NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
FINGER LAKES 355 AT THE GLEN
WATKINS GLEN INTERNATIONAL
TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
August 11, 2012
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – August 12, 2012 – In a wild wheel-to-wheel finish of the Finger Lakes 355 at The Glen NASCAR Sprint Cup race, five-time series champion Jimmie Johnson maneuvered his No. 48 Lowe’s Cortez Silver Chevrolet around the slippery 11-turn road course to cross the finish line in third place at Watkins Glen International. It was Johnson’s sixth top-10 finish in three races at The Glen.
Marcos Ambrose (Ford) passed Brad Keselowski (Dodge) on the final lap, and then held him off in an exciting battle that netted them first and second-place finishes respectively. Several drivers in the field were challenged on the last two of the 90-lap race by oil on the 2.45-mile course.
Sonoma winner Clint Bowyer (Toyota) and Sam Hornish Jr. (Toyota) finished fourth and fifth, respectively to round out the top five.
With his third place finish, Johnson gained the series points lead by one over Greg Biffle (Ford) who finished sixth.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. who had been running 10th, was among many victims of the oil-slicked course and spun his No. 88 National Guard/Diet Mountain Dew Chevy with seven laps to go. He finished 28th, and fell from first to fourth in points, 17 behind Johnson. Jeff Gordon, who struggled with an ill-handling No 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet, but who had worked his way back into the top 10, was also a late victim of the slick conditions and finished a disappointing 21st overall.
Defending NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champ, Tony Stewart, also spun his No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevy; which cost him two spots in the point standings and dropped him to eighth in the order. Stewart finished 19th overall.
Regan Smith, driving the No. 78 Furniture Row/Farm American Chevrolet, posted his first career top-10 on a road course with a 9th place finish. Ryan Newman, No. 39 U.S. Army Chevrolet was 11th, and Paul Menard, No. 27 Menards/Rheem Chevy finished 12th.
Steering problems with his No. 42 Target Chevrolet sent pole-sitter Juan Pablo Montoya to the garage early: regulating him to a disappointing 33rd place finish.
The next race on the tour will be held at Michigan International Speedway on Sunday, August 19, 2012
POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CORTEZ SILVER CHEVROLET – FINISHED 3RD:
THE MODERATOR: We’ll go ahead and get started with our post-race press conference. We welcome Jimmie Johnson who finished third.
Jimmie Johnson, our new points leader. Jimmie, talk about the last few laps as well as the race, and speak about being the new points leader.
JIMMIE JOHNSON: Excited to be leading the points. Whoever the team is, I really believe they get some much-needed experience with the pressure of the points lead late in the season. It’s just different than leading at any other point in time. I look forward to the pressure on my team and myself.
Every little thing we can do to get prepared for the Chase is helpful. This is another step in that direction. Excited about that.
Those last two laps, next to the last lap was really the most difficult because we were discovering where the oil was. The white flag lap I made some good adjustments, except turn 11, to dodge the oil. Slipped pretty bad, almost crashed. The 15 and a few others were coming quick at that point. Just a wild last couple laps.
In general I thought the racing was really good. Our cars work good around here. Even with the strategy we had today, I had to pass a lot of cars, and seemed like a lot of good racing everywhere.
Q. Jimmie, were you close enough to see the battle between those two? Did you feel like it might be an opportunity for you the way they were going at it?
JIMMIE JOHNSON: I could see the aftermath. I saw Kyle trying to get back going. We get to the inner loop, there was dirt and stuff everywhere. I didn’t see what started it. I was hoping it was those two leaning on each other, but I really couldn’t see what was going on.
Q. When exactly did you notice the oil? How did you maneuver around it?
JIMMIE JOHNSON: I did the next-to-last lap in turn one. I thought I blew a right front tire when I turned in. Why would I blow a right front? The right front was in the oil slipping, I could feel that.
At that point I think the 18 was turned around, and my spotter was saying the 18 had spun, be careful. When I went into two, I had issues. Kind of pieced together that lap.
The next lap wasn’t as bad because I had an idea where to miss some of the stuff, except turn 11. I went wide on the last corner coming to the checkered. There was more wide than there was low. I slipped and almost lost third. Clint and a few others were low and were coming pretty hard at me towards the end.
THE MODERATOR: Jimmie, thank you very much. Congratulations on your finish.
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