Team 48 Indianapolis Preview
Jimmie Johnson will be available for print and electronic interviews after practice on Friday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway interview room.
Lowe’s Chevrolet driver Jimmie Johnson and Team 48 visit Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday for the 11th running of the Brickyard 400. Johnson leads the 2004 points race by 232 points over Jeff Gordon – the largest lead of the season. He has held the lead for six consecutive weeks.
Johnson led 124 laps in posting his fourth victory of the season on Sunday at Pocono and tenth of his career in just 95 starts.
JIMMIE JOHNSON:
INDIANAPOLIS: “Growing up, I thought I was going to race Indy cars. That was my dream growing up until I got into my teens. I watched Rick Mears and Robby Gordon come from the off road ranks. Robbie was going into the Indy cars and that seemed like a natural step for the off-road racers. In fact that was the only step an off-road racer had taken at the time. Until Chevrolet took me under its wing and guided my career I had thought as a kid that Indy Cars are what I would race. There were races close to my house and I could catch them on television especially the Indy 500. That was the biggest race we would watch all year long. So, I always wanted to go to the Brickyard. Now to be there in a stock car in the best form of racing is great. As a kid that was one of the few races I could sit and watch the whole thing on television with my Dad. I remember the fiery crashes with some of the starts in the 1970s and 80s. I was always drawn to the race track just like everybody else. It’s the Brickyard. I’m excited to go back and hope we can have some success there.”
HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH THE FACT THAT AS OF RICHMOND THIS POINTS LEAD WON'T EXIST ANYMORE? "At the beginning of the year, we knew what the points would be like and I voiced my opinion then. I've voiced it many times since then. But it doesn't change what we're racing under. But if we complain about it too much and don't stay focused, we'll just be complainers at the end of the year finishing third or fourth. I've been vocal about it this year so that I might influence things so that next year it might be looked on differently. I just have to deal with the rules the way they are and race as hard as we can every week. There was a curve ball thrown at us a few weeks ago when they changed the shock rule in the back. Now the teams are forced to look in different areas to find grip. On Sunday, Chad showed he's got his eyes focused on what we need to do. Hopefully we can have that for the final 10. It's going to be great for (fans and media.) For us, it's not going to be good. You might want to get all your smiles and good photos out of us now because with 10 to go, it won't be the same."
ARE YOUR CELEBRATIONS NOW AS INTENSE AS THEY MIGHT BECOME DURING THE FINAL 10 RACES? "I think so - especially wins. The top five's maybe don't carry the weight that they have in the past. An ideal way to win a championship with the old system was just nailing down top fives. But wins are wins and every competitor was out there today trying his hardest. We were able to beat them (at Pocono) and win the race. Three wins in our first two seasons - four now - I really feel like we can put in another four. This team is incredible. When adversity is thrown at us, they don't look the other way. They look at it as an opportunity to be better. I'm lucky to drive for these guys. I think we can win more races and be a serious threat for the championship at the end of the year. A little luck will play in those final 10. But if it comes down to performance, I'll put my guys up against anybody."
CREW CHIEF CHAD KNAUS:
PLANS FOR THE REMAINING RACES BEFORE THE CHASE FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP: "Here's the situation: We've got to look at the rules and use them to our advantage. Everybody thinks losing all of our points at the end of the 26 races and going back to nearly zero, is a disadvantage. We're taking this time to experiment and to find new race cars we think we like and new chassis set-ups and new aerodynamics packages. We're going to Indianapolis with a new aerodynamics package that we want to try at a high-speed race track. If it works, great. If it doesn't, who really cares? It doesn't really matter. We want to win the race, don't get me wrong."
RACE NOTES
CHASSIS INFORMATION
Team Lowe’s Racing will bring car No.4874 to Indianapolis this weekend. This will be the car’s first appearance of the season. It raced last year at Las Vegas, Fontana, Michigan and Homestead.
STATS & FACTS
On A Roll
Jimmie Johnson has scored 12 top-10 finishes in the last 14 races.
Get Out The Broom
Sunday’s victory at Pocono marked a sweep of both NASCAR Nextel Pocono events in 2004. Johnson also swept the Dover races in 2002 and New Hampshire in 2003.
Leading The Way in 2004
Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon are the only drivers to lead at least one lap in 14 races in 2004.
At Indy
Johnson has competed in two races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, scoring one top-10 finish there, ninth in his first race there in 2002. He finished 18th in this race one year ago. Johnson has been running at the finish in both of his races at the Indiana superspeedway.
A Year Ago
Johnson ranked fourth in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series Top 10 after 20 races one year ago.
Top 10s Everywhere
Johnson has finished in the top 10 at every race track on the NASCAR Nextel Cup circuit.
Moving Up The Chart
Johnson’s ten career victories after just 95 starts. Those ten victories are good enough to tie him for 46th best in the history of the sport. His Pocono Raceway victory on Aug. 1 tied him with Donnie Allison, Kurt Busch, Sterling Marlin, and Ryan Newman
MOST RECENT 2004 RACE – POCONO RACEWAY:
Jimmie Johnson notched his fourth victory of the season and tenth of his career in just 95 starts. He started 14th and grabbed the lead by the 50-lap mark. Johnson led 124 of the race’s 200 laps capturing the victory. It marked a sweep of both NASCAR Nextel Pocono events in 2004. Johnson swept the Dover events in 2002, New Hampshire in 2003 and now Pocono in 2004.
MOST RECENT RACE AT INDIANAPOLIS:
Johnson started ninth and ran in the top five for the first half of the race but a late race pit stop put him toward the back of the field when a multi-car accident collected Johnson and ruined his chances for victory. Johnson limped around the 2.5-mile track for the final 20 laps and finished 18th.
