then you can go after him. It's no secret; they've beaten everybody to the punch a little bit. They've figured it out a little before everyone else but I think we're gaining on them and I think we're getting better."

DO YOU FEEL YOUR CAREER HAS BEEN MORE OF A STEADY ARC UPWARDS THAN A SPLASH AND THEN LEVELING OUT AND ARE YOU HAPPY WITH THAT? "I was behind the experience level when I got hired by Richard. He took a huge chance on my and thank God he did but it was a huge chance on a kid from the Midwest. Not much car racing experience and not much at all on asphalt. I think I'm still learning and I think I'm still getting better and better. Confidence-wise I think I'm getting a lot better. If I'm running good, I'm confident. If I'm not, you don't have to tell me I'm running bad. I've got that figured out. I think it's just a slow process. You're racing against guys who have been here a long time and got things figured out. It's hard to just step in and play to their standards."

DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU'RE AT A POINT WHERE YOU CAN WIN RACES? "I feel like we will. I think I have the team behind me to definitely win races. We've just got to get all the pieces of the puzzle put together. It's no different than my Busch car. I struggled to win my first one and once I did, they were a lot easier. I don't know why but it's been that way my whole life. Even when I started racing cars on dirt, I raced and raced probably three years and never won a race and as soon as I won my first one we won 27 races that year and won a bunch the next. It's always been kind of the way I roll."

WHAT'S BEEN YOUR BEST WEEKEND THIS YEAR? "We've definitely got off to our best season yet. We've got our pole. We had three goals this year - win a pole, win a race and being a part of that Chase, running for a championship. We've got one of them down and we've just got to get those other two down. I think that pole thing, more than just starting on the front row and track position and good pit stall, everything a pole brings you, it's all about that Bud Shootout. That's our first race of the season and you start your season off watching everybody else, it sucks. That was a big part of what I wanted to get accomplished this year. Now watch (laughs)."

DO YOU HAVE A FUNNY LIFE ON THE ROAD STORY YOU CAN TELL US? "Nope (laughs). Not really. My most enjoyable moments were back home racing at the local dirt tracks and going from one track to another, racing every night for a week and a half. Those are the good old days. Just racers out there racing. Not a bunch of fans around. Nobody knows or even cars that you are. I really enjoy those days. There was a lot of wild nights in dumpy motels across the country, sleeping 10-15 guys in a hotel room to get by. That was the good old days."

HOW DO YOU COMPARE THAT TO NOW? "It's a job. And it's a lot of pressure. Back then there wasn't any pressure. You'd go out and you'd race and have fun and have a beer afterwards and go out and get up the next morning and get things rolling again for the next night. Now, you run bad, you've got a lot of people to answer to. You've got a pretty angry boss, you've got sponsors that are wondering what's going on and that's your career. That's your life. That's how you put food on the table. It is different. I still love racing. I enjoy it. But when you include that part of your salary and how you make a living, that's a big part of it."

IS THAT ONE OF THE REASONS YOU'RE GOING OVER TO THE DIRT TRACK TOMORROW? "Absolutely. We could race for a six-pack, I wouldn't care. That's the racer; the part in you that I don't think you could ever lose. That's what's hard about NASCAR. I could care less if I'm on a race track; you're not thinking in the All-Star race 'man, this pays a million to win'. Maybe in the last lap you might think that when you're squared up to the guy.

"But you're not thinking that on a race track, you're thinking about how you can beat him. Because you want to win. Not for everybody else, because you want to win. That's the things that you have a quick second to think about when you're on a race track."

CAN YOU TEST A DIRT CAR IN YOUR BACKYARD? "We're going to Macon, Illinois to Kenny Wallace's track here on Memorial Day and Shane McDowell told me that it's not much bigger than my go-kart track so maybe I'll take my late model out and test tomorrow night."

ARE YOU GOING TO TEST IN ELDORA, IS THAT WHAT YOU SAID? "No, Macon. Kenny Wallace has a little-bitty quarter mile bullring."

