Team 48 Darlington Preview

Lowe’s Monte Carlo driver Jimmie Johnson and Team 48 travel to Darlington Raceway for Saturday night’s 400-mile NASCAR Nextel Cup race. Johnson leads Matt Kenseth by 55 points in the 2006 points race. Saturday’s race at Darlington followed by the 600-mile race on May 28 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway both begin in daylight and end in darkness. That poses a challenge to the race teams working on chassis setups.

Note: Johnson will make also his 2006 Busch Series debut at LMS on May 27.

DRIVER JIMMIE JOHNSON QUOTES:

ON RUNNING DARLINGTON IN BOTH THE DAYTIME AND AT NIGHT -- WHICH DOES HE PREFER? "I love racing at night. The racing that I grew up doing, we didn't have a lot of night races. I think it's great for the fans and the drivers and it typically means we have Sunday off. I'm usually very happy about that. Darlington is a very fun track to drive at night. The track has a little more grip and is a little more forgiving than what you have during a day race. That takes away a little bit of the challenge at Darlington, but I love going to that track, regardless. It's one of my favorite tracks on the circuit."

RACING FROM TWILIGHT TO DARK, ARE THE CHANGES THAT GO ON AT LOWE'S MOTOR SPEEDWAY SIMILAR TO DARLINGTON? "I don't think Darlington changes as much as Lowe's used to. Now with the new surface, I'm not sure what Charlotte will do. But in the 600, you would have to start the car so loose because the track would tighten up so much at night and then still make adjustments to meet the track conditions. Darlington did change some, but the car stayed more balanced. It was just overall speed that you picked up."

WAS THE TRACK SURFACE AT DARLINGTON A BIG FACTOR TO THAT? "It must. It just tears the tires off, regardless. It's like racing on a cheese grater. It doesn't matter whether the sun is out or not. It's going to tear them up."

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE POSSIBILITY OF NASCAR PUTTING RESTRICTIONS ON THE NUMBER OF BUSCH RACES CUP DRIVERS CAN ENTER? "I think everybody recognizes the benefit of Cup drivers racing in the Busch Series. If we feel like, or if everybody feels like it is preventing start-up teams from coming in and affecting young drivers who are trying to come in and use the Busch Series to get some experience, I think it's not a bad idea to restrict the Cup drivers. But the way I see it right now, there are only a few cars going home from a race, if any. If the Cup drivers weren't there, the quality of the show would be much less. You'd have other teams and drivers showing up, but the quality of drivers and equipment wouldn't be there to put on as quality of a show as we have now. I think that's something NASCAR has a close eye on. If they feel like it's preventing other teams and drivers from coming in, I would say a change would come into place. But right now, the racing has been strong and it's fun to watch."

Race Notes

Chassis