Name: Pam
City, State: Berlin, Pa.
Question: I know this is a new team and you have only been with them for a short time, but do you see any major improvements? Do all the teams within the Michael Waltrip Racing organization share information and what is it like to work with DJ?

ANSWER: As far as major improvements - I think there has definitely been
some improvement. I think at the beginning of the year the team was missing races by a lot of time and now we're missing them by a little at times.
We've even made some races on time so yes, we've improved in that area.
Everyone here shares everything. Nobody hides anything. I have worked with Dale for eight years so he is great to work with.

Name: Kristi
City, State: Garland, Texas
Question: Jason, it is so good to hear you back with DJ. You seem to have that connection with him. How has it been different working with the Toyota versus the Ford?

ANSWER: I think the biggest difference is that Toyota is highly involved in everything that we do and trying to learn from a manufacturer standpoint what they have to do to help us get better, where Ford isn't quite that involved. They are still involved with the teams but not to the point that Toyota is.

Name: Zach
City, State: Mt. Morris, Pa.
Question: How difficult is your job, especially with a season as disappointing as this one?

ANSWER: I think the difficult part of the job this season is just staying positive and keeping all of the people positive about what you have going on and trying to help realize that every week we out-qualify a lot of good teams that are in the top 35. I have to remind them that if we were in the top 35 we could race better than what we're proving than by not making the race.

Name: Linda
City, State: Newburgh, Ind.
Question: How different is the atmosphere at MWR compared to that of Robert Yates Racing or Hendrick Motorsports?

ANSWER: It really isn't any that different. I mean every team has their different procedures and processes in place but for the most part there aren't any major differences in the atmosphere.

Name: Jeff
City, State: Richmond, Virginia
Question: Jason, what is the team's thought process regarding practice time? I've noticed that DJ (and the other MWR cars) make only a few laps during pre-race practice. Is there a common reason for running few laps?

ANSWER: A lot of times team will use that first practice to work on race set-up just because our testing is limited and the amount of time it takes to get ready for the race. Teams that are in the top 35 in owner points will work on race set up and maybe only spend a couple laps in qualifying trim because they know they're in the race and that is the priority. For teams outside the top 35, we have to worry first with making the race so we spend the entire first practice on qualifying runs only. With the limited tire allotment we try to make the most of each qualifying run we make. So that's why we don't make as many laps as say a team that is in the top 35 does.

Name: Clint
City, State: Hardeman, Miss.
Question: First, good luck to DJ and you the rest of the season. My question is how do you like the COT and if you could make any changes to it what would it be?

ANSWER: I think the Car of Tomorrow will be fine once we start racing it every week. Right now it's kind of a hassle because we're going back and forth from speedway cars to down force cars to the Car of Tomorrow. So once we get to where that is all we're running, I think that everybody will get adjusted to it and that's what we're working on to make it as much fun as the old cars. As far as changes I think it's going to be an evolving thing.

Obviously the way these cars are with being really heavy we have to try to work that out. There are a few aero things that might be better for all the cars especially in traffic that would help but NASCAR has to decide all of that.

Name: Carl
City, State: Washington, DC
Question: What is the biggest difference in the cars used today than those ran when Dale won his championship in 1999?

ANSWER: I think in 1999, the set-ups were more of a basic set-up that you would run. What we ran 10 to 15 years ago we still run at short tracks. Now everything is evolved. The geometry is involved and the aero part is involved a lot. I also think the cars drive a lot different than they used to and that's hard to get used to. When working on them the things that used to work then don't work now.

Name: Carl
City, State: Tifton, Georgia
Question: Obviously, you and Dale have a great relationship at the track and work well together but do you two have a friendship together that is not work related?

ANSWER: Yes, I think we're friends when we leave the race track. When we're at the race track we work together and try to help each other as much as we can to get to the goal but I think at the end of the day we're still friends beyond the racing.

Name: Cole
City, State: Edgefield, S.C.
Question: Toyota claims an open book policy among their teams. This doesn't seem to be happening with MWR, so how much help is Toyota giving the teams considering their performance? Good Luck!

ANSWER: I think as the season has progressed the Toyota teams have become closer and closer. I think at the start everybody wanted to be the first Toyota team to do this, the first one to do that and now that we've all kind of had the same struggle I think now it has come to where we have to be a seven-car team as opposed to two or three. It will help the work go a lot faster.

Name: Robbie
City, State: Belton, South Carolina
Question: Jason, what has been the biggest hurdle for the Toyota teams in making races? Is it more of a handling issue or horsepower?

ANSWER: I think it's a combination of everything. Obviously every part of our car has to be improved. Toyota is working every day on the engines and we're working every day on the handling and the aero. So once we get everything up to par I think it won't be an issue.

Name: Gene
City, State: Saint John. New Brunswick, Canada
Question: Jason, when missing a race by not qualifying what are some of the things you try to do to make the car better for next race when you don't have any track time during a race to see if things are working?

ANSWER: That's a good question because that's the biggest thing we fight. We get to the race track like at Indianapolis where we made 30 laps during practice. It's hard to say whether our car was good or bad in 30 laps. In the race we could have been really good so you don't ever really know. I think the biggest thing is we go test and try to test somewhere every week and that's where we get all of our information. Right now we can't rely on the race track to try things. We have to go outside and to try other things.