UAW-Ford 500 - Jimmie Johnson Notes

Team 48 Talladega Preview

Lowe’s Monte Carlo driver Jimmie Johnson and Team 48 race at Talladega Speedway on Sunday in the third of the 10- race NASCAR Nextel Cup “Chase for the Championship.” Johnson is first in the “Chase” after posting his third victory of the season Sunday at Dover.

JIMMIE JOHNSON ON BEING THE POINTS LEADER: “I think when you're the points leader you want the season to be over right then and there. It doesn't matter how many races in the Chase you are, so from here on out as the points leader, there is some pressure being on you in that position. But, I don't think we're going to think about it too much. It doesn't do us any good with a track like Talladega where there is so much on the line. We have Martinsville coming up. The truth is you can't control what's going on around you. So, we'll go to Talladega. I know we'll have a great race car. I know my teammates are going to be strong. And I know I'll have some good help out there from my teammates and we'll be in good shape.”

IS TALLADEGA THE WILDEST OF WILD CARDS IN THE CHASE AND WHAT CAN YOU DO TO PROTECT YOUR POINTS POSITION? “In our sport, there are so many risks involved that you learn to deal with it in some ways and try to keep an open eye while you’re on the track to avoid potential problems. Talladega is a huge risk. Martinsville is a risk. So there’s still a few out there. I think everybody is real nervous about Talladega and hopefully everybody drives that way and we don’t have any big pile ups. But again, we’re out there racing and trying to do our jobs at a high rate of speed and sometimes things happen.

“The crashes are spectacular and they look amazing and impressive. With the soft walls and the safety inside the car, I have no worries. After you see the flips and crashes we’ve had and these guys walking away and bragging about how fun the ride was on TV says a lot about our race cars.”

WITH EVERYTHING ON THE LINE DURING THESE FINAL RACES, IS THERE A DIFFERENT FEELING OF URGENCY THIS YEAR? “Not really. Actually, I’m a lot more relaxed this year in the Chase than I was last year. The 10 races last year were a lot longer than I ever thought it would be. There was a lot more that went on and a lot of troubles from all the teams. I think everybody has the obvious goal of making it through it clean. But there are no guarantees of that. Last year, we won four races and still didn’t win the championship. So I’m a little more relaxed. I’m just worried about consistency.”

CREW CHIEF CHAD KNAUS ON TALLADEGA: “Well, we hope for the win, obviously. It’s really odd to think that we have not won a restrictor plate race – especially Talladega. There have been two races where we’ve led the most laps there or close to it. But here’s a little stat for you: we’ve never finished the fall race at Talladega. So obviously, I’m very nervous about coming to your race track. But I love that track. It’s a great facility. We’ve got an incredible superspeedway program. We’ve got a great race car. It’s the same car that we ran in Daytona in July and we ran second to Tony (Stewart) the whole race until the end of the race there and we kind of got shuffled back a little bit. But I’m really looking forward to it. The No. 24 and the No. 5 are bringing brand new race cars. The No. 25 is bringing a car that has been rebuilt – one of our old cars actually. So it’s really looking good. With some teamwork and some cooperation from our friends that we’ll be in good shape.

“It’s stressful. Sure. There’s no doubt about it. You’ll see bumping and banging and stuff that gets done really early in the race. You’ll see situations where it wasn’t completely necessary. You’ll see somebody cut up in front of somebody where it’s maybe just a little bit too close. Everybody is guilty of that. Everybody does it. And that’s the only time that you get nervous. It’s just something that hoping and praying that you don’t have an accident.”

RACE NOTES

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