JOHNSON WILL LEAD THE FIELD TO GREEN IN GEICO 400 AT CHICAGOLAND
POLE IS 27TH OF NASCAR SPRINT CUP CAREER
JOLIET, ILL – September 15, 2012 – Jimmie Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s/Kobalt Tools Chevrolet, will lead the field to the green in Sunday’s Geico 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Chicagoland Speedway, round 27 on the tour and opening round of the 10-race Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Johnson posted a lap of 29.530 seconds, 182.865 mph to capture his 27th pole of his Cup career. He moves into a tie for 24th all-time with Terry Labonte; and this marks his second pole at Chicagoland Speedway.
Johnson’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate Dale Earnhardt, Jr. qualified fourth in his No. 88 AMP Energy/7-Eleven/National Guard Chevrolet; and fellow driver Kasey Kahne, No. 5 Farmer’s Insurance Chevrolet qualified sixth.
Other Team Chevy drivers starting in the top 12 are Regan Smith, No. 78 Furniture Row Racing/Farm American Chevrolet (starts 7th), Paul Menard, No. 27 Menards/Libman Chevrolet (starts 11th) and Jamie McMurray, No. 1 McDonald’s Chevrolet (starts 12th).
Among the six Chevy Chasers in the lineup, three will start outside the top 12: Jeff Gordon, No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet will start 19th, Tony Stewart, No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet starts 29th, and Kevin Harvick, No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet will start the race from the 35th position.
Aric Almirola (Ford) will start second, Matt Kenseth (Ford) starts third, and Carl Edwards (Ford) will start fifth to round out the top five qualifiers.
The Geico 400 takes the green flag on Sunday, Sept. 16th at 2:00 p.m. ET and will be aired live on ESPN.
POST-QUALIFYING PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT:
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S/KOBALT TOOLS CHEVROLET – POLE WINNER:
THIS IS YOUR 27TH POLE IN YOUR CUP CAREER. THIS IS YOUR SECOND POLE AT CHICAGOLAND SPEEDWAY. THIS IS YOUR 10TH POLE IN A CHASE RACE. TALK ABOUT THAT
“It’s too early in the Chase to be over-the-top excited or down-and-out if you didn’t qualify like you wanted to today. Qualifying makes the race so much easier for you. You know you’re pit stall is going to be right and clearly track position at the start of the race is going to be in your favor. It’s not a ‘must’ to win the race or be a threat for the championship but again it just makes life so much easier. I’m very happy that we got a pole. “Qualifying isn’t typically my strong suit but we laid down a good one today. I’m excited to take the changes we made in qualifying today and apply that to our race set-up. I think it will give us just what we need for Sunday.”
SHOULD THE OTHER GUYS IN THE CHASE CONSIDER THIS A SHOT ACROSS THE BOW? OR DID YOU WANT THE POLE FOR THAT REASON?
“No, I just wanted it because I don’t win poles all that often (laughs). I was certain that a ‘Chaser’ was going to win the pole today. I think that’s the way it’s going to be through the remaining races. You’re going to see the best out of the Chase group. We do have some guys that didn’t make the Chase that can mix it up from time to time with the No. 99 (Carl Edwards) and the No. 18 (Kyle Busch), but I was fully prepared for somebody in the Chase to win the pole today.”
IT SEEMED LIKE YOU POSITIONED YOURSELF VERY WELL IN TERMS OF THE QUALIFYING ORDER. DID YOU NOT RUN A QUALIFYING RUN IN FIRST PRACTICE YESTERDAY?
“No, we didn’t make any qualifying runs. We were working on race trim. It just didn’t make sense to post a fast lap with the conditions not being right. So, we waited until the second session to work on qualifying so that the track temp would be close. It was a tough call to make because we didn’t use all of our sets of tires to their fullest. So, I’m glad it paid off. It worked out well for us. If we were sitting here 20th, we’d be mad about what we did yesterday (laughs) and didn’t spend more time on race trim in the second practice working on raced stuff. So, it all worked out.”
THIS IS ONLY ONE OF FIVE TRACKS YOU HAVEN’T WON AT. HOW MANY TIMES DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU’VE BEEN CLOSE TO GETTING A WIN HERE? HOW MUCH MOTIVATION DO YOU HAVE TO OPEN THE CHASE WITH A WIN HERE?
“Yeah, we’ve been real close (to winning at Chicagoland). Some things have worked against us. I can remember with Kyle (Busch) in a night race here on a restart, I just did a bad job. I got beat (laughs). I’ve dropped the ball and we’ve had some things work against us. This is a track I’ve always enjoyed. As all of you know, my first and only Nationwide win came here. I smile when I know I’m coming up here. I love the area and the track. The last part to it all is that I’ve been able to win at my home track and really experience that and know how cool that is. And I want that to happen for (crew chief) Chad (Knaus). I want to win here and let him experience it. It’s been really cool for me over the years to do that at California.”
IF YOU WERE TO LEAVE HERE WITH A WIN AND START THIS CHASE WITH A WIN ON ONE OF FEW TRACKS WHERE YOU HAVEN’T WON, WOULD THAT SEND A STATEMENT?
“Yeah. I think a win sends a statement for sure. I’m not so sure it’s because I haven’t won here before. The 1.5-miles have a general set-up that works with them and we’ve been strong on those tracks this year. And I’ve been so close before, that I don’t think the statement would really be in that; it would be the fact that whoever it is can get max points. We know what wins mean; we know what max points mean. It would be more on that than anything.”
YOU HAVE ALWAYS BEEN BIG ON TRACK POSITION. WHEN YOU GET TO INTERMEDIATE TRACKS, DOES THAT BEFORE FIRST AND FOREMOST ON YOUR MIND GOING FORWARD?
“Yeah, the faster we go, the harder it is to pass. So at a big race track like this, you want track position. You’d take that over tires in most cases. But the track does have a nice wide groove where you can run anywhere on it. We should see some good passing but still, track position is going to be king.”
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