Kevin Harvick at Loudon

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES

SYLVANIA 300

NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY

TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

SEPTEMBER 17, 2010

KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 SHELL-PENNZOIL CHEVROLET, met with members of the media at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and discussed getting into the Chase, the mindset of the Chase, sponsorship in NASCAR, RCR having three cars in the Chase and other topics.  Full transcript:

TALK ABOUT YOUR OUTLOOK THIS WEEKEND AT NEW HAMPSHIRE AND STARTING THE CHASE: “For us, I think we just have to keep doing the things that we did up until this point. We won a few races, had a lot of top-fives and top-10 finishes. On the days where we really struggled, I felt like we, for the most part, made something out of those days. It was good enough to lead the points in the first 26 (races) so there is really no reason for us to change our strategy.  I feel like the guys have done a great job of getting the cars prepared. They have built four or five new cars. We’ll see what happens. Whether we win or lose, I think everybody has done everything we can control. We’ll just go race now.”

HOW DOES IT MAKE YOU FEEL WHEN PEOPLE SAY TO JIMMIE JOHNSON WHO CAN STOP YOU HERE AND HE SAYS YOU? “I think everybody is proud of everything that we have done to get turned around. If you had told me at the start of the year that the turn-around was going to be as good as it has been, I think we’d all have chuckled a little bit and said ‘We hope so’, but you never know how it is going to turn out until you start racing. It is kind of like these last 10 week, you never know what is going to happen until you get in here and race. Just proud of everybody. I think everybody is jacked up and just ready to go race and see where we stack up in the end.”

DO YOU THINK THAT PUTS PRESSURE ON YOU BY BEING LABELED THE FAVORITE BY JOHNSON? “I think he is still the guy to beat. I mean, he has won the last four so how can he not be until somebody beats him?”

WHAT DOES IT MENTALLY FEEL LIKE TO GO FROM A POINTS LEAD OF OVER 200 POINTS AND GO INTO THE CHASE 30 POINTS DOWN TO THE LEADER? “For me, I just quit looking at the points about half-way through the year because things were going so good, it didn’t really matter. We knew what we were racing toward and that was a reset of the points and we needed to figure out how to win more and we did. We started winning races. Then as we got closer to the Chase, we just raced and that is really all we did. Now, it is time to think about going back to leading laps and going back, if you aren’t in contention to lead laps, you have to figure out how to get those five points. You have to figure out how to qualify decent and do all the little things that we did up until that point. Myself and the whole team knew what direction we were racing toward at the end of race 26, so the points didn’t really matter. Once we got to a point of knowing we were headed toward the Chase, we started thinking about the Chase and we didn’t even look, it didn’t even matter.”

ALL THE CHILDRESS CARS HAVE NEW CHASSIS HERE THIS WEEKEND, CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE THOUGHT PROCESS TO DO THAT? SOME MIGHT THINK THAT IS A RISK TO COME HERE WITH SOMETHING YOU HAVEN’T RUN HERE BEFORE? “We think that is a good thing. Those cars were built and massaged and rubbed-on and really feel like they have been very detailed out as far as cars on the race track. That is part of the process of what we feel like we did right coming into the Chase, was build new cars that take more lead, that make more downforce and that’s why we saved them until now.  The good thing about all the things we do now is we have wind tunnels and we have the shaker rig and the pull-down machines and everything that we put these cars on. You know what your good cars are, so you go and put them all in that direction and you try to make them better. They are so good at building the cars now; I don’t really think it is a risk. I think it is a good thing. I think you’ll see that over the next several weeks. A lot of new cars coming out of our stable. I know there has been a lot of talk about the un-predictability of what you bring to the race track, but I feel like our quality control is better than everybody else’s. The things that we do; the processes that we put our cars through to make sure they are built right and make the right downforce. The downforce is in the right spot. That is something that we do really good. I think RCR has always been very good at their quality control issues with the engine department and that has bled over into the manufacturing department of the cars.”

