JEFF BURTON, DRIVER OF THE NO. 31 AT&T IMPALA SS, met with members of the media at Infineon Raceway and talked about his new sponsor for next year, fuel mileage at Infineon, the impact of the economy on the sport and much more.

ON HIS THOUGHTS ABOUT HIS NEW SPONSOR FOR NEXT YEAR. “We’re really excited about it. To have a company like CAT (Caterpillar) to come on board for this and move into the future is really exciting. Our relationship with AT&T has been incredible and hopefully it will continue to be incredible for the rest of the year. We have a lot of unfinished business and look to finish out with AT&T on a real strong note but moving into the future, moving forward with CAT, a real, real strong company with really high quality products really fits well with what we try to do.”

CAT FOR YOU, GENERAL MILLS FOR THE FOURTH CAR, A LOT OF NEW BUSINESS FOR RCR. WHAT DOES THAT SAY ABOUT THE STRENGTH OF YOUR TEAM? “I think it’s important that sponsors want to talk to us and that we’re in their consideration. Certainly it’s a tough market. There’s not as many sponsors out there as we like to have and more teams than we’d like to have looking for sponsors. We feel good about the amount of interest that we’ve had in the company and that goes back to Richard (Childress). Richard is a very competitive person, to be able to do his best and put competitive teams on the race track. More importantly he’s very honest, very straight forward and I think that the sponsors recognize that and have an appreciation for that because they know what they are going to get. We do what we say we’re going to do, when we say we’re going to do it and I think that goes a long way.”

I KNOW LAST YEAR AT THIS RACE GUYS WERE TYRING TO SAVE GAS ON THE FIRST LAP, IS FUEL MILEAGE FIRST AND FOREMOST IN YOUR MIND THIS WEEKEND? “Oh yeah. Any time you go to a road course fuel mileage is the game. Saving fuel on lap one does you no good. You want to stop as soon as possible and the first stop happens well before you’re out of fuel. A lot of people say we’re saving the fuel right off the bat, that’s kind of nonsense because the first stop is not the one where you have to save fuel it’s the next two where you have to save fuel. It’s always an issue and it will be an issue this week.”

DO YOU HAVE ANY ISSUE WITH THE FACT THAT JUNIOR (DALE EARNHARDT, JR.) PASSED THE PACE CAR? “I don’t have an issue with Junior passing the pace car. I don’t see where he advanced his position or did anything by passing the pace car. I do believe it’s another example about you think you have everything tightened up and you don’t and it’s something else NASCAR is going to have to go back and address. It seems like every year, every week something comes up that you think you have a handle on and you don’t. I guess we have to make a rule that says you can’t pass the pace car but I didn’t see where it impacted the race.”

ON IF THE FACT THAT HIS BROTHER DROVE THE CATERPILLAR CAR FOR SO LONG HAS ANY SIGNIFICANCE AT ALL. “It certainly is a factor. I think that Ward and CAT was a great relationship. Obviously they won the Daytona 500 together, won the Southern 500 and won some races together. That was a really neat relationship. I’m excited about continuing the Burton relationship with CAT. It’s a really good fit for us, our family has been in the construction business forever and it’s a really neat fit. It is a unique situation that a brother drove for the sponsor and now another one is but I think that’s a positive thing. The family has really good thoughts about CAT and holds CAT in high regard. To be able to continue that I think is pretty special.”

DO YOU TRY TO GO FOR THE POINTS LEAD NOW OR DO YOU JUST CONCENTRATE ON RUNNING WELL AND TRYING TO GET READY FOR THE CHASE? “We’re happy because the higher up we are in points the better we’re doing. We would certainly want to go get him (Kyle Busch) and take that and we don’t want the people behind us catching us. I mean that’s our goal. Our goal is to be in the front of the points. This time of year it’s way more important to be in the top 12 however many races from now than it is where you are right now for sure but the higher we are the better we’re doing our jobs. The way I view it is they’re leading the points. They’ve done the best job. That’s why we’re here, to be the best team and the only way to prove that is to be first in points.”

YOU SAID BEFORE YOUR TEAM WAS LOOKING FOR SPEED BEFORE YOU WOULD BE REAL HAPPY GOING INTO THE CHASE, WHERE DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU STAND? “I felt really good about our speed at Charlotte. I felt really good about our speed at Pocono. We didn’t have a good week last week obviously. Again, I said it before I think our better days are ahead of us. I think we have a lot of stuff going on that I’m really excited about. I feel good about where we are.”

ON NASCAR PUTTING IN HEAT MONITORS AND DOING SOME CARBON MONOXIDE TESTING IN LAST WEEKS RACE. “I think it’s a sign that there are some drivers that had some questions about things and they’re trying to get involved in it and try to make it better. I view that as a good thing. I think it’s good that the drivers can say hey we’re having this issue and NASCAR goes and tries to help with it. They are hot, there’s no question the cars are hotter than they used to be. I also believe that from a carbon monoxide level, I think that personally I’m at an all time low of carbon monoxide exposure. I was involved in a carbon monoxide testing program 10 years ago and I learned a lot about carbon monoxide. Mark Martin was involved in it, I was involved in it and I can just tell you I know there’s a whole lot less that I’m exposed to today than I used to be. We’ve worked hard at it. My team has put a lot of effort into putting systems in the car that helps scrub carbon monoxide that brings me fresh air. My guys have worked really hard at it and we’ve seen some real positive results from it.”

WHEN DID THIS BECOME A WINE AND CHEESE CROWD? “When did this become a wine and cheese crowd, is it?”

YOU’VE GOT YOUR BOSS (RICHARD CHILDRESS) WITH A WINERY, YOU’VE GOT GORDON WITH A WINERY, AND APPARENTLY 25 PERCENT OF NASCAR FANS ARE DRINKING MORE WINE NOW. “I think wine is probably more popular period. Honestly if you think about it wine has become part of, you walk down any grocery store isle there’s like whole isle’s dedicated to it. I can tell you when I was a kid you had like some Mad Dog 20/20, you didn’t have a whole isle of wines. It’s become much more of a common thing. It used to be kind of the stuffy people were wine people. Today it’s just everybody drinks wine.”

HAVE YOU EVER DRUNK THE BOSS’S WINE? “My wife drinks a lot of the boss’s wine. I don’t drink much of any wine or alcohol but my wife, she’s a high consumer.”

I DON’T KNOW IF YOU CAN COMPARE IT, IS HIS BETTER THAN GORDON’S? “I don’t know. I’ve never had Gordon’s.”

