Crew chief Pat Tryson and Mark Martin are currently sixth in the standings heading into Dover. Credit: Autostock

Shop Talk: Pat Tryson

Roush Racing crew chief Pat Tryson talks about what it takes to win the Chase, why Dover's fast, gritty concrete surface suits Mark Martin and what it takes to maintain a competitive setup at Dover.

Pat, this is your third time through the Chase, so what can you put into practice from the previous two that will help you?

Stats at a Glance Mark Martin at Dover Race Start Finish 1982 7 5 1982 14 33 1986 22 11 1988 2 9 1988 1 39 1989 1 2 1989 10 2 1990 2 4 1990 6 2 1991 5 5 1991 4 21 1992 2 24 1992 2 19 1993 9 4 1993 5 31 1994 32 4 1994 4 19 1995 13 35 1995 16 8 1996 12 40 1996 8 5 1997 7 2 1997 1 1 1998 3 7 1998 1 1 1999 3 3 1999 8 1 2000 4 36 2000 5 6 2001 18 9 2001 38 32 2002 13 41 2002 32 2 2003 32 18 2003 16 22 2004 7 1 2004 12 2 2005 12 3 2005 7 4 2006 6 9

Tryson: The biggest thing is just trying to eliminate a bad race. That hurts you a lot more than the good races help you.

So the biggest thing is to try to eliminate any bad races, any failures or hopefully not have any crashes -- because those are the big things that kill you.

Talladega has hurt us the last two years, so hopefully we won't have any of that this year.

To make the Chase, these are the 10 best teams in the sport at this time, so are you happy with where your group is, and how can you improve?

Tryson: I'm real satisfied with everything. Our pit stops have come around and that was the biggest area where we weren't that good earlier in the year. They've come around to the point where they're really good right now.

As long as they keep going like they did [at Richmond] we'll be in good shape.

With one Chase race down, among the nine that are left, is there anyplace you feel like you really have to excel, and where does Dover fit in that scheme?

Tryson: Oh yeah, and I think Dover is one of those places for us. Actually, all the mile-and-a-half tracks: Charlotte, Atlanta, Texas -- we're obviously looking forward to all of those.

The biggest places that we're worried about are obviously Martinsville and Talladega.

Philosophically, what does it take to win the Chase, from your perspective? Do you feel like you can afford to give a race away?

Tryson: If you look at last year's Chase, everybody had at least one bad race, and most guys had two. But the difference between [Tony Stewart's] bad race and ours' was that his was 20th and ours' was 40th.

And that's where you really take a beating. You've really got to try not to finish 40th, because that just kills you.

Over the last three seasons, you guys have been pretty consistent, particularly in the Chase. So how do you step it up?

Tryson: We try our hardest every week anyhow, but it's just like anything else. For some reason, or at least for us the last two years, it seems like when we get in here to the Chase we do step it up a little bit.

Hopefully, just like the other night -- everybody stepped up big-time at Richmond and hopefully that's what we'll do from here on out.

Last year there were five Fords in the Chase and this year, your first with the Fusion, there are only two. What's your take on that?

Tryson: I think guys have just caught up to us. I think we were probably a little ahead of everybody last year, with the short spoiler. I think we had a little bit of an advantage and I think they paid a lot of attention to some of the stuff we were doing.

Pat Tryson

They learned from our cars and built cars the same we were doing them because they liked ours. I think the garage has pretty much caught up on a lot of the stuff that we had an advantage on -- and some of them have an advantage on us, now, for the same things.

So we're paying attention to what they're doing and we're learning.

It might be an advantage to have teammates that aren't in the Chase because they can do different stuff and try experimental stuff and we can see if it works, by what they're doing and then maybe we can apply it later on.

With a new Fusion at the beginning of this season, you've got to be thrilled to get it into the Chase, so how close to being fully developed is it? And where might this year's car excel down the stretch?

Tryson: I think it has developed pretty good, but there's always room for improvement. We haven't given up on it -- in fact, we're building a new car right now, as a matter of fact that we feel like is going to be a little bit better.

Obviously, our strong suit in the past has been the mile-and-a-half tracks and hopefully that's where we're going to be strong again -- along with Dover.

And, we ran fantastic at Phoenix this year so we're looking forward to Phoenix, too. So really, like I said, there are only two tracks we're worried about right now -- Talladega and Martinsville.

What about Dover suits Mark's driving style?

Tryson: I wish I knew. For whatever reason it's just a track he's always run well at and since I've been here we've always run well at Dover. We probably gave that race away in the spring and hopefully we won't, this time.

When you think about Mark Martin, you think "tenacity" -- so with Dover being a tough place because of the G's and as fast as it is, is that what suits him?

Tryson: You've got to stay on top of your game all day there. You've got to fight and claw for everything you get and you've got to be in good shape.

Obviously, Mark fights and claws for everything he can get and obviously he's in fantastic shape so that helps you when you come down to the end of a race at a place like Dover.

What is the critical setup element to make a good qualifying lap at Dover?

Tryson: You've got to be able to turn in the middle of the corner and not be too loose off the corner. It's a compromise there because sometimes you give up a little bit in the middle so you're not too loose off.

It's pretty easy to do, and if you get too loose off it's hard to go fast there.

So that sounds like the same thing you're battling in a setup in getting Mark's car working for 400 laps?

Tryson: Yeah, it pretty much is the same setup issues. It's not as bad for qualifying because it's a lot easier to fix it for qualifying -- for a lap or two -- than it is to fix it for an 80-lap run.

But it pretty much is the same issues. And some of it is, 'how free can your guy drive the car?' That makes a difference.

Fortunately that's one of the reasons why Mark is better there -- he can drive a lot freer racecar than most people.

As a concrete racetrack, has Dover been consistent over the years, and do you expect more of the same this weekend?

Tryson: You usually can take your setup from the last race and run it there, tweak on it a little and run good. That's what we've been able to do the last few times there.

Hopefully we'll make some more improvements and hopefully be hard to handle next Sunday.