Impala SS Drivers Sweep Top Three for Chevy Rock & Roll 400

Jimmie Johnson Will Start From the Pole for Bowtie Brand in Richmond; Team Chevy Drivers Score Four of Top Five Starting Positions

On the heels of announcing their partnership with Chevrolet for 2008 and beyond, Hendrick Motorsports drivers swept the top three qualifying positions for tomorrow night's Chevy Rock & Roll 400 at Richmond International Raceway.

Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe's Impala SS, circled the 3/4-mile Richmond track with a time of 21.378 seconds at a speed of 126.298 miles an hour to score his second pole position of the season and 10th Bud Pole of his career. Starting alongside Johnson on the front row is his teammate Jeff Gordon in the No. 24 DuPont/Nicorette Impala SS. Kyle Busch, No. 5 Kellogg's/CARQUEST Impala SS, qualified third giving Team Chevy the first three starting spots for it's fifth annual rock-and-roll entitled event.

"I'm excited," said Johnson. "I've figured out how to drive this track when we were here in the spring and was able to win the race. So I think we've expanded on that. We've improved the car some. And we felt like today we would be in the top five for qualifying. I've been slow with qualifying this year. We've had a couple of second place qualifying efforts where we've missed it by a thousandth, but in general it's not our strong suit. We felt like we had a good car and I just got really aggressive in there driving in and the car stuck and did all the things I needed it to do."

Chesterfield, Va. native Denny Hamlin, No. 11 FedEx Express Impala SS, will start fifth on the grid also giving the bowtie brand four of the top five starting positions. Tony Stewart, No. 20 Home Depot Impala SS, will start seventh while another Virginia native, Jeff Burton, No. 31 AT&T Impala SS, of South Boston, Va. will start 11th.

Eighteen Impala SS drivers will take the green flag for the Chevy Rock & Roll 400, the final race before the Chase for the Nextel Cup Championship. Race coverage will begin on ABC starting at 7 p.m.

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE'S IMPALA SS

HOW MUCH DOES PHYSICAL FITNESS PLAY INTO WINNING RACES? "I'm in good health. For the heat, I'm in good shape. You teach your system how to store water and how to cool itself on top of being strong there are other things that go with it. What I really feel, when my training really helps me the most, it at the end of the season. It's such a long season, as we all know, being on the road, you probably don't eat the meals that you should or get enough rest and sleep. The more I train, the better I feel throughout the season. I think that's really the most important thing, especially with the Chase format. You've got ten at the end when you've got to be spot on and you can't have the weight of the season wearing you down. I think that's where it helps me the most."

HOW DO YOU PREPARE? "It's mainly cardio for me. Genetically, my body just doesn't respond and do the things that I would hope that it would do with all the work that I put into it, but I can tell I'm always getting stronger. I do mess with some weights from time to time, but it's really being on a bicycle or on foot logging in miles."

DO YOU THINK YOU HAVE AN ADVANTAGE OVER SOME OF THE OTHER COMPETITORS? "There might be an advantage there. And I think that the way our sport is going and how hard you have to drive the cars, I think the car of tomorrow and how it doesn't handle that well and how you have to muscle it around, it helps. But it's not as important as maybe motocross or other sports. But it can't hurt. I'm an athlete and I need to act like one and train like one and hopefully see the benefits."

ON HIS LAP: "I was really happy with that lap. I was a little bit faster than what Jeff (Gordon) won for the pole here in the spring. I think that the track's got more speed in it right now. It's cooling off quite a bit, so I'm not sure it'll stay up there. For those types of conditions and for what we were expecting, I was very impressed with that lap."

MARK MARKIN, NO. 01 U.S. ARMY IMPALA SS

"I'm excited about being back with the Army. And that No. 8 has huge tradition. It means a lot to Dale Earnhardt Inc. and I'll do my very best to work hard and drive it with integrity."

