MBNA RacePoints 400 - Jimmie Johnson Notes

Team 48 Dover International Speedway Preview

Jimmie Johnson and Team 48 race at Dover International Speedway Sunday in the 13th race of the 2005 NASCAR Nextel Cup season. Johnson leads the season standings by 71 points over Greg Biffle. Johnson swept both races at Dover in 2002, and also won last weekend’s 600-mile race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Johnson will also drive the No. 5 Lowe’s Chevrolet in Saturday’s Busch Series race at Dover.

Jimmie Johnson:
Winning At Lowe’s Motor Speedway - “It's cool to win a race like this. I lost a race like this, in Atlanta, and that stunk. It's cool to win a race. That's actually, probably, my first win like that ever-coming to a checkered flag side-by-side like that. So, it's my first one like that. That's what you dream of, that's the way you want to win races.”

What Have You Learned In The Last Month? - “The thing that I've learned in this sport is that it's very humbling. And we hear that phrase a lot. There was some controversy, there were some races we wish we could have back, we didn't perform like we wanted to. It's just been challenging, and in any professional sport, it doesn't matter if it's race car driving, football, baseball, whatever, you're going to have runs like that. We had it. And tonight, hopefully, is a good step in the right direction to get ready for this championship at the end. I'm stronger, smarter, understand the politics of our sport, understand the fans a little bit better and have a deeper respect for the drivers and I think they do for me.”

Crew Chief Chad Knaus On Success of No. 24 and No. 48: “When I started at the No. 24 and No. 48 shop in late 2001, it wasn't really told to me that I had to go in there and really communicate with Robbie Loomis to make this deal successful. It was something I really took initiative in and something they wanted. I knew if I was going to make a living racing at Hendrick Motorsports, I was going to have to communicate with absolutely everybody there to the best of my ability. We all want to be successful and help the company. We all want to keep working there. The way to maintain that is to win races and communicate. We know that right out of the box. We know that. The biggest thing is that we all like each other. We all enjoy each other's company.”

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