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[/media-credit]NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
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DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
June 1, 2012
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S MADAGASCAR CHEVROLET, met with members of the media at Dover International Speedway and discussed racing at Dover, the Pocono repave, competing in the Prelude to the Dream and other topics. Full Transcript:
TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE TWO WEEKS AT CHARLOTTE, ALL OF THE SUCCESSES YOU GUYS AT HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS HAD AND COMING INTO DOVER THIS WEEKEND: “It was an awesome weekend for all of Hendrick Motorsports. When I look over the last month really, I guess back to the race in Darlington, just happy to get to victory lane. I’m happy my teammate Kasey (Kahne) got to victory lane, the No. 24 had a great night the No. 88 had a great night in Charlotte. We have been telling everybody for a while that we’ve got a lot of speed and it’s nice to have all four cars showing it. I’m proud of the success of the No. 48 team and what my guys have done. We hope to continue it here at a great race track for us in Dover.”
WOULD YOU BE IN FAVOR OF ADDITIONAL CHANGES THAT MAKE THE CARS MORE DIFFICULT TO DRIVE? DO YOU THINK THAT WOULD PLAY INTO YOUR HANDS AND MAKE THE RACING BETTER? “I’m not against it and I understand the position NASCAR is in that they don’t want the leader to be in the ideal situation and have clean air and all the benefits that come with it. If they can close that gap from first to 15th it is just going to be a better show. It’s tough when we are as race teams and on race weekends the test pilots for all of this. There is that factor which I kind of like to be honest with you because things have been the same for so long it’s tough to find something different. Whenever there is a rules change it allows some team to figure it out first. We are usually pretty good at that. The other thing though that we are never going to get around, I’m not against trying to fix it, the lead car has the best situation. It doesn’t matter what you do to the cars what shape they are. The racing in the ‘80’s, I’m sorry they didn’t know about the aero push and I’m sorry we only had five cars on the lead lap. You can’t take back the knowledge we have. The lead car will always have the best air and you can’t get around that. If we can close that gap, I get it; I understand it and I think it is better for the sport. The more difficult the cars are to drive, especially the looser they are fits my driving style and I’m all for that.”
DID DARLINGTON JUST OPEN THE FLOOD GATES? DID IT TAKE THE PRESSURE OFF THE WHOLE TEAM? HAVE YOU DRAWN STRAWS AS TO WHICH HENDRICK DRIVER IS GOING TO WIN THIS WEEK? “(Laughs) No, I wish it was that easy. The momentum out of Darlington really helped the No. 48 team. It’s hard to say that it impacted the rest of the company because if I think back, I think the No. 24 had some troubles, the No. 88 had a fair night, I think the No. 5 finished well if my memory is correct. When you win there is nothing like the momentum from that victory for that team. Sure it carries through the company a little bit, but from my own experience if my teammate won the week prior when I go to the track the next week it doesn’t impact me any. I can say and I said it when I opened up, we have been up here telling all of you that we have fast race cars. I think we have shown it. It’s been tough to really execute like we’ve wanted to and especially for a few of my teammates. To have that all kind of coming around and all four cars running where they should there is a great feeling in that. As each individual team has their own success that will build momentum. Charlotte was a very good week for all four teams. The two weeks we were there actually. I think we all come here to Dover with our own confidence for our own reasons.”
AS PART OF THE CLEAN AND GREEN RACING THAT WE HAVE SEEN THERE IS A THEORY GOING AROUND THAT THE DRIVERS ARE BEING MORE CAUTIOUS IN PART BECAUSE OF THE POINTS SYSTEM WHICH SEEMS TO PENALIZE BAD FINISHES MORE THAN IN THE PAST. HAVE YOU FOUND GUYS BEING ANYMORE CAUTIOUS AND DO YOU FEEL LIKE THE POINTS SYSTEM HAS CONTRIBUTED IF THEY ARE BEING MORE CAUTIOUS?
“From my own perspective I’m not driving any different this year than I have last or with other points systems. It’s very similar to what we have had before. I know once you get past 15th or 20th the ratio doesn’t equal what we saw with the old points system. We are not thinking about that stuff. I am surprised that we don’t have more cautions. From my perspective in the driver’s seat when I look around me and watch my competitors we are crossed up, we are slapping the fence, there is hard racing, there is side-by-side racing. I don’t know where the cautions have gone. I’m glad I’m not a part of them. It’s fine if it’s someone else, but when it’s you or your teammates you don’t really dig that. I don’t have the answer. I don’t know where it went. I know from on the race track people may think that we are being conservative and racing for points but that’s been the nature of our sport forever. That hasn’t changed any in my opinion.”
