MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY
FOOD CITY 500
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
APRIL 6, 2019
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1, met with members of the media at Bristol Motor Speedway following Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series final practice for the Food City 500. Johnson was second fastest in the session.
THIS HAS NOT ALWAYS BEEN ONE OF YOUR BEST TRACKS, BUT DO YOU HAVE MORE CONFIDENCE NOW AFTR THIS WEEKEND HAS GONE SO WELL SO FAR?
“I needed race laps and race practice to kind of find my groove here. Our short-run speed, I think is good. And even yesterday after qualifying, I think it shows that we are working in the right areas and even uncovering some stuff that Chad and I couldn’t here from a short-run stand point. It is probably unfair to say that because he qualified second. I think our cars are just getting better, and we are gaining more confidence in that.
“I anticipated that I would run well here in race trim and that went really good. I popped off a fast lap which I think was impressive so we are excited.”
IS THERE SOME MOMENTUM WITH HENDRICK NOW THAT IT SEEMS LIKE YOU GUYS ARE MOVING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION?
“Without a doubt internally a little bit of sunshine helps a ton. To have various little marks along the way – even before Texas we were starting to seeing some stuff internally. The No. 9 (Chase Elliott – Hendrick Motorsports teammate) ran good at Martinsville and we learned a lot from that as weird as that might seem. We had a good run at Phoenix. So we are putting some stuff together. But I’m still trying to keep myself under control and not be overly excited until we get three or four races under our belt that unload to reload with a solid weekend. We did that at Texas and we have started that way here.”
WHAT DID YOU LEARN FROM CHASE?
“Car stuff. Car parts. At times you need to be aggressive and put new stuff on the car. Then there are other times when you know there is a proven component or proven product that you just need to stay the course with. I don’t envy the crew chief position, or others positions when you have drivers saying we need more, we need more…we need something new. What we have is not working. So we put in all new sometimes. That is what we did at Martinsville. New wasn’t the thing to do. There are proven things that that we should have stayed to course with. We are tying to figure that out. When to be aggressive and when not to…it sucks.”
ARE YOU ALL TRYING SOMMETHING DIFFERENT OR ALL THE SAME? AWARE OF WHAT WAS WRONG WITH THE NO. 88 (ALEX BOWMAN)?
“I wasn’t aware, but I knew we were similar to the No. 9 (Chase Elliott) but I wasn’t sure where the other cars were. I heard the No. 88 was making changes going more toward our direction. With that cold practice this morning, and knowing Greg (Ives, crew chief), he probably wanted to try something different just to get some data. As long as it took to start off practice, and as good as were running, I assume, but I’m just speculating, but I assume they discussed that
“thing” we were talking about. Is it time to be aggressive here or not? It’s just tough to know when to do that.””
IS THERE A TEMPTATION TO JUST OVERLY EXPERIMENT?
“Well simultaneously we have the aero group working on stuff. The vehicle dynamics group working on stuff. There is just stuff and ideas that are coming through the system and becoming readily available. Things that look good in sim (simulator) and we are oh, well, okay, We are putting that in!! We still have to go prove it in race conditions. That is one thing simulation can not do. What the track is going to do when it rubbers up. And honestly in a lot of cases what it is like in traffic. That is all speculation. We don’t have any simulation that replicate what goes on in dirty air. We’ve been learning a lot.”
WHAT DO YOU THINK THE RACE IS GOING TO BE LIKE?
“I think it really depends on how fast the grip strip fades. Today with the heat, I’ll think you’ll have two lanes, but the bottom will eventually fade and the top will be where those guys finish long runs on. Tomorrow we will be on the bottom until it starts to fade. If it is overcast and cold, it is going to take longer for the top to come in. I think heat, and how long the grip stays on the bottom. I think those are two variables to consider.
DO YOU THINK IT WILL HALF ON THE RACE WILL BE ON THE BOTTOM AND THEN CHANGE?
“I think cloud cover will play a role. Right now some guys got to the top and running pretty well. I think the sun is going to play a role. Then it is monkey see, monkey do. You don’t want to be the first guy. You don’t want to be the first one up there, but after you see (Kyle) Larson up there for a few laps, you say okay let’s give it a try. Then the whole field goes. The big things I am going to pay attention to are if the top is sunny, I will go earlier. And see what is there.”
ON RUNNING THE BOSTON MARATHON:
“I’m feeling good. I still have a few more tough workouts. The tapered schedule, you don’t want to feel your best until the day of the marathon. Factoring in this race as the most physical one, and the Richmond is pretty tough as well, and never having run a full marathon, I’m not sure how I am supposed to feel. I still have to swim and run today, I’m testing the system. I love being coached, but it is tricky with the racing. Especially these two tracks short tracks.”
Team Chevy high-resolution racing photos are available for editorial use.
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