ON THE LAP: "I should have done better job maybe getting the team dialed in. I'm not real satisfied. I feel that we have a better car than that. But I got all out of it right there. You don't get many chances in q-trim when it's an impound race and I really feel like I didn't get us where we needed to be. I want to take this opportunity to thank all the guys. This has been an incredibly difficult time for Ryan and all the guys on the O1 car these past two months trying to merge the engines and the cars and trying to get toward common cars with these guys has been pretty tough on these guys and I really appreciate them sticking in and giving me a good, competitive car even though there have been a lot of distractions."

DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 8 BUDWEISER IMPALA SS

ON HIS LAP: "We didn't know what to expect. We didn't make a qualifying run in practice. We had to change the right front spindle and it took a lot of time. So we didn't take the time. But that's still not really very good. We'll see where that puts us; I have no idea."

HOW MUCH OF A DISADVANTAGE WAS IT TO GO OUT FIRST? "You obviously want to go late when it's cool and there is a lot of grip. That's definitely an advantage. We got our pole this year at Pocono with the same advantage."

HOW DO YOU LOOK AT THIS WEEKEND? "Everybody knows the deal. We'll just have to go run hard and leave it to chance and see what happens to the rest of them guys and watch it and not hit the wall and not blow motors. We just have to run hard and win and try to be in the top five.

KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 SHELL-PENNZOIL IMPALA SS

ON THE LAP: "The second lap was a lot faster. I just got up the hill a little bit there getting into (Turn) 3. I was so good coming off of (Turn) 4 the lap before and getting into (Turn) 3 the lap before, I just got a little overanxious. But all in all it was a good lap for our Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet. That'll be okay and we'll go race from there.

"Our Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet is really good in race trim. The driver kind of screwed that one up in the middle of (Turn) 3 and (Turn) 4 down there. I just got in a little bit too hot and got up and then I couldn't get it back down. But still, it should be okay. For whatever reason we don't seem to always qualify very well here. But we always have really good race cars and the car was really good in practice. So we're excited."

KNOWING HE IS 12TH IN THE STANDINGS, BUT WITH A SIZABLE LEAD OVER DALE EARNHARDT "That's my job to go out and race as fast as I can. And as a team, we've had a lot of things go wrong and been able to keep ourselves in a position to race for a championship. So I'm just proud of the team for doing that and that's what we do is go out and perform."

THIS IS ONE OF YOUR FAVORITE RACE TRACKS "Yeah, this place has been really good to us. We always seem to run really well here and we race well. We raced well here at the first race and led a bunch of laps. So we're looking forward to it every time we come here."

IF THERE WAS EVER A TRACK WHERE YOU HAD TO DO WHAT YOU NEED TO DO, THIS IS A GOOD ONE "Yeah, this is definitely a good track for us. We've had good success here in the past and been able to finish well and race well and lead a bunch of laps. It's just one of those places that fits what we do and we've been fortunate with both cars to do that, in the Busch car and Truck, and everything so it's just a fun place for us to race."

WHAT DO NUMBERS MEAN? "I don't listen to a whole lot of what you guys (media) say."

WILL THE BUSCH RACE BE A WAY TO RELAX AND HAVE FUN? "That's just what I do. I race every week in the Busch cars. If the Busch cars are at the track, I'm in the car 99% of the time. This is the way I go about the things that I do. I like to be in the race car. I like to race. And that's how I have fun."

ON HIS TRUCK TEAM COMING TO THE TOP: "Yeah, they're fun to watch. (Ron) Hornaday has obviously been in the middle of championship races before and it's fun to watch those guys progress. You try not to get in the way and be in the middle of something that you shouldn't be. They just do their thing and make it a lot of fun."

JEFF BURTON, NO. 31 AT&T IMPALA SS

ON THE LAP: "I thought the car was good. I probably just didn't hit it. I thought I did a good job, but I guess I didn't. The first lap, I know I didn't hit them (marks) and the second lap I just don't think I hit them. The car was a little better than I was tonight. I don't know. Maybe it was just the long break between practice and qualifying. I just didn't hit it like I needed to. It was a good run for us. We didn't work hardly any on qualifying and practice. We spent a lot of time on race trim. And I feel like we were pretty good in race trim. We layed down a reasonable lap."

