| Press Release
September 20, 2006
05:31 PM EDT (21:31 GMT)
The Dover 400 will be the second event in the Chase for the Nextel Cup. Jimmie Johnson started the Chase in second place in the standings. A little misfortune this past Sunday at New Hampshire relegated him to a 39th-place finish in the first Chase race, and a drop in the points standings to ninth place. Q: Jimmie, you are 139 behind the leader Kevin Harvick. Nine races remain in the Chase. What is your team's mindset going into Dover with Kevin Harvick having that big lead on you right off the bat? Johnson: Well, we just need to get to work and go racing. We've got a great race team. We've been able to score a lot of points all year long. We definitely got off to a start that we didn't want. That's racing. Stuff happens. We had a problem with a spark plug wire that got us in that position where we got in the crash. Just a part failure. A couple guys have had this problem this year. We're doing everything we can to correct that and make sure that nothing like that pops up out of our control and hurts us in the future. You know, we just got to go racing. There's still nine races left in this deal. We're very excited, very pumped up. The guys have great spirits. I have great spirits. Just time to get to work. Q. In this situation now, everybody is thinking back to '04 when you just kind of went on a rampage and won four races during the Chase. Considering teams like RCR and the 17 team and others that are building a lot of momentum themselves, do you think the 48 team still has that explosive capability? Johnson: No, I definitely think we have it in us. If you look at the situation we're in, we're 139 points down. We were 247 down in '04, six races remaining, only lost by eight points. My guys have done the math. We need to outscore the 29 by 15.4 points from this point onto end up in the points lead. The way I look at it, yeah, it's been a bad race. Something out of our control got us. This team is capable of so much. If we show up, give a hundred percent, do our job, I truly, in my heart, feel like we'll be back in the middle of this thing. I can't forecast the future. I don't know what's going to happen. All I can do is control my team and what we do in the next nine races. I still think we're in a position to score points and get ourselves back in this points battle. Q. The last five races of regular season, you had mediocre finishes. You mentioned at one point you were sort of experimenting a little bit. You were driving hard to get those finishes. Is that end of regular season a false read on the 48 team? Johnson: I think it was a blend of both. If you look at any driver, there's different parts of the season where tracks come together for them and tracks give them a hard time. I think, you know, unfortunately ours is well-noted because we got off to a strong start, for whatever reason slowed down, then picked back up. We tried some stuff at some different races. I think everybody's in that position trying to find an advantage, trying to find something. We had that with a bad run of races for us. Just tracks that we didn't perform as strong as we wanted to. We weren't in bad shape. We were still knocking out top-10s, doing better in my eyes than what we've done in August in other Chase battles that we've been in. I think we're doing fine. I know momentum, it's easy to recognize it. It's easy to watch teams pick it up and have it. At the same time, teams lose it and new teams pick it up. We can trace back, RCR has been slowly coming along. Now those guys are on fire. I've been in that position. The fire's gone out and somebody else comes along. I'm not saying that's going to happen to them. All we can do is control our own destiny, show up and give a hundred percent. That's the position we're in. We're all in great spirits, really excited about it. Q. Last time you came to Dover, you kind of had one of those rollercoaster experiences with the spinout, actually battling back, finishing I think fourth. You've also been hot at that track. Do you think this is where you can really make that turn, put it on at this moment? Johnson: It's a good track for me, so I go there hopeful for a strong run. I've won I think three times at the track. I think my overall average finish there is pretty strong. We're going in with lofty expectations and feel we should be up front. Q. How was it in June with that rollercoaster experience? Johnson: Well, we finally got the car tightened up for me. It was pretty loose all day long. At the end we got the adjustment right. We had all kinds of problems to overcome that day. I think if we can get in, qualify strong, not have to share a pit stall, deal with the things we had to, we'll be able to run up front all day long and be a threat for the win. Q. A lot of people have tried to make it out, since you've gotten involved in NASCAR, about how close you've come to winning a title but not coming through with the title. What is your feeling about everyone? Johnson: No one can put any more pressure on me than I do on myself. I know what I'm capable of. I know what the team's capable of. You know, regardless of your situation, if people have high expectations for you or if you've had a bad run, people think that you might lose your job, things are coming to an end, you will experience some form of pressure. I've been accustomed to it my whole career in one form or another. I just go out and do my job, do my thing. Q. Hendrick has three drivers in the Chase. How much does that help each of you and are you sharing that much information, or is it a matter of you guys are two individual teams doing as much as you can?  |  | | Jimmie Johnson has three victories at Dover. Credit: Autostock |
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| Inside the Numbers |
| Jimmie Johnson's Dover statiss |
| Year |
Start |
Finish |
Led |
| 2002 |
10 |
1 |
188 |
| |
19 |
1 |
170 |
| 2003 |
5 |
38 |
36 |
| |
4 |
8 |
0 |
| 2004 |
14 |
32 |
1 |
| |
9 |
10 |
0 |
| 2005 |
1 |
4 |
24 |
| |
5 |
1 |
134 |
| 2006 |
42 |
6 |
0 |
| Totals |
12.1 |
11.1 |
553 |
|
|
Johnson: No, we got to this point by sharing information and working real close together. It's been a vision that Rick has had for a long, long time. Really first one to start off with a multi-car team, bring the two cars in one house. Just been growing that line of thought, I guess. We're still doing the same things we've always done. We know when we get on the track, we've got to do everything we can to score points for our individual teams, but we're still working very close together, sharing information, trying to get a Hendrick car a championship. Q. You need 15 and change to make up on Harvick all the way up. Are there any races in these remaining nine that you have circled as saying this one we're really going to make a move? Johnson: Well, it's not that we're going to make a move. We don't have that luxury to sit around and be cautious. It's go time. We need to score points, a lot of points, every race. The highlights and tracks that I look at and feel good about, one would be Dover. Talladega, great restrictor-plate program. I think that's a strong race for us. Lowe's Motor Speedway's a great race for us. I think in the whole scheme of things, in the Chase, there are a lot of good tracks for the 48 team. Martinsville is a great place for me. I feel like there's a lot of good chances for me to score points. Q. Now that you have had your bad race in the Chase, how does this change your mindset? Are you still going to be completely aggressive, or would you have to be kind of concerned about making mistakes now and maybe be more cautious for a while? Johnson: No, I just got to go out and race. I need points is the bottom line. You can look at that and recognize there's some times where you need to be aggressive, and also times where, if you cross the line and crash the car, you're not going to score any points or enough points. It's just that delicate balance that we really deal with all year long. I don't know what's going to happen. I don't know if guys are going to have troubles. Frankly, I'm not going to live in a world where I'm hoping for someone to have trouble. I just don't operate that way. I'm going to live in a world where I need to go out and score points. My team and I, we need to do the best job we can. We had a good meeting [Tuesday]. We had a meeting [Monday]. As I've been saying, everybody's spirits are high. Everybody is pumped up. You would think something like this would just crush a team. Myself and these guys, we're fired up. We're ready to go racing. Q. Obviously I know it's all about scoring the most points. How does this compare or differ from what the Chase was like for you last year? Even as late as the Charlotte race, you were tied for the points lead. How might this situation this year be similar? Johnson: I don't know, to be honest with you. All I know is I'm down by 139. There's no telling who's going to have problems, who's going to have a bad race, who's going to have part failures. It's so early. Nine of these things left. One down. I don't know what my strategy is. I don't know what to expect. All I know is down by 139. We've got to make it up. I really don't have any insight or strategy. I have all the confidence in my team, in myself, and I know that we're capable of winning this championship still. That's what I'm going to sleep on at night. Just get out there and get to work. | 