WHAT ARE THE KEYS TO GETTING AROUND DOVER? “Fortunately, this track does relate to the 1.5-mile tracks due to the speed that we run. The design of the track and the transitions into the corner and off are far different than anywhere we go. That takes experience and a driver that likes this race track and the rhythm that it requires to run fast here. From a handling set-up and the way we bring the car it is in the direction of a lot of the 1.5-mile stuff. We have seen trends from a successful Charlotte means a successful Dover. We are coming here with that thought in mind and hopeful our car is real fast and I love this track so those two things together really help.”
WHAT DO YOU SEE AS THE GREATEST CHALLENGE ON A TRACK LIKE THIS? “Well to run a fast lap here you’ve got to be highly committed. It’s not a very comfortable lap with the elevation change that you have from the straight-a-way to the corner. So you deal with it getting into the turn and you climb that hill coming back out. Then you go to the other end and you do it again. If you show up here and you don’t like that experience then you’ve got a long race ahead of you. That is just Dover. Of years past the tire that we brought and it’s been bounced around a little bit lays down a lot of rubber. That rubber lays down where we land at max compression where the car needs as much grip as possible. Where that rubber builds up it knocks the car loose almost as if you are driving across ice. I have enjoyed the challenge because I think line selection and technique really helps you get through the slippery spots on the race track and it has led to some of our success here. That has been the biggest challenge of late. I understand we are on a different tire and it shouldn’t lay as much rubber down so we will see how that goes throughout the course of the race. It’s hard to really see in practice, but race time right where the right side tires run on corner entry and on corner exit where max load is we see that rubber lay down. That has been the biggest challenge over the last couple of years.”
WHAT MAKES THIS PLACE SO SPECIAL FOR YOU AS A DRIVER? WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS AS FAR AS LOOKING AHEAD TO THIS WEEK’S PRELUDE TO THE DREAM? “The track here I know the transitions in and off the corner there really is a right way to go about it. It takes time to kind of figure that out. I think my background with off road truck racing it helped me adapt quicker. Turn one although the track looks very similar the radius in turns one and two is a little tighter. It’s really one fluid motion. Whereas in three and four there is almost a small straight-a-way between turn three and turn four. You have to drive through two corners down there basically and there is a way to get that right. I just enjoy the way a driver makes a difference here. It’s something that has fit my style. I seem to be good at adapting to uncomfortable situations due to my dirt background. At this track you are never really comfortable around it.
“I’m excited for Eldora; we are not going to get a lot of rest next week between Pocono testing, Eldora race and then Pocono testing again and then our regular weekend. But, in a race car I’m going to love it. I won that race a couple of years ago. I hope to go back and do that again. More than anything support Tony (Stewart) in his charitable causes and look forward to a great night there. I hope the fans tune in.”
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE RACING YOU MIGHT EXPECT AT POCONO AND ARE THERE SOME ADVANTAGES YOU THOUGHT YOU HAD THERE THAT MAYBE YOU WON’T ANYMORE BECAUSE OF THE REPAVE? “I feel like we, granted we haven’t won at Pocono in quite some time, but we have led a lot of laps at the old surface. I tend to like old surfaces, but that’s gone. Kasey (Kahne) was up there for the tire test. He had a lot of positive things to say about how the tire reacted to the surface. Normally, it’s an edgy race track regardless of the tire that you come with on a new repave. It sounds like we didn’t have that and Pocono made sure they used the same mix, the same asphalt that we were racing on. I’m optimistic that they are on to something and that other tracks when they resurface they can go back to their old mix. We have seen this new mix that goes down and it takes years and years for the comfort to come for the track to age for the side-by-side racing to come. I am hopeful that the Pocono track the decision they made will speed that process up and we can go there and put on a good show. I would imagine that it’s going to be super smooth and really fast. It’s going to be a big engine test and aero platform test. We will compromise all mechanical grip for anything aero we can get with the speeds and how smooth the track is going to be there.”
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