Travis Kvapil. (VPS Motorimages Photo)

Travis Kvapil - No. 6 K&N Ford F-150
Everyone likes Michigan. Why? "The biggest thing I like is that once we get racing there and the tires wear a little bit, the track gives you all the opportunity to move around all the way up to the wall to the white line on the bottom. The banking kind of changes a little bit in the corners from the bottom to the top, so if your truck isn't handling just perfectly, you can move around a little bit and search out a line that works for you."

With Michigan being the home of all the manufacturers, is there a little more importance on wanting to win that race? "I think there is because anytime you go to Detroit you want to run good. All of the manufacturers are there and I know during race week we have some appearances to make for Ford, so it's just a big deal. We want to leave that race with the Blue Oval on top. That's important for us. Me and Mike Beam, we're talking about taking our best truck there. It's a truck we've had good speed with at the past and we're looking forward to running good there because it's definitely an important race for us."

Do the Cup cars and trucks feel much different on a wide track like that? "The feel is very similar. You look for the same things. There's a lot of security on the corner entry. You've got to be able to turn really good and get back to the throttle. The last time I ran a truck there, we could pretty much run around there wide open. I don't know how the package has changed in a few years, but it's still very similar. The tires wear out. You slide around a little bit. Track position is very important, but at the same time, not as critical as some other places because the track does give you the opportunity to move around and not just have to follow around in one preferred groove. That's what I think the drivers like about it is it's not really a one-groove race track. There's plenty of room to move around and run fast."

The effort has been good all year, but now you're getting some really good results. Are you happy with the progress? "There's been a lot of effort. At California and Atlanta, a couple of races early in the season, we really struggled with our bodies and trying to find the right balance for me and Erik and T.J. Since then I feel like we've hit on some stuff that works pretty good for us and we've figured out some general setup stuff that works better for us from where they were a year ago. We've had fast trucks the last five or six races and we're finally getting some decent finishes, and I feel like over the rest of the season we should be a top-five truck every week."

Stacy Compton. (VPS Motorimages Photo)

Stacy Compton - No. 09 Zaxby's Ford F-150
You've run well in the past two races this season. Is there momentum going into Michigan? "We ran this well at Kansas. We had a wheel come loose there, we ran basically second in line to the 99 truck [race winner, Erik Darnell] at Kansas, but we were just a lap down. We ran in the top five all day and we couldn't get in a position where we could get the lap back. The trucks have been good. I love Dover; we've always run good there. In Texas, we've run good. It's just fun to be back in the trucks. Hopefully, we do have some momentum going. Michigan has been good to me, I had a pole there in the trucks, we've run good there. Of course, it is the hometown for Ford and it being hometown for Mark Melling as well, it's sort of special when we get ready to go there. We have had a lot of success there. We have a good race team and that gives us the momentum. We know we can win races with this team, it's pretty hard to work with two different crew chiefs throughout the year, but still yet, I feel like we've got a bunch of momentum heading into Michigan. We're taking the same truck we had at Kansas and the same truck we had at Dover, so that truck has been good for us this year."

How has the team adjusted to two drivers and two crew chiefs? "It's been good. I'm also working with Gary Cogswell, and Ernie Cope has come back over to work on the trucks as well. It's fun to get the group of guys back together. I think Gary is probably one of the smarter crew chiefs out there when it comes to calling races and making intelligent decisions, so it's been fun working with him. We've got a great pit crew and they usually gain us some spots on pit road. It's been fun putting the whole group back together and being competitive. We went for a while there, it was pretty frustrating in the Busch car, not being as competitive as we felt like we could be, and we got back in the truck series and we've got good equipment and good people and all of a sudden now, we're running good. Man, it does feel good. That's the reason we're out there trying to compete - to win races and I feel that I can go out there and win races with this truck team pretty much any time we go out.

You were on pole for the Michigan race in 1999. Has the track changed since then? How is the series different? "I don't think the track has changed a lot. I think the truck series has obviously gotten really competitive. With Toyota coming in and with some of the teams coming in bringing the resources maybe the truck series didn't have in the past. The truck series has gotten more competitive. The track itself, it's still Michigan. It gets greasy and slick and is still a blast to run. I really like the tracks that have aged over time and lose grip and you've got to drive them. And that's one race track that I feel like there's four different grooves out there are you can run right on the bottom and right against the top, you can run in the middle. I enjoy Michigan simply for the fact that it's not a cookie cutter race track, it's something that you've got to drive and you've got to maneuver around. I enjoy it. I don't think the track has changed too much, but the series has changed and the competitors have changed a bit.

How is the new baby? "The baby is wonderful. She was born a week ago Sunday. The baby is doing good and Mama is doing good. Her big sister has been a wonderful help. We've been very blessed with two healthy children. Vicki is doing good. I don't know what I've done to deserve what I have right now, but I am very thankful."