Todd Kluever, No. 50 World Financial Group Ford
"It draws excitement, so I don't think it will be too long before it will be in all three series. I guess I'm in favor of it. As a Raybestos Rookie it would be hard going into a new series and trying to run well enough right off the bat to make it into a Chase situation like that. I think it would definitely be good for the sport and it's where the excitement comes from and where the sport needs to go. The situation with the trucks and being a rookie, it will be a challenge but it's definitely good for the sport."

You are just 59 points out of tenth position. Would a chase put you under a lot of stress and pressure? "There's a lot of stress and pressure and stuff that comes with this job in general. It probably would, but no more than what you already have to handle everyday. It would be tough. It would be a lot more pressure and would be a lot of stress but hopefully it would pay more money, too ."

If you qualify, you could easily win the championship. "Absolutely. So much of a Raybestos Rookie season is trying not to bury yourself in the beginning. We're kind of working on getting ourselves out of that hole that we dug. If we had a Chase format and we could make the top 10 that would be really beneficial to a team like us to come back strong in the second half of the season. It would be exciting and it's definitely where the sport's headed and I think the sooner the better."

This team is getting better and better each race. "That's just me getting more time and getting the right people around me. The last six races have been really good for us. We're just trying to ride that wave and keep it going as long as we can and finish the season as strong as we can. Things are good right now with the 50 truck and hopefully they stay that way the rest of the year."

Do you have to win a race for this to be a successful season? "Personally for me, yes. I don't know about everybody else's opinion, but for me, personally, yes."

Timothy Peters, No. 4 Bailey's Dodge
"I guess any kind of change to bring excitement to the series would be good, even though I'm new to it and not running full time. I guess you'd have mixed emotions. Some of the veterans would probably go for it and some probably wouldn't. If they do that I'd be in favor of it and hopefully have a Bailey's Dodge to compete full time next year."

A Raybestos Rookie could easily be a championship contender. "I don't think it's out of the question. If we went full time this year I think we could have been getting valuable experience and our finishes would have been better. The last month our team has really turned around and everything has really worked together and I'm proud of that. Bobby [Hamilton, truck owner] is making sure that we run good and he's a good one to have in your corner."

What do you need to do to have a successful season from here to the end of the season? "Including the race this weekend, I don't have but four races that I'm guaranteed to run with the sponsor that I have in the marketing areas that they've got. Top-15 is what we're looking for. We came out of Bristol 19th and that's not what I was looking for. Did we need that, yeah, because of the situation that we've been in the last couple of races. This race is right in Bailey's factory hometown and I hope we get them a good run."

How do things look for you next year? "Right now, I'd like to say good, but I really don't know what direction to go. I want to be here next year because I really like the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and the experience that I'm getting this year with Bobby and the veterans I feel like has shown these guys that I'm not that wet behind the ears. Hopefully next year I'll have a home. Right now I don't know what the situation is but I really like it here. This is a good stepping-stone for me. If I can be back here with Bailey's and Bobby Hamilton next year I think we'll be a contender to reckon with."

What's the main thing that you learned this season? "Give and take. The late model experience from last year, the races on the short tracks really go by quick so you're really all out. While you're going all out you really need to watch what you're doing. When I first started I was trying to go all out but the races were pretty long and I had time to do that. It's bit me a couple of times but I've found out from Bobby and a few other people what to do and what not to do. I think I've done a decent job of adjusting to what those guys told me."

Bobby Hamilton, Truck Owner, No. 4 Bailey's Dodge
Would you be in favor of a chase format in the Truck Series? "Really, all the limelight goes on in that particular series [NEXTEL Cup] which is good, because that's the originator of it all, but I think it needs to trickle down to this deal. The only bad thing about it is that we don't run enough races. I've already thought about this. The way the schedule is, the Cup guys would start it first and the Busch cars would start it second then we would start it third. So it would be a stair step for all media outlets to focus on."

How many races? "I don't think you can do it with 10 because we only run 25 but I think you can do it with five, six, or seven. Is 10 adequate? It is what it is and you make it work. There are some guys that say 10 is perfect and there are some guys at the end of Richmond last year like Jamie McMurray that wished there had been 12. It is what it is."

As a car owner, would that help you sell sponsorship? "Sure it would. It just draws more attention. We need whatever it takes to draw more attention to this series. My suggestion is let us do it before they let the Busch guys do it. What I've always worried about that deal though is that it will help, sponsor-wise, but the minute you're not in it…last year, I think DJ didn't make it in, did he? UPS is probably one of the top ranked sponsors in the sport and the coverage absolutely stops, unless you go out and wreck Ryan Newman or something. It just absolutely stops. What concerns me was that we need to make sure that all these people get a little time on TV. I said last year after the way they done the winner's circle, I was like 'I wouldn't even go to the winner's circle.'  I'd just sit and do burnouts for 15 minutes. I wouldn't even give them the chance to talk to anybody else. If I saw a camera I'd go over to them and do a burnout . I don't see any negatives to the Chase."

