Juan Pablo Montoya (No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge Charger)

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT GETTING INTO THE TOP 12? “We’ve been really consistent. I think that’s really key for our team. Apart from the first race, pretty much every race we’ve had a top 20 finish. Last weekend was a really good weekend for us. Being realistic, to really be able to make the Chase, you have to run a little bit better. We’re running average, maybe 12th to 15th place car. If we could run closer to the 10s then we could probably get into the Chase.”

HOW DIFFICULT IS IT TO CONTROL YOUR EMOTIONS INSIDE THE RACE CAR? “I don’t pay too much attention to it. I think its more – it’s easy to control the anger versus the frustration. When everything is going really bad, it’s harder to control. When things are going good - the aggression - you can control that pretty easy. If you need to turn your aggression down, you just deal with it.”

IS THE LEARNING CURVE STEEPER THAN YOU FIRST ANTICIPATED? “I thought the first part went pretty smooth. The last bit has been pretty hard. To get good every week is really hard. It’s not only myself, it’s the entire team. We swapped crew chiefs. Last year we had a pretty good car here. We had maybe a 10th to 15th place car. We didn’t’ have anything else for anybody. We decided to come with a completely different setup and it really didn’t’ work. Today was trying to catch up and at least make it drivable. It’s going to be a tough weekend, but it’s part of the learning curve.”

HOW DO YOU THINK DALE JR. WOULD DO IN AN INDY CAR? “I think in an Indy car he’d do pretty good because the Indy car now you ride wide-open everywhere. It’s like Talladega everywhere and he’s pretty good at drafting.”

HAVE YOU COUNSELED DARIO AT ALL LATELY? “I’ve talked to him a little bit. This week I called him on Monday but he didn’t answer. I know he’s feeling pretty good. It’s got to be tough for him. It’s tough because he was getting good at it. The first few races he struggled – you look at Phoenix he run pretty good. And now you think, ‘He did pretty good’, and now that (broken ankle) happens. It’s pretty frustrating.”

WHY HAS CGRFS STRUGGLED IN CUP RACING? “I think he’s (Chip Ganassi) been in Indy so long and use to the ovals with a lot of grip. And then all of a sudden you take 70 percent of the grip away, what do you do? You’re still going pretty fast, that’s the problem.”

HAS THE LENGTH OF CUP RACES BEEN A TOUGH TRANSITION FOR YOU? “For me it hasn’t. I don’t mind it. It’s pretty good because you have all that time to work on the car and make it better and make good changes and stuff. It’s frustrating when you have a really good car to start with, sometimes you can only make it worse. Those are the kind races that want to make them short. Martinsville and Bristol are the worst ones. You run three cautions and you look up and you’ve done 80 laps, you think ‘OK, 420 to go’. That’s pretty hard.”

WHAT’S THE PERFECT LENGTH FOR A CUP RACE? “I think a three hour race. Three – maybe three and a half. There are some that go too long.”

FOR A DRIVER, WOULD IT BE A BURDEN TO BE A TEAM OWNER? “You might ask me in five years, and I’ll say ‘maybe’. But now….no. And deal with a guy like me. No. I don’t think your want to do that (laughs).”

DO YOU THIINK THAT YOU’VE BEEN AROUND LONG ENOUGH TO WIN A CHAMPIONSHIP? “Somebody would be dreaming if somebody tells me that. I think as a company we’re getting better. I think we need a little bit more time.”

WHAT ABOUT YOU AS A DRIVER? “I think I’m pretty good. I still got to learn a little bit – understand what the car needs, but that’s part of the whole experience.”

WHAT DO YOU PERSONALLY HAVE TO LEARN? “I think the racing part I’m pretty good at. I think it’s more of, ‘Do I need a track bar? Do I want to pull rubber out? Is it the wedge? Is it the track bar on the left or right?’ It’s all kinds of things. When the car is really good, then it’s very easy to adjust like that because you all want to pick ‘here’. When the car is bad, it’s very hard to decide which is the worst pick.”