YOU HAVE A NEW SPONSOR FOR YOUR TRUCK THIS WEEKEND, JEGS, WHICH IS NORMALLY DRAG RACING. CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THAT PROGRAM? “I think Jegs has been a part of us, whether it’s been just small pieces here and there for the last couple, probably three years actually, this will be the third year. They decided they wanted to venture out. They do the contingency program on the Cup and Nationwide sides. It is a big step for those guys to step out of the drag racing world and come over into the Truck series and be the primary sponsor. They have become good friends of ours and we are looking forward to running well this weekend and hopefully having a good showing for them and showing them that the NASCAR side will work well for them.”

WHERE DOES SPONSORSHIP STAND WITH KHI FOR NEXT YEAR? ARE YOU SURPRISED THAT BIG NAMES LIKE TONY STEWART AND JEFF GORDON ARE HAVING TROUBLE SECURING FULL SPONSORSHIP FOR NEXT YEAR?

"We've been very fortunate on the sponsorship side. Hopefully in the next three or four weeks we should have a lot of things wrapped up. And that's a good thing. Our intentions are to still compete in both as they currently stand in the Truck Series and the Nationwide Series with the vehicles that we have and hopefully maybe a few more races than what we currently run. Everybody has done a great job from a Cup car to the Nationwide cars. Our current sponsors are all going to still be involved from the Nationwide side and many of them on the Truck side. For us, we've been very fortunate to have a lot of success on the sponsorship side and things are going great."

CAN YOU CONTRAST WHERE THIS ORGANIZATION WAS A YEAR AGO COMING TO NEW HAMPSHIRE, AND HOW VASTLY DIFFERENT IT IS NOW FOR THE ENTIRE RCR ORGANIZATION TO HAVE THREE CARS IN THE CHASE? WHEN DID THE ACTUAL TURNAROUND BEGIN? "The actual turnaround began in Indianapolis last year. That was our first generation of new cars with some different set-up things that were implemented into the cars at that particular time. From that point on it's been a building process to get things headed in that direction. Richard (Childress) made a few more personnel moves as we went through that time and over the off-season. But really last year at this time, we had had a crappy year but the direction was headed in the right direction when we came here last year so everybody had started to calm down to a certain degree, knowing that the year was shot but that the direction was going in the right direction. So, I still say for the No. 29 team the key race for us was still California and just knowing that we had cars that were capable of competing. I felt like I made a big mistake and that was a huge eye-opener for everybody to get back in that mindset of remembering what you do when you win races and not forcing things."

WHEN YOU WERE GOING THROUGH THAT, DID YOU EVER THINK YOU COULD GET ALL THREE CARS INTO THE CHASE? "It's been more than normal to get the three cars than it has to not. For us, that was something we'd done pretty well at through the years. Last year was definitely more abnormal than the norm that we'd been used to. I think last year made us better. I think those struggles definitely made us better."

YOU TALKED ABOUT JIMMIE JOHNSON BEING THE FAVORITE, BUT OBVIOUSLY YOU'VE GOT TO BELIEVE IN YOUR OWN ABILITY TO WIN THIS CHASE. SO WHY CAN YOU WIN IT? WHY WILL YOU WIN? "I think we have the best chance to win just because of the mindset that we've been able to put ourselves in going into it first off; and that came from running well in the first 26 weeks and running through almost three Chases leading up until this point. Until you beat the guy that's won four times is one thing, but I think our shot at being able to win and have a chance to win the championship is there. It's just a matter of how it all unfolds in 10 weeks. All 12 teams are capable of getting on a hot streak at any time. We've all been here before. We've all won championships in some sort of racing division at some time. So it's just a matter of who puts these 10 weeks together and who gets on that hot streak."

DO YOU NEED TO BE BETTER THAN YOU WERE DURING THE REGULAR SEASON?

"I don't think so. I think if we do what we did in the regular season I don't think we need to be any better."