DO YOU THINK THERE IS ANYTHING THAT NASCAR COULD BE WORKING ON TO MAKE THINGS SAFER? “There’s always things that we can be working on. When we get to the point where we don’t think we have anything to be working on then we’re doing something wrong. As long as we have a willingness and financial ability to do it, there is always going to be a way to do things better. What are those things? I think a lot of people would have a lot of different opinions. Obviously absorbing energy during an impact is high on the list, fire suppression systems, better wall systems, and better implementation of knowledge of what we have about stuff from soft walls to paving grass at race tracks.

“The list goes on and on and on and as long as we care and as long as we are dedicated the list will always go on. I think we’ve hit some big spots. I think we’ve made some big gains but there is always more to do. It will never stop and if it does stop then we’ll get behind.”

A LOT HAS BEEN WRITTEN ABOUT FANS STAYING AWAY BECAUSE THEY CAN’T AFFORD THE GAS TO GET TO THE TRACKS, HOW DOES THE COST OF GAS AFFECT THE TEAMS? “It’s just our expenses are way up. There’s no question about it. We haven’t not tested because of fuel costs, we haven’t obviously not gone to races, we haven’t not done things that we would normally do but our expenses are way up. It’s expensive to go test, it’s expensive to go to races. Fuel’s up and those expenses go up.”

AND YOU CAN’T GO BACK TO THE SPONSOR MIDSEASON AND SAY OUR GAS BILL IS UP $250,000? “Their gas bill is up too, you know. At a time when something is going on in the economy no matter what it is, I think it’s fair to understand that everybody is having to deal with it. I don’t know that it’s fair to the sponsors to go back and say hey, we had an unexpected expense because I’m sure they have unexpected expenses as well.”

IF DALE JUNIOR WAS TO WIN THE CHAMPIONSHIP, WHAT KIND OF IMPACT DO YOU THINK IT WOULD HAVE? “I don’t know. Obviously, his fans there’s a lot of them, they’re enthusiastic. Because he does have so many fans his success I think would be viewed very favorably. It’s hard to specifically say what the impact would be because I don’t 100 percent know. I think there’s no question he has the most fans. If our sport is about one person we’ve got major problems. Our sport can’t revolve around one guy. It can’t revolve around one team. We have to be able to draw people in for a lot of things. It is clear that he has the most fans, but it’s also clear that our sport has to be able to be successful.”

WHAT IF HIS LAST NAME WAS BROWN INSTEAD OF EARNHARDT? “I mean there’s no question that him being an Earnhardt has changed the way the fans have viewed him. On the other hand, his success level hasn’t been because his name is Earnhardt. He’s earned that. It’s a tough question because anything I say can be construed as I’m saying the reason he’s been successful, the reason he has fans is because his name is Earnhardt. I think that he would tell you that a lot of his fans are because his dad was who he was and there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s a legacy. His dad was arguably the best driver ever and those fans should roll over. But his success, he went and drove for his dad. He didn’t start out driving at Hendrick, he didn’t start out driving at the best race team. They built that thing. He deserves a lot of credit for that too. Its harder doing that than it would have been him just starting to drive for a team that was already up and running. So his success hasn’t been because his name is Earnhardt. His exposure to it and some of the fans attraction to him has been because of Earnhardt, but his success has been because of his ability.”

I ASKED LARRY MCREYNOLDS THE SAME QUESTION AND HE SAID IT WOULD BRING CLOSURE. FINALLY DALE COULD SAY I’M MY OWN GUY, YEAH I’M DALE’S (SR.) SON BUT HERE I’M A CHAMPION ALL BY MYSELF, MAYBE I WON’T GET SEVEN BUT I CERTAINLY CAN GET ONE AND HERE IT IS. “Well, I don’t know. I just hate throwing everybody up in a limp and saying this is how people feel about it. Anytime anybody wins a race or wins a championship, has success it validates their competitiveness, it validates their ability. I think that’s no different for Junior than it is for Jeff Gordon, than it is for me or anybody else. Validation is important for personal reasons and it’s also important for your fans.”

ONE OF THE ROOKIES I TALKED TO SAID ONE OF THE FIRST THINGS HE LEARNED WHEN HE JOINED NASCAR WAS DON’T CRASH JUNIOR. “I hear people joke about that. The reality of it is Junior is really good to race with. He’s very respectful. Any time you have fans involved they don’t have to be objective. You don’t have to be an objective person when you’re a fan. That’s what’s great about being a fan is you have your guy, whatever happens to him if it’s bad it’s bad, if it’s good it’s good, there is no in between. But you can’t worry about how you race Junior because of the fans. You race Junior based on how he races you.”

ARE YOU A FAN OF ANYBODY? “I’m a Duke Basketball fan and I’m a Carolina Panther fan.”

DALE EARNHARDT, JR., DRIVER OF THE NO. 88 AMP ENERGY/NATIONAL GUARD IMPALA SS, met with members of the media and talked about his win last week, how he rates his team so far this season and more.

HOW WAS PRACTICE? “It’s alright. We are struggling a little bit but we always do. I don’t know, I’m not very good at road racing. So we’ll just try to do the best we can.”

YOU WIN, YOU’RE PUMPED AND THEN YOU GOT TO DO A WHOLE WEEK OF MEDIA, ARE YOU WORN OUT? “It wasn’t too much. I mean you didn’t have no time to do anything else during the week but it’s not a bad problem to have.”

WHAT HAS THIS (LAST WEEK’S WIN) DONE FOR THE TEAM, HOW MUCH MOMENTUM DOES IT GIVE YOU? “Just proved ourselves of what we felt like we were capable of. We’ve got plenty of momentum, we’ve had that. We just felt like it just proved ourselves.”

CAN YOU JUST TALK ABOUT GETTING BACK IN THE ROAD COURSE SWING AFTER NOT DOING IT SINCE LAST AUGUST? “I’m not a big fan of it but it is what it is. I don’t really run that well here so I’m just hoping to get through the weekend.”

NASCAR IS PUTTING THESE HEAT MONITORS IN THE CAR TO SEE HOW YOU GUYS FEEL IN THERE, IS THAT GOOD IN YOUR ESTIMATION THAT THEY’RE GETTING PROACTIVE IN THIS HEAT THING? “Yeah, it’s good that they’re taking a look into it instead of just listening to opinions. Nothing is better than getting the data yourself. That’s the right way to do it.”

