Coca-Cola 600 - Jimmie Johnson Notes

Team 48 Lowe’s Motor Speedway Preview

Jimmie Johnson and Team 48 race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway Sunday night in the 12th race of the 2005 NASCAR Nextel Cup season. Johnson leads the season standings by 41 points over Greg Biffle. Johnson swept both races at LMS in 2004. He finished fifth last weekend in the All-Star race. Johnson will also drive the No. 48 Lowe’s Kobalt Chevrolet in Saturday’s Busch Series race.

The All-Star Race and This Weekend’s 600-mile Race: “I think the race this weekend was a very good race pretty much for all the teams and I know for my team especially. The track’s changed a lot and to go through the daytime practice sessions and watching the race start - the open start with the sun out and watching the track evolve into what it does during the night. I think we all learned a lot. I know I did – I’m very happy on how we ran the (All-Star race), put ourselves in position to win the race; just an adjustment or two away from being there and giving Mark (Martin) a real challenge. So all and all, a good night and I’m excited about going into this weekend.”

Do You Know You Are Going For Three In A Row At LMS? “I guess I did know that somewhere back in the deep of my mind. I haven’t really thought about it; things have changed so much at the track that I guess when I show up now I don’t think of it as the same Lowe’s Motor Speedway. The surface is totally different and it’s a whole new place. I feel like I’m coming to a new race track right now.”

How Much Do You Want To Win On Sunday? “I want to win it really bad. I’ve had two 600 wins and I know if it’s a third one for us, it puts us in elite company. There is nothing like winning at Lowe’s Motor Speedway for obvious reasons with our sponsor and our race shop just down the street. It would be a very, very meaningful event and a good way for us to start the second quarter of the season.”

Crew Chief Chad Knaus:

Why Is This Car So Good At Lowe’s Motor Speedway? “First off you have to realize Jimmie and our team, as soon as you walk into Lowe’s Motor Speedway, there is an air of confidence so we could probably take a Volkswagen Beetle over there and run pretty competitive. But this car is the first car that was ever built for Jimmy here at the 24/48 shop before I was even here. Since that point and time the car has had multiple front clips, multiple bodies. It’s gone through quite a phase of front end suspension geometry configurations and things such as that. It has had a 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, and now a 2005 body on it. It’s gone through a lot of changes and it’s just a very good adjustable racecar. Once again Jimmy’s got a great feel for a race car and he’s got a great feel for Lowe’s Motor Speedway and that’s probably the biggest contributing factor to us running well there is just the fact that he can feel what’s going on with the racetrack and we’ve had some very, very good setups there more so then just the race car.”

RACE NOTES

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