EVERYBODY BASICALLY DREADS TALLADEGA. BUT IS THERE A TRACK OTHER THAN TALLADEGA THAT YOU ARE MOSTLY CONCERNED ABOUT? "I look forward to Talladega. I think the way that our superspeedway stuff has gone this year, and I know that can turn at any moment, but I look forward to the challenge of Talladega and putting ourselves in the position to race there. For us, the biggest hiccup has been Charlotte and we ran okay there this year and hopefully we can build on that and a lot of race tracks that we've gone to that we thought we had struggled at in the past, past stats haven't stacked up for us as far as what we've done at particular race tracks. I think Michigan is a great example. So we just go out and race and I don't think of a weak point for us that we have; there's going to be a week that we don't run good but I don't think going in there we're going to think that we're going to run bad. So, Charlotte would be the one that sticks out in these 10 weeks. You can go to any of these race tracks and say that you've had a bad day at some particular moment. I think we're looking forward to all of them right now."

DO YOU AGREE WITH TONY STEWART THAT MAYBE THE CHASE GUYS COULD HAVE THEIR OWN POINT SYSTEM SEPARATE FROM THE OTHER 33 GUYS AND IF YOU HAVE A BAD FINISH, IT'S ONLY AMONG YOURSELVES AND NOT AMONG EVERYBODY?

"All right, you're going to get me started on points and Chases and that stuff (laughter). The part of this sport that I like the most is that it requires you to race all 43 guys. And the part that sticks out to me the most is if you want to create a points championship that has one or two point increments and you can have a bad week, having a bad week is part of this sport. And if you finish 43^rd, you still have to race the other 43 guys. If you want to have your own point system, let's just have 12 cars on the track and call it I-ROC, because it won't work. So, you've got to race against all 43 guys. Durability has always been a part of this sport and being creative and how far you can push things and having wrecks. Creating its own point system for the Chase would be a total mistake because that's not what our sport is about. Our sport is about guys trying to make the race and people having to put their stuff on the trailer and go home. It's always been (about) who could not break engines and who could not break parts and who could not break pieces. So I think you'd open up a can of worms. It wouldn't be fun because it's still not about 12 guys."

ON DOVER, YOU FINISHED 7^TH THERE EARLIER THIS YEAR AND THAT COULD BE A WILD CAR FOR SOME OF THE GUYS BECAUSE THINGS HAPPEN SO FAST

"Dover is a cool race track. It's fast. But there can be a wreck off of Turn 2 that will swallow up 10 or 15 cars. We've been on both sides of that fence. We did run well there at the beginning of the year. Hopefully we can do the same thing when we go back. It's one of those race tracks that lets you know how fast you're going, not only when you're going around the race track, but if you happen to hit something. It's a fun race track but it can eat you up pretty fast."

Mark Martin on Richmond

MARK MARTIN, NO. 5 GODADDY.COM CHEVROLET, was the guest on the NASCAR Weekly Teleconference. Full transcript:

THE MODERATOR: Welcome to the NASCAR teleconference in advance of this weekend's NASCAR event at Richmond International Raceway.


Joining us today is Mark Martin, driver of the No. 5 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet for Hendricks Motorsports. Saturday night's Air Guard 400 concludes the Race to The Chase, the 10-race stretch that precedes The Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.


It's the last opportunity for drivers to earn a spot in the 2010 Chase. And Mark is one of those on the eligibility bubble. Following Saturday night at Richmond, the top 12 drivers in the Series standings will battle for the Series title during the season's final 10 races, or The Chase.


Mark is 15th in the standings right now. He's 147 points behind 12th place Clint Bowyer. You had to come from behind to make The Chase before. What do you think your chances are Saturday night?


MARK MARTIN: I haven't done the math, but I don't think they're very good from where we're at. Not very good. I'm sure if Clint starts the race, then we just about need to be leading the most laps and win the race and him finish last somewhere in that range.


So we've got ourselves too far behind to expect to jump in there.


