MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
ISM RACEWAY
TICKETGUARDIAN 500
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
MARCH 9, 2019
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1, met with members of the media following the final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice session. Johnson and the No. 48 Camaro ZL1 team were the quickest among the Chevrolet’s placing seventh on the final practice speed chart. Johnson will start tomorrow’s TicketGuardian 500 from the 15th position.
TALK ABOUT THE FINAL PRACTICE SESSION AND HOW YOU FEEL HEADING INTO THE RACE TOMORROW:
“It went well. Still looking for more, but in general a smooth day of … really two smooth days of practice sessions and trying to understand this new package. There is a lot of center of corner speed with the higher downforce so it’s been fun to really challenge yourself and kind of move your reference points around and charge the center of the corner. Our car has had respectable speed this weekend.”
YOU HAVE BEEN SICK FOR LIKE A WEEK NOW?
“Tomorrow will make a full week, well I guess probably more than that.”
IS IT A WEIRD COLD THAT YOU GOT OR THE FLU?
“No, I don’t think it was the flu. I was here for a media tour last Thursday and I had kind of a dry cough. Dealt with that until Saturday and I just felt like being out here in the dry air something like that was just aggravating my allergies and then I woke up Sunday morning and my voice was officially gone and things went downhill quick from there. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, didn’t get out of bed, had a fever, coughing and more respiratory related. And then I’ve been getting better each day and today is feeling pretty good. I’m still coughing occasionally, but last week whatever got a hold of me on Saturday or Sunday morning whatever it was got me good.”
WHAT WAS YOUR FEELING ON THE CAR AND THE SENSATION WITH THE BIGGER SPOILER ON IT? A LOT OF GUYS SAID IT WAS REALLY TOUGH TO PASS.
“I don’t think that is any different than what we have kind of had going on here. More downforce a little more forgiving, I can’t think of mass different issue that the cars might have. For us, I feel like it’s helped with our entry balance and the sensitivity our Hendrick cars have had on corner entry. I’ve found that I’ve been able to open up my entry and have a bigger arch into the turn and have more speed and I think we’ve been a little more competitive as a result. So, all that downforce I think covers up some handling characteristics which we will take right now. Passing has been tough. I don’t think as long as we are counting on air over the top of the car, we are not going to change that environment. There has to be some correlation between the bottom of the car and the road so that it’s not air dependent in order for us to get away with the issues we have in dirty air.”
CAN YOU DEFINE CENTER CUT? I KNOW YOU WERE LOOKING FOR THAT EARLIER.
“This weekend it has been nice because the entry balance has been comfortable as I mentioned. I attribute that to the more downforce that we have on the cars. So, I could carry more speed, have a wider arch in the turn and then ideally you just don’t want to turn the steering wheel very far in the center of the corner, so you use the suspension of the car to load up a certain way and for it to naturally turn on it’s own and not require the driver to put a lot of steering wheel input into it. Just drag speed out of it.”
HAVE YOU NOTICED ANYTHING WITH THIS NEW TIRE THAT THEY BROUGHT? IT WAS SUPPOSED TO WEAR MORE THAN IN THE PAST.
“I haven’t looked at a set myself and I know my guys haven’t been talking much about it. So, I don’t think there are any issues there.”
DID YOU FEEL LIKE THE CAR WAS GETTING MORE DIFFICULT TO DRIVE THROUGH A RUN?
“To me, we are going faster through the corner, but it’s still Phoenix. You don’t turn down here (pointing to the track), you turn too good over there, you start off dragging splitters and side skirts and dragging the track, especially through the dogleg and then five laps in the air pressures come up and you are just tight. It still has the same characteristics in my opinion. I think we are going to a little bit faster and yeah, it’s a little bit different, but if you just generally read through driver’s comments from last fall to this race, I think they would basically be the same.”
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