LOUDON, N.H. -- Roush Fenway Racing crew chief Jimmy Fennig won the inaugural Nextel Cup Series championship in 2004 with driver Kurt Busch, who was then in his fourth season in NASCAR's premier division.

After spending the better part of 2006 working in the organization's Busch Series operation, Fennig returned to the Cup Series this season to work with rookie of the year candidate David Ragan -- who made his series debut a year ago this weekend at Dover.

The pair had an auspicious 2007 beginning, as Ragan crashed out of his Gatorade Duel qualifying race for the Daytona 500, and then rebounded to finish fifth in the season opener.

Since then, Ragan has engaged in a fierce battle for the rookie of the year award with Juan Montoya. Fennig has guided Ragan, 21, to 21st in the point standings, one position behind Montoya.

At New Hampshire, Fennig took a break to discuss his driver's development, his future and the best way to deal with Dover's concrete high banks in the Car of Tomorrow.

Q: Jimmy, in addition to everything else you're responsible for, last weekend at New Hampshire, you had to be a weatherman and predict you were going to lose all your Saturday practice -- so how do you plan and prepare for that?

We came up to New Hampshire and knew there was a possible chance of rain for Saturday's practices, so we focused pretty hard on the first day on our race practice, before we did our qualifying runs.

We could do that because, with the way the top 35 is locked into the field, we didn't have to worry about preparing for qualifying. That's part of the deal and the other guys, that have to worry about qualifying because they're not in the top 35, they should have enough knowledge to get it close [for the race].

Q: In 2004 you were working the Chase with a champion to be, Kurt Busch; so how do you approach it this season, in general and specifically race to race, working with a rookie in David Ragan?

Well, this is my first year with David and it's David rookie year, and our goals were set for David to get a top 20 in points. David hasn't been to some of these racetracks at all, so this year we basically set our goals in the first half of the schedule to just run the racetracks, learn from them and go on.

In the second half, the goal was to go ahead and hopefully run top 10s. Next year, I feel David's come a long ways and that we'll have a shot at making the Chase and that'll be my goal for next year.

Q: You're in the middle of a pretty good rookie of the year battle, so do you look at that as your own mini Chase, if you will, where you're racing Juan and the others for that rookie title?

I don't know -- I mean, the rookie title's good for David and I'd like to see David get that rookie title -- and I know Jack [Roush] wants to get it, too. I just look at progress with the race team and look at the long-term.

There might be a few instances where we didn't develop as fast as we needed to or we didn't have cars that were good enough this year to get the rookie deal. But in the end run, I feel that David learned a lot this year and we've got the team up and running, and next year we'll have a shot to contend for the Chase.

Q: It's hard to believe that Dover a year ago was David's debut, and you were doing a different program then; but how much on-track growth have you seen in David from then until now?

Oh, quite a bit. David, right now, don't need them [yellow rookie] stripes on his car, you know? That's what I feel, as a racecar driver. I've seen David develop very, very fast. He's learned a lot and he remembers what he's doing, so that's what I see with David.

Q: What kind of personal growth have you seen in David this season, because from his first start in Cup last year, he's seemed like he's real mature for a young age?

Oh, yeah. His father [former Cup and ARCA racer Ken Ragan] brought David up good. David's a very polite kid, and he's quite respectful for what he's got out there.

Q: Set-up wise, what's your biggest concern with the Car of Tomorrow at Dover?

At Dover, it just seems like we always fight grip, whether it's the front or the back. That's due to the aero that we have on these cars right now. So just the grip of the whole car is what we're looking for.

Q: From a crew chief's perspective, is that the most frustrating thing with this Car of Tomorrow -- and is there enough adjustability, in your mind, to access to get the grip that David needs to feel?

This is the situation we're in and this is what we've got to look for, you know? Before, it was a little easier going the other way, with the other cars, because we had an option.

But this is the box we're in and it's a challenge to make sure we can go and get grip on it throughout the chassis.

Q: With the knowledge you have, and stepping out of the box NASCAR has put everyone in with the COT, what's the one change you'd like to see NASCAR make with this COT? Is it anything simple, or not even something you would expect to get done?

I understand what NASCAR is doing with this car, and they're doing a good job with it. As far as something I'd like to see? What I would like to see them change, they'll never change.

I'd like to see them put a little bit of creativity back in our own hands, you know, to where the guy that works the hardest -- not spends the most money, but works the hardest -- will be rewarded for that.

But really I've got to applaud NASCAR, because down the road it will save these teams a lot of money. I've never seen NASCAR come out wrong on a lot of their decisions.

Q: David's raced a full season in the Busch Series while also racing Nextel Cup, so in general develop, how has that helped him on the racetrack, do you think?

In general, he learns the tracks more and he drives in traffic. We can go do all the testing we want with a rookie, but you ain't going to learn unless you're in traffic, in the race driving against these guys.

You have to learn what the different air will do with you, around these cars; how to come into the pits and make pit stops -- so racing in the Busch Series helps with all that. But as far as the two cars -- the Busch cars and the Cup cars, whether it's the COT or not -- they're two different cars and you don't even compare them.

I don't even know what set-ups are in the Busch cars, you know -- because it's not even the same as what we do.

Q: Where do you think it's most likely -- at what kind of racetrack -- is David most likely to score his first win in Busch or Nextel Cup, whether it's down the stretch this year, or next year?

David can win on any racetrack, let me put it that way, from what I've seen. I thought we had a shot to win in Charlotte [at the Coca-Cola 600] and we got involved with our own teammate; and we had a shot to win at Richmond at the end of the year.

That just tells you, in the cutoff race where guys were still trying to make the Chase and he comes up there and finishes third, how much he's come along. And then at Charlotte, we were running fifth when we got involved in a wreck.

We've had a lot of good runs the second half of the season, but we kind of messed up in the pits or we as a team goofed up -- whether it was speeding on pit road at California or whatever.

People don't realize the end result, because we weren't there [at the end], but we had something for 'em. California was a pretty good race and we had a car good enough to win that race, but we had a speeding violation. Bristol we had a good car and had a wheel come loose.

So as far as David racing well on every racetrack, he can get a win in either [division].