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Q Jimmie, thoughts about racing here at Phoenix International Raceway?
JIMMIE JOHNSON: I look forward to it. This track is a lot of fun to drive with the two different ends of the track. We’ve been very strong here in the fall race. So I look forward to it.
I just look forward to getting back on the racetrack so that I don’t have the memories and thoughts of Texas in my head and have something new to think about and focus on. So eagerly awaiting practice to start, looking forward to it.
Q. Jimmie, jumping behind, I guess, can you kind of take your mind back to that 2004 race at Homestead. What was going through your mind entering that race and then when Kurt had that issue with the tire, brought the caution, can you sort of go through your mindset and recount it now five years later?
JIMMIE JOHNSON: To me, that year I really felt like was our year. The plane crash obviously took place. We won at Martinsville. We came back to Atlanta and won the following weekend. Guys were having trouble. We made up a lot of points. The Homestead race was going very good for us. We were running well. Kurt has his issues. You know, it just felt like, whatever that feeling is when it comes through your body, and you feel it’s going to happen, whatever it may be, I had all those sensations.
Then with a restart or two left, I knew I needed three or four cars between me and Kurt. I look in the mirror, he’s two cars back. I’m like, Oh, man, he’s coming back. He recovered from his trouble.
On the last restart we had, if I could have gotten by Biffle, I think the way the points worked out, I would have been the champion by a couple points. I ended up finishing second. I think I restarted fourth, got a couple guys, got to second. I guess I was only eight points behind him when it was all said and done.
It was just a weird experience to feel like it was going to happen, the emotions that went with the plane crash, the way we were making up points, the end of the season was going, and then to not get it, you know, to not have it take place was, you know, a great lesson in the end. Certainly not one that was fun to experience, but a good experience.
Q. I know you started on motorbikes, things of that nature. When you’re looking at grass-roots racing, California, there’s so many good short tracks, do you have any fond memories growing up on any of the neighborhood local tracks when you started racing?
JIMMIE JOHNSON: All of my racing was on the dirt, motocross, off-road trucks and buggies. I’ve raced a lot here in Arizona. My local track for motorcycles when I was a kid growing up was a track called Barona Oaks.
Then through California, we’d race as far north as a track called Gorman, I guess a little further north of that. I guess we get to Vegas, is where the mini nationals were each year. But there were many tracks along the West Coast that we’d race in, a little bit in Nevada and Arizona.
From a stock car standpoint, the first time I drove a stock car I think was in ‘97 at the track in Kenley, North Carolina. I drove an ASA car. So I had driven late model nothing. I had a chance to drive Bud Given’s No. 4 ASA car that Dave Sensiba was driving. Then Gary St. Amant was leaving to combine forces and drive.
For me, the local short track scene that I experienced was watching my dad. One of his friends from high school had a late model at El Cajon Speedway, a guy named John Dineen, and my dad would work on his car from time to time. I would sit in the grandstands with a clipboard, some stopwatches, eating corn dogs, cotton candy, and watch from time to time. But we weren’t there all the time because we had our own racing stuff to do.
Then some of my friends that I went to high school with also raced. Their dads raced. They grew up racing at the speedway. So I’d watch them, you know, on off weekends for ourselves.
But never drove a lap at El Cajon Speedway or any tracks in the area. My first time was at Kenley.
Q. Is El Cajon still there with the Speedway?
JIMMIE JOHNSON: No. Unfortunately it went away four or five years ago.
Q. Do you know what they put on it?
JIMMIE JOHNSON: I don’t know. I haven’t been back through there to see it. I know it was close to an airport, so I would assume some type of industrial complex.
Q. How do you compare the feeling of this championship to your other three championship runs? I mean, each one has to have a different feel to it. Also the fortune you felt by having a race up on the field when last week happened?
JIMMIE JOHNSON: Yeah, up until last week, things just seemed to be going really, really well. A lot of positive emotions and thoughts that went with all of that. And then to get through Talladega, I felt like we missed the big one, everything was in great shape. We roll into Texas, lap three we take our lumps there.