DOES IT DRIVE CHIP NUTS THAT HE HASN’T HAD MORE SUCCESS IN NASCAR? “It drives all of us nuts. We all want to do really good in NASCAR. Chip’s a guy who has won pretty much everything. He’s been close winning here before, but were not going to win overnight. It’s all about a process.”

WHAT WAS CHIP LIKE WHEN HE CHANGED CREW CHIEFS ON THE 41 AND 42 CARS? HE SEEMED PRETTY INTENSE? “Not with me. He just told me that everyone is thinking that for the best of the team, that we should swap the crew chiefs. You should work better with Jimmy (Elledge) and Donnie (Wingo) would work better with Reed (Sorenson). I said, ‘If you want to do that, go ahead.’ I’ll work with any of them. I really like Donnie; I didn’t mind him.”

DO YOU WANT TO WIN A CHAMPIONSHIP HERE AT NASCAR? “Of course. Do you think I came here for holidays?

“Of course you want to win races. If I didn’t think that I could – every week – come out here have a chance at winning, I shouldn’t even show up.

“Right now we can just do with what we got and do as good as we are. You cannot expect to go, ‘We’re 12th now so we need to run in the top 10 every week’. We haven’t run in the top 10 but once this year. All of a sudden are we going to run in the top 10 every week? No, that’s not going to happen. It’s not going to happen overnight because we finished second in Talladega. Are we going to have more top fives and top 10s? Probably yes. We just have to make it a little bit better. We making the Chase is more about everyone else making mistakes and we being consistent.”

RYAN NEWMAN (No. 12 Alltel Dodge Charger)

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE RACE THIS WEEKEND IN RICHMOND? “I look forward to it. It’s a track, based off the stats, that we’ve done well in the past. It’s short-track racing; if anybody doesn’t like racing in Richmond, you’re not much of a racer. For that reason, we enjoy coming here and enjoy racing.”

WHAT HAPPENED IN TALLADEGA THAT MADE YOU GUYS RACEY? “I think there was a time just before halfway that we did all get single file. It was 40 cars single file and that was the start of it. Then I saw some things happen; Denny Hamlin was probably the one that stood out the most as far as making things happen. Taking the car and pushing him to the front then passing that car and running in the top two most of the day. He mixed some things up and showed some guys on what could be done.

“There was a lot of racing because at least on my part, I know for sure that we were concerned about losing the draft and getting a lap down. That didn’t happen (at Talladega) last fall. Whether that’s a factor of our performance of the restrictor plate package or what, I’m not sure. I think the racing improved due to the fact that we had to stay with the lead draft to keep our speed. If you were out of that draft, it was over a second a lap. So it’s hard to risk that in that situation. So I thought the racing was better than it was last fall. In fact they even came on the radio and said, ‘This looks like this is going to be a boring deal. NASCAR should think about what they’re doing.’ Not more than three laps later, we’re back at it running three or four wide again.”

DOES THE PRESSURE GROW AS THE SEASON INCREASES AND A DRIVER HASN’T WON? “After 81 races when we didn’t win – yes the pressure grows. To me, that pressure isn’t destructive pressure; it’s just internal pressure to keep trying to achieve that goal. It’s not like you can try any harder to get the job done. You’re doing that each and every lap – each and every week. From a team standpoint, you try and fix what maybe needs to be fixed – whether it’s a pit stop that’s hurting them – whether it’s the car and they’re not leading laps and putting themselves in position. It’s not a trial and error process. It’s a methodical answer that you’re trying to achieve based upon what you’re lacking. Tony (Stewart) is having some bad luck, we saw that at Talladega. Jeff‘s (Gordon) been hit or miss. That’s part of racing, that’s part of this new car it seems.”