HOW DID IT FEEL COMING IN HERE TODAY AFTER A WIN, DID YOU GET A LOT OF GOOD REACTION FROM THE OTHER GUYS IN THE GARAGE? “Yeah, back to work. Back to trying to run good this weekend. Just been practicing. I only got here like an hour before practice.”

IS TOO MUCH MADE OF THE MOMENTUM THING? WE’RE ALL ASKING YOU THE SAME QUESTION: MAN THIS MUST BE GREAT FOR YOUR TEAM AND YA’LL ARE NOW GOING TO CONQUER THE WORLD, IS TOO MUCH MADE OF IT? “I ain’t heard that. I mean we’ve been running good, we’ll keep running good. We’re a good team. We’ll keep having the runs we’ve been running. We’re gonna run just as good and we’ll try to do our best to run better. Get a couple of wins before the end of the year.”

CONSIDERING WHERE YOU ARE IN POINTS AND EVERYTHING ARE YOU RELAXED THIS WEEKEND EVEN THOUGH IT’S A ROAD COURSE, YOU KNOW EVEN IF YOU SCREW UP IT’S NOT GOING TO MATTER? “Oh, I’m going to screw up. Trust me I’ll screw it up. Yeah, it’s good to know you got a cushion. I think I can get through Watkins Glen okay I just don’t run good here. Never liked coming here. Don’t like the track, it’s not a fun track to compete on. It’s fun to go around and goof off and raise a little bit of hell. I don’t like being in competition on it, it’s difficult and these cars ain’t built for it know what I mean.”

ARE THEY BUILT TO PASS? “Impossible to pass. Where do you pass? A couple of brake zones but that’s about it. You just wait on people to screw up. We’ll probably try to save as much gas as we can this week.”

NOW AFTER YOUR WIN LAST WEEK HOW WOULD YOU RATE YOUR SEASON SO FAR? “I’d give us a B+. We’re doing good.”

KYLE PETTY YESTERDAY WAS SAYING IF TIGER WOODS WENT TWO YEARS WITHOUT WINNING, GOLF MAY NOT SURVIVE IT, BUT HE SAYS THIS SPORT IS STRONG ENOUGH THAT IT COULD SURVIVE SOMETHING LIKE THAT. CAN YOU COMMENT ON THAT? “I think golf would survive it. All Tiger Woods has got to do is show up. He don’t have to win every week. When he does win its great, it’s great for his legacy and just adds more to him being the greatest that’s ever played the game. Him just being there, hell you know what I mean. Just being able to see the man play is what people go for. If he wins, then they were there to see it.”

SOME PEOPLE FEEL THE SAME WAY ABOUT YOU, THE REASON THEY COME HERE IS TO SEE YOU WIN. “I’m a lucky guy. Very fortunate.”

JIMMIE JOHNSON NO. 48 LOWE’S IMPALA SS, met with media and discussed road course racing, keeping cool in the heat, road racing with the ringers, the stretch from now to the Chase, and much more.

WITH SO MANY ROAD COURSE REGULARS HERE, HOW DO THEY COMPARE WITH THE CUP GUYS WHO HAVE EXPERIENCE WITH THE NEW CAR ON THIS TRACK? “I love the fact that they come in and run in the Cup series. But if you look at the victories, and who the victories have really gone to, the Cup guys hold their own. They really are competitive. They’ve won the majority of the races. I love the fact that Scott Pruett and a lot of these guys who have this road course background come and run. I’ve learned a lot from them personally. I think the Cup regulars do an awfully good job and have been carrying their weight.”

DO YOU THINK IT HELPS MORE NOW WITH THIS NEW CAR? “Helps the regulars?” YES. “Yeah, I would say it certainly helps the regulars with the car like it is. It’s much less of a vehicle than what we’ve had in the past. It’s a tough thing for these road course guys to come in and really feel the brakes and the weight of this car and the way it reacts. So I think it’s more difficult now than ever for those ringers to come in.”

SO FAR, SO GOOD, WITH THE CAR INSPECTION. NOT SO LAST YEAR. HOW MUCH OF AN ADVANTAGE WILL IT BE FOR YOU NOW TO BE ABLE TO PRACTICE? “What do you think? (laughs) I mean, yeah, definitely. Being on track is going to be nice today. It just comes with the territory and you have stuff that takes place at different tracks. Last year we had some stuff take place here that we weren’t really sure about and I think a lot of people in the garage area don’t think should have taken place, but we took our medicine and made the most of it. We won the championship last year. And we’ll move on.”

EVEN THERE ARE ONLY TWO ROAD COURSE RACES ON THE SCHEDULE, THE TEAMS PUT A LOT OF EFFORT INTO TESTING. WHY DO YOU PUT SO MUCH EMPHASIS ON IT? “It’s really because everybody is doing it. If you don’t take the time to go out and learn how to make the cars better and make the drivers better, you’re going to be behind. And everybody is doing it, so you just need to out of circumstances. The other part of it, I know for myself and the No. 48 team, is we want to win on a road course. We’ve been close at Watkins Glen. Sonoma has been tough for us. But it’s a goal that I have personally and so does the team. We’re putting a lot of effort into it and hopefully it pays off this weekend.”

JEFF GORDON SAID THIS COULD BE A PLACE THAT WOULD TURN HIS SEASON AROUND. HOW MUCH EMPHASIS IS HE PUTTING ON IT THIS WEEKEND FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE? “I really do agree with that. A victory can change momentum and get things going in the right direction, and the No. 24 car was off to a great start at the beginning of the season and had a couple of tough races and now it seems like they are getting good finishes and getting things together. But they can turn a lot around here with a good finish. I look at the No. 20 car and think that they can pick up much-needed momentum because they’ve been right there and have been very competitive and fast and had some things not go their direction and a win here could really set that off.”

ON NASCAR PUTTING HEAT MONITORS (SENSORS) IN SOME OF THE CARS “Yeah, I’m excited to see what’s going on. We’ve been through some testing to make sure the levels aren’t too high in the car and my stuff all looked great last weekend. We’ve known this car is hotter. We saw some of that last year and as the summer months are coming along, it’s really showing up. So I’m happy to see the open-mindedness that we have with it. Just last weekend alone, we made a lot of gains on our own to help bring the temperature down in the car and it really made a difference. So, that’s good stuff.”

