Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin and Ryan Newman Give Team Chevy Three of Top-Five Finishing Positions at Michigan International Speedway; A Total of Six Chevrolet Drivers Logged Finishes in the Top-10 in the Pure Michigan 400
BROOKLYN, Mich (August 21, 2011): Jimmie Johnson came within one spot of adding Michigan International Speedway (MIS) to his list of tracks at which he has captured a victory. On the final restart setting up an overtime green-white-checkered finish and extending the race to 203 laps from the scheduled 200 laps, the five-time defending NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) champion battled for the lead but had to settle for the runner-up spot at the finish. He was credited for leading once for 18 laps today behind the wheel of his No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet.
After starting 19th in the 43-car field, the strong run jumped Johnson, who has one victory this season, back to second in the standings behind leader and race winner Kyle Busch (Toyota) with three races remaining until the start of the 2011 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
Mark Martin, No. 5 CARQUEST Auto Parts/GoDaddy.com Chevrolet, qualified fifth for the 23rd race of the season and finished fourth today after leading once for two laps. Martin moved up two positions in the standings to 16th place.
Ryan Newman started his No. 39 WIX Filters Chevrolet in third and had to rebound from a miscue on pit road to finish fifth in the final tally. With one win this season, Newman moved up one position in points to seventh place.
Four time NSCS champion Jeff Gordon had a very strong No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet throughout most of the race. He started ninth and was credited with leading three times for a total of 50 laps on his way to a sixth place finish at the checkered flag. Gordon moved up one position in the standings, to sixth place.
Clint Bowyer, No. 33 Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet, continued his battle for a berth in the 12 Chase drivers with an eighth place finish after coming from deep in the starting field, 35th position. He remains 11th in the standings, 24 points out of the last locked-in position, 10th place.
Tony Stewart, a two-time NSCS champion came into today’s race 10th in the standings and left in the same position after finishing ninth behind the wheel of his No. 14 Mobil 1/Office Depot Chevrolet.
Dale Earnhardt, Jr., No. 88 National Guard/AMP Energy Chevrolet, finished 14th in the race to remain ninth in the standings, 22 points behind eighth place and six points ahead of 10th position.
Kevin Harvick, No. 29 Jimmy John’s Chevrolet, battled an ill-handling car, a scrape with the wall and some pit road issues to finish 22nd in the Pure Michigan 400. He sits third in the standings with three wins to his credit so far this season.
Brad Keselowski (Dodge) was the third place finisher.
Chevrolet continues to lead the NSCS Manufacturers’ Cup standings as the series moves to Bristol Motor Speedway for some night racing on Saturday, August 27, 2011.
POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET – FINISHED 2ND:
THE MODERATOR: At this time we welcome Jimmie Johnson, who finished second in today’s 42nd annual Pure Michigan 400.
Jimmie, talk a little bit about the race.
JIMMIE JOHNSON: The start of the race was pretty tough for the Lowe’s team. We had a pretty well handling racecar, but then had a mistake on pit road. We took the first third of the race to get the car right. After we got the car underneath me and I had confidence to race side by side with the other competitors, I think I started last or tail end because of a penalty we had to serve and drove my way into the top 10 or top 5, something like that.
Once we had the car under me, we were in the game, had a shot at running in the top three. With the call that Chad made coming to pit road before the caution came out, that gave us a chance to win.
Wish I could have hung on. We had some debris on the grill. The car was much looser than the run before. Some of it was due to the debris on the nose and also clean air. I got away from Kyle, but as I was pulling away, I was sliding the car pretty bad. I knew that my rears weren’t going to last long enough. 24, 27 laps around here is a long run.
Eventually he got to me. With that last restart I had a shot once again, got a good restart next to him, but couldn’t make it happen on the bottom down in one and two, brought it home from there.
All in all, a very strong performance from us, a very big day for the confidence for the team, myself, and our ability to really recover from a slow start to a race and turn it around.
THE MODERATOR: We’ll open it up for questions.
Q. Jimmie, Brad (Keselowski) is almost certainly going to make the playoffs. You never raced against him for the title. What do you think about him in the Chase and how you race somebody like that that’s new to it, that has a lot of enthusiasm?
JIMMIE JOHNSON: Can you put your ear muffs on, Brad (laughter)?
When we get to the Chase, the guys that make the Chase, they are all very capable of winning the championship. When you go through and you look at the guys you’re racing against, I think drivers that have won championships at a high level, you have to take and see them first. Guys that have won Cup championships, I’ve said this in the past, doesn’t mean that a guy, a rookie, because everybody has to win their first. It’s not excluding that.
But the Chase does something to everyone, the pressure that’s put on the drivers, watching your life’s work come to work over a 10 race period of time. As the races click off, it comes down to two or three races left, it does weird things to people, outside the car, on the pit box, things happen. We’ve seen that.
The thing that I’ve been able to pull back on and fall on was my past history. Brad and what he did last year in winning the championship, he’ll fall on that. He’ll fall on the shoulders of Penske Racing, his guys, who he’s around.
I’m very interested to see how this Chase is going to go. I think it’s the hardest one to predict. It’s going to be a close one. I don’t know who to make the favorite. We’ll just have to see how everybody responds to pressure when it really kicks up.
