Dodge Charger 500 - Jimmie Johnson Notes

Team 48 Darlington Preview

Jimmie Johnson and Team 48 race at Darlington Raceway Saturday night in the tenth race of the 2005 NASCAR Nextel Cup season. Johnson holds a 130-point lead in the 2005 NASCAR Nextel Cup points race. Last year Johnson swept both races at Darlington. Johnson also makes his debut in the No. 5 Lowe’s Chevrolet Busch car Friday night. Johnson finished third in his only Busch series race this season at Atlanta where he drove the No. 48 Kobalt Chevrolet.

Johnson On Having Tamed Darlington: “No. The day you believe that or feel that you have, she'll bite you. I don't think I've tamed her. I've become decent friends with her and we'll just try to keep it that way. “

Johnson On Being Better Mentally Prepared Because Of The Sweep: “I don't think we spend too much time looking at the odds and approaching things that way. I think we look at our past performance and try to see what we can do better. In looking at the Darlington track, it's tough to do better than what we did. We just look at it more in that light….to come back and do a better job and try to take it from there. That the track itself is so unique and there's so many different things we have to deal with throughout the course of the day.”

Johnson On Importance Of 2004 Sweep To His Career: “It's massive. I mean, to be able to win a race at Darlington is a huge accomplishment. Personally I know that it doesn't have the luster of like the Daytona 500 or some of the other races from an outsider's standpoint. When you leave that racetrack, you know that you won, you are the guy that everybody chased, it means a lot. It's top of the list.”

Crew Chief Chad Knaus On Darlington: “I'm looking forward to it. I love Darlington. I think it's a very unique racetrack. I wish it was still on the schedule twice. I think it's one of the coolest racetracks we go to. I just wish we could work on everything around the racetrack and inside the racetrack to make it a little bit nicer. The garage area isn't real good for the guys to work in. It's kind of difficult for them. I know some of the seating arrangements for the fans are a little difficult. I think if we can make some improvements to the racetrack as far as getting in and out, the accommodations, it would be one of the top venues out there because the track's got so much history, and the racing is just so awesome.”

Knaus On Jimmie Johnson: “I've got a great race car driver, just a great driver. That's what we've got there, a guy that can get out there, that can drive. If you've ever truly seen Jimmie drive, I'm not talking just in competition, when he's out there and he's practicing and what he can do and the way he feels the car, then the way he's able to communicate that back to myself and the other team members at Hendrick Motorsports, I think that's far and above better than any other driver out there. He can truly feel the car better than anybody else out there.”

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