Team 48 Michigan Preview

Lowe’s Monte Carlo driver Jimmie Johnson and Team 48 travel to Michigan International Speedway this weekend for Sunday’s 400-mile NASCAR Nextel Cup race. Johnson leads Matt Kenseth by 48 points in the season point’s race.

DRIVER JIMMIE JOHNSON QUOTES:

MICHIGAN IS A FAVORITE TRACK OF MOST DRIVERS. WHY DOES EVERYONE LIKE THAT TRACK? "There's so much room to race. If you car is not handling great you can move around. But more than anything if you've got a good car and you can get some track position, you can get outside and start passing people."

WHEN DO YOU START THINKING ABOUT POINTS AND POSITIONING? "I'm thinking points all along. One, to make sure you get in the Chase. Two, I think the top two or three drivers, it's their responsibility to keep this a 10-person race to get in the Chase. We need to keep control of that 400 point mark and not let there be 12, 14, 15 cars in the championship battle."

CHASE OUTLOOK: "My outlook is simpler as the years wear on and we get into the Chase. It's really all about making the Chase. Then once you're in the Chase, we need 10 good ones. I can have the best 26 races and a 500-point lead and none of it matters. You get to the final 10 and it is what is. You need 10 good ones. The pressure that I put myself through and what I focus on is a lot more relaxed this year than my rookie or sophomore year before we went into the Chase."

DO YOU THINK THIS IS YOUR YEAR TO WIN THE CHAMPIONSHIP? “I think so. We'll just have to see. It's our fifth season and we've been right there in the hunt. I definitely feel like we're one of the favorites but we've learned lessons over the last five years and make the right adjustments. We'll hope for 10 good ones and see what happens."

WHAT ONE OF THE BIGGEST LESSONS YOU HAVE LEARNED? “"There's just a ton of them. I think in general one thing that is going to help us this year over the other years is that we're still refining the new body on the Chevy Monte Carlo. We're still working out the setups of the car where in the past we started the season with the finished product. As the year wore on a lot of people caught up and surpassed us and we were trying to play catch up. Even though we've won a few races this year I think we still have a lot of improvement in our cars and that's what I'm excited for the most."

Race Notes

Chassis