HOW BIG IS YOUR TRACK? "I'd say about an eighth-mile, maybe. Jeremy Mayfield, he started the idea of a two-thirds scale dirt late models and I built a couple of them that have 600cc motors on them. It's so fast I'm afraid it's going to kill somebody. It's back in the shop up on jack stands."

ON TOYOTA IN NEXTEL CUP: "They haven't been in the limelight much so it's easy to forget about that but they'll be here. They'll figure it out just like the Truck Series. They're pretty dominant there. I think it will take a couple of years to get right but I think they'll figure it out and be right. That's a tall order. You're against very experienced, not drivers only, but teams. These teams, when you look across here in the top 10, these guys have been together for a long time. For the majority of the guys that run good each and every week, they have teams that have been together three, four or even 10 years. You never know. It's hard to come in and build a team from scratch and expect to beat those guys."

WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO IN MICHIGAN? "I like that track. It's racy, you're three and four wide as soon as the rag falls and you can't ask for a better race track. If you can race around and pass, that's what you want and that's what you've got there."

WHAT DO YOU THINK ELDORA IS GOING TO BE LIKE? "It will be a blast. It's going to be fun to see all the drivers that have never done it before, obviously and just be a part of it. In my world, growing up in dirt racing, Eldora is a very prestigious place and to see all these big name drivers there is pretty cool."

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

NO. 5, KYLE BUSCH, CARQUEST/KELLOGG'S MONTE CARLO SS MET WITH MEMBERS OF THE MEDIA TO DISCUSS THE ON-TRACK INCIDENT WITH HIS BROTHER KURT DURING ALL-STAR CHALLENGE AND THIS WEEKEND'S COCA-COLA 600 AT LOWE'S MOTOR SPEEDWAY:

ON DISCUSSION WITH KURT REGARDING INCIDENT IN ALL-STAR RACE: "Being a non-points race, it is probably a little bit easier to get over it than if it was a points race. So, we go on to this weekend, I have a pretty good Busch car here and an even better Cup car so, we have to make sure we do what we know how to do which is try to get them both to victory lane.

"It was just a little bit too much close quarters racing, it was just bad circumstances that kind of set it up. Me getting a run off the corner and getting to his inside and him either thinking we were still three wide or his spotter not relaying the message that I was there, or whatever. It was just something that happened we have to put behind us and go on."

ON KURT SAYING THAT HE MIGHT BE A PERCENTAGE POINT OR TWO TOO HIGH ON DRIVING STYLE: Here or there, I mean, it kind of depends on where you are at and what sort of race. Given the circumstances in the All-Star race - Matt Kenseth led the first 20-lap segment; I led the all the laps in the second segment; Matt came back and led all the laps in the third segment so I whoever got out front first, it was inevitable they could be the winner. So, I was just trying to get to the front as quick as I possibly could to see if I could take the lead in order to lead the race and inevitably try to win it. I guess a little too aggressive move got myself caught up in a little trouble there, which could have and probably couldn't have been different. If it was the 600 miler and there were points on the line with 20 laps to go, it probably wouldn't have happened, but it was the All-Star race, there is no points, there is money and you have to get out front quick, so you got to go."

ON WHEN KURT WAS TALKING HE MADE IT SOUND LIKE YOU HAD BEEN DRIVING OVER A CERTAIN PERCENTAGE ALL SEASON AND THAT YOU AGREED WITH HIM, IS THAT TRUE: "Not necessarily. I feel like there have probably been a couple of situations where I may be a little bit too high, but I feel there were other situations where the level I was racing at was at the right positions at the right time. It could be taken both ways. Sometimes you just have to look at it like hindsight is 20/20. All you want to do is what is best for you at that given moment. Referring back, I thought racing my brother I thought I would be ok if I got in there and got the position, I would have the room in order to make it through the corner, but it didn't happen."

"I figured I could get on his inside. If it were another driver that I know I have had battles with in the past or I know how they race, he wouldn't be able to make such a maneuver. But I figured with it being Kurt, I could get on his inside and he will give me the room, he is my brother, he will give me the room, but it just didn't happen."

