Racing Newsmaker: Larry Carter

LOUDON, N.H. -- Rusty Wallace's crew chief, Larry Carter, enters the Chase for the Championship this Sunday knowing this is the last chance for his driver to leave the sport on top. Wallace, 48, will retire at the end of this season so there's special incentive for Carter to send his driver out with a championship.

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Carter talked about the strategy it took to qualify for the Chase and what's ahead for the Penske Racing South team during a national telephone conference call this week. Here are excerpts of that call:

Question: Now that you've qualified for the Chase, how's the team's attitude?

Carter: It's just business as usual. We try to maintain the same level of intensity all the time. Every week we go with the same goal. None of these races are really any bigger than any of the other ones. We go every week to do our best. We just try to maintain that level all the time.

Question: What has it been like working with Rusty during his retirement tour?

Carter: It's been good. It's been a lot of fun. Rusty has been real good to me. He's a very competitive individual, and we just seem to have a good relationship. He knows if there's something he doesn't like he can tell me and it doesn't ruffle my feathers. I just try to make it right. It's really been a lot of fun. I wish it wasn't his last year. At the same time, the guy really doesn't have anything left to prove. He's done it all. He's won a championship. He's won a bunch of races. He's a future hall of famer. He's a legend. I think when guys can get out on the top of their game that's the right way to do it. I just wish him success in the future, but we've got a lot of hard work ahead of us in the next couple of months and that's what we're concentrating on.

Question: What are Rusty's chances of winning the title?

Carter: Obviously some of the Roush teams have shown really good performance, but it's going to come down to these final 10, and you're going to have to have some luck on your side and you're going to have to have some good race cars. Really, any guy that's in it has a chance to win it. That was the whole deal about getting in it. If you're not in it you certainly don't have a chance, so I think we've got as good a chance as anybody.

Question: Are top-10 finishes more important during the Chase than wins?

Carter: I think as far as getting into The Chase, the first 26 races you ... try to win every week. That's the goal -- to win. I do feel like, especially in the first 26 races, the drivers are a little bit smarter when they get into a situation where, "Do I need to push it now and potentially wreck the car or do I need to ride a little bit?"

I think you see guys err a little bit to the conservative side trying to be more consistent. I think going into the last 10, you need to be consistent but you're also going to have to go for it, too. It's not going to be a matter of just being consistent and finishing seventh or eighth or fifth. You're going to have to try to finish first, second or third to have enough points at the end.

Question: Will your team's approach change during the Chase?

Carter: It won't change our approach in the way we set up our cars. Race strategy will change a little bit. The way Rusty drives will change a little bit. We'll be looking at probably taking more chances than we have. As far as the actual car end of it, it won't affect that.

Question: Hendrick Motorsports only qualified one team (Jimmie Johnson) for the Chase. What happened over there?

Carter: They obviously have a good organization, and I think if you look at the history of competition in motorsports, it seems like there's always a time when a guy rises to the top and it's his day. There's times it's not. Every dog has its day. They just seem to be going through a down time right now, but I'm sure they'll be back.

Question: Since this is Rusty's final year, has there been more pressure?

Carter: We try to approach each week the same every week. We tried to do that last year. We weren't as successful last year as we've been this year. I wouldn't call it added pressure, but I didn't want Rusty Wallace to retire and not be in The Chase, and Rusty Wallace didn't want to retire and not be in The Chase. Maybe that forced him and I to come to terms with one another where we could be honest and open and frank about things and be able to discuss things and not worry about somebody getting their feelings hurt. We've really been able to do that, and I think it's made our relationship a little better. I learn every day. I've learned from him. He's taught me a lot about cars. We just seem to be working real well together right now.

Question: Does Rusty seem more relaxed?

Carter: He does seem a little more relaxed. He probably hasn't been as tense as I've seen him in the car before but no real significant change. He's a very competitive person. When things aren't going right he doesn't mind letting you know it and that's good. If we can't identify problems we certainly can't work on fixing them, so I think everything has gone really well.

Question: Since Kurt Busch can't get out of his contract with Roush Racing for next year, will it be tough to find a good driver for just one year to replace Rusty?

Carter: You've got to sort of think it would be. On the other hand, the thing I told the guys at the beginning of the year, I said, 'Guys, we're going to be looking for a driver and we know that.' That was one of the things that put more pressure on us than all of the other elements. When drivers are looking for cars to get in, we want guys that are capable drivers saying they want to get in the 2 car. If we can do that, we'll help ourselves. We don't want to look at the end of '05 and have drivers saying 'we don't want to get in that 2 car. That thing's a piece of junk.' I think we have proven to people that the 2 car is a good race car and hopefully that would make the job of finding somebody to drive it a little bit easier. We have that working for us.