Huffman improving despite up-and-down 2007 season

AVONDALE, Ariz. -- Based on the first eight races of the 2007 Busch Series season, Shane Huffman would give himself a B-minus. Perhaps a grade of incomplete would be more appropriate, given his luck.

Three times this season, Huffman has found himself caught up in crashes that have either put the No. 88 Chevrolet behind the wall for extensive repairs or back on the hauler before the checkered flag.

"I think that our performance has been really good overall but we just haven't had the finishes to show for it in a lot of situations," Huffman said Friday at Phoenix International Raceway. "[Crew chief] Wes Ward and these guys on the Navy car have been getting better and better at understanding what I need to feel week in and week out and I think that's helped our performance a lot."

Just 19 races into his Busch Series career, Huffman has four top-10 finishes, two of which came this season. He was ninth at Las Vegas and sixth at Nashville. Last week, he had a car worthy of another possible top 10 when he was collected in a Lap 67 accident, leaving him 39th.

For Huffman, that's been the bad news. The good news? The 23-year-old continues to improve -- and impress, showing the talent that led to Dale Earnhardt Jr. hiring him for his ride near the end of last season.

"The biggest adjustment's just been the tires and what I need to feel, as far as on the mile-and-a-half and two-mile tracks," Huffman said. "Last year, I was just trying to drive the cars too loose at the end of the year.

"That's one thing that Junior and I talked about a lot and he really tried to drill into my head that these cars don't have to be that loose to go fast. It took me a while to learn that. Since I've learned that, I've gotten better."

Another thing the Hickory, N.C., native has had to contend with is racing against drivers with more experience, particularly Nextel Cup veterans.

"It's tough going out there and expecting to compete with those guys," he said. "The competitive side of you wants to beat them. But your competitive side doesn't take into account that you don't have the experience these guys have.

"You don't know what you need as far as to stay ahead of the adjustments on the racecars. That's stuff I'm learning and getting better with."

And a lot of that help is coming from Junior, who joined Huffman on a recent trip to the USS Cleveland, where the two made a helicopter landing and toured one of the Navy's oldest amphibious ships.

"We get to go out and do a lot of trips, but the coolest thing is meeting all the sailors," Huffman said. "Just learning why they joined the Navy and why they're so proud to represent our country. That's absolutely been a great honor to me.

"You've got to have a great deal of respect for young men and women like that. They get a huge kick out of following us and there are obviously a lot of Dale Earnhardt Jr. fans out there. That really pumped them up to get to meet him when we went out there."

And just like naval commander John Paul Jones, Huffman has not yet begun to fight -- but just give him time.