Gustafson not concerned about No. 5 car's situation (cont'd)

The results just don't match the speed. Gustafson said the key for now is for the entire team to remain positive.

"It's not something you want to go through," he said. "You're not happy about it. But at the same time, I'm really proud of how fast we are, how good Mark is, and the character of this team -- how they fight week in and week out. I'm not going to let it get me down. We're not going to let it get us down as a team.

"It can turn just the same the other way. We can go win three in a row just like we've had problems three in a row, and then we won't be in too bad of shape. We can't change what we do. We just need to stay focused and stay positive and do our job, and the rest will take care of itself."

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The crew chief added that he does not plan to have his driver go with a conservative game plan this weekend. He said they can't afford that.

"You can't be timid at Bristol. That's a place where you've got to be smart, but you've got to attack," Gustafson said. "We're going to go there to win a race and run good. We're not going to change our philosophy. If it comes down to the fact that we're going to gamble at the end of the race, like if Mark is going to race door-to-door with someone to win it or finish second, I'd say we'll take our good run and go home.

"But as far as preparation and getting ready for that race, we'll just do everything like we do for every race. We'll go there to try to win the race. It's a good race track for us as a team. We've had a lot of good success there, and it's a good race track for Mark as a driver. And I love going there. I would hate to go there worried. I know that would be a bad thing to do, so we're going to go there and be ready to go."

Two of Martin's 35 career victories have come at Bristol, but both were a long time ago -- 1993 and 1998, respectively. He has an average career finish of 12.8 at the track.

Gustafson said the week off between Atlanta and Bristol should prove helpful to get the No. 5 team in the right frame of mind for the rest of the season. Then again, Gustafson said he didn't approach the week off any differently than he would have if they entered it No. 1 in points.

"If there was something that I felt like our guys were responsible for, or Mark was responsible for -- something that we were doing to put ourselves in these situations, then we would go to work harder and we'd change some things," he said. "But I feel like the team is performing at a really high level. I think it's easily at a top-five level. We've run well at all the races. Our worst race was California, where we were running ninth [when the engine blew].

"So I don't think we need to change anything. I think it's just some circumstances we've gotten into. We've blown some engines, and Hendrick motors, Hendrick engines, are the best in the business. I know they'll fix it like they have in the past.

"The guys have done a good job on race days. Running over a piece on the track, there's nothing you can do about that. Mark has been phenomenal, to run the way he's run and to handle things the way he's handled it. We're just going to keep our chins up and go on to Bristol."

So the plan is to fight with a sense of desperation akin to a caged wild animal, Gustafson added.

"I think the key to stuff like this is you've got to turn it into motivation," he said. "You can't sit there and feel sorry for yourself, or hang your head and pout. You can't start talking about ifs, ands or buts. You've got to fight. You've got to say, 'Hey, we've got our backs against the wall.'

"There is nothing more dangerous than a rabid dog, you know, so that's what we've got to be. We're in the back where we don't belong, and we've just got to take it and use it as motivation and go out there and fight."

Joe Menzer is the author of "The Great American Gamble: How the 1979 Daytona 500 Gave Birth to a NASCAR Nation." Click here to purchase.