Jimmie Johnson celebrates yet another win at Lowe's; he might have more to celebrate at year's end. Credit: Autostock

Q&A: Jimmie Johnson

Jimmie Johnson moved up three spots in the Chase for the Nextel Cup after winning Saturday night's UAW-GM Quality 500, his fourth consecutive victory at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

Johnson is now tied with Tony Stewat in points, but Stewart retains the championship lead because he has five wins to Johnson's four this season.

Johnson won at Martinsville, the site of this week's race, last fall. The victory was one of four wins in the last six races that propelled him to a second-place finish in the final standings.

Johnson took some time to answer questions about his Chase run, multicar ownership and dealing with the anniversary of last year's plane crash that killed 10 members of the Hendrick Motorsports family.

	Inside the Numbers Jimmie Johnson's 2004 Chase Race Finish Rank Loudon 11 5 Dover 10 4 Talladega 37 9 Kansas 32 9 Charlotte 1 8 Martinsville 1 4 Atlanta 1 2 Phoenix 6 4 Darlington 1 2 Homestead 2 2 Jimmie Johnson's 2005 Chase Race Finish Rank Loudon 8 6 Dover 1 1 Talladega 31 4 Kansas 5 5 Charlotte 1 2 Note: Johnson is tied with Tony Stewart in points, but Stewart is first based on wins.

Q: Jimmie, I assume you'd welcome a similar kind of streak this season.

Johnson: Yeah, I would love to have that happen. I'm not sure if it will. Didn't think, you know, that anybody was capable of it last year, and we were able to do it.

We have great tracks coming up for us and, you know, it's really anybody's championship at this point. I think after five races, I'm shocked just like everyone else how close the championship race is.

I think that over the next five, it's only going to be more interesting, more aggressive, more stress and pressure, and it's going to be, you know, right down to the very end, I think.

Q: I'm wondering, to what extent do you think that wrecks are a part of the appeal of NASCAR to fans, and how do you feel about that? Does that bother you, I guess?

Johnson: You know, it's part of our sport. I mean, it's kind of like going to a football game and you hope to see a big hit through the night or a big tackle or something that comes up.

I think that it's part of the feel that's involved with our sport. It's part of what draws fans in. If we're out there in go-karts running 10 miles an hour, they wouldn't be watching.

So, you know, it's part of the risk. Of course, I don't want anybody to crash, I don't want to crash, but we've made a lot of gains in the safety department so that we are having big wrecks and everybody's walking away.

There's a lot of pieces to that pie, and everything's working well right now. We don't want to see issues like we had Saturday night (at Lowe's). I don't think NASCAR, the drivers or owners or teams, a racetrack, tire company, any of those people want to have something besides racing causing the crashes.

Q: Hey, Jimmie. Are drivers still angry about everything that went down on Saturday?

Johnson: I think one of the good things about our sport is there's always next weekend. There may be some lingering effects at the start of the next race weekend, but then it disappears.

In everything that I have seen or read based on Saturday night's race, all the drivers and owners and everyone recognizes the hard work that went into trying to have a good race, a safe race, no tire issues. But they popped up.

Q: Is that a good thing, that sometimes stuff like that gets shoved off the radar screen by some other controversy and we kind of forget about it, nothing changes?

Johnson: I think there's so much that goes on during our races with 43 different teams, different suppliers and manufacturers, personalties, everything that takes place, I'm sure each week there's quite a few things that would have been good stories that then get pushed to the side.

I'd rather have those other stories come back and not have a controversy on tire track or all the accidents that we have.

Jimmie Johnson began his streak last year at Lowe's. Credit: CIA Stock Photo

Q: Jimmie, you had a problem that you overcame at Charlotte and still won. What is it like having momentum and maybe some luck on your side in the second half of this Chase?

Johnson: Yeah, momentum is an important thing. We're happy to be winning already in the Chase. Last year we won four; this year, so far two. So it's coming at a good time. We had a slow couple months before the Chase started. We definitely have things going in the right direction right now.

But it's tough to carry momentum from a mile-and-a-half track to a half-mile track. It's totally different. Luckily for us, it's a track that we've won at before. We know how to race there and what to do.

I feel very good with all the races in the final 10. Phoenix is our only weak spot, I think, and we're going to be testing out there.

So, hopefully, you know, we get everything under control and win a championship.

Q: When are you coming (to Phoenix) to test?

Johnson: I think in two weeks. Over the next four weeks, I'm not sure where I am. I'm just going to get on the plane and take off (laughing).

Q. Obviously, controversy makes sports more interesting to fans, but it seems like there's been a different controversy each of the Chase races. I know you were involved in one of them. Is that good for the sport? Have you ever been in a situation where there's been so many different things going on week to week?

