Steve and Shane Hmiel share a moment in the garage area. Credit: Autostock

Conversation: Steve Hmiel

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Life couldn't be better for Steve Hmiel.

In his professional life, his team leads both the NASCAR Nextel Cup and Busch Series points standings. In his personal life, his son is winning races in the Craftsman Truck Series.

Hmiel is the technical director for Dale Earnhardt Inc., which fields Chevrolets for Nextel Cup points leader Dale Earnhardt Jr., Michael Waltrip and Busch Series points leader Martin Truex Jr.

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Hmiel's son, Shane, recently won his first career truck race after threatening to win several times in 2004. Shane Hmiel returned to NASCAR after a probation for violation of the sport's substance-abuse policy and has performed well.

Steve Hmiel spoke with NASCAR.COM staff writer Lee Montgomery after spotting for Earnhardt Jr. in Sunday's EA Sports 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. Hmiel was all smiles after the victory, of course, but there are many more reasons for him to smile.

First of all, tell me some of your job responsibilities. I know you are technical director at DEI, but what does that entail?

Hmiel: Well, Richie Gilmore and Teresa (Earnhardt) worry about getting money, and I worry about making sure we spend enough of it. Wind tunnels, engine things - Richie's still in charge of the engine shop - car stuff, testing, engineering, research and development, things of that nature.

VIDEO Conversation: Steve Hmiel

We felt like Friday afternoon, we were pretty far behind from where we've been in the past here at Talladega and Daytona. We've got a lot of work to do before February, and we're getting ready to start on it first thing in the morning.

But today, Junior carried us, the guys had great pit stops, that was a real smart call to put two tires on. They just had a good day. We needed a win here. People looked at the last 10 races and said, "Well, that's one that Junior should win." We look at other people. Jeff Gordon should probably win Martinsville and what have you.

If you think it's a place where you're supposed to win, boy, you better go ahead and get it done. Otherwise, you've failed yourself. There are going to be some places you don't run as well, and you'll really suffer there.

That's a lot of pressure on a team that is expected to win somewhere, especially with all this talk about the Chase.

Hmiel: Yeah, but that's what makes the Chase the Chase. Since Richmond, just getting in the Chase was real exciting, and now everybody's counting every point and doing everything they can. You see people staying out under yellow to get the five points for leading and what have you.

It's greatly affecting how you race, but it all comes down to racing as hard as you can all the time, and hopefully, having some good luck.

Has your job and anything you've done changed for Chase?

Hmiel: Well, NASCAR doesn't have a number of rules changes for next year, so we pretty well know how we're going to build our cars for 2005. What we've allowed ourselves to do is take a little time and build stuff in case you wreck, ways to fix wrecks better.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Michael Waltrip are two of Steve Hmiel's charges. Credit: Autostock

We sit and talk about, "Remember we got in a wreck at Dover? This got broke and we couldn't get the steering hooked back up." Well, we made a piece of sub-frame for that. You're just thinking about how to get more points all the time.

In the last, we were kind of laissez-faire, and maybe it was the last two or three races before we got wound up about it. This Chase has really put the fire in our gut. We've got a lot of pieces made. If we do have trouble, we hope to do as good a good as that 17 team did last week at Dover, get right back out and get some points.

Is that also not just for the 8, but for the 15, too? Are you putting as much emphasis on him for these last 10 to help Dale Jr.?

Hmiel: Sure. It's for the 8 and the 15 and the 8 Busch car. Nobody falls out of Cup races, but a number of cars fall out of Busch races, so if you can fix your Busch car, you stand a chance of gaining even more points than you would if you were fixing a Cup car for a Cup race.

We're doing all we can right now. We're aiming just at the end of this season. Now, we still have people doing R&D, but this Chase is so important, this Busch Grand National championship is so important that we're all looking at Homestead right now, making sure we're fully prepared.

Is it difficult to balance allotting the resources for the 8 and the 15, even though the 8's in the Chase and the 15 is not?

Hmiel: No, no because the 15's in a chase of his own. They're doing the best they can. Unfortunately, they're not in the Chase, but there are a lot of people not in the Chase. That doesn't mean you quit racing and just concentrate on one guy.

What the 8 learns, the 15 gets, and what the 15 learns, the 8 gets. And it all shuffles on down to the Busch team. Nah, everybody's working wide-open on all the teams. We're all aiming to help Junior as much as we can and Martin Truex Jr. as much as we can.

So the 8's not getting priority on stuff, as far as what you do on down?

Hmiel: No, sir. There are certain things we look at, but as far as day-to-day, we're all learning as a group. Now, there are some things when it comes to wreck fixing that are aimed specifically at the championship, but they'll always be a part of DEI, and we hope to be in a championship run this time next year. It's all for DEI.

What about the testing schedule? I know the 8 team allotted some of their tests for later in the year. Has the 15 done that, too, or are they separate?

Hmiel: I think the 15 has one or two left, and they will probably go places the 8 doesn't, so the 8 can learn from it, and vice versa. It's the same old deal. We've got a lot of people, and Teresa has given us a lot of money to race with, and our sponsors have been good. It's our job as managers to get the people motivated, spend the money in the right direction and do the best we can.

We will frequently split up teams and send them to different places to test, and then come back and compare notes. Hopefully, everybody learns a little bit.

In addition to your job with these guys, you've got a son that's winning races now. Has that been a positive for you in preparing for you "regular job"?

Hmiel: Yeah. I've got a son that always did win races, and now his personal life is in order. That's the most important thing. He was raised by his mother and I, and we did all we can do. He got a little bit out there for just a little bit - and not very far out over the line, but enough that NASCAR stepped in and said, "You need to straighten out."

He did that. His biggest goal was to get back in the good graces of NASCAR, which is the No. 1 sanctioning body in the world. That's how he wants to spend his life, racing NASCAR.

Fortunately for him, he's won a race and he's threatening to win a lot of races. People are interested in his services as a driver. I would say pretty much everything's complete right now.