ON KNOWING IT IS KURT, YOUR BROTHER, WHEN YOU ARE AROUND EACH OTHER ON THE RACE TRACK AND VIEWING IT AS BROTHERS: "Of course, I know it is him. I view it more as Brothers than racing around another car. We were racing there at Richmond and he was coming through the pack and I gave him the room because he was fast. I just let him go, I didn't need to bother him and waste any time with him. You definitely know what cars are around you. At least I do and I try to pay attention as the race plays out."

ON KURT'S KELLOGG'S COMMENT: "It hurt a little bit, I will be honest with you. It was a pretty good jab, but what are you going to do? I can't say his sponsor on TV with Kellogg's on my shirt. I couldn't have done the same thing."

ON IT BEING ANY HARDER BECAUSE IT IS HIS BROTHER THE NEXT FEW DAYS AFTER THE INCIDENT TO SETTLE IT IN HIS MIND: "Yes, definitely. Like I told Marty (Smith), I got in there and expected to have the room through the corner and it never transpired that way. I was pretty upset over the fact that I got raced that way. He feels, obviously a little bit different that I shouldn't be so aggressive and put my car in there that way in the first place. But, it just happened.

"We were at a golf tournament on Monday and I just didn't feel like that was the time or the place to go up to him and talk to him. He tested Tuesday somewhere so we never had the chance early in the week. He called me Wednesday morning I think it was."

ON KURT TREATING HIM LIKE AN EQUAL: "I think it is a given that he has the authority to sort of Big Brother me. He has been there, done that, had the experience at it and has been there. You try to listen to him but I have great teammates that I look up to as well. I went and sat down with Jeff (Gordon) and talked with him for a while. Jimmie (Johnson) has always been a great friend to me. And Rick (Hendrick), of course, has always been like a Father figure to me. I have a lot of people at Hendrick Motorsports that I can use too."

ON WHAT HIS HMS TEAMMATES TELL HIM: "Jeff understood my rationalization of what happened. And he understood Kurt's as well and understood the circumstances of the race. Jeff just told me that I am a great racer, that I have a substantial amount of potential and talent and it will go a long way in my career. He even said that it is hard to remember that I am 21 years old, and doing as good as you are doing here. When he got here, he was 22 or 23, and now he is 35 and is a veteran. Sometimes hopefully I will be at that point."

ON WHOSE VOICE HE HEARS IN THE BACKGROUND IF HE AND KURT ARE KNOCKING HEADS: "My Grandmas. Probably all of my Grandmas, more so than anybody else."

ON MOST IMPORTANT ASPECT OF THE COCA COLA 600: "The biggest thing to remember about Sunday is the adjustability and that we start in the daytime when it is hot and it is slick. We saw in qualifying and the Nextel Open that is can be very treacherous and when the sun is out, this place is very slick and we are just out of control. When it calms down and everything gets cooler, the grip factor picks up and everything gets a little bit better. The cars will get a lot tighter because you are just carrying so much more speed, so you have to be able to pull rubbers out of the right rear or left year, or put some in the right or left and be able to change the track bar here and there and everywhere."

ON WANTING TO EVER RUN THE INDY 500: "Honestly, I think it would be pretty cool. I like to drive anything; I don't car what it is. I think racing an Indy 500 car would be exciting to me; it would be fun and something different to try. Maybe getting in a drag car, either a top-fuel or a funny car, I guess you can't be too aggressive in them, you just go in a straight line. It would be fun to probably do that too."

ON PHYSICAL TOLL ON HIM RUNNING 600 MILES AT LOWE'S MOTOR SPEEDWAY IN THE CUP CAR AND RUNNING THE BUSCH RACE: "I have done it the last two years and it hasn't been too bad on me. The Busch race is pretty easy because it starts and ends at night. The Busch cars are faster through the corners, so it takes a little more of a toll on your body, but overall it should be ok. In the 600-miler, you have to chill for the first 400 miles of it so you are just out there riding around trying to stay on the lead lap or making changes to make sure your car is capable of staying on the lead lap and adjusting on it enough to keep up with the changes in the track."

