McCumbee focused on task at hand with No. 45 team

LONG POND, Pa. -- On the outside, Chad McCumbee appears cool, calm and collected. But the 22-year-old from Supply, N.C., admits the nerves he feels right now may go away in time.

"Probably on the plane ride home, I guess," McCumbee said. "There's obviously some nervousness. I just want to finish, be solid and get us a good finish. If we can do that, I'll be happy."

Why wouldn't he be nervous? After all, McCumbee's making his Nextel Cup debut in Sunday's Pocono 500, driving a car for the legendary Petty Enterprises as Kyle Petty makes a temporary move into the broadcast booth for TNT.

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Welcome to the big time, Chad.

Still, McCumbee admits once he got over a little stargazing, this is just like any other race.

"We were right behind Jeff Gordon when he went out to qualify, so that was pretty cool," McCumbee said. "I really haven't had a whole lot of time to sit there and think about it.

"I feel the same here as I would at a Saturday night short-track race. We're just sitting here trying to figure out how to make the car better, make it go faster."

Like any other temp, McCumbee's No. 1 goal this weekend? Do the job you've been asked to do and don't bring attention to yourself by messing up.

If Friday's qualifying was any indication, so far, so good. McCumbee posted a time good enough to start 35th on the grid, quite a bit better than his practice times.

"That was good for us, and that was solid," McCumbee said. "That's what I wanted to do, I wanted to be solid. I knew we didn't have a chance at the pole and I knew we needed to pick up a lot from practice. That was a good, solid lap for us.

"Hopefully, that'll build some momentum if we can get this thing pretty good in race trim."

McCumbee was 33rd in both of Saturday's two practice sessions, running a best lap of 162.925 mph in the first session and 162.716 mph in Happy Hour.

He said once he got out on the track for the first time, much of his nervousness went away and he was able to get down to business. (Continued)