Inside the Garage: No. 42 crew chief Donnie Wingo

Chip Ganassi Racing crew chief Donnie Wingo has the unenviable task of winning the second consecutive Nextel Cup Car of Tomorrow road race, this weekend's Centurion Boats at The Glen, albeit with the man with whom he won the first, Juan Montoya.

In order for the No. 42 Dodge team to achieve that, they'll have to hold off the same herd of contenders at The Glen, fortified by a couple of Glen stalwarts, including Canadian road racing ace Ron Fellows, whose Hall of Fame Racing team allegedly waxed the best of Hendrick Motorsports' cars at Road Atlanta recently.

Looking ahead, Wingo discussed the ideal Car of Tomorrow setup for Watkins Glen, his assessment of a southern boy communicating with a South American driver in 2007, working with a rear wing, fuel mileage and where Montoya fits on his career "intensity scale" of drivers with whom Wingo's worked previously.

Q: Donnie, Juan's talked about where he is, coming into Race 22 of the season, versus his expectations, and he feels ahead of the game; so what's your take on Juan, and the team's progress?

Wingo: I think we're a little bit ahead of where I anticipated we would be, really.

I think the biggest thing that's helped speed up the learning curve, along with the races he ran last year [in ARCA, Busch and Nextel Cup at Homestead], is that at the start of the year we had to start the cars out a little bit tighter in the races, and that caused us problems during the race, trying to get it freed up enough.

But now, in practice we're able to get the cars a lot freer before the race starts, to where we don't have to make quite so many adjustments in the races. And Juan's consistency has been a lot better because of that.

Q: What's been the most pleasant surprise to you, in working with Juan?

Wingo: The biggest thing I like is his attitude. I've never been around a guy with as much enthusiasm and a positive attitude. When we're not good, we hear we're not good -- and that's a good thing, you know, because you don't want to sugarcoat anything. So I think his attitude is one thing.

And speaking of the learning curve, he's gotten a lot better at knowing what to adjust, and that's been the biggest surprise, to me.

Q: Juan had a, shall we say, volatile reputation in his open-wheel career, and you've worked with some fiery guys in your career, including Jimmy Spencer and Ricky Rudd. So where does Juan fit on your driver intensity scale?

Wingo: I think he's just as intense, or more intense, than a lot of those guys are. To me, he's kinda like Jimmy a lot. When he vents, if you try to get back at him when he's venting, in the middle of his venting, it makes it worse.

So you pretty much let it run its course and then when it's all said and done, you make a statement, and then everything's good.

You've got to let it run its course, you know? But I like that in a driver. I want a guy who'll express how he feels, or whatever; because I think it makes the whole team better and makes the whole team dig in harder.

Q: Has there been any kind of language barrier this season, going either way?

Wingo: No, not really and that's surprising, because most people didn't seem to think he'd be able to understand me. But on the radio, we really haven't had any issues as far as that goes whatsoever.

It's really been kind of a pleasant surprise because it has really worked good as far as the communication and all that goes. We really don't have any issues. (Continued)