Once again, Jeremy Mayfield fully expects the "experts" to overlook him when making their preseason forecast about who'll make this year's Chase for the Nextel Cup.

And, once again, he thinks those experts will be wrong - just as they have been in both of the Chase's first two years when Mayfield made it in his No. 19 Dodges.

"I've got a better race team right now than I had last year," he said. "Last year we made the top 10. ...What's going to happen this year if we get just a little bit better?

"I know we're quiet and don't say a whole lot, but...we're going to win races and we're going to be in the top 10 in points. ...We're a better race team, and we'll show you."

Many of the guys who worked on the No. 19 cars last year are on Kasey Kahne's No. 9 team this year as part of a new structure at Evernham Motorsports. Mayfield's team director is Chris Andrews, who spent much of 2005 with the No. 91 part-time team that worked with Bill Elliott.

"Along the way last year, Chris did nothing but build new race cars for the 2006 season," Mayfield said. "We've got a shop full right now. ...I've got all brand-new race cars, the best Evernham Motorsports can build and they're all done and ready to go. So we're more prepared today as a race team.

"That's the reason why I'm optimistic about this year. I've got more confidence than I've ever had. I'm 102 percent, not 110 percent, confident that we can back up what we're saying right now."