ON THE AT&T AND NASCAR SETTLEMENT: "It's certainly better for us to have it behind us. It's good to have AT&T back on the car and to have all that behind us. One of the things that I fear the most is the fans getting discontented with all that and I'm glad to get that behind us. Now we can move forward and just concentrate on the racing.

"I knew there was a lot of effort being put forth by a lot of people and these things typically are more complex than they appear to be on the surface, as this was. In the end I think that everybody was probably happy with what we came to. It's one of those situations where probably nobody was completely happy, but everybody is somewhat happy.

ON A SPONSOR REPLACEMENT: "That has yet to be figured out, but I feel good about where we are. We can concentrate on racing and that's what I care about."

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT / NICORETTE IMPALA SS

'I was really happy with all the improvements we made. We only got one qualifying run. It felt really good. I knew it was going to take a heck of a lot. Jimmie (Johnson) really put a great lap down. I hope he gets the pole (he did). He's been really close this year. I knew it was going to take a near perfect lap to beat him. We just didn't have everything there with the DuPont / Nicorette Chevrolet. I think we've got a good race car. We were pretty good here last time. We'll work to try to make it better."

WHAT'S YOUR STRATEGY? "Well, we already got 10 points behind last week. We don't want to get 20 points behind. We'd like to close that gap and be even leaving here. Every point is going to count in the Chase. We've got to push hard. We also have not really put some great races together so it's important for us as a team. I know how good we are and what we are capable of and it's important for us to put a good, solid effort out here whether to win it or not.

"It's hard to get yourself really psyched and pumped up even though you know there 10 bonus points out there, to push as hard as what we're going to be pushing in the Chase. You don't want to wear yourselves down. We're very focused on getting rest to the road crew and getting ourselves really geared up for the final 10 but you can't lose sight of those bonus points either. It's a tough balance. It's been a pretty exciting year for NASCAR Nextel Cup and the way the points are structured. And we're going to bring our a-game to those final 10 races, I can guarantee that. Hopefully we can bring it this weekend as well in Richmond."

DENNY HAMLIN, NO. 11 FEDEX EXPRESS IMPALA SS

"We didn't have anything for the 48 but I think we had something for the 12, but kind of room for error right there. I kind of gave up on the second lap. I didn't know it was going to be better. I was all up out of the groove. Still it's a great run. It's better than what we were in practice but our car really was a lot better in race trim than what it was in qualifying. We always seem to pick it up here in qualifying though so I'm kind of getting excited for tomorrow's race."

JEFF GREEN, NO. 66 BEST BUY "HD DONE RIGHT" IMPALA SS

"The car felt pretty good. It was about the same as it has been in all of the 'COT' races - loose in, and tight center and off. I think it will race well, but we're going to have a lot of ground to make up from where we'll be starting. If we can stay out of trouble and be patient, I think we can make a good night out of it."

TONY STEWART, NO. 20 HOME DEPOT IMPALA SS

WILL THIS RACE BE ALL ABOUT HAVING FUN? "At least for those of us locked in (to the Chase) probably. We've got the flexibility to just race and just go for the win so if it doesn't happen then we got to worry about every position next week."

WITH THOSE BEING LOCKED INTO THE CHASE HAVING FUN WITH THIS RACE, DOES THAT SEND A MESSAGE TO NASCAR THAT THERE SHOULD BE MORE EMPHASIS ON WINNING IN THE FUTURE? "I don't think you're going to get that. I don't think there's a way of doing that and running for a championship. The reason we're in this position is because we got ourselves enough points to lock ourselves in so that's the only way you're going to get a situation like this and this is the only format that creates that."

HAVE YOU GOTTEN ANY REACTION FROM FANS TODAY ABOUT TOYOTA? "I haven't been walking around much. The good thing is I'm still part of the Chevrolet family. We are through the rest of this year and we're going to do the best we can to win races and a championship for them and even the next two years I'm still with Chevrolet with the World of Outlaw teams and my USAC teams. So just because I'm not going to be there with the Cup side doesn't mean that I'm not still part of that family."