THE MODERATOR: Questions?


Q. Mark, to try to drag you into the same boat as me, as one of the few left around who can remember the young Dale Earnhardt and his style, I was thinking about Kyle Busch, as far as car control and like this past weekend, didn't have a great weekend like he did at Bristol but he made a good weekend out of a bad weekend. Does Kyle, with car control and keeping on struggling to salvage weekends, does he remind you of Earnhardt in his heyday?


MARK MARTIN: You know, maybe glimmers of that. But his style -- his style is still a little bit different. It is definitely really strong.


He manages to do an incredible amount of things with at times when it doesn't look like he has so much. But you and I both probably -- it may not have been as big a deal as what it seemed like it was back in the day, in Dale's young times, but it seemed bigger than anything I ever could have dreamed of seeing at this time in my lifetime. And I don't know about you.


So in some ways there are flashes of --


Q. Maybe Dale was a little rougher and more obvious with it and Kyle might be a little bit slicker?


MARK MARTIN: Yeah, there's some of that to it. You know, also what Kyle does is not head and shoulders above what all the greats do. In other words, you know, there were some greats when Earnhardt was out there doing all that but there wasn't as many greats with great cars as there are today. What Kyle does is make him shine and place him above, up at the very top of the class. But not as far -- like Earnhardt just, he was like way elevated and didn't think there was anybody in his league when it came to that.


With Kyle, you don't forget, you still have Jimmie Johnson and you still have Tony Stewart, and you still have Carl Edwards. As far as that matter, I'll tell you what, Matt Kenseth's style is not showy or flashy, but what he does is incredible, when I set back and just watch what he manages to do so often with when he has what appears to be so little.


And so I would say the discrepancy from the mid-pack to Dale Earnhardt versus the discrepancy today is smaller. But you would expect that, because everybody's raised their game and there's so many -- everybody's cars have the availability of being great.


Everybody's cars aren't the same and they're not all as fast as the other. But they are much closer than they were back 25 years ago.


Q. The chase is so far along now, have we got with this thing that if you're not in it you had a bad season?


MARK MARTIN: Well, that's a good question. This is my first time to miss it. I didn't run for it in '07 or '08. So certainly being in it is big. For me, if we were to have squeaked in it and ran, continued to run like we've run the last three races, three or four races, then it wouldn't make our season. You know what I mean?


At the end of the day you still have to run good to be, to really feel good about yourself. So if you run good and you miss The Chase, then that's a crying shame. And that's what we were faced with last year. It would have been a destroying season for us at the 5 car to have missed the chase last year. Because we knew if we could make it, we could get in it, we could win it. And nearly did.


So, you know, I'll have more insight on missing it after this season's behind us, I guess. But for us right now, our focus is to get back up on the level that we were on last year and actually this allows us in one way missing The Chase will allow us to go out there and take chances on different hardware and different setups and those kind of things that we wouldn't necessarily if we were in the hunt for the championship.


So we will work through that. We really tried a lot of different stuff, really different stuff at Atlanta. And it certainly didn't pay dividends.


But we're one more race wiser. And we do know a few things we don't want to do next time. So we continue to work really hard to raise our game to the level it was last year.


Q. Will you be trying new stuff with the goal of having a better overall season next year, or with winning this year in mind?


MARK MARTIN: Both. Both. No difference in those two statements there. It's all the same. When you run better, you run better. And most of the time, over the long haul, when you run better, you score more points. That's not always the case, because you can have bad luck.


But in reality, even with bad luck, if you run better, you score more points than if you were running bad and you have bad luck. So don't forget, you know, there's more to racing than points. It just doesn't seem like it in today's -- in today's sport. But there is. Every race is a race. Every race is not a point. It's not a points tally. It is if you're in a points battle, but for me I believe that the attraction to the sport of racing is the race.