If you didn't make the chase, would you lose a sponsor? "I don't know. We've got to get the sponsors before we can lose them. Our problem is that we don't get enough attention in this series and it's really ridiculous. I've said it since I've owned it, it's some of the best racing and it just gets tougher and tougher. It's some of the best racing out there. These guys race like hell and we just can't get the awareness out there. They race their guts out. We have a handful of guys that race their guts out in Cup and the rest of them just say 'Oh my car isn't good and I need to get the best that I can.'  These guys, they're all wanting to move forward or stay in business, one or the other. That's their last grasp and it's very serious to them. I don't think this thing has got the attention that it deserves, yet."

If there is a chase format in the trucks, would you continue to be overshadowed by Cup? "But it is what it is. We don't have anything right now. For the last two or three years, this series has come down to the closest battle, no matter how they've done it. At Homestead last year, Musgrave had it won one lap and Setzer had it won one lap and I had it won one lap and it wasn't done until the last five laps of the race. And the year before that, they had to hold the champion to figure out who's going to be the champion. It won't overshadow it anymore that what it already is. I don't think championships should go down to the same race at the end of the year. I think they need to arrange the schedule where the Busch Series last race is at Atlanta and the Cup series last race is at Homestead or something. I know that's tough for them the do and I know that's probably impossible for them to do, but if each of the three tiers had their own race, even though we might be with Cup at Atlanta but it was our championship race and that was the end of our season. We would get more publicity and we wouldn't have 30,000 or 40,000 people at Atlanta we'd have 90,000. I won the championship at Homestead and Kasey Kahne won the race and we didn't hardly get any TV time until the got done with Kasey Kahne in victory lane. It was really ridiculous. And the most ridiculous thing was, Kasey did a good job and won three races in a row, but we won Dodge's first championship and all those people were in victory lane with Kasey Kahne."

It was announced earlier today that the Truck Series will not race at Richmond next season. "Richmond is a very, very competitive racetrack. Everybody loves coming here. I don't know of any person that doesn't like coming here. When I was in Cup, Mark Martin and myself were running side by side and Dale Sr. was leading the race. He was about a straightaway ahead of us and for about 20 we ran faster than him, side by side, and ran him down. You don't do that anywhere. I've got the tapes somewhere and I think it was Benny Parsons who said 'I never seen that before. I've never seen two guys race side by side and run faster than the leader.'  This place has always made for good races. They may have sealed the track wrong, but by golly when you came back for the next race it was good then. It usually wouldn't take but one race to fix it. We'll take Talladega but I didn't realize that we're going up against certain football games. I don't know if that's actually better for us or not."

As an owner, does running an extra superspeedway race make economic sense? "The way we do trucks is I've got the same two Daytona trucks that I've had for seven years. The truck that I just won with has won three of them down there, has four poles, and I've never built another one since. I built it five years ago. If they make a body change I whack the body off and make the change. It's sitting just like it won Daytona with. We push them in the corner and let them sit, don't even touch it.

Does it save you money by being able to use the truck for another race? "What saves me money is that I don't have to go out and build a nice speedway car because it's not about drag. You can build one that will qualify good but it never races good. You build one that qualifies average, it's got drag, it races good. We started last, had a flat, and we sat there, biding our time. It was a good handling truck all night. We build an intermediate downforce truck and push it in the corner and leave it for Daytona."

Mike Beam, Crew Chief, No. 50 World Financial Group Ford
"At first in the Cup side I didn't know how it was going to work but now that we're into the football season and stuff, the playoff is all that you hear on the news and stuff as far as relating to NASCAR. It's been good public relations for them. Any time we can draw attention to the truck series I think it would be a good deal. I'm all for it."

How would that affect your job as a crew chief in the Truck Series? "It would definitely step up your whole program because you know if you had a shot in the last 10 races, or how may races that choose to do. Todd is 12th right now and we've really peaked out the last six races, coming from 17th. I think you'd plan your tests, I don't know what they're going to do about our tests for next year, but you'd save your tests. Chasing points would be even more critical." 

You guys could be chasing a championship. "Exactly, and I feel like where we're at right now if we could get there we would have a good shot at winning it, kinda like the way Matt and Robbie have done. They've come a long ways and I feel like that's what we've done. I feel like it would be a good public relations deal for the truck series. This is a great series, very competitive and a lot of fun, but I think that would be a good shot in the arm for us."