WHAT’S YOUR PREVIEW OF DARLINGTON? “It’s a tough answer. I think that the racing won’t be very good the first couple times around. It’s going to be fun driving the car. It’s going to be fun to hustle the car because it’s going to be so fast. That part I think as drivers we’ll enjoy. Granted, Darlington wasn’t the best race track we went to as far as racing side-by-side, three-wide action and things like that. It was a fun drivers’ track and what you saw in the end was a pretty good race. I don’t think it will be as good just because of the new pavement. I don’t think that we’ve gone to any race track with new asphalt and said, ‘Man, this is awesome’. I think they did an excellent job here in Richmond after they repaved it versus the old sealer that we use to do each and every time and then it took 1,000 laps before the end of the race on Saturday night or Sunday, it got to be a good race. They did an excellent job in repaving. (Darlington) left everything exactly how it was with the except for the character of the bumps which was their goal to take those out. The way you drive the track, the way you hustle the car – I feel Goodyear has a good combination. We put emphasis there on the tire in two different tests. We did one test, came back and weren’t happy. We came back for the second test and felt like we had a tire that’s going to live and be racey and the drivers won’t complain about. We’ll see is the bottom line. I think it’s going to be a mixed emotions type of deal. Track position is going to be extremely important. With the speed, it’s going to be that much more difficult to pass with a car that is very similar to your competition.”

DID TONY’S COMMENTS ABOUT HIS CONTRACT STATUS LIGHT A FIRE FOR YOUR UPCOMING CONTRACT TALKS? “Tony’s (Stewart) opened up, or is in the process of opening up, potentially more doors. I wouldn’t say that my phone hasn’t rang off the hook. I’m in a different situation. I’m not dissatisfied where I’m at. I just haven’t signed up. We’ll create correct process and get the final answer when the time comes.”

HAVE THE DRIVER’S BEEN TOLD TO SHUT-UP ABOUT THE TIRES OR ARE THE TIRES BETTER? “I don’t know all of the facts. But the facts that I do know from the Atlanta test, Goodyear went back and we feel that Goodyear didn’t have the idea style test. They didn’t have the cars to compare to. The bottom line was that when we went to Darlington, we sat down after we ran the car the first day and said ‘This is really fast and we need to slow the cars down a little bit’. Not because we’re worried about the speed, but because the tires can only handle so much. With the new car, there is more emphasis with the right-side tires because it’s a higher center of gravity - the offset’s gone - the cars are pushing on the right-side tires more. So we sat down and talked about it at the end of the second day and said, ‘Hey, this isn’t going to cut it. We need to do something’. So we (driver’s, crew chiefs, Goodyear) – which never happened before at any other Goodyear tire test – (Goodyear) come over to talk to you, (Goodyear) come over to talk to (that) team, and at the end of the day – you maybe get an idea based on what (Goodyear) decided. Now it’s more of a group decision so that they’re taking input from the drivers more. The crew chiefs are there; they can listen. Crew chiefs know more about the tires than typically the drivers do. So they know what they can do to make a tire live. They know what they have to do to make a tire that’s sensitive live. I feel that by no means Goodyear has said, ‘Shut-up drivers, we’re tired of listening to you. You’re bad for our name’. It’s not at all like that. I just think that there is a better process in place.”

KASEY KAHNE (No. 9 Budweiser Dodge Charger)

YOU HAVE TO FEEL GOOD WITH YOUR POSITION IN THE STANDING SO FAR THIS YEAR? “Yeah, I think we’re right there. We’ve had a few races that weren’t so good for points, but we still were running strong. The last three races, we haven’t scored many points, but we’re a top 10 – and Talladega - you’re anywhere from 1st to 40th. But as far as the two before that, we had a shot easily in the top 10. The guys are doing a great job. The team is coming together. Gillett Evernham has done a good job putting everyone back together and working hard for our goal. I think our cars are much better. I was third today in practice. Elliott was fifth. The Nationwide car we were second, so I think things are coming and getting better.”

CAN YOU COMMENT ON DARLINGTON NEXT WEEKEND? “I was thinking about that today while they were making some changes. Richmond is a great track for myself and the team. We’ve had a lot of success here. I was thinking about Darlington next week and that’s going to be a lot of fun. It’s always been a great race track for me. As far as one that I look forward to; Darlington is in the top five. It’s something that you just look forward dto. Now with the new surface, there’s kind of the unknown with how it’s going to be with race cars all in a pack. I’ve heard that it’s a lot faster, a lot smoother, it’s a bit different. I don’t know until I get there. I was thinking about that making my first lap, I’m not racing the Nationwide car next week. It’s just going to be the Cup series. It’s going to be fun; I can’t wait to qualify there. I think I’ve had three poles there. We’ll try to go for four – it’s probably going to be a track record-type race track. We were always a way off because the last time they repaved it, they went super fast there. It has slowed down a lot. I think it will probably be close to the speed again, even with the COT machines.”