Q. Jimmie, you’ve known Kyle (Busch) his whole career, since he first started. You’ve seen all the ups and a lot of downs. How much has he changed? Last week with everything that happened, he really might have gotten upset about that in the past. Seemed to take it well. How much has he changed and is that a factor in how well things are going for him now?
JIMMIE JOHNSON: I’m not too close to he and his organization to see what happens behind closed doors. It could be different there, who knows. We all have that anger inside of us. Some have been able to have a filter, wait till they get home, maybe kick the dog or something instead of doing it at the track.
I’ve worked with Kyle as a teammate in the past. I understand his passion for racing. I certainly know that he’s not afraid to stand on the gas and can really drive the car to its potential week in and week out.
I said this about him a while ago: Once he figured out how to win races, he’d win a lot. He certainly has done that. His big test is for a championship. Once he understands that and figures that out, I think he’ll win a lot of those, too.
He’s got a lot of talent. When I think about his age, I didn’t come into the sport till I was 25, 26 was my rookie year. At the time I thought that opportunity had passed me by and I wasn’t sure I was ever going to get a shot. But looking back, I’m very thankful getting my late start. It helped me mature in a lot of ways. I made my mistakes more on the lower levels instead of in the spotlight with the pressure of the Cup Series.
He’s getting into that in his mid 20s now. So he’s getting into his sweet spot, I think.
Q. Jimmie, hindsight is always 20/20. Is there any hindsight here? You said you slid around your tires. You briefly did have an advantage that was fairly enormous. Were you damned if you did, damned if you don’t? Any regrets at all?
JIMMIE JOHNSON: No. The only regret is just not winning. I don’t think I could have done much different. I mean, I changed my brake (indiscernible) around, turned the fans off, did everything I could to tighten my car up. I knew what was going to happen from there.
You’re kind of doomed at that point. Certainly tried and did everything that I could. I moved around a little bit on the track. That helped him get to me a little quicker because I made some mistakes and ran some slower laps.
I had every opportunity handed to me. Chad made the awesome call to get me to pit road before the caution came out. I had a second shot at him on the restart and didn’t have enough to get by.
No excuses. I just wasn’t able to get him today.
Q. Jimmie, at the restart after caution four, lap 172, you pulled quite a gap to Kyle Busch. Also you said earlier you had debris on the grill and the car was loose. How was this possible when the car was handling not so perfect?
JIMMIE JOHNSON: Well, clean air puts more pressure on the nose of the car, plants the nose. When you’re running in traffic, you keep loosening your car up to run in dirty air. Once you get clean air, the balance is too free.
I was in traffic all day long. Then the debris on the front of the car actually puts more downforce on the car as well. It was overheating, water temp and oil temp. My hat’s off to the engine and motor shop. We ran 20 laps with that thing just cooking. Happy the motor survived.
But I got off to a quick start. But I think what helped me get a big lead was the 17 I think was in second and he was racing with the 18 and the 24. Those guys were running side by side. I was able to get away from them. Once they got in single file, I think Kyle started clipping off a couple 10ths on me a lap and it got to me.
Q. Jimmie, you talked a little bit about Kyle’s maturity level, having to get there before the wins would come. What does it take, because you know better than anybody right now, to win those championships? What will Kyle Busch need to differentiate himself from the other 11 guys?
JIMMIE JOHNSON: My experience, the championships, especially with the Chase format being so short with 10 races, you are going to be tested in all areas. We all have weaknesses and we all have strengths.
Really the bottom line is being strong or adequate in your weakest areas, raising that part up so your average is high enough to perform. I think you have to win a race in the Chase to be the champion. I guess you don’t have to the way the rules are written, but I think you need to win. It’s really about withstanding the pressure in all areas.
The first race starts off, I guess it’s in Chicago this year. You kind of get a feel for where things are at. As time goes by and there’s less races, you’re towards the top of that sheet week in and week out, the voices start, the thoughts start in your head. You will be challenged in every area as an individual and as a team.
In order to win a championship in today’s world, you’ve got to be rock solid. We will all learn in time who that guy is this year. We’ve been it the last five. Doesn’t mean this year is our year. We’ve got to go out and earn it, or whoever else will be the champion.
Q. This was the last race here before the repave. Knowing what you know about repaves at other tracks, in a perfect world, when you come back here next June, what are your hopes for the repave? Are you apprehensive or optimistic?
JIMMIE JOHNSON: I don’t know what their overall plans are from a banking standpoint, how the progressive banking will work out. I would assume it would still be something like that.
Either way you’re going to have to bring your big boy shoes here when the thing is repaved. We run a really intense lap now, even in race trim, a lot of throttle around this place. Depending on the tire they give us, you would assume we could come close to flat footing it.
Q. Jimmie, with the Chase starting in a few weeks, the amount of intermediate tracks that make up the Chase, wondering how your performance today at Michigan serves as a gauge for you and your team for the Chase?
JIMMIE JOHNSON: Yeah, it’s a step in the right direction. I look at some intermediate tracks. We’ve been very competitive. I look at Kentucky, here falls into that category, then I think of Kansas from a negative standpoint because we were just terrible there.
It’s kind of inconsistent. We’re still working hard to build that consistency into the car. But every good race, it just kind of builds a direction and helps us reinforce the areas we’re working in.
We certainly need to do better on the mile and a half’s. That’s been our bread and butter over the years. With the Chase being so heavily weighted in those races, we need to be competitive there.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you. Congratulations.
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