Convo: Jimmie Johnson

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Jeff Gordon may be leading the way in the Nextel Cup driver points, but Jimmie Johnson, Gordon's Hendrick Motorsports teammate, is the hottest driver in the series.

If the Chase for the Nextel Cup championship were to begin today, Johnson's 40 bonus points for winning four races this season would ensure that he had the No. 1 seed over Gordon and all the rest. Johnson won his fourth race Sunday at Richmond International Raceway, and after racing at Darlington this weekend he will return to his favorite track -- Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte, where a two-day test session concludes Tuesday.

Weekend That Was

On the heels of his second COT victory, Jimmie Johnson understandably refuses to apologize for his team's success, and the success of Hendrick Motorsports, which has won all four COT events.

• Complete story, click here

During one stretch covering 2004 and 2005, Johnson won all four races run at LMS, capturing a pair of Coca-Cola 600s in May and back-to-back UAW-GM Quality 500s in the fall. He also won the Coca-Cola 600 in 2003, giving him a streak of three consecutive victories in that race.

Q: Before we get to on-track issues, tell us a little about the bowling alley that you just recently opened with money raised by the Jimmie Johnson Foundation at the Victory Junction Gang Camp for disabled children founded by Kyle and Pattie Petty in Randleman, N.C.

Johnson: It was such a great experience. It was nice to see all the hard work that we put into the [Jimmie Johnson] foundation pay off like that, to see the finished product and to see campers actually come in and start enjoying it. It was so amazing.

We talked to Kyle and Pattie about our foundation when we first got started, and they gave us the support and encouragement to get it going. They were like, 'If you put it out there, the fans will support it -- and you'll be surprised by how much the entire racing community will support you through it.' And they certainly have done that, and it's been a beautiful thing to see. For complete story, click here.

Q: Getting on to what's happening on the track, you guys at Hendrick Motorsports are on the top of your game right now. Can you put your finger on one or two things that are the reasons for it? Is it the people you guys have, or is it a combination of everything?

Johnson: I think it's everything. I think the competition in our sport is so close that it takes everything clicking in all areas for it to work like it has been recently for us. The drivers are doing their part; engineering is doing their part; the guys at the engine shop are doing their part.

To get an advantage, I don't think you can really confine it to one area anymore. It really takes the whole team to find a substantial advantage. It takes the whole organization. It really does. I don't know if everybody likes that or enjoys it, but that's auto racing. That's the way it is. (Continued)