DALE JARRETT: I don t really know there s anything that Jeff has to do. They had a tremendous run

ESPN analysts Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree , lap-by-lap announcer Allen Bestwick , and Rich Feinberg , ESPN vice president, motorsports, production, participated discount cruise deal in a media conference call today to discuss ESPN's coverage of the final 17 races of the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup  Series season, starting with the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday, July 29. A transcript of the conference call follows:
On the production side, our entire team is excited now that we re making the turn halfway through our season to continuing our Nationwide coverage but adding to it the privilege of covering the NASCAR Sprint discount cruise deal Cup Series.
We come off a very strong year in 2011 where our Chase ratings were up 14%.  We put forth some new initiatives like our ESPN side-by-side, we actually call it NASCAR NonStop, approach during the Chase, offering fans the ability during the second half of our races to see continuing coverage during our commercial breaks.
We look forward to debuting several new technologies during discount cruise deal our run the second half of 2012 on both Nationwide and Sprint Cup, including adding our dual in-car camera path coverage discount cruise deal system to Nationwide and experimenting with ultra slow-mo cameras on pit road.
I was on a call earlier today that Andy and D.J. and Allen all participated in.  I can tell you on behalf of those three gentlemen, who can speak to it themselves, but in addition our entire discount cruise deal team, we re excited to get going this week at Indianapolis, which is a special place for our company.
ALLEN BESTWICK:   We ended last season when we left off our Sprint Cup Series coverage with a virtual tie for the championship and a race decided by one driver winning the final race of the year and another driver finishing second and losing out on the championship discount cruise deal in a tiebreaker. discount cruise deal You stop and you sit back and think, How do you top that, that s just outstanding?
Yet as I look ahead to the next seven weeks, I see the situation building for Richmond that could lead up to this incredible night with all of these drivers fighting for a way to get into the Chase and winning never meaning more than it does right now and how will this Chase play out.  There s so much to look forward to.
We re very excited about having the privilege to bring it to people at home, of course starting out at Indianapolis.  What more can you say?  A race that s featured many late-twisted discount cruise deal plots in recent years and all ends with someone getting the chance to replicate the tradition that D.J. started of kissing the bricks.  What a great place to start off.  We can t wait.
Q.         Dale, we ve seen the last several years the guy who finishes second in points just can t seem to keep up that momentum.  I look back at your record, you were second and third in points leading to the year before you won the title.  I m wondering, is it an emotional letdown they re having and what can they do to prevent discount cruise deal that in the future?
We came out strong the next year in 2000.  We won the 500 and had a lot of good things going.  But we ran out of gas.  I think you put so much into that, so many commitments there, that you have to be careful with that.  Sometimes it s easy to lose that focus and that determination that got you in that position.
I really think nothing against Bob Osborne but this is something that should have taken place before now.  Literally, even Carl did such an incredible job of keeping that team in a position to win last year, I mean, he had a lot of people that helped him, but he did a great job of driving.  They didn t win after Las Vegas and they didn t start this season off.  You had to know that something had to be done there.  Carl is an incredible driver.  Bob has a great place in their organization.
Q.         Dale, this is in the context of Jeff Gordon going to Indy where he s had great success.  You won a title at age 42.  What does he have to do or does he have to do anything to adjust or remain competitive in his 40s?
DALE JARRETT:   I don t really know there s anything that Jeff has to do.  They had a tremendous run of unfortunate luck.  To win any title or be competitive, you have to have some good fortune on your side.
They re going to have to dig a little deeper here.  I know he s driving every lap as hard as he can.  This weekend would be a great place for him to kind of turn things around.  If they saved up that good fortune for these next seven, then that would be good.
I don t think it s not anything that Jeff is not on top of his game or paying less attention to what is going on within that race team or anything.  I think he s working as hard or harder than he ever has.  They just need to have some good fortune.
He could have more than that, but I think in looking and knowing Jeff, he could go at this hard another three or four years and still be very competitive with an opportunity to still win a championship again.
Q.         Dale, it s still a crown jewel for drivers, the Brickyard 400 is a big deal for ESPN, but it s in its fourth year of declining attendance.  Has it lost its luster?  Do you think bringing in GRAND-AM and Nationwide, do you think that might inject some excitement?