ON WHEN TIME IS RIGHT TO START RACING PEOPLE IN 600-MILE RACE: "It is way too soon all the way up to probably 100 laps to go. At 300 laps, it just isn't worth it. You want to position yourself, but you don't want to race anybody too hard. There is a lot of give and take that happens throughout the event, probably a lot more giving with everybody because; everybody knows you have to be around at the end to win."

ON FRUSTRATIONS SO FAR THIS YEAR: "In the beginning of the year, it is hard to get in the corner along side somebody like that and not get loose and sucked around or something like that. It happened to me at Daytona in the beginning of the year and luckily, we were the start of the big wreck but we weren't involved in it. The next couple weeks we went fine, nothing happened so for a while, we were doing pretty good and not really wrecking anything. Then all of a sudden bam, it seems like we have been wrecking all the time for like six weeks in a row. It has been hard. It has been pretty frustrating really, so we just have to keep going with what we know."

ON BEING AT INFIELD CARE CENTER AND LIVE TV AND RADIO WERE NOT THERE: "The situation that arose was, I got out of the race car a little upset and I have been told I can have some time to go off and cool off for a few moments and collect my thoughts so I don't upset Hendrick Motorsports, my sponsors by saying something that would displease myself or anyone else. I went in the hauler and sat down for a minute and NASCAR approached us and told us we needed to go to the infield care center. That they would like to see me and check everything out and make sure I was ok. As we went over there and exited, I was told that Hendrick Motorsports PR people told people but there was nobody there so we went home."

ON HOW AGGRESSIVE HE THINKS HE IS AND IS THERE ANYONE MORE AGGRESSIVE THAN HIM: "There is a time and a place to use your aggression. I obviously felt that that situation was going to be ok, but I was wrong. Inevitably I made a mistake and re-thought it and wish it had been a little bit different or could have made it a little bit different. As far as using aggression, there are certain times and certain places, like 20 laps to go in the All Star race, why not be aggressive, go for it. You have got nothing to loose. You have to go after the win and a few seconds earlier, it might not have been there like it was, but you saw whoever got out front inevitably won, Harvick led the last 20 laps. It is hard to pass out there with the tire we are on this surface. Who is more aggressive than me, I honestly don't know. Everybody has their own particular driving style."

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

MARK MARTIN, NO. 01 U.S. ARMY MONTE CARLO SS TALKED WITH MEDIA ABOUT HIS SCHEDULE, POSSIBLY FILLING IN FOR JEFF GORDON AT SONOMA, AND MORE:

ON HOW LIFE IS DIFFERENT NOW THAT YOU ARE NOT A PART-TIME RACER, BUT NOT STILL A FULL-TIME RACER: "I'm loving it. This is the best year of my life. Really look forward to this summer and I am living a dream. I am able to do a lot of things that I never thought would be possible at this stage in my career."

ON GOING FROM A FORD TO A CHEVROLET: "It seems to be working out well."

ON FILLING IN FOR JEFF GORDON THIS SUMMER: "There is not any major planning right now. I expect things to work out perfectly for Jeff. I am really proud of Jeff to make his number one priority being there for the birth of his daughter. I really respect him for that. He is in a position to do that and it is an honor for him to ask me to help out if need be. It is a good situation for he and I, I know what is really important to him and we have a great relationship at Ginn Racing with Hendrick Motorsports and we are just going to be in position to help him out and try to give him a good solid performance."

ON HAVING ANY REGRETS ON MAKING THIS PART TIME CONSIDERING THE GREAT START YOU GOT OFF TO THIS YEAR: "No. No regrets."

IS THERE ANY TIME THAT YOU ARE SITTING AT HOME THINKING YOU SHOULD BE IN THE SEAT OF THAT RACE CAR, OR IS IT SOMETHING THAT YOU HAVE JUST ACCEPTED? "If I wanted to be in the seat of the race car, I could be. I don't sit at home and wish that, because if that is what I wished, I would be doing that. I am really happy with what I am doing. I really love it."

WOULD YOU SAY THAT YOU ARE MORE RELAXED THAN EVER IN YOUR CAREER AT THIS POINT? "Without a doubt. I am really happy and so blessed to drive for a great team, like the Army team and drive great cars and have a chance to win and be able to blend that with the things that I really want to do with my life at this stage of the game."