GIVEN THAT ASSOCIATION WITH YOUR PERSONAL TEAMS, WAS THERE AN APPREHENSION FOR YOU? "No, same as the other day. I've always trusted Joe and J.D. If I didn't believe in that I wouldn't be in contract negotiations extending my contract. We wouldn't be working toward that goal if I didn't believe in them."

ON WHERE HIS TEAM IS THIS YEAR VS. LAST YEAR COMING INTO THIS RACE: "Like I said, it's a total opposite set of emotions this year versus last year. There's no stress on us at all this weekend. Even though we're locked in we went and tested Tuesday just to make ourselves better for here and it doesn't mean that we're just going to go out and ride around tomorrow night. Our goal is to go out and win the race and that's why we went and tested was to go out and try to win the race this weekend. The emphasis and the desire hasn't changed, just the pressure behind it has."

HOW CLOSE ARE YOU WITH YOUR CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS? DO YOU THINK YOU'LL HAVE IT DONE BEFORE THE END OF THE SEASON? "That's for us to know and you guys to wonder about. You guys don't have to know everything that we do. It's really not that important for you guys to know every detail about what we're doing all the time. When we got something to tell you on that we'll let you know."

ON WHAT A FAN MIGHT NOT BE ABLE TO SEE THAT HE SEES AT PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY: "It was a lot different obviously when it still had the Goodyear bridge over there and the way that turn two was so tight coming off because that's how you used to get the trucks in and out was off of turn two there so it made the two ends totally different but now it's kind of changed a little bit. The neat thing is guys can run the top and the bottom but it's one of those tracks that you would think that by looking at it it would look like it has a lot of grip but it's not a high grip track. It gets slippery at night there because of the heat of the desert like that especially at this time of year. This race coming up is a very, very slippery race to get around so getting your cars to handle good there is much tougher than it is when it's cooler."

IS IT CONDUCIVE TO YOUR STYLE? "I like it that way. The slicker they get the better when it comes to track conditions so I like it because of that and it's a place that I've been around a lot. I've had the opportunity to run USAC Midgets, Silver Crown cars there. I've run Super Modifieds. I've the run Busch car there, the Cup car there. In all five of those divisions our best finish is no worse than second in all five cars so we've been fairly successful in everything that we've driven there."

Post Qualifying Press Conference Transcripts: Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, and Kyle Busch

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE'S IMPALA SS - 10TH NASCAR CUP CAREER BUD POLE, 2ND BUD POLE IN 2007, HAS FIVE WINS THIS SEASON:

ON THE RICHMOND RACE: "I'm excited. I've figured out how to drive this track when were here in the spring and was able to win the race. So I think we've expanded on that. We've improved the car some. And we felt like today we would be in the top five for qualifying. I've been slow with qualifying this year. We've had a couple of second place qualifying efforts where we've missed it by a thousandth, but in general it's not our strong suit. We felt like we had a good car and I just got really aggressive in there driving in and the car stuck and did all the things I needed it to do. And we put up a lap that I can't believe we had a couple of tenths on the guys, especially at a short track like this. So, I'm real proud of all the hard work that's gone into it. I hit my marks and did a good job and we'll get in 400 laps tomorrow night and see what happens."

HOW MUCH CAUTION DO YOU THROW TO THE WIND TOMORROW NIGHT? "It really depends on the situation I'm in. If I'm in second, and in a position to race for the win at the end, I'll be extremely aggressive. There is nothing to hold back for. But if I'm running 15th, there is no sense in driving like a fool out there and risking getting somebody really mad at me and having to deal with him in that final 10."

COULD YOU BE GOING FOR ALL-OUT WINS IN THE CHASE, OR DO PEOPLE GET STRUNG OUT AND NOT SHOW THAT THEY'RE IN THAT MODE? "You bring up a good point. I remember a couple of years back there was a conversation about too much point racing going on and I think it was maybe around when the Chase got started. I remember a lot of it was the drivers saying we're doing all that we can. We're racing as hard as we can. We're trying to win every single lap we're out there and trying to go as fast as we can. So I don't think you'll see a huge difference. I do think that if it comes down to fuel strategy, why not? If it comes down to tire strategy, we'll roll the dice and try to go for a win. If you're in second spot and the guy in front of you is locked into the Chase and he's trying to get 10 points, you'll probably rough him up. They'll be some exceptions to it but I don't think the feel of the race is going to be a lot different."