DALE JARRETT:   It will be interesting to see.  Hopefully it will generate some excitement, give a full weekend s worth of things going on.  It s going to be a full weekend s worth.  Hopefully fans will rally and come back.
It is a great event, great venue.  I promise you, it has lost nothing from the driver s perspective. discount cruise deal It is a great honor and a great place to go race, obviously a tremendous place to get a victory and visit that Victory Lane.
Q.         Dale and Andy, this Brickyard marks 10 years since the SAFER barrier made its debut in the Sprint Cup Series.  Now it s at every racetrack.  It s become second nature to think of it as part of racing.  Can you discuss, as you were both involved with the series around that time or just prior to it, the impact that the SAFER barriers have had on the sport?
discount cruise deal ANDY PETREE:   I was involved in it from an owner s standpoint, did some testing.  I thought they were testing the car, turned out they were testing the wall.  Destroyed my car.  But it was part of the process.
They re putting it in more and more places at more tracks.  It just made the sport so much safer.  You don t have that in the back of your mind worry about a driver getting seriously hurt or worse in the series anymore.
DALE JARRETT:   I have to agree with all that Andy said there.  I look at it to me the one thing that everyone within the sport, from car owners to manufacturers to sponsors to NASCAR, that everyone agreed on.  There s not many things that everybody discount cruise deal agrees on.  Obviously the drivers agreed, too.  They worked hard together to make all of this happen.
It s been a wonderful thing.  We ve seen some horrific crashes to where you don t know what would have happened before, but you can only imagine.  These SAFER barriers have literally been lifesavers.  It s tremendous.
Q.         D.J. and Allen, can you address what has been the most surprising element for you so far this season?  It could be anything involved with drivers or some other issue.  What has been something that you can literally say, I didn t see that one coming?
ALLEN BESTWICK:   Carl Edwards.  Didn t see that one coming. discount cruise deal Ran so well last fall.  The other Roush Fenway cars have been up front.  Matt Kenseth leading the championship, so on.  I just didn t see Carl Edwards and company having the drop-off in performance that they ve had this year.  I m very surprised discount cruise deal by it.
Obviously there are things going on there that have resulted in some changes. discount cruise deal We ll see if it s enough, if there s enough time for them to find a way to win and have a chance to make the Chase again.
DALE JARRETT:   I m going to stay on that side a little bit.  A driver that s in the top 10, but I expected more, Kevin Harvick.  He s kept himself there by being consistent, but hasn t seemed to really have all of that that he s going to need to try to win a championship.  I think he s in a real battle for trying to stay in the top 10 there and make all of this work.
On the other side of that, I don t know that I was expecting as much out of Clint Bowyer and that race team.  Obviously getting a victory, being inside the top 10, that s a nice surprise to see.  They ve really done well.
In general, the entire Michael Waltrip organization showing the strength they ve shown.  Even though they have that one victory with Clint Bowyer, Mark Martin, then when Brian Vickers has been in that car, and then Martin Truex, Jr. has done extremely well and challenged for some victories.  So they ve been a really good surprise.
Q.         Andy, we ve seen a couple of crew chief changes heading into this race.  What are these guys up against coming in cold and trying to win the confidence of teams and drivers coming in midyear like this?
ANDY PETREE:   I think on the Carl Edwards side of it, he has a big challenge.  It s not like, okay, we have a few races to get to know each other, we ll start building something.  He s sitting on the brink of not making the Chase after almost winning it last year.  They re under a tremendous amount of pressure to go out and win races because that s the only way they re going to make the Chase.
For Chad to have an opportunity to work with the driver of the caliber of Carl Edwards is a great opportunity you relish.  It s a double-edged sword for sure.  I see where Bobby Labonte lost his crew chief.  Todd Berrier, he s going over to Furniture Row.  They have a new one over there with Dave.  He really is very competitive.  I like his style.  Everywhere he goes, especially in the beginning of the relationship, they seem to do well.  That might spark that team to do something here at this point.
ANDY PETREE:   Absolutely.  When I went over to Childress in 93, I went over there, the same thing, I thought what a great opportunity to work with Dale Earnhardt.  I also thought, If we don t perform,