You can't see points tally until these things are over with and all this stuff, you know, takes place. But you can watch a race and get excited right then and there all the way through the race. And at the end of the day we all started out racing because we loved the race. And I still think that that's what puts people in the stands is watching the race.


Q. Mark, how does it happen that a team like yours goes from being second in points at the end of last year to 13th or 14th where you are now, and kind of in the same vein, how does a team like Harvick go from 19th at the end of one year to first the next?


MARK MARTIN: Well, you know, I don't really know. (Chuckling). I just know it happens. I've seen it happen before. But I don't really know.


I saw the Childress cars start their momentum at Indy last year and gradually build momentum in performance from there, going forward, all the way to the end of the season. And I knew that they were going to have a great year this year, based off what I saw there.


Didn't really see this coming for the 5 car. And I just know that it happens, that things change and competition -- you know, the target is a moving target. It always has been and always will be. And we were hitting the bull's eye last year. And we haven't found the bull's eye this year. And we'll continue to work until we do. But we just haven't found it.


And we're the same group of people that were getting it done last year and we can do it again. We'll just keep digging until we find it.


Q. On an unrelated topic, Terry Labonte is going to try to make the race this weekend. Have you talked him at all? He hasn't raced since the end of last year, and what do you think about him stepping back into the seat?


MARK MARTIN: I have a couple of thoughts. I talked to him at the first Texas race I think was the last time I talked to him. It was really good to see him and really good to talk to him. I think it's awesome to have him back, and I think it was pretty clear that I was living the dream of every retired driver or semi-retired driver in the country last year.


And it's something that I think it's really good. I think it will be good to see him. It will be good to see him back at the racetrack, and I know there's still fans that saw him win championships and win races and put on great shows that will welcome him back to the racetrack and be glad to see him back.


Q. Mark, this is kind of along the lines of what Bob was saying, but more from kind of an emotional or a gut feel for you to come off a year like you had last year and kind of allow your expectations to rise and then for it to turn out the way it does. Maybe you could explain the difference you feel heading into Richmond this time as opposed to last year.


MARK MARTIN: Well, I'm not as nervous as I was this last year. But certainly it's a different feel. It's something that none of us expected or saw coming. But we are the same people that were doing this a year ago and doing it so well.


And you have to look at the positive things and not focus on the negative. Expectations are really tough to deal with when you don't meet them. And that's why I've tried so hard to limit and keep my expectations in check. But still, yet, even as much as I do that, you know, I couldn't have ever been prepared for having as tough a year as what we've had.


But we're the same people, and we're working just the same together as we were a year ago. And that part of it feels good. You gotta focus on the positive. We have a great race team. Smartest people. Some of the smartest people in the business, very committed. We all really get along and respect one another. And we're going to work through this together, and we're going to get better together.


And at the end of the day, as devastating as it is to not run good at the racetrack, you still go home. Just like you do if you won and carried the trophy home. You still go home the same way. And you go to bed that night and you get up the next morning and it's a new day.


And that's the way every one of them were. Every day is. No matter what the result. And you just have to work hard and have to do the best you can to manage all of those emotions, whether they be the peak or the highest peak or the lowest valley. You have to do your best to manage those emotions and everything that's tied along with it.


Otherwise, it can be a deterrent. You know, either the highs are the highs or the lowest of the lows. If you let those get to you, then it changes the outcome and certainly makes a difference in how you're able to perform and work and deal with situations and work with people and everything else.


Q. Are you a little bit better equipped to deal with something like this because of all the experience you've had throughout your career? Was there a time maybe 10 years ago where you might have been a little bit more angry to be in this position or do you think it just kind of balances out and comes with experience and maturity?


MARK MARTIN: I think that I'm better equipped to handle this than ever before, based on the experiences I've had. I'm not fully matured yet. But I have matured some, from 15 years ago, and certainly would have handled things differently if this was 15 years ago and would have let it impact the way I interacted with the people that I worked with and my family as well.


And I feel like I'm doing a much better job of managing all that than I would have back then.