WHICH WINE IS BETTER, CHILDRESS’ OR GORDON’S? “Man, I haven’t had Gordon’s wine. Is that wrong? He’s my car owner. I’ve had his white, but not his red. I’ve had Childress’s red. So I haven’t paired up the two on either side to pick a winner there. But Richard gave me a nice bottle of red when I won the Daytona 500, so I think he’s ahead of Jeff right now.”

HOW IMPORTANT IS THE STRETCH BETWEEN THE 600 TO THE NEXT OFF WEEK TO POSITION YOURSELF FOR THE FINAL RUN TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP? “Yeah, the big goal that I have each year is to go into Richmond locked into the Chase, so you don’t have to go through the stress and all that takes place at Richmond. In the past, Richmond has been a really difficult track for us. We needed to do that (laughs). Last year we ran better at Richmond and that helped. Points matter. They do matter all year long, but now there is more focus on it. In our position, we’ve pulled away from that 12th mark a little bit and we need to keep that distance. This is a track where we can hopefully open that gap and separate ourselves from those guys. I’m excited about the weekend. Today I woke up extremely excited to go road course racing, particularly at this track. And that’s one of the firsts. I usually pull into the gates here a little nervous about what’s going to happen and how difficult this track is. But I’ve been working hard on becoming a better road course driver in these Cup cars. I’ve been great in other road cars, but these Cup cars have been tough for me to sort out. I look forward to changing that this weekend.”

HOW MUCH DOES YOUR TRADITIONAL SUMMER PERFORMANCE ROLL AROUND IN THE BACK OF YOUR HEAD? “It doesn’t until we’re in the middle of it. And then we look back and we say you know what? This usually is a tough month for us. But this year has been different than any other year we’ve had in Cup. So hopefully the summer goes by easily and hopefully we win some big races, especially the Brickyard 400, that’s one I’d love to go back and win again, and roll into the Chase with good momentum.”

CONSIDERING YOU’VE WON THE LAST TWO CHAMPIONSHIPS, HOW DIFFERENT IS IT FOR YOU NOW WITH WHERE YOU ARE IN THE POINT STANDINGS? “I’m in a comfortable spot. So that’s a good position to be in. But from the last two years, I just know how the season ramps up, especially when you get inside the final ten. It’s its own even. As that final ten wears on, the guys who are running for the championship just focus on each other. Right now it’s a little bit more relaxed. It’s more about getting all the elements of the team put together and hopefully you’re where you need to be for the final ten.”

ON THE DRIVER’S MEETING WITH NASCAR LAST WEEK AT MIS “There are two sides to every story. NASCAR certainly sat us all down and had a talk with us. I’m excited that they’ve started that process. I think there is a communication breakdown between the drivers and NASCAR. Hopefully that’s a sign of more conversations to come where more voices can be heard and we feel like they’re heard. I’m excited about the meeting and look forward to what can come in the future from that.”

IS IT A DIFFERENT MESSAGE THAN WHAT THEY SAID AT THE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR WHEN THEY WANTED THE DRIVERS TO BE A LITTLE MORE VOCAL? “I’m usually not one who is out there saying too much. So the message at the beginning of the season, I didn’t feel like they were really speaking to me. And then as they sat down and talked to us last week, I think we all as the drivers and as a group feel we have a voice.

“We understand that if there are 43 different opinions, NASCAR is going to have a difficult time trying to understand who has the right solution or what opinions to listen to. But I think the bottom line is we have some good insight to help move the sport along and put on a good show for the fans and put on a better show for the sponsors. We just want out voice heard and I think we’re heading down that road.”

IS THERE ADDITIONAL PRESSURE ON YOU RACING WITH ALL THIS ROAD RACING TALENT, OR DOES THAT MAKE IT MORE FUN? “No, if you look at the winners, it seems like the Cup regulars win these things more than anyone. I know there is going to be a lot of great road course guys that are here and I enjoy seeing those guys and am certainly friends with them.

“And in fact I’m kind of excited they’re on our turf because I run the Rolex 24 and they’re faster than me there. So it’s nice to come here and then be faster then them (laughs). I’m looking forward to it and hope that we can get this Lowe’s car in victory lane. We’ve been working very hard on improving our road course program.”

CAN YOU STILL LEARN THINGS FROM THEM? “Without a doubt. Every time I’m around those guys, they’re so fluid and so smooth and so precise with the car, and that’s something you really need to do. And on a normal oval, you pit whenever the caution comes out. Here, you’re stuck on those tires so you need to be nice to them and treat them the right way. The road course veterans really show that discipline. I try to bring that into my style.”

WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO WORK ON THE HEAT IN THE CAR FOR THE DRIVER? “We still had some room to move air inside the car for the NASCAR rulebook. So we have more vents coming inside the car just trying to vacate the heat and just get some air moving inside the car. That’s really what we did at Michigan that helped out. I know NASCAR is looking at some solutions. They’ve done some carbon monoxide testing to make sure the carbon levels aren’t too high in the car. And they’re taking further steps to look at the heat and recognize it. We saw early signs this last year. But when you don’t run it on a full time basis, it’s hard to really understand the differences. It’s a different car and a little different environment inside of it.

WHAT’S IT LIKE TO BE COMPLETELY SUITED UP IN THAT CAR? ”The first 20 minutes is really the toughest; I’d say the first and the last (20 minutes). Until you sweat enough and saturate the suit, then the air that does move through the car when the suit is saturated you have a little bit of an air conditioning effect that takes place. But the first 20, and then at the end of the race you’re certainly tired, but until you sweat enough, which is kind of gross, but until you sweat enough, it’s just not comfortable in the cars.”

KYLE PETTY SAID IF GOLF WERE TO LOSE TIGER WOODS, IT WOULD STRUGGLE. HE ALSO SAID IF NASCAR WERE TO LOSE DALE EARNHARDT JR., THE SPORT WOULD NOT STRUGGLE. DO YOU AGREE? “I would disagree. I would think it would parallel in some ways. If you’re a fan of golf, you respect Tiger and you watch Tiger. If he’s gone, you’re still going to watch golf. The diehard Tiger fans might not be as interested, but they’re golf fans and they’re going to watch. I think Motorsports is the same way. Every sport needs their heroes, they’re marquee guy, and probably what Kyle was speaking to is that Tiger has everybody covered by so far. And in NASCAR, you don’t have that gap from first on down. So I do agree with the fact that there’s going to be great racing and great competition and the guys you’d expect to win up front racing for it. So I guess there are two ways to look at it.”