WHAT DO YOU ATTRIBUTE TO THE DISTANCE BETWEEN YOU AND JEFF GORDON IN QUALIFYING COMPARED TO THE DISTANCE BETWEEN GORDON AND THE 17TH PLACE QUALIFIER? "Skill. (laughter) "I knew I got a good lap in. I was listening to Jeff between practice and qualifying and some of the things he was messing with. The first lap, I did it my way. The second lap, I did it the way Jeff would in really attacking the entry, and I went slower. So I just think we had everything right."

WHEN YOU SAW THE TWEAKS MADE TO THE CHASE INITIALLY, DID YOU THINK YOU WOULD BE A BENEFACTOR GOING INTO IT? "The bonus stuff I didn't really think about and I think after we're done this year we'll see what those bonus points really do in order to form an opinion on them. I've been critical of the Chase getting started and the gap from where Gordon is to where I am in points, I'm like 430 behind, I knew even though I wasn't in love with the Chase getting started I knew someday I was going to be in that position where the Chase would help me and give me a chance for the championship because I wouldn't have a great 26 getting started. And this year has been that way. We're pretty far back. We've got a lot of speed and the Chase is working out to help us and give us a berth or a shot for the championship."

SO IS IT SAFE TO SAY THAT AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SEASON YOU WEREN'T THRILLED ABOUT THE CHANGES THAT WERE MADE? "Yeah, the tweaking and everything that goes on, at times I'm skeptical of it, but it keeps working out for whatever reason. Of course you can only speak from a place that you know and I look at our scenarios and how we won a championship and I didn't like it getting started. But now it's coming around for me. All of us drivers like it if it benefits us is what it boils down to (laughs)."

THE WORST YOU LEAVE HERE IS 10 POINTS AHEAD OF JEFF GORDON AND TONY STEWART. IS THIS GOING TO PHYCHE-OUT THE COMPETITION? "I don't think anybody is going to be psyched out until we get about eight (races) in will be the first opportunity to get in someone's head. There is just so much racing and the 10 points for bonuses is helpful for what we're focused on now because that's all we can control, but when you get into the Chase and leading laps, and leading the most laps, you can make up that 10 or 20 points quickly. Last year, the way the Chase went and how of a start we got, we weren't in position to think of a championship until about eight races to go and then we left Phoenix with the points lead and things were going our way. I'm just going to try to stay calm and cool and get through these first five and try to be smart and smooth and attack when I can, but save that stuff to the end because at the end last year, we had momentum on our side. And I think we had the other guys on the ropes. We were knocking down those top two finishes, I think we had five of them, and that was doing all the t rash-talking we needed. I was kind of sending a message and playing the head games that we needed to do."

WITH YOU AND JEFF GORDON STARTING ONE-TWO AT RIR, IS THIS A MESSAGE YOU'RE SENDING EVERYONE ELSE, OR TO JEFF? 'There are really no messages to be sent. We show up every week and try as hard as we can and it's been a good track for us this year and in the past it really hasn't been. But I learned some things in the spring and we came back with a little better race car. So I think there maybe a situation where people may think things and go down that road, but I'm not sitting up here saying I'm trying to send a message to anybody. I'm just showing up and giving 100 percent in practice and qualifying and the race and just see where we shake out."

JEFF GORDON, No. 24 DuPont/Nicorette Chevrolet, Qualified 2nd:

ON HIS QUALIFYING EFFORT AND TOMORROW NIGHT'S RACE: "We are obviously getting close to this Chase starting. Today was a good day for us. We were fast in practice. We really worked most of the time on our race setup. I was a little surprised that we went to the top of the board in practice because we only made one qualifying run. Jimmie laid down a heck of a lap. You always think that going out late is going to be a big advantage, but I could tell just by watching the gap between him and the other guys, before we went out that he must have really put a good lap down because nobody was really close to him. Still happy to qualify second. I feel like I left a little bit out there which as a driver, you are always wanting to get everything out of it, but all-in-all a good day. Starting on the outside front row, really happy about that. We are here to win.