Victory LaneJimmie Johnson celebrates his fourth consecutive LMS victory Final lapsJimmie Johnson battles Nemechek, Busch late for the win Blow outTire problems plague the UAW-GM Quality 500 Sign up for TrackPass now BUY YOUR NEXTEL DRIVER PHONE

Johnson: No, I haven't. There's so many different stories taking place. Through every different form of racing that I was in in my career, I thought, "Wow, this is bigger and better, and there couldn't be anything more intense or more looked at than this."

And as I kept climbing the ladder, I realized that everything else was kind of small. Really, from the Busch Series to Cup, it increased tenfold versus what I was experiencing on the Busch side.

There's a lot of attention, a lot of people watching. It says a lot about our sport, the growth of it, the fan base that we have. But at the same time, you've got 43 independent teams doing their own things and at the end of the day really only one person is happy. So there's a lot of stories throughout all that.

Q: If you were betting, what would be the controversy in Martinsville? We've had tires, shock absorbers, multicar teams; there's been a different one each week. What would you anticipate at Martinsville?

Johnson: I think that Martinsville is a place where contact is going to come into play and tempers are going to be high, like a Bristol. There's a lot on the line for Chase contenders. It's a track where you can never get away from lap cars or cars that you're racing, so the potential is there to have contact and problems.

The track, since they resurfaced it, it's really a single-file track on the bottom. The way you make your position is by somebody making a mistake, or you help them make a mistake.

Q: Would replicating last year's streak be harder than without that tremendous focus caused by the tragedy, or would it be easier under happy times to replicate that?

Johnson: I don't know. I would think it would be easier under good times than bad. There was so much going on through everyone's mind, so much pain last year with the tragedy. You know, we didn't want to go to Atlanta. We knew we had to, but we didn't want to be there.

You know, the race weekend wore on. The first day was tough. The second day was a little bit better. Then the weeks to follow were that way, too.

You know, it did at the end of the year give us a lot of pride to know that we went out and we won Atlanta, we were able to win at Martinsville, that we honored our friends. And as a team, really all of Hendrick Motorsports really performed. We had two cars in the last lap of Homestead with a shot at winning the championship. So there was more pride than anything.

The four races we won, I couldn't believe it then. There's guys that have been on different streaks this year where they've won quite a few. It's not impossible, but when it's going on, you don't know how long it's going to last or how long you're going to keep it or how to keep it.

You just hope for the best, and that's kind of where we are now. We feel we're hitting our stride at the right time, and hopefully we can rattle off a couple wins, if not top-fives at this point. I still feel that it's about not losing the championship versus winning it.

Q. You've been to Martinsville since that accident, in the spring. But is there a sense of going back on the one year anniversary?

Johnson: Yeah, definitely. Back in the spring, all the emotions came back. Went back for the test last week, and you can't help but think about it. Atlanta is going to be that way, too, pulling into Atlanta. Just it's hard to forget those things, you know.

All the families, dealing with this one year anniversary, it's going to be so tough for all of them. I know they all do different things to help the anniversary pass, and with as little pain as possible.

But another person that I'm going to be thinking of quite a bit is Brian Vickers; it's his birthday. The anniversary of the plane crash is on his birthday of all things.

	Jimmie Johnson needs another win to match Tony Stewart. Credit: Autostock
	Inside the Chase Point standings after Lowe's Driver Points Behind Wins T. Stewart 5,777 -- 5 J. Johnson 5,777 -- 4 G. Biffle 5,766 -11 5 R. Newman 5,760 -17 1 M. Martin 5,726 -51 1 C. Edwards 5,723 -54 2 R. Wallace 5,685 -92 0 J. Mayfield 5,662 -115 1 M. Kenseth 5,653 -124 1 Ku. Busch 5,635 -142 3

So as a teammate and as a friend, to be there for him as well as the other people that lost loved ones on the flight.

Q: I know you never get over the losses, but has Hendrick Motorsports recovered, do you think, from it?

Johnson: Yeah, I think that, you know, it's a testament to the people that were working here. They made sure their departments were able to run and advance and find things without them being an eagle watching over the top of everything.

Definitely we wish we had everybody back; there's no doubt that we've lost something. But the people in place did such a good job of training their team that we've been able to move along, win races, and still fight for a championship.

Q. Jimmie, looking at the points standings with you and Tony tied, with the tiebreaker going to the fact that he had more wins than you, I guess that really answers the question of consistency against victories because should the season end this way, he would win the championship.

Johnson: Yeah, you know, that's a good point. One thing I was thinking about is the fact that our championship is based off of a 10-race schedule. And the fact that the tiebreaker would be based off of the entire season, I kind of question that a little bit and wonder if it needs to be a tiebreaker based on the final 10 instead of the whole season.

