by TonyStewart.com

Updated: June 7, 2006, 1:55 PM EST

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Tony Stewart: "I plan to make it through the whole weekend. Every day my muscles feel like they're getting stronger, and I don't think it's a bone issue as much as it's a muscle issue.

"I got fitted for a new ButlerBuilt seat and we'll have it in the car for this weekend. We think it's a better design - a newer version of what I had been running. It was time to put something new in there. Brian Butler and his staff did an awesome job of accommodating me and getting a seat pumped out in a short amount of time so we would have it for Pocono, so we really appreciate their effort. I fully believe that with the new seat and another week of rest that we'll be ready to go."

TonyStewart.com: What's different about your new seat design?

Tony Stewart: "The dimensions are different. The back of the seat is a little wider, up where my shoulders are. It's about an inch wider, total."

TonyStewart.com: Will you have a relief driver on standby?

Tony Stewart: "We'll make that decision closer to the end of the week. But I really don't anticipate needing a relief driver. I appreciate what Ricky (Rudd) did for us last week at Dover, but he's on vacation with his family this week and I want him to enjoy his vacation. I'm confident that by the end of the week I'll be strong enough to go do the whole race at Pocono by myself."

TonyStewart.com: From a physical standpoint, why is Pocono easier to drive than Dover?

Tony Stewart: "You spend approximately two-thirds of your lap at Dover in the corners, where at Pocono you spend about 70 percent of your time on the straightaways. It's got a lot of straightaways and three very short corners, so turning the wheel doesn't take long."

TonyStewart.com: Have you had to make any adjustments in how you hold the steering wheel? Are you using more of your left arm?

Tony Stewart: "I'm left-handed anyway, so I've always pulled on the wheel with my left hand. Where all the pain comes from is when we're loose and I have to back-steer the car. It's still going to be uncomfortable, for sure. But as I get more strength back in my right arm, then the easier it'll be to back-steer the car. All in all, I think we'll be fine."

TonyStewart.com: From a physical standpoint, what will be your biggest challenge at Pocono?

Tony Stewart: "The three corners are pretty unique and the tunnel turn was pretty bumpy the last time we were there. Hopefully that won't hurt too much, but even if it does, it'll still be a lot easier than having to race at Dover for 400 laps."

TonyStewart.com: From a racing standpoint, what's your biggest challenge at Pocono?

Tony Stewart: "All three corners are different - that's the most challenging part. It seems like you can always get your car good in two of the three corners, but the guys who are contending for the win are the guys who can get their car good for all three corners. That's a very hard thing to do - get you car good through all three sections of the race track. It's a little different now because we don't go through transmission and gear changes like we have in the past where we tried different combinations to find more speed. With the gears NASCAR says you can run, it's made it a totally different style of racing compared to what we've had in year's past at Pocono. It's evened things out for everyone."

TonyStewart.com: Since Pocono has three distinct corners, where do you start with your race setup?

Tony Stewart: "We always go out and figure where I feel like I'm struggling the most, because that's where I feel like I'm going to make up the most time. It seems like if we can get our car to go through the tunnel turn well, then we're normally able to get The Home Depot Chevrolet to go through the rest of the race track well. The tunnel turn seems to be our toughest turn on the race track. Getting through turn two and the last corner of the race track that's flat, long and sweeping - those seem to be the toughest two corners to get through. And if you're a little bit off, you're a bunch off. If there's a guy who can get all three of those corners right, then that's the guy who's going to win the race."

TonyStewart.com: What's the most treacherous part of Pocono's layout?

Tony Stewart: "Probably the tunnel turn. Everybody realizes how fast they're going into (turn) one. And they know that if they wreck they're going to wreck hard. The tunnel turn is a little sneaky. It's a tight fit through there, and you don't really know how fast you're going until something bad happens."

TonyStewart.com: Coming down that front straightaway, the racing can get pretty wide. When and where do you have to get back in line to make it into that first corner?

Tony Stewart: "It just kind of funnels itself back into line before we get into (turn) one. Everybody tries to get back on the high side to make their entry into the corner, but sometimes it does get a little tight in there. But most times, you just do what you have to do to get The Home Depot Chevrolet back in line."

TonyStewart.com: If you're down on horsepower at Pocono, are you pretty much out of contention?

Tony Stewart: "Yeah. If you're down on power at Pocono, you're a mid-pack car at best. You need power to go down that front straightaway, and if you don't have it, you're done."

TonyStewart.com: Explain a lap around Pocono.

Tony Stewart: "Turn one is probably the easiest of the three - you drive it in kind of deep and then try to float the car through the corner. You go down the backstretch and into the tunnel turn and it's basically one lane. It's flat and very line-sensitive. You've got to make sure you're right on your marks every lap when you go through there. Then you've got a short chute into turn three. It's a big, long corner and it too is very line-sensitive. With it being line-sensitive and the fact that we've got a straightaway that's three-quarters of a mile long after that, it's very important that you get through the last corner well. You need to come off the corner quickly so that you're not bogged down when you start down that long straightaway. Each corner has its challenges, and each one tends to present a different set of circumstances with each lap you make."

TonyStewart.com: Well before you came to Pocono as a rookie in 1999, you raced at Pocono in a go-kart as a youth. What was that like?

Tony Stewart: "Years and years and years ago, 1986 I think, I ran the WKA (World Karting Association) Enduro Series. When we ran Pocono, we actually ran the majority of the big track backward. You went out on the front straightaway backward and then you turned into the road course in the infield and came back out on the speedway past the part where you'd run with the Nextel Cup car, but you'd turn back on the track and turn to the right. You'd go around the tunnel turn and then come back around. It was pretty neat, pretty different. You really didn't get a perspective of what it was like in a stock car, by any means, because you were going in the wrong direction in a go-kart that only went 105 mph. It was definitely a different perspective than what I experience there now."