WHAT HAS DALE EARNHARDT JR’S WIN LAST WEEK DONE FOR ALL OF HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS? “We were very proud that he wanted to come to Hendrick Motorsports and be a part of what we have there, and work with us. With that, you see somebody who wants to be there and somebody who wants to win and you start living those emotions with that person. He and Tony Jr, have been close. They’ve helped us out in a lot of ways with our set-ups and we’re just all really proud of what they did and the fact that they got that monkey off their backs. We’ve seen throughout the year that they’ve been close a couple of times, and I don’t think this is the last victory for them.”

HOW WOULD YOU HANDLE NOT WINNING IN 76 RACES? “I’d be ill (laughs); there is no doubt about it. And I’ve only won one this year. At the same time I look back and my Cup crew has been far more successful than anything else I’ve ever done. I’ve had those lean years and certainly those lean years have made me respect the success I’ve had now. I just hope that success continues.”

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT IMPALA SS met with media and discussed the heat in the car, his feelings about racing at Sonoma, celebrating with family and friends during the weekend, his involvement with the wine industry, and more.

HOW WAS PRACTICE? “It was good. The track was really hot and slick, so today is going to be a lot about finesse and trying not to overdrive the car. The car feels great thought and we were having a lot of fun out there. It’s good to be back here at Sonoma and doing some road racing. It’s not where I want to be celebrating my daughter’s birthday, but I’m looking forward to going back to the hotel later.”

TALK ABOUT HOW SPECIAL THIS WEEKEND IS FOR YOU AND YOUR FAMILY “This is a really special weekend. We always have a great time coming out here. I’ve put different events together with friends and family here for years and this year obviously, with her (Ella’s) birthday, it’s just getting bigger and turning into a birthday party. And so it’s going to be quite a bash. It’ll be something she’ll probably never remember, but something we will never forget (laughs).”

HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO WIN ON YOUR DAUGHTER’S FIRST BIRTHDAY WEEKEND? “Oh, well that would be awesome anywhere. It’s not about trying to do anything for her special. I would love to do that but when you get to the race track, it’s about focusing on what you need to do with your team to go fast. It would just be icing on the cake if we could pull it off and it be on her birthday weekend.”

ON THE HEAT IN THE CAR “Now that we’re running these cars every weekend, and the heat has really started to kick up, we’ve had to adjust. I’ve had to adjust how I’m hydrating myself and even incorporating some working out, and also we’re just having to focus on how we can bring more air inside the car to keep some air moving around and try to cool us down as much as possible. It’s hot in there. And this weekend is one where you really never have a break. There isn’t a straightaway on this track where you can rest or take a drink. You’re always either shifting or braking or turning and that’s the heat is really going to affect you the most.”

ARE YOU GLAD NASCAR IS MONITORING THE HEAT IN THE CARS? “Well, it’s always hot and it’s always something to monitor even with the other cars. And with this car it does seem to be a little bit different. So I’m glad they are monitoring. It’s a great thing. We might be surprised on the readings. I think it’s more heat than anything else. With the unleaded fuel there is a little bit more temperature that we’re seeing there. So that might have happened with the old car as well.”

BASED ON MONTOYA’S PERFORMANCE LAST YEAR, IS THIS ALWAYS A FUEL MILEAGE RACE? “Sure. You always run road courses based on fuel mileage; not as much based on tire wear and track position. So when those guys did what they did last year, it opened up all of our eyes that we’ve got to start focusing more on fuel mileage. And we didn’t get good fuel mileage to begin with. So we really worked hard on it for Watkins Glen last year and we got better at it. I feel like we’ve gotten even better yet. But everybody is going to be focused on that.”

IS THERE A COMFORT LEVEL FOR YOU AT THIS TRACK? “Yes and no. I love road racing. I love road racing at Sonoma. But this is a tricky track. It’s very easy to make mistakes here. You have to really race the race track. But I am comfortable. I love coming here and it’s nice to see that we’re running good and the testing we’ve been doing is going in the right direction.”

ARE YOU FRUSTRATED THAT YOU DON’T HAVE A WIN YET THIS YEAR? “Not yet. I’m more frustrated that we’re not more competitive. To me, you can be the fastest car out there and not get wins. So that’s not really bothering me. What’s bothering me is that we’re hit or miss. We’ve put some top fives together. Some of them we earned; some of them we earned by strategy of some sort. We didn’t go out there and really perform well enough to get those and that’s where I feel like we really want to be is really getting the performance of our car. The team has been awesome in the pits with Steve (Letarte) calling the races. All of that’s been great. It’s just getting the car to do the things that I want it to do to go faster.”

BECAUSE OF YOUR PAST SUCCESS HERE, COULD THIS BE A BREAKTHROUGH WEEKEND TO GET THAT WIN? “It could. But I don’t want to put that kind of pressure on us to feel like we have to win here and then if we don’t it’s our last opportunity or a failed weekend. I really just want to come in here and do what we know we’re capable of doing and try not to make mistakes; put the best car out there and go about it like we would any other time, whether we came in here with four or five wins or with no wins.”

YOU WERE SO CONSISTENT LAST YEAR, DO YOU KNOW WHY THAT IS GONE OR ARE YOU BAFFLED BY WHAT’S HAPPENED? “Well, what do you mean? We weren’t on 1.5-mile tracks with this car. We had the old car and we had the old car dialed in. We had this car dialed in for the tracks we were going to. And it was really that we had it more dialed in than our competitors. And our competitors went to work and they’ve gotten better. And we’ve got to step up. It’s very easy to get behind. Our teammates have done a little bit better job of catching up than we have, and that’s where I want us to get better.”

CAN YOU TELL FROM ONE PRACTICE IF YOU HAVE ENOUGH CAR TO DO WHAT YOU WANT TO DO THIS WEEKEND? “It felt pretty good. But we didn’t make any race runs. We were just making one-lap qualifying runs. The difference is, on a road course your qualifying set-up isn’t that much different than your race set-up. So if we’re running pretty good right now, I feel pretty good about the weekend. That doesn’t mean that we don’t still need to focus on our fuel mileage and tire wear and what the car is going to do on the long runs. But this is a tough place to pass, and I want to make sure we get through qualifying with a solid run today. And if we do I think we can have a good weekend.”

ON WORKING OUT “I don’t like gyms (laughs). So I’ve always like being outdoors doing active things, so I’ve been riding a mountain bike, but it’s more with road tires on it, and I’ve been doing that for the last three or four weeks and just trying to step it up every week. I feel like it’s making a difference. I’m working harder in this car. This car is challenging from the team to the driver. And so I’m trying to step up my game as well and know that I’m going to be working harder and it’s going to be hot inside the car, and I want to make sure that I’m not leaving anything out there on the table.”

