For 17 years, he was on the other side as a crew chief for some of the biggest names in NASCAR, including Rusty Wallace, Mark Martin and Kyle Petty.

But since 2004, Robin Pemberton has served as vice president of competition for the governing body. He talked with NASCAR.COM at Phoenix International Raceway last weekend about many of the issues confronting the sport as the 2009 season prepares to draw to a close with Ford Championship weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

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When we get to the Daytona 500 next February, people will not care what I did in December. They will wonder why I did not work harder.

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ROBIN PEMBERTON

Question: There are many opinions flying around right now about the state of NASCAR. What is your general opinion on the state of the sport?

Pemberton: I think things are in pretty good shape. I think we've had great competition this year. We have some rivalries that have developed throughout the year -- and for the most part, I think we've had some of the best competition I can remember in my years in the sport.

Q: Yet most estimates put attendance as being off by about 15 percent. What do you attribute that to?

Pemberton: I think it's a well-known fact that the economy has not helped things. When people have their disposable incomes reduced, they have to make choices. Our fans can't come to the amount of races that they've come to in the past. When they're able to come again, we'll be here for them to put on a good show.

Q: This sport is different from others in that so much relies on corporate sponsorship dollars. Some say next year might be worse than this year for NASCAR in that regard. Your thoughts?

Pemberton: You know, you can speculate all you want. Next year, what we do is we plan for the worst. Everybody watches their budgets and runs their business. All these teams out here, they're running their businesses the way they see fit.

But I can't comment or speculate on what may or may not be out there. We've worked with the teams and talked to them, and we know where they all lay in terms of having to make business sense out of all this. There is not the free flow of money that there once was -- but that's what America is about. It comes and it goes, and it goes in cycles.

Q: Are you concerned that there will be more start-and-park efforts to fill fields next season?

Pemberton: We have always seen, throughout the years, a number of people who don't intend to run all the laps of a race. Or if they don't run all the laps of a race, it's OK with them. It isn't something that just came up. I saw it in the 1980s; I saw it in the '70s. And I've heard about it in other times.

There are people who like to compete at a higher level. And there are some of the teams who do what they do; they put more effort toward some races than others, in terms of trying to compete. Once again, it's about their balance sheets and what they have to do. (Continued)