I can give everybody something to write about and talk about. But that's a question that I'm going to talk to Mike (Helton, NASCAR president) and see what their point of view on that is and just get some clarification on it.

But it's been a long season, and at the end the numbers are overlaying and you've got two guys that have been able to win a lot of races and that also show consistency.

This year's been a good year. I think it's tough from year to year to have the stats stack up like you would want, where Matt (Kenseth) a couple years ago won one event and took some criticism for winning the championship. But he earned it, and he did his job.

So this year at least everybody will look back and say it was won on hard racing.

Q: Everyone's been talking about the potential cap on ownership. They act like a multicar team automatically equals success, but most of them seem to struggle. What does it take to get all the team's cars running the same?

The No. 48 Chevrolet is a Hendrick Motorsports car; it's owned, however, by Jeff Gordon. Credit: Autostock

Johnson: That's tough. It really is tough. I mean, when you have so many people on payroll, so many different personalties to worry about, then on top of that you hire crew chiefs and engineers to help advance the cars, so you've got at least one engineer and then a crew chief per team, and everybody has ideas, everybody thinks up new ways to do things.

It's a team owner's job to try to find the best things that are being provided and then make all the teams run them together. And, you know, Rick really started that trend and I think does the best job with it.

But in my mind, there is some sort of cap out there right now where a team owner can only own two vehicles. Rick Hendrick owns the 24 and the 5. Papa Joe (Hendrick) owned the 25, and now his wife does. And then Jeff (Gordon) owns the 48.

I don't know how they're going to police this, one; and, two, we kind of have something in place to protect that. Granted, there's ways around it, but what's to stop an affiliation with another team? Say Hendrick Motorsports has an affiliation with MB2. Where is the line going to be drawn? This is the question I have. Five cars that Jack has, he's done a good job. I mean, he's worked hard to put that stuff in place and he's done a good job.

I don't have a huge complaint. I know it's tougher for the smaller teams. Right now, if you limit Jack Roush and a couple other teams down to three, you might not have enough cars in the field.

Q: Could you talk a little bit about the feeling around the team last year as success built over the final five to seven races? Was there an air of confidence building at the same time? What was going on?

Johnson: Well, we were working through our pain, the tragedy. Really, we felt that we didn't even stand a chance to win the championship.

So it was about rebuilding for the next year, finding our way to Victory Lane again. And once we did that once, we were like "Hey, we're here to win races. There's no way we're going to win this championship, let's just win races."

Then we show up at Homestead and we're like, "Wow, actually we can win the championship."

So it did build confidence and taught us a few lessons about our sport, how difficult it is, and how things can change in a hurry for the good or for the bad.

So (it) just gave us some more experience and taught us a few lessons.

Q: If you don't mind, I wanted to go back to Charlotte real quickly. It was said after it was over basically don't worry about this anymore because we're going to resurface the track immediately and that will solve everything. My impression was that resurfacing by definition makes speeds go even higher. So it's a real simple question about what is the general incentive resurfacing, and did that, to you, seem like an automatic fix or panacea for Charlotte?

Tuesday Press PassJimmie Johnson on getting into position for his first NNC title Sign up for TrackPass now BUY YOUR NEXTEL DRIVER PHONE

Johnson: No, it's not an automatic fix. Somebody was touching on it earlier where Chicago, we had some problems blistering right rear tires as well. Some of the faster tracks that we run out there, there is a potential for tire issues.

Again, I think that it's the sustained speed that you have. If you look at Atlanta, Atlanta has been the fastest track, but it's abrasive. You have a huge dropoff in tires. Speeds, you know, you lose two seconds on a run, and it's because the tires are wearing down. As the tire's sliding across the road, it's peeling off the rubber and changing the performance of the car. The driver senses that and you can't go as hard.

With the tire we have now, it doesn't peel the rubber off, it doesn't wear the tire out, the performance does not change. You keep running harder and harder, and now this tire is holding all of that heat in it and the heat makes the tire fail.

So resurfacing can help it if it's done in the right way. But it's hard for a track owner to say, "OK, I'm going to resurface my racetrack and I'm going to put something that looks like 20-year-old asphalt down," and people are going to be going crazy, but that's where you have the best racing, that's where the tires aren't an issue.

We'll go to Atlanta and, again, you can hurt a tire at any track, but Atlanta, we don't hurt tires because you have to slow down.

Q: How does the experience of the hectic win pattern of last year play on you and your team as you win yet again at Lowe's Motor Speedway and look to winning more in the final races in the Chase to the championship?

Johnson: It's just confidence. It just builds confidence and helps us believe in ourselves, believe in our team, and just stay focused on what the job is that we have to do.