NASCAR Cup Series

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M's Heritage Chocolate Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing - What is your outlook for the race? "Our outlook is certainly different than what it was a year ago. It's just the opportunity to come in here and try to run well and continue to develop our program. This place here is similar to a Loudon (New Hampshire Motor Speedway) or similar to a Phoenix so you tend to try to run some of the same stuff so whatever we can try to learn here this weekend we can sort of translate over to those places."

CHAD KNAUS, CREW CHIEF NO. 48 LOWE’S/KOBALT TOOLS CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Richmond International Raceway and discussed the birth of Jimmie and Chani Johnson’s second daughter, Regan Smith practicing and qualifying the car, Jimmie racing Saturday night and other topics.

Since the first season of NASCAR’s Chase format, the last race of the “regular season” has been and at the three-quarter mile short track at Richmond International Raceway. Richmond has provided several fantastic finishes that made some drivers’ seasons a success and left others licking their wounds as they came to the realization that they were not eligible for a series championship.

JEFF GORDON: Well, after last year, this is going to be easy. We went through so much last year that I think it allows us to be more relaxed, be more prepared knowing that you got to race as hard as you can till the final lap, till you cross that start/finish line. It can change every split second.

JAMIE McMURRAY: When I think about Richmond, it always seems like the unexpected can happen here. It always produces a little bit of drama. So I wouldn't expect this year to be any different.

RYAN NEWMAN: To me, everything is like an ordinary race weekend. Once the checkered flag drops, it all changes. We have to do the same thing that we chose and want to do back in Daytona for the 500, at Phoenix and Vegas, everything else. That is the same task at hand. That's to win the race.

DALE EARNHARDT, JR.: We haven't really talked about that. I know from my point of view it would be hard for me to understand exactly what I could do to help one of my teammates.

KURT BUSCH: You know, a few months ago we needed to put ourselves in position to control our own destiny. We've accomplished that. Is it the cushion that we wanted? No. We have only a six‑point cushion. At the same time we can look forward and see that Biffle is 9th in points, and he's only eight points ahead of us. Logano, he's 10 points ahead of us.

This past weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Goodyear, the official tire of NASCAR, debuted a new tire technology utilizing multi-zone tread technology.

It is a good thing for many that the Chase is decided over the first 26 races of the season, not just what they have done lately. Not so good if you are Kurt Busch or Jeff Gordon.