THE MODERATOR: Today’s winner, Jimmie Johnson has joined us in the interview room. Jimmie, the win, which is your third straight in the Fall race here at Auto Club Speedway puts you into the lead in the standings for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. I’m sure you already know that. You lead your teammate Mark Martin by 12 points. Talk about your day out there?
JIMMIE JOHNSON: Real good day. There were points where the 42 was better than us. I think a couple cars like the 11 for a handful of laps showed some really, really good pace. But it seemed like on the long haul for the majority of the race, we had what we needed.
So we made some is adjustments. I think the track came to us some when the sun came out. Our car, really, I know Chad was making adjustments, but usually the sun comes out, and the car wants to slow down and not handle as well. With the adjustments we were making the car kept getting better and better.
So we did a really good job staying on top of things. We had solid pit stops. Thankfully it wasn’t down to a two-tire strategy or fuel only or something goofy at the end.
The tough part at the end of the race was the restarts. It’s so tough to with the straightaway this long on, it’s tough to get a good start. It’s tough to control your destiny on a restart because the guys behind you really control who is going to lead going into turn one. Sometimes you get it right, sometimes you don’t. If the guy behind you gets a poor start, you’re not going anywhere. It’s almost like being at Daytona or Talladega with the drafts.
So that last start worked out well for he me. Had a great start on the 24 and was just able to clear him off the two. And that certainly made the difference for us.
THE MODERATOR: Winning crew chief, Chad Knaus, your view from atop the box today?
CHAD KNAUS: Obviously, it was a fantastic day for us. The car was good right from the start of the race. We had to—we made some pretty significant changes from last night.
I don’t even think I told you those, did I?
JIMMIE JOHNSON: I didn’t want to know. That’s fine.
CHAD KNAUS: Yeah, we made a lot of changes (laughing).
JIMMIE JOHNSON: I’d rather have a clear head.
CHAD KNAUS: It’s pretty easy—I shouldn’t say ease hey, but it’s a lot easier to go out there and run the way we did today when we’ve got a driver like we’ve got. Jimmie did a fantastic job all day long. He was patient when he needed to be patient. He wasn’t overly aggressive in the draft. Didn’t hit the wall like you saw a bunch of guys getting into the fence today from being type and then snapping at the corner.
Jimmie was methodical about the way he drove all day and kept our car good to the end. Fortunately we were able to run up front most of the day, and Jimmie made it happen.
THE MODERATOR: Team owner, Rick Hendrick, also with us. A pretty significant win with all of your 25th Anniversary celebrations ongoing.
RICK HENDRICK: It’s been a good day. It’s been a good week to celebrate the 25th Anniversary and the film. And to come out today and win the race, you know, I think I missed the last two that they won, so I thought I wasn’t going to be able to come back (laughing). Now I feel like I’m okay to show back up. It was a great day. Ran well. Jimmie just drove the wheels off the car.
Q. Earlier Jeff was in here—and Rick’s going to know the song title I’m going for before you guys, you’re too young. But Jeff said there is something magical about you guys in the last ten races. So, Rick, do you remember “Do You Believe in Magic”? I was wondering, you guys work very hard. But do you believe this is a special time for you guys?
JIMMIE JOHNSON: The last three years have been really special. Right now we’re in a great position, but it’s way too early to start thinking about other things.
I mean, we love where we’re at. We love the fact that we’re in the points lead. We’ve got maximum points today. But I don’t want to go there. I don’t want to think about those things. If we are in the hunt come Homestead, come Phoenix, it’s going to be the thoughts, the emotions, all of that is going to be so heavy on all of our shoulders that it’s going to be a tough grind.
But right now it’s so early enough to where we can kind of brush it off and say okay, we did what we needed to. Let’s go to Charlotte. As we get closer to the end, there is no doubt it’s going to ratchet up. But right now we did all we could today.
Last week, if you had a chance to speak to us after the race, we were all ready to jump off a cliff. You know, this week we’re on top of the world. So it’s a sport we call home is tough on us from time to time.
Q. On the double file restarts, what goes into decision making and who ultimately makes the decision inside or outside?
JIMMIE JOHNSON: For us so far it’s really been me inside the car. Chad’s gives me info about where it’s worked, what’s gone on. On the last restart I wanted to be on the outside. I felt like I might get beat through one and two, but I wasn’t really concerned with that. I knew in three and four I was so much faster than the 24 that I could get the line that I wanted and get by him.
So I was thinking about the outside. And as we drove through there the first time after the red flag, there was a lot more of the stay dry and kitty litter or whatever it’s called that was down in the second lane up. And I made my decision then. I thought there’s less on the bottom, that’s got to be good for me. So I chose the bottom lane, and I got a good start.
And those restarts are so tough because it depends on what the guy behind you does. Everything worked out well, and I had a good push and got through the gears well. I just cleared them off of two, I should say.
So those restarts, especially with the straightaway this long are so nerve-racking. You just don’t know what’s going to happen. You can do everything right as the leader and end up fourth off of turn two easily.
CHAD KNAUS: What we try to do is just to communicate. I think that’s from every aspect of what we do. Like Jimmie said, I just try to watch and pay close attention to the nationwide races. We pay close attention to a lot of that stuff.
This track’s a lot different than most of the others that we go to, like Jimmie said, with the drafts. So we communicate, and ultimately the decision is his unless I completely disagree. But we’ve been pretty much in agreement all the time.
Q. You’re now 25 years in the NASCAR business. Very, very successful. The long-term future maybe you’re playing already with the idea parallel to your NASCAR commitment to enter any other motor racing championship series or whatever and try to find a new challenge?
RICK HENDRICK: I think I’ve got all the challenge I can handle in NASCAR (smiling). No, I’m happy here. I don’t think about that. It’s hard enough to compete every week and be competitive in this series. So this is where I’m going to stay.
Q. You have 16 Chase wins. What is it with you and the playoffs?
JIMMIE JOHNSON: I really think that I’ve been saying it, I’m trying to find an answer for everybody as well. I think it really boils down to the fact that the tracks in the Chase are my strongest tracks. If you look at Martinsville, you look at all of them. Lowe’s Motor Speedway, this track, you go through them and they are tracks that we win at.
So far the last three years I’ve been he very proud of the team and how we’ve been able to keep our composure with the pressure that’s come our way. Today we did a good job of it, but there are still six more times to stub our toes. So we’ll have to stay on top of things, and hopefully do what we’ve been able to do in the past once again.
Q. With your win today you become the all time winner here at ACS. Your thoughts? How do you dominate this place so much?
JIMMIE JOHNSON: That’s cool. The home track. To be able to have more wins here than anybody, that’s a cool stat to add to a cool week that we’ve had with the foundation stuff and the race win here today.
There are certain tracks that fit drivers well. This track has been—actually, there was a period of time where we weren’t that good for a year or two, trying to find the balance. But to get my first win here and then lately we’ve done a really good job of understanding the track and what we need. It’s just a track that works for us. Hopefully we can keep it going.
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