Thoughts From James Ince,
Crew Chief, No. 10 Valvoline Pontiac Grand Prix:

YOU ARE THE ONE THAT HAS TO DECIDE WHAT STRATEGY TO USE WHEN A RACE COMES DOWN TO THAT LAST PIT STOP...HOW TOUGH IS IT TO MAKE THAT DECISION?
"It's not as tough as people think it is. It's a situation that when you're
running good, it's actually the most fun part of the day for a crew chief.
You take all the information that you've gathered all weekend long, usually
take the information you got from the Busch race on Saturday, you know what
your race car has done and you decide. 'Would you rather have clean air in
the front of the deal and take two tires or no tires and be ahead of
everybody, or do we think we can come back and pass people?'

"A lot of that depends on what your car is doing. If you're really good at
reading your race car and you know what your driver is capable of doing,
then it's a really fun decision to make and you hope it goes right.

"It's just like everything else we do. It's all about collecting data as you
go."

IS IT ALMOST BETTER TO NOT BE LEADING WHEN IT COMES TO THAT TIME?
"It used to be whatever the leader did, everybody else did. Anymore,
whatever second place does is what everybody else does. It's not always a
lot of fun to be the leader when it comes to that deal, real close to the
end of the race. They (the rest of the field) can make you look real stupid
by the stuff that they go and do. But, all you can do is make the best
decisions you can about what your car is capable of, you go do that and you
don't worry about it."

DO YOU EVER HAVE TO ARGUE WITH THE DRIVER ABOUT WHAT YOU'RE GOING TO DO?
"I'm sure some people have that problem. In our case, I make the calls
on pit road and Johnny drives the race car. He believes in me to make the
decisions. He knows I'm sitting there collecting data and I'm seeing things
that he's not seeing all day long."