HOW ABOUT THIS RACE HERE? WOULD YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF SOMEWHAT OF A MARATHON MAN, BECAUSE YOU HAVE HAD SUCH GREAT SUCCESS? "I don't think so. I just really feel fortunate that I am with a team that can really give me a chance to be a contender here."

HOW ABOUT YOUR SUCCESS AT THIS TRACK, WHAT IS IT ABOUT THIS RACE THAT YOU SEEM TO LIKE? " I have always run good here."

ON BALANCING FAMILY AND RACING: "I don't know really, other than you don't get a second chance sometimes."

ON THE TRANSITION TO THE CAR OF TOMORROW: "I think that is what the teams need. I think that it is important to focus on one particular car. If it is coming, the sooner is better than later."

HOW DOES THIS SCHEDULE FIT YOU BETTER THAN RUNNING FULL SCHEDULE? "Yeah, a full schedule doesn't fit me real well at this stage in the game. If I had to choose between a full schedule and not driving, I would choose not driving. I have got the opportunity to drive for a great team that has given me a chance to contend to win and I get to race when I want to, which is quite a bit, it's just not all of it."

HOW DO THE OTHER DRIVERS VIEW YOUR NEW SCHEDULE? "It's been varied. The ones that are older are interested in doing it themselves, for sure."

ON WHETHER OR NOT YOU FEEL THAT KYLE BUSCH IS DRIVING TOO AGGRESSIVELY: "That's not for me to say."

HOW CAREFUL DO YOU HAVE TO BE ON THOSE TIRES EARLY IN THIS RACE TO MAKE SURE THAT YOU ARE AROUND AT THE END OF THIS RACE? "Same as you are every time you go on the race track, some are more careful than others."

WHAT DOES ADDING ONE HUNDRED MILES TO A RACE DO TO A TEAM, CAR, A DRIVER? "I don't think that it does anything to them. If you are geared up to do five hundred, you had better have enough margin in to do six. Whether it is your equipment or your driver or your pit crew or anybody. If you have only got five hundred and two miles in you, you don't have enough margin. I don't think that it is that different."

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE NUMBER 26 DRIVER AND HOW HAS HE GROWN? "I think that Jamie (McMurray) is an awesome driver. I am really glad to see that his year is shaping up to be more what he had hoped for than last year. They had a tough time last year. I think that a year like he went through last year really humbles and matures you."

ON CHEVROLET'S DOMINANCE: "Chevy teams are really getting it done right now, they are at the top of their game. They have a lot of really good cars so their odds are stronger because of their number of really great-running teams."

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE CAR OF TOMORROW COMING INTO PLAY NEXT YEAR? "It's a car that we are going to have to face in the future. Doing two different cars in two different programs is tough on the teams. Running it full time next year is really the best thing for the teams."

IS THE LEVEL OF RACING STRESS DIFFERENT THIS YEAR WHEN YOU ARE NOT RACING FOR POINTS VERSUS WHEN YOU ARE? "It is for me."

IS IT A MATTER OF NOT RACING FOR POINTS OR JUST NOT BEING SO MANY THINGS REQUIRED OF YOUR TIME AND ATTENTION? "Well the difference is, this is not my last chance to win a championship. For the last five years, it has been, in a lot of ways. 2002, that was my last best shot and we finished second. 2004, 2005, 2006 we finished fourth. Those were my last best shots. I don't have to worry about that any more. I have just got to race."

DOES THE MILEAGE OF THIS RACE ON SUNDAY PLAY A TOLL ON THE DRIVER? "I don't know, a day can be tough without going six hundred miles. Real tough. It all depends. They are tough, for whatever reason. Some of them are tougher than others. They don't' all have to be six hundred miles to be brutal, for all kinds of physical reasons, temperatures, how your car handles, all those things come into play.

So, it is more miles. It is a demanding race on you, physically and mentally but I have seen some four hundred lappers that would break your back too. That is not the only thing that makes them tough."