Q. This weekend, when we go to Richmond, we have so many different agendas. You have people who will do anything to get in. That little tiny bubble space. Then you have other people who are already in, so why not just go for broke, right? You have other people that are being careful and trying to get bonus points. Do you think it's going to be interesting this weekend with all the people racing with their different agendas?


MARK MARTIN: Yeah, you know, it will be. But to me, it's always interesting. Racing is always. Every race is interesting, fascinating to me. But there will be different agendas. I've always been on the end of protection mode to some degree. I've always had something to protect.


And this is probably these next 11 races are going to put me in a different position. And that might be interesting to me, because I can race each race with not so much to lose and everything to gain.


And I've had to be on the other, you know, been in the other shoes every other time that I can think of. I know in '07 and '08 I didn't run a full schedule, but we still had to watch ourselves pretty close because our car ran full time with Reagan Smith or Aric Almirola.


So it's going to be very interesting. Racing always is.


Q. Even in the races where we don't have these big drama story lines, there are so many interesting things that happen to dissect it. And one of the things I was going to ask as a follow-up is: When you guys come on like a light bulb, this past weekend I think there were 24 laps to go, you always race hard but seemed like everybody came to life and the place went crazy. It was interesting when that light turns on. You would have thought it would have been less laps?


MARK MARTIN: It's backing up from the finish of the race more and more and more all the time, the intensity backs up further and further and further into the race or earlier and earlier that gets started. Even the green flag of 500-miler today is really intense, way more intense than it ever was when I got started in NASCAR. There's no comparison.


So the racing is always more intense and, of course, it builds as the further you go along, and when these guys think that they've had their last pit stop, it really goes through the roof.


So I don't know. I love the sport. I'm as big a fan as there is out there. So like I say, every race is interesting to me.


Q. This past weekend Jeff Burton was asked about not having won a championship and his comment was it would be disappointing, it wouldn't ruin my life, but it would be disappointing for me to walk away from this without ever having won a championship. You certainly made your feelings about a championship known. But I'm just wondering, did you always feel that way that you do now about championships, or how did that change for you from early in your career? And my assumption would be whether it's wrong, would be at least early in your career you were all about everything and that maybe over time things changed but maybe I'm wrong. Can you talk about how you can have, how you developed those feelings in regards to the championship and maybe not letting it be the be-all end-all consuming thing for you?


MARK MARTIN: Well, when I was young, winning races was everything. And building my career was also everything. And winning races helped. Winning championships also got you even more recognition as well. So coming up through the ranks, I got four ASA championships.


I never ran for the Nationwide championship. Got in the Cup in my second year with Roush we went into the last race in second in the points and we broke an engine and wound up third. And then my third year, we nearly won it.


And you know there was all the controversy about the points penalty that we got and whether or not we should have got really a points penalty or not in the first place, based on what the infraction was. Whatever the controversy was.


And you know what, it didn't bother me, because I knew, and anybody would know, you know, based on the experience that I had had, that I would win one.


When I look back on it now, it wouldn't have changed my life had I won it in 1990. It wouldn't change my life any. I don't think I'd be a different person. I don't think I'd have a different ride. I don't think I'd have more sponsors or anything else.


When I look back on it, I've been very, very fortunate to have been incredibly successful at doing what I have passion for and love. And I'm no champion. I'm just lucky I got to win a pile of races. I'm no champion.


I haven't earned the right to be in that category or to stand beside those guys. But at the same time I'm proud that I made them work for it and I saw them finish behind me many a time. And that I can be proud of. And I think that there's a measure to every human being. There's different ways you measure success.


And if you're a race car driver, points is one of those measurements. But it is not the only measuring stick there is. But it is certainly one of them. And I don't measure up in that category.


THE MODERATOR: Mark, thank you.