WOULD YOU RATHER SEE SHORTER RACES OR SHORTER SEASONS? “I like racing so 38 weekends is a lot. I just enjoy racing. If we don’t run that many weekends, I’m going to be racing somewhere else.

“As far as races go, there are some races that are too long. I guess they like the 500 miles and 400s because it’s a longer TV broadcast. I don’t know how that works. To me, some of those races, you don’t even race until the end because too many things can happen. You just save your stuff and wait until the end; that happens a lot of times. NASCAR races have always been a long race. I think 38 races is a lot. I’m going to race either way. Some of the races are a bit long.”

IS THERE ANY CONCERN ABOUT THE CROWN ROYAL 400 RACE NOT BEING A SELLOUT? “When you’re a driver, the teams and everyone gets excited for these night races. Especially Richmond, it’s such a fun track to race on; my first Cup victory. If it’s not full, that’s disappointing. You can’t ask for too much. Times are tough for some people and it’s difficult to get to some of these races. Whether it’s gas money or spending money once you get to the track, it’s a tough thing. I love seeing packed houses, I think everyone does. It’s exciting and makes for a lot of fun. NASCAR – some of the races are very exciting and should be full. Other races aren’t quite as exciting and we have to figure out how to make them more exciting and make the racing side-by-side and more exciting for the fans. If we can do that, I think it will keep bringing the fans back and as times go on, things will get better with the economy and we get full houses again.”

YOU WON YOUR FIRST RACE HERE IN 2005, HOW DID THAT FEEL? “I battled Tony Stewart at the end. That was a good day for us. It was a fun race. We went from a bunch of second places in ’04 and to come here and win this race was a huge night for us. I’d love to do it again. Budweiser hasn’t won here since the following year, that same race with Dale Jr. For them as a sponsor, they need to get back to the Winner’s Circle as well. It’s been a while for myself. I’d love to win this week and qualify well. I think we’re going to have a couple good Dodge Chargers.”

ELLIOTT SADLER (No. 19 Stanley Tools Dodge Charger)

WHAT’S YOUR MINDSET COMING INTO THE RACE HERE AT RICHMOND? “We just need a good run. I like racing at Richmond. I’ve been coming here as a fan for a long time. So to come back as a driver is really special. It’s a special place, we need a good run. We’ve had two bad luck races in a row and we need to turn it around. Richmond isn’t my best place to race as a driver, but hopefully we’ll get some good luck and better results Saturday night.”

DO YOU HAVE MORE CONFIDENCE KNOWING THAT YOU’RE BRINGING THE CAR YOU RACED IN PHOENIX TO RICHMOND? “We’ll see after we make a few laps. We looked good in Phoenix with this car and it responded like we wanted it to all day. We qualified well (in Phoenix) but feel like we need to do a few more things to the car to really have a good piece here in Richmond.”

WHAT ARE THE KEYS IN BEING SUCCESSFUL HERE AT RICHMOND? “You have to get your car turning in the middle. If you can get your car to turn in the middle of the corner, you’re going to have a great night all night long. We want to try and get our stuff turning and running around the bottom especially at night when the track tightens up.”

HOW IS THE ONLINE AUCTION GOING FOR THE AUTISM AWARENESS HELMET YOU ARE WEARING? “It’s going great. The bid is already up to $3,000 in only the second day of online bidding. I’m proud of the race fans and the people bidding on it. All of the money is going to charity and that makes me feel pretty special because of all the fans that are getting involved. Fans have until May 19th to bid on the helmet. It’s pretty simple, just go to www.sadlerfoundation.org and make a bid on it. You better hurry though; I almost threw (the helmet) last weekend because I was so mad after Talladega. I decided not to because I knew somebody would want a nice clean helmet.”