ON HIS INVOLVEMENT IN WINE “Right now as a race car driver, my involvement with it is not as much as I’d like it to be. Certainly over the years, I have grown to be a big fan and really enjoy wine tasting and drinking it as well as getting into how it’s made. Coming from this area, it’s always been a passion of mine to have my own wine. So it’s a thrill for me to be able to go and see my wine in French oak barrels and being bottled and tasting it and seeing those bottles with my name on it. It’s something I’m very proud of. But mostly I’m just proud of the quality of wine we’ve been able to produce. And that’s what we wanted to do is to keep it low quantity and very high quality and we’ve been able to pull it off.

“I don’t think it’s going to be a business that I just am at day to day. I think racing is always going to be in my blood some way, somehow. But it’s something that we’ve started off with slow and gradual, and I’m enjoying it. And I’d love to get more involved with it for sure.”

WHO’S WINE IS BETTER, YOURS OR RICHARD CHILDRESS’S? “Richard makes a nice wine. But Napa Valley is where you should grow your grapes (laughter).”

JIMMIE JOHNSON SAID HE’S NEVER HAD YOUR RED WINE, BUT CHILDRESS GAVE HIM A BOTTLE OF HIS. “Well, if he comes to our party tomorrow night, he’ll be able to enjoy some of the red.”

WILL THERE BE CROQUET INVOLVED? “Oh, yes, we’ll do some croquet. Hey, you have to do croquet. That’s such a tradition. We missed it last year so we’ve got to do some croquet. It’s not the same if you don’t have that.”

ARE YOU GOOD AT CROQUET? “I’m terrible at it. But is anybody really good at croquet? Other than our expert that helps us know what the rules are, I don’t think anybody is actually good at it. But it’s still fun.”

ON THE REACTION AT HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS TO DALE JUNIOR’S WIN AT MIS “Honestly, I was out of town all week and I was just so happy for Junior and for Eury Jr. and Rick (Hendrick). Going to victory lane, you could just see a big sigh of relieve and pressure off. I’m sure that transferred throughout the whole organization. I’ve been so busy this week I haven’t had a chance to catch up and get a sense and a feel. But I know it was great for those guys; mainly for Junior because he hadn’t won in two seasons and I think he was feeling the pressure. Now that pressure is off and they’ve been great and consistent and having a good year, so they can just continue to work on that.”

ARE NASCAR FANS DRINKING MORE WINE? “I think there are NASCAR fans out there that drink wine. I don’t know if more of them are drinking wine. The thing is that we are so not even focused on promoting our wine with racing. To me, I want it in fine restaurants. I want it to be something completely non associated with racing so I probably couldn’t answer that well, other than the fans that have tried my wine have complimented it. So I feel good about that and know there are race fans out there that are drinking wine.”

HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE AN EX-BAD BOY? “I never felt like I was the bad boy. I was always the guy up against the bad boy. If you go back to the rivalry with me and Dale Earnhardt Sr., I was more the clean cut kid and just wasn’t as connected to the core fan. Earnhardt had the black car and pushed people out of the way so I’d be hard pressed to say I was the bad boy.”

DO YOU MORE LOVE NOW THAN YOU USED TO? “I love the place where I am right now in this sport. I’m comfortable with everything I’ve accomplished. I feel like I have a lot more respect in the garage and outside the garage and still have a huge fan following. I think that maybe being Junior on board at Hendrick has maybe softened some of them up a little bit, but not all of them (laughs).”

ON ALL THE PERSONAL ACTIVITIES THAT HAPPEN AROUND THIS SONOMA RACE WEEKEND ‘This is a place we just love to come to. We just really enjoy it, whether it’s me enjoying time with my family and friends, or as a couple, Ingrid and myself just enjoying this weekend. The racing still is intense. Once I get in the race car, it’s still intense and tough. But once I leave here, I get to go and relax and really get away from (the track). I’m not going to my bus and not just wracking my brain about racing the whole time. So it’s always been that way for me ever since I’ve been coming here, is that get-away and relaxation and enjoying the area and the wine country and the restaurants and all those things. And at the same time I have family and friends I used to go to school with. But now, with the engagement (to now wife, Ingrid) and especially with Ella’s birth, it really does take it to another level.”

IT SOUNDS LIKE IT WOULD BE THAT WAY EVEN IF YOU WEREN’T FROM HERE “Possibly, yeah. I don’t think we would get as many people coming to the race and enjoying an evening of croquet or a birthday party, but it’s always kind of been a family reunion for me, coming here, and the friends. But I do think we would really enjoy this location and this race no matter what my association was.”

KYLE PETTY SAID IF TIGER WOODS WEREN’T IN GOLF, THE SPORT WOULD SUFFER. DOES THAT APPLY TO NASCAR IF EITHER YOU OR DALE JUNIOR WEREN’T INVOLVED? “To me, it really does cross over. When Tiger is winning, it’s better for the sport. When Junior is winning, and the more popular drivers are winning, it’s better for the sport. And I think it’s the same in golf. I think if Tiger didn’t win for two years, he would still be very popular. The sport would still be better because he’s there, but it wouldn’t be what it is when he’s dominating. And I feel the same way about our sport. We have a very strong sport, but it’s always been stronger and healthier when you’ve got Richard Petty, who has made a name for himself, or Dale Earnhardt, or Darrell Waltrip, or Bill Elliott, or Dale Earnhardt Jr. or myself. These guys play a big role in that. It’s just that you go through times when it’s hard to find a guy who can stand out and make a mark as big as what Junior has. But I do think this sport is strong enough that without him winning for the past couple of years, he’s still popular and so it the sport.”

HOW WOULD YOU FEEL IF YOU DIDN’T WIN FOR TWO SEASONS? “Oh, man I don’t want to think about that. You know what? It’s only been half a season and I can tell you it’s been tough on me. I’m very competitive. I’ve been fortunate throughout my career to win and be associated with great teams and it’s not something I want to think about. But everybody goes through that at some point in their career and I want to make sure that time is not now for me.”

Kevin Harvick, No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil Impala SS met with members of the media at Infineon Raceway and discussed road course racing; thoughts on possible changes to the Nationwide Series cars next year; his KHI teams in Nationwide and Truck Series and racing at New Hampshire.

