MA:
Technically if you are a rookie you have to go to all the rookie meetings. Certainly we are going to be going for the Raybestos Rookie of the Year award and will have that in our sight. The only restriction is that if you do more than seven races in Cup you lose your ability to run for the rookie prize in Nextel Cup, but that is a long way down the road and something that we are not even contemplating. The only thing you have to do is run a yellow strip on your back bumper and I think that is really just a target for the veterans to get past you. A rookie or a veteran can win a race here. There is no restriction on the points. There were a couple of times this year where we were learning so we started from the back, but we’ve progressed past that point.
Q:
Trucks has been a mix of the veterans and the rookies, now you are going to go against the ‘Buschwhackers’. You’ve got fair opposition with a number of Cup guys who contest the Busch Series.
MA:
The Truck Series is very competitive and you have had Cup guys come into the Truck Series this year and they don’t win, so it’s a pretty tough category. There were a lot of genuine rookies in the Truck Series and there will be four or five genuine rookies in the Busch Series next year and of course the Cup drivers that will be in it will change from week to week depending on their Nextel Cup programs. Even to run top 20 in the Busch Series will be a big effort - don’t forget they start 43 every week and they might try and qualify 50.
Q:
How is your ride going to fit into the existing sponsor package of Wood Brothers/JTG Racing and what’s going to happen with the link with Team Australia?
MA:
The #59 car that I will be driving will be sponsored by Kingsford Charcoal and we have a number of subsidiary sponsors that are associated with the charcoal brand. Craig Gore and his Team Australia program has been a great supporter of mine this year and he’s negotiating with the team to run with us in 2007. The deal is done with the team, but I know that they are talking and I know they are keen to work something out, we’ll just have to wait and see. I think over the next few weeks we are going to have a better indication of how Craig is going to fit into this whole program.
Q:
Kevin Harvick leads the Busch Series this season with five races to go and he has earned around US $1.13 million in prize money so far this season in Busch. Is that a motivating factor for you?
MA:
Just being here is a motivating factor to be honest! NASCAR is big, it really is, whether you are in the Cup Series, Busch Series or Truck Series. It’s a carrot over here but it’s not my motivating factor to be honest with you. I’ve always said it’s about the challenge, trying something different and being a bit of a pioneer. There is no doubt that when I step up to the Busch Series with all this money, it also costs a lot of money to run as a driver. You’ve got to run a coach for the year and pay a coach driver for the year and you’ve got to cover all your other expenses, because you are travelling all the time, for 36 to 38 weekends a year, the cost goes up. I’m not really looking at that because Kevin Harvick has won a lot of races and a lot of money.
