Team 48 Texas Preview
Jimmie Johnson and Team 48 travel to Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday for the 500-mile race on the fastest track in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series. Johnson is sixth in points. He appeared ready to contend for the win at Bristol on Sunday but an extra stop late in the race for a loose lug nut dropped him back to 20th before he recovered to finish 16th. Johnson won two weeks ago in Darlington.
JIMMIE JOHNSON QUOTES:
HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS HAS ONLY ONE WIN AT TEXAS. WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO TO CHANGE THAT?
“I really feel our Lowe’s team has been making a lot of great progress on the new tire and getting our set-ups right. From Las Vegas to Bristol, with all the tracks we’ve been at and all the issues, we’ve really been one of the better teams and have been on top of our game in understanding things and being there in the race when it counts. We’ve had some bad luck and we don’t have all the finishes to show for it, but if you walk through our shop and talk to the guys, we’re very comfortable and proud of where we are. We’re going to go to Texas with our guns loaded. Hopefully we’ll be a threat for the pole. More importantly, that we’ll be a threat for the win on Sunday.”
WHAT DO YOU HAVE SPECIAL IN STORE AT TEXAS TO BEAT RYAN NEWMAN FOR THE POLE?
“We’re on his heels. He and his team definitely have one lap figured out. It’s forced the rest of the garage area to spend more time working on that one lap. For us, it’s been more about the race and trying to win on Sunday. We look at qualifying as an important day to get a good pit stall pick. Those guys won a lot of races last year with some good strategy, but we feel their strong point was in qualifying. We feel that our importance is really on the race and that’s where we shine.”
HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH A PIT CREW PERSON WHO MAKES A CRITICAL MISTAKE DURING THE RACE?
“You pick him up. That’s one of my teammates. If he falls on the ground, you pick him up. If I stumble and stick one in the fence, when I come into the garage area and my chin is on the ground, the crew guys are picking me up and telling me not to sweat it. That’s all you can do. You win together and you lose together. We’re teammates. We’re all fighting for the same cause. We’re all human and we make mistakes. You just hope they happen less and less from year to year and weekend to weekend. We’re all in this together.”
HOW IS THE IROC RACE FRIDAY NIGHT GOING TO BE DIFFERENT?
“When I first realized it was a night race, I wondered why we were doing that. And then I remembered it is going to be live on SPEED. That will make for some good viewing on Friday night. It ensures the fact that we will run flat-out around Texas Motor Speedway because I would imagine we would be very close to doing it with the sun out. The fact that it’s at night, we’re going to be flat out on a 1.5 mile race track in the IROC cars. That’s going to be pretty impressive.”
IS THERE ANY STRATEGY IN THAT RACE OR DO YOU JUST GO FOR IT FROM LAP ONE?
“That is the strategy because the cars are so equal. I noticed last year in my IROC rookie season that some of the guys were so aggressive on restarts and on the original start trying to get position. And yet once everybody gets up to speed, you have a hard time passing anyone. You need to gain any position you can at any point in time. You definitely play that role on a 1.5-mile track. But with us running flat out around there, it might somewhat resemble a plate race for those cars. I don’t know if it really will. It didn’t at Chicago or any other tracks, but you may see the draft come into play and be able to get a tow from somebody and get by them on the straightaway.”
CREW CHIEF CHAD KNAUS QUOTES:
ON THE UPCOMING TEXAS RACE
“I am very much looking forward to going to Texas. We’ve run exceptionally well there. I like that race track. It’s very fast and very conducive to the Lowe’s team. I think we’ve got a shot at qualifying in the top five and definitely have a car capable of winning the race. I’m really excited about it.”
WHAT DO YOU LIKE ABOUT TEXAS?
“I like the high speed stuff. We’re very good, typically, at getting our car to work at the high-speed tracks. We’ve got a very good balance between a good aerodynamic package and a good handling package and we’re able to work out both aspects of it. Whereas at some of these tracks, guys are good at working on the chassis (like Bristol or Richmond) where aero doesn’t really come into play as much. And other teams are really good at working on the aero on the bigger tracks but they can’t get the chassis figured out. We are really good at finding a happy medium between the two at these tracks. Our car can work in just about any situation. If we have to fall back in traffic on a 1.5-mile oval, we’re able to usually get ourselves back to the front -- as long as our car isn’t damaged -- and pass people and miss the aero-push part of it others complain about. (Because) they’ve gotten so dependent on aero and haven’t thought about their chassis or vice-versa, that when they get out front they’re so dependent on their chassis and not enough on their aero that they get loose. We’ve done a good job of finding a happy balance between the two and that’s why I’m looking forward to it.”
RACE NOTES
CHASSIS INFORMATION
Team Lowe’s Racing will bring car 4859 to Texas this weekend. This car has raced at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Atlanta and Texas.
STATS & FACTS
Best at Texas
Jimmie Johnson has an average finish of 7.0 in two races at Texas, the
best of all drivers.
On Pace
Johnson is sixth in the points’ race in 2004. He was in the same point’s position at this time last year.
IROC
Johnson is third in the IROC Series trailing only Daytona winner Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch. Friday night’s race in Texas will be the second of four IROC races in 2004. The series will also race at Richmond and Atlanta. The point winner will collect $1 million.
Moving Up The Chart
Jimmie Johnson's seven career victories after just two full years is good enough for 54th best in the history of the sport. His Darlington victory tied him with Darel Dieringer, A.J. Foyt, Jim Reed and Marshall Teague.
MOST RECENT 2004 RACE – BRISTOL
Johnson bided his time early in the race then began creeping up the scoreboard. A green flag pit stop to replace a cut tire dropped him two laps behind the leaders but when the leaders also stopped under green Johnson inherited the lead. He gave up the lead by pitting under the yellow and dropped to sixth place but at the restart he was the highest placed car with fresh tires. The advantage went away seconds later when he was recalled to the pits to replace a loose lug nut. The extra stop dropped him to 20th and he regained four spots to finish 16th.
MOST RECENT TEXAS RACE
Jimmie Johnson finished eighth despite engine trouble in the final 10 laps that dropped him from fourth place. Johnson qualified fourth but had to start from 39th because of similar problems on Saturday. Johnson moved into the top 10 by lap 50, and climbed into the top five by the halfway mark. An untimely caution came just after Johnson’s pit stop dropping him down a lap. However he regained the lap at the next caution. He appeared destined for a top-three finish as he battled for third in the final laps but he encountered engine problems and held on to eighth place.
