MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY
GEICO 500
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
APRIL 26, 2019
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1 met with media in a breakout session at Talladega Superspeedway. Select highlights:
HOW WAS THE BOSTON MARATHON?
“The race itself was awful and amazing at the same time. I had a goal in mind to run a certain pace and tried to hang onto it. I didn’t really slow down and enjoy the experience as much as I maybe should have. I was kind of in race mode and ran it hard. I had a few arguments with myself along the way that look, you just need to enjoy this and take it all in. There was definitely a mental battle going on through the course of the 26 miles, but just extremely painful and the most amazing experience I think I’ve had. To have two million people cheering, to have competitors offering you advice as you’re running next to them and high-fiving you – it was just an environment I’ve never been in before.”
WHAT IS THE REASON THAT YOU CONTINUE TO REACH FOR NEW GOALS LIKE RUNNING THE BOSTON MARATHON?
“I’ve been working up to it and over the years, I’ve run different distances on foot and different distance triathlon events so it’s taken me years to build up to this. By no means am I some amazing runner, it’s just something that I’ve found a way to make enjoyable. I don’t prefer running over swim, bike and run, but I found a way to enjoy it and more than anything, there’s an energy among the competitors and the spectators that are there raising awareness for charity, that are there to help one another and there’s a camaraderie in those events that is something we don’t get here. You barely help your teammates here and those events, it’s just a different world. I’ve always enjoyed it and that’s why in the early days when I got started with it, I wanted my foundation to put on events and be in that space because it is such a giving and charitable kind of focused group of people. It was more of an experience bucket list item for me than it was about a function of running. To do a major event like that and experience the day, the people, the crowds – that was what it was about for me.”
WHY DO YOU THINK YOU LIKE PAIN AND WHY DO YOU LIKE TO BE COACHED?
“I just think through my career, I’ve had to get uncomfortable in my own head to be fast and I’ve always had mentors or coaches working with me along the way. When I look back to my motocross days, my early days in off-road truck, stock cars – all of that – the space and the way I have to go to war with myself in the race car is the same way I’ve got to go to war with myself in a physical event. For me, it is a way for me to get stronger and be able to perform better in those moments. Someone will say I’m losing my focus, but honestly it’s sharpening my focus and making me stronger for those moments in the car.”
WOULD YOU CONSIDER RUNNING THE MARATHON AGAIN NEXT YEAR ON THE SUNDAY AFTER RICHMOND?
“I’m afraid you guys are going to write something before I have a chance to talk to my wife. I looked and it’s crossed my mind. It wouldn’t be ideal by any means, but it would be a heck of a story. I’d have a full year to get ready for it and set some new goals for that. I’m keeping an eye on it and just have to work all my angles to make it happen.”
DID YOU HAVE THE EXPERIENCE WHERE YOU HIT THE WALL AND HAD TO GET THROUGH IT AT SOME POINT?
“A couple times honestly. I would say my first reality check was at mile seven. It was the first flat stretch of road and I couldn’t run the pace that I had hoped to. The heart rate that I desired to run the entire distance and I had to pull it back and then at halfway I was a minute, 20 seconds off the split time I needed and I wasn’t going to get any faster on the second half with the hills. I honestly just got into a pretty aggressive argument with myself and just told myself to stop looking at my watch, just quit it and run comfortably and see what the time is when you get home, get to the end. The next time I looked at my watch was on the final road and I saw it was like a 3:08 and something as I was approaching the finish line. I was like, ‘damn, I ran pretty good.’ I didn’t look that second half of the race, I just had to go to a different place mentally to get through it.”
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF WHAT TALLADEGA IS DOING TO ENHANCE THE FAN EXPERIENCE?
“I guess there has been more efforts, but the efforts that are made are in areas that everybody kind of loves to participate in anyway meaning going out at night and seeing the Boulevard and interacting with the fans, but that’s something that’s always been going on here and has been a lot of fun. With qualifying being late tomorrow, I think that will be very enticing for crew members and drivers to go on out and have a little fun tonight too.”
DID YOU REALIZE HOW MUCH RESPECT PEOPLE HAD FOR YOU TO RUN IN THE MARATHON?
“Honestly, I was very surprised myself with what I saw and how many people texted me let alone what went on with social media. When I went to the race shop on Tuesday or the next day when I went to the race shop for the meetings, I was kind of hobbling in there. To see everybody and go through our stuff that we do, crew members gathered around like they did after we won a championship and it really had a championship feel to it. I was surprised by that and have analyzed it some and feel like maybe one of my theories is that running is something we’ve all done and we’ve all run a mile or two, whatever it might be and it’s easy for people to put that into perspective of running a full marathon distance. I think it was great for the sport and certainly surprised myself with the support after and was real excited about that.”
IS THERE ANYTHING YOU CAN SHARE FROM THE NASCAR MEETING IN RICHMOND?
“I didn’t find anything really new. It’s kind of been the same conversation. There were some updates on viewership numbers, which was nice to see that we were trending up to where a lot of other sports have been trending down in viewership. I think some of the asks that NASCAR has of the drivers and markets and the way that we promote events is paying off. The conversations seem very similar and I wasn’t surprised by anything that happened in those meetings other than we were broken up into three different groups, which was kind of different for the first time.”
WHY DO YOU THINK THEY SPLIT THE GROUPS UP?
“I don’t think it was on their side as much as it was on our side. We had some Chevy meetings and some other meetings that popped up during the day that required the groups breaking up.”
WHAT DO YOU EXPECT AT DOVER NEXT WEEK?
“It’s going to be different. Going to be a lot of throttle and probably more like the 2015 rules package that we had there. I love that place and from an ASA car to a BGN car, Cup car, I’ve always run well there so I’m excited to go back to it.”
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