BTS: How have things been going for you thus far this season?

JM: Well, we’re really, really hitting the high points, and there’s been some low points. But, in general, I think we’ve had a good start to the season. Certainly competitive, as we would’ve hoped to have been. Coming into the season, all three cars seemed to have been able to be competitive week-in and week-out. Now, we’ve had some issues with the [No.] 20 car (Tony Stewart), and we’ve obviously had some tire issues and some things that’ve kept them from having the finishes that they’re looking for. Certainly the [No.] 11 car (Denny Hamlin) is the one that’s had more of that than anybody—just some failures and some problems that’s kept them from finishing races, even though they’ve run really, really well. It’s kind of been … it’s got some good points and some bad points to it. But I think what we’re looking for is our competitiveness while we’re on the race track, and that’s been good. So we’re pretty happy.

BTS: Now that you’ve been dealing with the Car of Tomorrow for a while, what is your opinion of it?

JM: Obviously time’s going to make it easier to work with and more familiar for everyone; from the aspect of working on the car to driving the car. And the drivers are certainly going to get used to them the more seat time they have with it, and as they figure out what they can and can’t do with that car. So, yeah, I think they’re getting used to it. Whether they like it or not is a whole ‘nother story. [Laughs.] I’m not sure everybody is enamored with it, but they’re learning to deal with it, ‘cause they know that’s what they’ve got to race with. And so they’ve got to learn what it takes and how to drive that car. And it’s the same thing, I think, for us. We’re not necessarily enamored with the car—it’s bit of a difficult piece to work on; it’s got some inherent issues we’ve got to work through— but it’s the car we’re given to race with, and we just have to make the best of it, more so than our competition does. We’re learning a lot about it. We’re spending a lot of time doing tests with it; figuring out what makes it tick and what best we can do to make the car better than our competition.

BTS: What are still some of the biggest struggles that you’re dealing with for the car and making certain things work? What are you guys still trying to improve and get over the hump with?

JM: Um, probably the biggest thing is the way the car drives. The ability to make the car turn well and be balanced, well-balanced for the drivers. The aero-balance is quite a bit different than what we’ve had in the past, so that affects it in some of these high-speed places that we’re going to. And the geometry of the front-end is certainly a little bit different. We’re trying to figure out what we can do with our front-ends to make the car respond and stick to the race track and turn for the drivers the way they want them to. That’s probably been the classic problem.

BTS: Coming into Bristol, how do you guys view this track? Is it fun to get out on an old-school track like this?

JM: Yeah. Bristol’s always fun to go to. It’s one of those tracks where it’s always a good-old race; there’s not a lot of high-tech things you have to do for Bristol. You’ve got to get your car driving really, really well, and work on supspension and springs, shocks, bars—the classic things you work on for a race car. The aero part is not a huge issue—it’s got a small affect on the cars, so you don’t have to really worry about it. The aero push behind the cars and the traffic … you can’t run as good out front because, adversely, you’re always in traffic, whether you’re out front or behind. You know, a lot of those things go away, and you just get down to good, old-fashioned racing. And the short-track style makes it fun from a mechanical standpoint; working on the race cars and working on those things. And I know from a driver’s standpoint it’s a lot of fun, because they’re just back to using their talent to race better than their competition.

BTS: It’s still early in the season, but do you like where the overall team is at right now? You guys are at least close enough everywhere or near the top, so you’re obviously in a good position to make a really strong run as things even out.

JM: Yeah, like you said, it’s early. But you want to start off at a position that keeps you up with the front of the pack. And we certainly feel like we are with at least two of the cars. And the [No.] 11 car I’m sure will get back on track here soon, and some of these bad breaks will stop happening to them. They’re certainly competitive enough to climb their way towards the front. The big thing is how competitive we are, week-in and week-out. We’ve got cars that can run in the top five, six, seven, and the rest will take care of itself, and that’s where we feel like we’re at right now.