"We are here to really get ourselves prepared for this Chase. We lost 10 points last week to Jimmie, we certainly don't want to give up another 10. We are going to race hard and try to get ourselves in position to maybe get us 10 more points or come out of here with a strong, solid finish to step up and get ready for the Chase."

ON QUALIFYING BEING AN INDICATION OF HOW RACE MIGHT UNFOLD: "I don't know, Jimmie and I had a pretty good race the last time we were here. Obviously, him winning the race was an indication that Hendrick was strong here. Being one, two and three in qualifying, we are strong again which I am happy and excited about. I think we would prefer every weekend for it to be between me and him. But we can't guarantee that. I think there is going to be a lot of tough competitors out there. Last time we were here, it ended up being a day race instead of a night race, so I think conditions will be a little bit different, especially since we practice during the day, you kind of throw the dice at it and hope you might make the right adjustments or decisions. I don't know, our car has felt pretty good all day. And we worked on race setup like I said. I knew Jimmie was strong as well, we are just out there pushing as hard as we can. I think qualifying is important here, but you can pass here. We say Kyle do it last time we were here, so there will be some guys that come marching up through the field. I hope it is me and Jimmie, but we will see."

ON TAKING PRESSURE OFF BEING LOCKED IN: "Jimmie has been putting the pressure on me from the last four or five years, I am just excited about our race team this year. I we have an awesome race team, very well rounded from our pit crew, to our race cars to our communication. This has been the first year really that I feel like we have been able to consistently be one of the strong cars out there and compete with the guys that I think we have to compete with for the championship, obviously Jimmie being one of them. Right now the momentum is on his side, he won the race last week, the pole this week. We know that team is going to step it up when we get in the Chase, they always do. We are excited about what we are going to be able to do because we step it up in the Chase as well. There are 10 other guys out there that are going to come in fired up and ready to do the same thing."

ON WHO MIGHT BE DARK HORSE IN THE CHASE: "Maybe Clint Bowyer. He just flies under the radar all the time but he is very consistent, good driver, good team. It really truly believe it is anybody's race, I don't know who you would consider a favorite or not a favorite but I think that Kurt Busch has come on strong here as of late. He can be a real factor. Jeff Burton hasn't done a lot that appears exciting but they will step it up in the Chase too. There are so many guys that are capable. You have to put 10 good races together and that doesn't mean you have to be the fastest, best car, winning all the races, it means that you have to put the 10 best average finishes together. That is easier said than done. But it does give anybody and opportunity to win this thing. Carl Edwards isn't a dark horse at all. He is a favorite. I would say he is one of the top five or six guys that is a favorite."

KYLE BUSCH - NO. 5 Kellogg's/CARQUEST IMPALA SS - Qualified 3rd:

ON QUALIFYING EFFORT: "I am really pleased with our effort. It is a great improvement from where we were here in the spring. I think we were 40th here then, but we marched right on up through there in the race. I am looking forward to better things here tomorrow night. Hopefully we will be able to keep that Kellogg's/CARQUEST Chevrolet up front and make some adjustments on it and be up there for most of the race. Hopefully we can keep a baseline on that instead of having to come back through traffic and pass guys and whatnot. Hopefully we will be able to keep the tires on it all day and keep the fenders on it and just hopefully, mind our business and race with our teammates who are starting first and second."

ON GOING IN TO CHASE, WHAT IS MOTIVATION: "It is the same as last year, I realistically thought we had a shot at it last year to make a strong run for the championship, we kind of stumbled in the start and could never really regain composure and get back up through there to make a run to be in contention. I think this year we have a great shot, the same as last year we positioned just a little bit further back in the way that the points are going to play out. I still think we are going to be fine, my ambitions are to go out there and try to win the whole deal. That will not only be good for Hendrick Motorsports and all the guys on my team and of course my sponsors, but myself too."