So I’m used to leaving Texas with a strong performance, a lot of momentum coming into the Phoenix race with a ton of momentum. I don’t really have an emotion for how last week went. I mean, obviously it’s a negative one. I’m disappointed to lose the points, but we didn’t perform poorly. We didn’t have a chance to perform good or bad. So I just kind of have this blank spot about how last week went. Unfortunately, we lost 111 points.
We ran really good here in the spring, overcame a lot of issues to finish well. The fall race has always been good to us. So I’m finding a lot of, you know, positive thoughts, a lot of hope in what we have done here in the past at this track and the way the spring race went.
So I can’t wait to get on track so I can start thinking about something else. All I can think about is three laps of Texas right now. That’s all I’ve thought about for the whole week. Ready to get that out of the brain.
Q. How does this compare?
JIMMIE JOHNSON: It’s just a big, empty negative feeling right now because last week was just a major letdown, where before I’d leave with a win or very good run with a lot of momentum and positive thoughts.
Q. Did you have an empty feeling when you left Talladega four years ago after Vickers?
JIMMIE JOHNSON: I’d say in 2006, there was a rollercoaster ride of emotions then. The other two years, there were positive things building as we got to Phoenix. We were able to win here and carry that on into Homestead.
So this year, outside of 2006, it’s been much different.
Q. Jimmie, two questions. When you look at the stats, it’s like why should anybody show up here, Hendrick is going to win the race. Why do you think not only you but Hendrick cars have been dominant? Last weekend, unsung heroes, guys that names don’t get thrown out in the media, talk about what they meant last weekend and to your career.
JIMMIE JOHNSON: Yeah, I can say first of all, when I started driving for Hendrick, I don’t think that Phoenix, this track, was one that was circled on the calendar for any of the teams. I think Terry had some luck. Jeff didn’t really run well here. So from my time at Hendrick, I think we as an organization, as a group, have figured out how to get around this track, the setups we needed. I think it’s relatively new. I’m not sure if the stats show that. I can remember Jeff in 2000 or 2001, something like that, when I first started working with the team, he didn’t have a lot of good things in his mind about this track. I think he won a Nationwide race, was his first win here at the raceway. That’s a new stat. We hope to keep it going.
I feel like the 2 car is going to be strong, especially off of his win. Those guys have been strong here typically. The Childress cars have been running better. I think this is a great track for Harvick and also Bowyer. There’s no telling how it’s going to shake out for us. I certainly hope the 48 car wins this thing.
The unsung heroes, those guys worked their guts out to get the car back on the track. The first report I had was, We’re going to put it on the truck. That’s kind of why I didn’t get out of the car. I’m like, I’m not getting out. You guys have to figure out a way to fix it. I’ll sit here till you roll it on the lift gate.
Chad was going to put all the effort in, but it didn’t look good at first. Our 48 guys, on top of the 24 sent some people over, the 5, the 88, we had a lot of different members from other teams at Hendrick working with us to get that car right. Just can’t thank them all enough for trying.
You know, and I know it’s tough for the 24 to send someone over to help, and the 5, because, you know, I’m sitting here saying hopefully that work gives us the points to win the championship. You know, it may not work out for them if that’s the case.
Q. For your career, how big was that group behind you?
JIMMIE JOHNSON: Yeah, the group of people behind the scenes is everything. I think that’s why we bore everyone so much with saying ‘the guys back at the shop,’ mentioning crew members so often, because it really is a team sport. Through my career, from my dad, you know, prepping my dirt bike to go to the track, all the way through the off-road, ASA, all that stuff, those guys, they make the difference. They put in the hours. The relationships you build with them frame in the driver’s mind what it takes to be successful, makes you respect the vehicles, the workmanship that goes into it. I think it’s helped make me a smarter racer on the track. I try not to tear stuff up. I typically don’t. I think a lot of that’s because I have personal relationships with these guys, know they’re not at home all the time with their families. They’re working to make sure this car is right.
