Team 48 Talladega Preview

Lowe’s Monte Carlo driver Jimmie Johnson and Team 48 travel to Talladega Superspeedway this weekend for the 500-mile NASCAR Nextel Cup race. Johnson trails Matt Kenseth by 9 points in the season’s points race. This is the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series first restrictor plate race since Johnson’s victory in the Daytona 500. By rule, that car remains on display at Daytona USA in Daytona, Fla. and will not be raced again in 2006. This is the first race this season with the softer bumpers NASCAR hopes will reduce the severity of bump drafting at the 2.66-mile track.

DRIVER JIMMIE JOHNSON QUOTES:

ON THE BUMPER CHANGES FOR TALLADEGA NEXT WEEK: "It's going to be good racing. We're all going to adjust to whatever the rules are and try to go out there and win the race. I feel very good about the race obviously since we won the Daytona 500. I'm excited about the new car we've had to build and take there. Hopefully it will be better than what we had at the 500. I think NASCAR put a good rule in place with all the bumping and side drafting that took place at Daytona that took place, I think we should see a relatively calm race at Talladega. At Daytona, it is much narrower so you didn't have four-wide racing. Talladega is much wider and the four and five wide racing is what starts some of the wrecks. We will just have to see what takes place."

ON NOT HAVING DAYTONA 500 WINNING CAR AT TALLADEGA: "We built a new car to take over there. Our backup car, the car we ran in the Shootout was strong. But Chad being as competitive as he is, he felt the Daytona 500 car was stronger and he wanted to replicate that and hopefully build one a little bit better. So we have a new car we are taking there and really just get out there and be as smooth and calm as we can. Talladega really promotes four wide racing and that is a risky environment out there when that takes place. I learned a lot winning the Daytona 500 and how calm you really can be and have a shot at the end of the race. I am going to take those lessons I learned there and apply them at Talladega."

ON CONFIDENCE GOING TO TALLEDGA WITHOUT TESTING NEW CAR BECAUSE OF NEW TESTING RULES: "The guys at the shop really document everything they built and put on the cars, all the templates and measurements and all those things. It is very scientific which allows us to build the same car all over again. We can practically do that on a daily basis with our downforce cars. Once we find a body combination, we are able to produce them and build them within a small tolerance and after that we have the shakedown rigs and also the wind tunnel to help us document to help us understand where the car is at. From all that, we can get it real close."

Race Notes

Chassis