PHISICALLY, ARE THERE THINGS THAT YOU DO DIFFERENTLY FOR THIS RACE, BECAUSE YOU ARE GOING TO BE OUT THERE LONGER? DO YOU TRY TO TRAIN MORE? "That would mean that I wasn't doing all that I could do in the others."

NO IT WOULDN'T "Yes, it would. If I could do more for this one, then that would mean that I did not do enough for any of the others. If I did everything that I could for the others, I don't know how I could do more for this one. That is my point. I do every race like it is the biggest race of my career. That's how I address every race. You can't just sit down and have a bowl of pasta and drink a gallon of water and be more prepared than you were if you had just lived a healthy lifestyle. You have got to live it. I live it everyday.

Every race is important race. I am not the Dick Trickle guy that said that it's one hour for every hundred laps, so he had to get four hours of sleep for four hundred laps, but he only had to get one hour of sleep for one hundred laps. I am not that guy. That guy did prepare. He probably would have got six hour of sleep for a six hundred miler. See what I mean. I do everything that I can do, every time."

HOW DO YOU THINK THAT THE CAR OF TOMORROW DECISION WILL HELP SOME OF THESE OTHER TEAMS, SMALLER TEAMS? "I don't know, I don't know. Right now it looks to be more work than the old cars. I don't know how it helps. It is what it is, you know, that's what we are going to do, so let's get on with it. It may be the processes will get easier, but for right now it is pretty difficult. The car is difficult, for the teams."

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT TOYOTA CARS IN NEXTEL CUP? "I don't know, I think that they have struggled more than they have expected, but they will keep working and eventually they will get what they are looking for. I think that the kind of level of competition that they are working toward, they will get closer so that they move forward."

SHOULD THEY BE ONE OF THOSE TEAMS THAT WILL BENEFIT NEXT YEAR FOR THE FACT THAT THEY ONLY HAVE TO PREPARE FOR ONE CAR? "It will make it a little easier on all teams, to focus on one car instead of two. I believe that the processes will get easier, right now, they are way too much work, too much maintenance, the bodies are too hard to build, they are too hard to repair, too hard to keep going. I believe that will get better as we work with the car."

ARE YOU SURPRISED AT HOW RELATIVELY HIGH UP IN THE POINTS YOU ARE DESPITE HAVING THREE LESS STARTS THEN EVERYBODY ELSE? "Well I have run them all for several years and not been this high in the points, so I guess that speaks highly for what we have done while we were on the track."

DO YOU THINK THAT YOUR PERFORMANCE AND RUNNING A LIMITED SCHEDULE WILL LEAD OTHER GUYS TO THINK THAT MAYBE THEY COULD TAKE A RACE OFF EVERYNOW AND AGAIN WITH THIS FORMAT AND STILL WIN A CHAMPIONSHIP? " I don't know, you would have to ask them that."

IS THERE ANYTHING SPECIAL THAT YOU FIND ABOUT RACING AT MIS (MICHIGAN INTERNATION SPEEDWAY)? "I like the track. I love racing there. It is one of the most fun race tracks that we all drive on."

DO YOU PLAN ON RACING BOTH RACES? "Both races and the Truck race and the Busch race."

IS IT FUN BEING ABLE TO DRIVE FOR DIFFERENT TEAMS, LIKE YOU HAVE THIS YEAR, AND ARE THERE ANY TEAMS THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO DRIVE FOR THAT YOU HAVEN'T YET? "Of course."

DO YOU CARE TO MENTION ANY NAMES? "I wouldn't like to mention any names?"

HAVE YOU AGREED TO DRIVE FOR JEFF GORDON WHEN HE STEPS OUT FOR THE BIRTH OF HIS CHILD? "I did. Hopefully it won't come to that, but I do admire Jeff for his commitment to be there when his daughter is born. I think that is awesome. He's in a great position and it is an honor, a real big honor to me, that they though enough of me to really pursue me."

YOU ARE GOING TO BE IN SONOMA, EVEN THOUGH REGAN SMITH IS GOING TO BE IN THE CAR, IS THAT CORRECT? "I will be there. Yes, unless something happened and the baby came sooner, I will be there."