Chevy Michigan quotes

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
CARFAX 400
MICHIGAN INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
AUGUST 14, 2010

TONY STEWART, NO. 14 OFFICE DEPOT/OLD SPICE CHEVROLET met with media and discussed the Chase, hot streaks, NASCAR fines, and more. Full Transcript:

HOW WAS YOUR FIRST PRACTICE SESSION THIS MORNING?
"I spent half the practice session this morning waking up. That's much earlier than I'm used to being up in the morning. But the track, early in the morning like this, has a lot of grip. I think that second session will really give us all a better idea of how our cars are driving and handling. This morning it was really fast, pace-wise and had a lot of grip. I think we're just trying to find a good base off of what we learned yesterday in the first practice and I feel like we're a lot closer today than we were yesterday. But I think we're really going to put the majority of our stock into this next and last session. That's going to be the most valuable practice session of the weekend to truly have a good read on what kind of car we're going to have for Sunday."

ON NASCAR FINING DRIVERS FOR PUBLIC COMMENTS, SHOULD NASCAR CONTINUE TO DO THAT?
"We mentioned the last couple of weeks that there are other pro sports that have the same thing. It's done for a reason. We, as drivers, and people here in the media center are just as guilty at times of being worse on our sport than anybody'; and in a way that's not really justified. I'm not sure that NASCAR as a sanctioning body deserves some of the things that we say as drivers and some of the things that the media says. The sport and the racing right now is more competitive than it's ever been. From NASCAR's side, they've got to do what they have to do to protect the sport. The great thing is that the media is allowed to get to us right after we get out of our cars when the Adrenalin is flowing. There is no other sport like that. There never has been. And that's a great thing and I don't think it's fair to you guys (media) to see that side of it go away. But at the same time, there are a lot of things said in that first five or 10 minutes that 30 minutes to an hour after the race is over I think a lot of times we wish we would have phrased it different or said it different. I think that's what has kind of forced NASCAR to do what they've had to do. They didn't just all of a sudden one day say uh, this is what we're going to do.

"I think we as drivers and members of the media have put them in that position. NASCAR has built over 60-plus years of product that's a good product and is a thriving product. I don't think it's fair for us as drivers or media to tear all that down. None of that happens overnight but I think we all forget everybody in this room and myself included, how good we really have it to do what we do every week and to be able to go the places we do and participate in the sport that we all love."

HOW CLOSE ARE YOU GUYS WITH THE CHASE COMING UP AND WHERE DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU STILL NEED TO GAIN? WE'VE SEEN A BUNCH OF GUYS HAVE MINI HOT STREAKS, WHY DO YOU THINK THAT IS?
"Well, I think the mini hot streaks are just finding something that works. We're still in a period of transition with this new car. What you find that works right now may work three or four weeks. The engineers are doing such a good job of continuing to find things that these cars like that they're finding bigger chunks quicker. I think that's why we see the spurts from different organizations. Do I feel like we're right where we need to be? Not exactly. Do I feel like we're gaining on it? Yes. I'm excited about the fact that I feel like we're looking up the hill and not looking back at where we're sliding to. So I feel like we're gaining on it. I'm not sure we're exactly where we want to be yet, but right now we're making progress and that's the progress that we want doing into the Chase versus last year this is kind of the part where the wheels started falling off and we're maintaining or sliding backwards. I'm happy with the progress the team has made this year. It's easy to go from having a first year like we had last year that went so well for so long and to have the disappointment this year of not running as well as we'd like for guys to not necessarily give up, but just lose their enthusiasm and lose that drive and that's something that I'm really proud of my guys at our shop at Stewart-Haas and even the engine department at Hendrick and the chassis department there. I feel like they've continued to push way hard. So I feel like we've got a good group of guys that have really got their heads down to the ground and they're focused on what we're trying to do and accomplish."

