MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
GANDER RV 400
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
MAY 3, 2019
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1, met with media and discussed his enthusiasm and success at Dover, the new qualifying rules beginning today, on-track speeds, and more. Full Transcript:
DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY IS CELEBRATING ITS 50th ANNIVERSARY THIS SEASON. BEING THE DRIVER WITH THE MOST WINS HERE, TALK A LITTLE ABOUT THIS TRACK AND WHAT IT HAS MEANT FOR YOUR CAREER
“Clearly, I’m very biased about this race track. I think it’s the best one out there. I think all drivers can appreciate just the challenge that comes with this track, the banking, the speed, the transitions from the straightaways through the corners. I noticed on social media before we got here that drivers and crew members and crew chiefs were all talking about how much they love coming here. it’s just a very unique challenge and a totally different race track than anything else we race on.”
YOU SAID AT MARTINSVILLE THAT A LOT OF CHANGES AND RULES TO THE CARS HAVE IMPACTED YOUR ADVANTAGE. CAN YOU TALK ABOUT IF THAT’S DONE THE SAME THING HERE? AND IF SO, HOW SO?
“Over the years I feel like here, we’ve probably stayed in the game more than other tracks. We won here a couple of years ago, I feel like we were one of the best cars here last year, but had something weird break on the car before we took to the track for the race. I feel like here, the vertical loading, and we’ve talked about this a little bit, I think with the media, but our cars have always performed well at Hendrick Motorsports with high-vertical loading and this track certainly has a lot of that. Martinsville seems like it’s slipped away from us a little bit, performance-wise, but at Dover, we seem to come back here and repeat each time.”
DO YOU PREFER SINGLE-CAR QUALIFYING OR WERE YOU MORE COMFORTABLE WITH GROUP CAR QUALIFYING AS FAR AS WHAT YOU WOULD HAVE TO BRING TO THE TABLE AS A DRIVER TO GET THE BEST OUT OF THAT LAP?
“Selfishly, I think my stats would show that single-car qualifying I perform better in those moments. So, that brings a little optimism to this new format, but whatever we need to do. I’ve been doing this long enough now that I’ve seen all types of formats and variations. And, I really don’t have an opinion either way. I just hope the fans enjoy it and it puts on a good show for television.”
WE SAW A GREAT PERFORMANCE BY THE CHEVYS AT TALLADEGA. THEY WERE FAST ON THE SPEED CHART IN FIRST PRACTICE. WHAT DO YOU THINK IT’S GOING TO LOOK LIKE FOR THE BOWTIE BRIGADE ONCE WE GET TO KANSAS AND WE’RE LOOKING AT A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT AERO PACKAGE AND ENGINE PACKAGE COMBINATION?
“I think we’re all trending in the right direction and getting better each and every week. As you pointed out, that’s just a totally different rules package for the Kansas race. Personally, I look at our success at Texas and think that the 1.5-mile format and rules package, Hendrick Motorsports has improved and is doing better. So, I’m optimistic and certainly very happy to be at a track that I love so much. And, I feel like we can hopefully string together a couple of really strong weeks here.”
KYLE BUSH WAS IN THE MEDIA CENTER EARLIER AND VOICED SOME CONCERN OVER JUST HOW FAST THE CARS ARE GOING AROUND HERE. DO YOU HAVE ANY CONCERNS ABOUT THE SPEEDS? WHAT DO YOU FEEL THAT LINE IS?
“I’m not sure what his exact comments were, but from a safety standpoint I don’t have big concerns from a Sunday in-race opportunity to pass, the type of racing we’ll see on Sunday, I am nervous about that. The faster we go, the harder it is to pass and the wider the race track needs to be. The critical areas around this track are pretty narrow. And there’s really one groove around the bottom most years I’ve been here. So, the tall spoiler, the higher speeds, I think that’s going to make the cars very difficult to really pass the car in front of you. So, from that standpoint, I think track position is important and that’s where my concerns are.”
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