Rockingham, N.C. ? Robert “Bootie” Barker will talk about the spectacular set of wheels he’s put under Dave Blaney. But not about the wheelchair he sits in.

He’ll talk about an excellent shot at winning today’s Subway 400. But not about the possibility of becoming the first paraplegic crew chief to win a Winston Cup race — nor about being the only one in NASCAR, period.

He dismisses the notion of being a role model for the disabled.

“I don’t feel like I am at all,” he said.

All this “handicap” stuff is simply irrelevant to Barker, 31, whose youth alone makes him an unusual crew chief.

What matters is that a winless team is on the pole today.

Barker — who lost the use of his legs at age 17 in a traffic accident — has brought his team to this point in less than three months. He took charge at Jasper Ford after the end of last season. A crew chief’s job is largely like that of a coach — cerebral, supervisory and motivational at the shop, and making split-second decisions.

“The choice of getting Bootie here has been awesome,” said Jasper team co-owner Mark Harrah, who brought Barker up from the Busch series to completely rebuild a team that has raced for nine years without a win. “He’s done a great job over the winter, and the guys at the shop have been working 16-hour days getting cars done.”

Blaney will try for his first win in 112 Cup starts in four years.

“Bootie has just re-energized our whole team,” Blaney said. “The owners brought in new people this winter, all through the shop and on the pit crew, and Bootie’s got a great attitude instilled in them. I thought we were a greatly improved team on paper, but you never know until you come out and race.”

Blaney finished 19th in last Sunday’s season-opening Daytona 500. But that’s not an indicator, one way or the other, of the season to come, due to the crapshoot drafting of restrictor-plate racing.

At one-mile North Carolina Speedway, much more typical of the “unrestricted” tracks that play host to 32 of 36 races, most teams feel they’re getting an idea of how they’ll fare this year.

“I’m happy we won the pole,” Barker said, “but the race is what counts, so that’s what’s on my mind — winning the race.”

Even that would be “just a start,” he said. “To beat these people you have got to hammer ’em all the time, and that’s what we want to do.”

If Barker sounds obsessed with racing, he admits to being “pretty close, I suppose. I even dream about it.”

The Brookneal, Va., native began working on race cars with a college classmate. By the end of last season he was a hot commodity among Busch teams and had a variety of offers, but wanted to test himself in the elite Cup series.

Even with a single-car team in an era dominated by multi-car juggernauts, Barker won’t acknowledge a disadvantage.

“Being the underdog is fun,” he said. “I like that, but even though we’re the underdog we’ve got Penske-Jasper engines and they’re as good as anybody’s. Everything else I feel you can kind of compensate for, so I feel we’re in good shape.”

Barker is prepared for the media spotlight that will surely come with winning.

“It’s part of the game,” he said. “You’ve got to speak well and answer the questions to get the money with the sponsorships and everything, so it’s no big deal.”

When the questions turn to his paraplegia, he’s fully prepared for that, too:

“No comment,” he said. “That’s it. No comment. I’m gonna stick to it.”