DO YOU LIKE ROAD COURSE RACING? “I enjoy the road races. I was fortunate to grow up racing sprint go-karts on all the road course stuff. I enjoy coming out here and doing something different than what we do every other week.”

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON HOW THE FUEL MILEAGE PLAYS IN TO THE FINISHES HERE? “I think the cautions have to fall your way and you have to get the right amount of fuel mileage. You definitely have to play the strategy but your car has to be fast enough to maintain what you have. You can turn a 30th place car in to a 10th place car if you wind up getting lucky and are on the right strategy. But, if you are going to win, you still have to have a car fast enough to be good.”

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON WHERE YOU ARE IN THE POINTS RIGHT NOW? “It doesn’t really matter; you just race as hard as you can every week. We have had a bad six weeks, we have crashed constantly, ran out of gas at Phoenix, we just have had a lot of things go wrong. Nothing you can do about it, you just go out and go as fast as you can.”

DO YOU HAVE ENOUGH SPEED TO TURN IT AROUND? YOUR TEAMMATE SAID HE FELT LIKE THE RCR CARS MIGHT NEED A LITTLE MORE SPEED, IS SPEED AN ISSUE? “I think speed would help everybody. Obviously the speed isn’t hurting him (Jeff Burton) too bad. They have been consistent and finished every week. That is why we are where we are, we haven’t finished as many races where we have been running, but I think we have top-10 cars, we just don’t have the dominating speed to win races right now.”

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE ROAD COURSE RINGERS SOME TEAMS BRING IN TO SONOMA? “They are really fast, but the usually end up running in to something for the day is all said and done.”

HAS THE ATTITUDE ABOUT RACING ON ROAD COURSES CHANGED AMONG THE TEAMS AND DRIVERS? “I think the biggest thing is that you can lose so much ground here if something goes wrong. It can be a bad weekend, just like it can anywhere else. You need to work at it and try to make things as good as you can. Whether you are good or bad at it, you got to try to keep getting better at it to try to improve as everybody else is improving. We have always focused on the road races to try to be as good as we could, some people don’t. We always go test, go practice and try and get in to a rhythm.”

WHERE ARE SOME OF THE KEY SPOTS TO PASS HERE? “There are really only two spots to pass on the whole track. One is going in to the back esses, what most of us call seven, which is probably turn four if you are just counting. The other coming in to eleven, the last corner here. Those are really the only two spots to pass, unless somebody has a pretty big mistake.”

WHAT IS YOUR OPINION OF NASCAR’S DISCUSSION WITH THE DRIVERS ABOUT THEIR “WHINING”? “Last week is over.”

DO THEY WANT YOU TO EXPRESS YOUR OPINION OR NOT WANT YOU TO EXPRESS YOUR OPINION? “If they wanted you to know that, they would have invited you to the meeting. It is none of your business, how about that, is that better? (CHUCKLED)

WHAT DOES IT SAY TO YOU THAT NASCAR IS PUTTING C02 AND HEAT TESTING DEVICES IN THE CARS? “There are a lot of things that we can do. Since we switched to the unleaded fuel, the heat in the cars has gone up. There have been a lot more fumes than what we had before. This car kind of builds a lot more smoke than what we had before, so that is good to know that they are monitoring it. We have always taken as many precautions as we can with the WIX filters and things inside. They are a lot heavier than a lot of the filters other people run, but they do a lot better job than the smaller filters. We’ve run those for several years. There are definitely things you can do to make the inside of the car better. We will see where it goes.”

WHY DO YOU THINK THE INSIDE OF THIS CAR IS HOTTER? “I really don’t know, to be honest with you. It just seems like there is less air getting in to the cab for whatever reason. I don’t know exactly why.”

HOW MUCH DOES CLINT (BOWYER) COME TO YOU ABOUT ROAD RACING? “We have been talking about it quite a bit as far as where you shift and what you do. They took kind of the opposite approach to it and didn’t go test at all anywhere and kind of left it up to us to tell them where to start. We will find out if we did a good job here later.”

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT NEW HAMPSHIRE NEXT WEEK? “The flat track stuff has always been really good for us. Clint obviously ran really well there at the last race. We look forward to going to those types of race tracks. We ran well at Phoenix, so good part of the season race track wise for us coming up.

“The new style race track has made more side-by-side, much more so than you could when it was completely flat. They have done a good job in keeping up the race track, but still you have to have a really good car to make some ground.”

AS A TEAM OWNER IN THE NATIONWIDE SERIES, WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT NASCAR CHANGING CARS FOR NEXT YEAR? “We are evaluating all of that right now, trying to decide what we are going to do going forward.”

HOW IS THE KHI DRUG TESTING PROGRAM GOING? “We are done setting it up. We go through our whole month of drug testing, the randoms that come out every week. We are all set there; we are just waiting on NASCAR’s final investigation and see where they go with it. We will give them the six weeks that they asked for, then we will put the heat back on.”

HOW ARE YOUR KHI TEAMS DOING? “I think they are good. The Nationwide team hasn’t run the last few weeks as good as they did at the beginning of the season so they need to get their act together. But the trucks have been great week in and week out. In the Truck Series you get some stuff tore up, but as a fan and an owner, it is fun to watch.

“I am a Ron Hornaday and Jack Sprague fan so I sit there and get my snacks and my water and maybe a Coke or whatever it is and sit and watch the races. I enjoy it, it is fun to watch.”

ARE YOU GLAD YOUR VETERAN DRIVERS HAVEN’T MELLOWED OUT WITH AGE? THEY WERE BOTH TICKED OFF AFTER LAST WEEK’S RACE, IS THAT NICE TO SEE AS THEIR OWNER? “They are both driven, they like what they do, they like racing in the Truck Series, they like the schedule and the things that come with it. They definitely have the drive to make it happen.”

Clint Bowyer, No. 07 Jack Daniel’s Impala SS, met with members of the media at Infineon Raceway and discussed his thoughts on road racing, this season compared to 2007, returning to Loudon after winning there last year, goals for ’08, and more.

WHAT IS GOOD, BAD AND UGLY FOR YOU ON A ROAD COURSE? “It can be all of them. This track has been good to us in the past. Fuel mileage is a big thing when you come out here, on any road course really. So you have to hone in and focus on fuel mileage here and be fast. You still have to be fast on these tracks. Like I said, this has been a pretty decent track for me. I really enjoy the technical part of this track, it is a little slower and a little more technical than maybe a Watkins Glen. Looking forward to see what we have.”