REGARDING CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM OF NASCAR FROM DRIVERS AND OWNERS, WHAT ARE THE APPROPRIATE TIMES AND FORUMS FOR YOU GUYS TO EXPRESS THAT? DO YOU AS AN OWNER HAVE MORE OPPORTUNITY TO EXPRESS THOSE THOUGHTS AND IDEAS AS YOU DID BEFORE?
"There are times and places to express what's on your mind. NASCAR has always had an open-door policy of us going in and venting frustrations to them and I think that's where they get frustrated at times. We come in here (media center) and we give you guys (media) everything that you want and the sound bite that you want that gives you the story that you want. But at the same time it backs NASCAR in a corner when we should go to NASCAR and discuss those issues behind closed doors and give them the opportunity to either address the issue or explain to us why it's being done in the way it is without making it a firestorm for those guys. The appropriate place to do it is go to NASCAR and talk to them behind closed doors like it should be.

"And on a side note, when I say this room is guilty of it, it's not everybody in this room. There are a handful of people who have created the problems just like the drivers have. I don't mean that everybody in the media center has killed the sport by any means because it's not that way. There are a lot of good journalists in here. But there's a group of them that are the bad eggs just like anywhere else and they're the ones that consistently week in and week out focus on anything negative that happens here and that's the people that I was speaking about."

ARE YOU GETTING CLOSE TO FIRMING UP YOUR SPONSORS FOR THE NO. 14 FOR 2011?
"Yeah, we're working on it. It's a daily process. It's the normal deal; when we have something signed I guarantee we'll be happy to announce it to everybody. But we're still working on it.”

IS IT GOING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION?
"Well, I hope so. We're trying. It's not an easy process. It's a day-to-day process. That's all I can say."

WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE A ROAD COURSE IN THE CHASE OR ANY OTHER ADJUSTMENTS TO THE FORMAT?
"I would love to see a dirt race at Eldora in the Chase (laughter) which, I've mentioned for 10 years. So, hopefully I won't have to go 11 years before we get one but I'm not going to hold my breath that it's going to happen. It doesn't matter to me. I think that there are races that some of us would like to see in the Chase. I think there are one or two races that some of us would like to see out of the Chase, but NASCAR is pretty smart at knowing which races to have in there and why they need to be in there which is why we have them as the sanctioning body."

ALTHOUGH YOU'RE ONLY IN YOUR SECOND YEAR AS A CAR OWNER, DO YOU GET A SENSE OF SOMEBODY LIKE RICHARD CHILDRESS WHO HAS HAD PEAKS AND VALLEYS OVER THE YEARS AND HOW TO DEAL WITH THOSE? HOW CHALLENGING IS THAT? HOW HAS HE BEEN ABLE TO DO THAT?
"You're giving me way too much credit. I wish I was that smart to know how to do that. But you're right. He's one guy that hasn't had to go rely on an outside source to bail himself out and keep his organization running. He's been able to figure out how to do it singlehandedly. And with that, I think that makes him one of the strongest car owners in the series. He's just an average guy that loves this sport and has poured his heart and soul into it. Like you said, there have been a lot of valleys and at times there have been peaks and in the middle of that, but even through when times aren't good he fights and he won't give up and that's what you have to do as a car owner at this level. Everything is great when things are going well. When times are tough is what shows you the true character of an organization. I think that's why Richard has been as successful as he has for so long is because he's one of those guys that just will not stop and will not quit. He stays focused and knows how to get the job done."

JACK ROUSH WAS HERE YESTERDAY AND TALKED ABOUT THE PRIDE HE HAD IN THAT HIS TEAM WENT ON WITHOUT A HITCH WHILE HE WAS SIDELINED. AS A TEAM OWNER, GOD FORBID SOMETHING HAPPENED TO YOU, WHAT HAPPENS TO YOUR TEAM? DO YOU HAVE PLANS IN PLACE AND HOW DOES EVERYBODY HANDLE THAT?
"I've been gone for three weeks racing sprint cars and luckily the team has given me a hall pass to go do that. But it's proof that my organization doesn't have to have me to operate. Yeah, there are provisions in place if something should happen. You have to have that in place. Our team will do the same thing. Our team will continue on whether I'm here or not."