Convo: Shane Huffman (cont'd)

Q: Word on the street is that you've gotten to do some really neat stuff with the U.S. Navy being the primary sponsor on your Busch car. What have you done?

Huffman: I've gotten to do a lot of cool stuff. That's really been a neat part of the deal of being involved with the Navy as our sponsor. Most recently we got to go with the Blue Angels. That was probably the coolest thing I've ever done in my life. So we really have had a lot of fun. I really enjoyed that.

Q: What else have you done along those lines?

Huffman: I went on an aircraft carrier and stayed overnight on it. I stayed overnight on a submarine about 800 fathoms below the water or however you say that. Just a lot of cool stuff. I got to see the Navy Seals train at Coronado in San Diego, Calif. I got to see the SeaBees train. ... I saw the classes at different stages of their nine weeks of training, so that was kind of neat -- to see the evolution of a sailor. And then most recently we went and saw where they do underwater survival and stuff like that. A lot of the Coast Guard people train down there. That was pretty neat.

Q: On that Blue Angel deal, wasn't there a little, um, accident in the cockpit of the jet you were riding in?

Huffman: No, it ain't true. ... OK, yeah, it's true. I got sick. But I don't care. I would do it again tomorrow. I would prepare myself a little bit better for it."

Q: Junior didn't give you a hard time about it, did he?

Huffman: Not too bad. But he did laugh at me.

Q: What's the best part about having Junior as your boss?

Huffman: Probably having the instant fan base. That was really neat -- but at the same time, it puts a lot of pressure on me to perform right off the bat. You know, I put it all on myself, anyway. Junior certainly doesn't put it on me. But that's probably the biggest thing and the coolest thing, the fan recognition because this is Junior's team.

Q: You also know you're going to have great equipment, too, right?

Huffman: Oh, yeah, that's a big part of it. We just moved into a brand-new facility back in January (in Mooresville, N.C.). That's been a new experience, too, just to know that I'm the driver of the car that sits in that building. We've got a new 66,000-square foot building. It's really, really neat -- and I'm proud as hell to be a part of it.