DO YOU RACE THE TRACK HERE MORE THAN YOU RACE THE COMPETITORS? “Oh, absolutely. I think that any road course is that way. If you do that, if you race the race track, make good fuel mileage and if you make the right decisions, you will have a good finish. If you get caught up racing people, there always seems to be people on different agendas and stuff like that, new tires that come flying by you, you have to just keep racing the race track. You have to keep the big picture in the back of your mind and hopefully things will work out.”

DO YOU ENJOY THIS TYPE OF RACING? “I do. It is just different. We only get a couple cracks at it a year. I like change. I think it is good for our sport. Certainly coming to a road course is part of that.”

WHICH ROAD COURSE IS MORE FUN? I enjoy this one more than Watkins Glen. Infineon is a little more technical. It’s a lot different than Watkins Glen. The Glen is real fast, wide open kind of, throw the car around and go. This one you have to really hit your marks and focus.”

DO YOU VIDEO GAME THESE TO GET READY TO RACE HERE? “No. Kevin (Harvick) is our road course racer at RCR. I think we bank on him a lot to do some testing and make sure that our cars are going to be working good. I know have. Kevin and Jeff (Burton) both went to VIR and tested there. I made it to Mexico City and raced down there. So I have raced on a road course this year. I think everything we will be fine.”

HOW DIFFERENT DO YOU FEEL ABOUT YOUR SEASON THIS YEAR COMPARED TO LAST YEAR? “It has been a lot different. Making the Chase last year was a tough task and finishing third, a lot of things have changed. But still, it is the same thing, you have to be good week in and week out. We are focused on trying to bounce back from three or four bad runs this year. I know we are capable of getting the job done. We have had some bad luck, we have a part failure, I crashed out in Pocono and it just have us behind. It is just time to get back on track.”

WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS FOR THIS YEAR? “First and foremost you have to make the Chase. That is what this deal is all about. Making a Chase and winning a championship, that is what we are after.”

WHAT WILL IT BE LIKE TO GO BACK TO NEW HAMPSHIRE AFTER YOU WON THERE? “It certainly is exciting going back there. It is where I got my first win; we were very good. A lot of things have changed; a lot of people have really worked hard and focused on this car. Where last year, you had both cars to work on. I think everybody stepped up their game with this car, so it will be a little bit different, but I am looking forward to. I know that has typically been a good track for us in the past and I can’t wait until I get back there.”

DO YOU PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT THE GUYS IN 13TH, 14TH, 15TH IN THE STANDINGS ARE DOING? “We fired off seven top-10s in a row, earlier in the season, we have just had three or four bad runs here. Two of them have been our mistake, we had a part failure-a shock mount break and then I crashed at Pocono. Both runs were looking to be top-10s runs for sure. Dover could have been a top-5 run. Take away those two runs away back-to-back, we would be plenty fine. But two 38th place finishes or worse, it has been a hard hit right here. I know we are capable of getting back on track. I mean we have proven that. Everybody that are in the Chase now, were in it last year and have been the teams to beat. I look to move forward, not worry who is going to catch me from behind.”

IT SEEMS IT’S TOO EARLY TOO TO EVEN WORRY ABOUT THAT. “Yeah, it is but it ain’t. I mean every weekend is a worry. It seems like it started off at Daytona trying to gain as many points as you can and be part of that Chase. I made it last year and I know how important it is.”

NASCAR HAD SOME HEAT AND CARBON MONOXIDE MONITORS IN SOME CARS LAST WEEK, DID YOU HAVE ANYTHING IN YOUR CAR? “I don’t know. My air conditioner quit. It was fine with me. I was so mad after running bad you could have pumped as much Carbon Monoxide as you wanted in on me, I wouldn’t have known.”

HAVE YOU AND OTHERS DRIVERS TALKED ABOUT THAT BEING AN ISSUE WITH THE NEW CAR, APPARENTLY SOME DRIVERS THINK IT IS. “I don’t know same for everybody. You ain’t gonna pass out. These cars are safe. Look at the cars back in the day, them guys they get out they looked like they were going to pass out. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anybody get out of one of these and looking like they’re gonna pass out.”

HAVE YOU WORKED MUCH WITH AUSTIN DILLON? “Yeah. It seems like now that he’s on the Camping World Series I haven’t had an opportunity to but certainly when he started racing dirt, we raced together a lot. He’s just a good kid. They both got good parents. Mike (Dillon) was my spotter and since day one at RCR I’ve been close to the Dillon family. My dirt shop is right next to his dirt shop and we have fun times back and forth from shop to shop. They’re a good family, they’re good kids. Both of them are good kids and good racers. Given their upbringing, the circumstances they’re brought up in, they’re good kids. I think they work hard for what they got. Hopefully they’ll make something.”

I’M SURE THEY HAVE SOME GOOD EQUIPMENT AND GOOD EQUIPMENT AT THAT LEVEL IS KEY TO SUCCESS, WHAT ABOUT HIS DRIVING? “I think his driving has honestly surprised everybody. Everybody knew that he was going to have good equipment. They’re Richard Childress’ grandkids. They’re not going to have bad equipment. He hasn’t torn things up; he hasn’t crashed. He’s been fast but he’s taking care of his equipment and that’s what’s hard to do. That’s what’s hard to learn. And racing well, not only is he fast with that good equipment, he races well with it and he takes care of it and he gets it to the end of the race and that’s the stuff you can’t buy.”

WILL YOU WORK WITH HIM IF YOU GET A CHANCE NEXT WEEK UP IN NEW HAMPSHIRE? “If he needs it; if he comes over. I certainly will be keeping an eye on him and be over there watching him.”

THERE HAS BEEN A LOT OF ATTENTION FROM FANS WHO BELIEVE TOYOTA IS DOMINATING THE NATIONWIDE SERIES BECAUSE THEY HAVE AN ADVANTAGE IN HORSEPOWER, DO YOU GET THAT IMPRESSION? “I don’t know what they have. Obviously I wish I had it. Everybody that’s been in that 20 car has won races. They’ve led for probably more than 60 percent of the laps. It’s unbeatable right now, but what that is who knows. I mean we’ve had dominate cars over the last three or four years at RCR. It’s hard to say, the shoe is on the other foot. We by no means feel like we have the best that we can possibly be right now. We got room to improve, room to grow and we need to step up our program before we can say they got something we don’t have. They certainly have stepped up the program and are dominant. You can’t take that away from them.”