YOU’VE EXPERIENCED HOW DOMINANCE EFFECTS THE SPORT PERSONALLY, HOW DOES IT EFFECT THE SPORT FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE IN A BIGGER SCOPE, FROM THE FAN BASE, TICKET SALES?
“I look at it as more of a positive thing because while right now you might see people going oh I’m tired of Jimmie Johnson winning the races or the championship at the same time it creates his own fan base as well as those that are very hungry to see them get beat and somebody to take the down. Whoever does take them down can be like I was when I took those championships away from (Dale) Earnhardt and it made me who I am today and set me apart from others. I think that’s what people are hungry for now and I think that you’ve got to respect somebody that’s doing what Jimmie and Chad and that No. 48 team are doing and you’ve got to give them credit for that. But at the same time there are a lot of people out there that it just makes them hungrier to want to beat them. I think it also creates that rivalry among the fans that’s it’s so important to our sport that our sport has thrived on for many years and that’s what brings the excitement. I see it and here it all the time right now both sides of it everywhere I go. I think that means they’re talking, they’re thinking about it. If the No. 48 wins it this year I think while it might turn some fans away, I think it’s going to build up a fan base of people that want to see somebody come in and knock them off. So I don’t see it as a negative, I see it as a positive.”
DID YOU REALLY THINK TECHNICALLY WHEN YOU AND RAY EVERNHAM WERE TOGETHER THAT YOU WERE BETTER THAN THOSE OTHER GUYS OR WERE YOU A PRODUCT OF THE SYSTEM IN SOME WAYS?
“I said this years ago when those debates were going on there is no such thing as the greatest driver, there just isn’t because there is no measuring tool for it. It doesn’t matter if you’re a great driver and you’re a part of a great team and you’re winning races, it really shouldn’t matter because this is a team sport. It’s not an individual sport. I think that Jimmie is a great driver and he’s part of a great team. I think Chad is a great crew chief. Are they the best ever? I don’t think that you’re ever going to hear me say that this is the greatest driver ever this is the greatest crew chief and you’re certainly never going to hear me put my name into that because I’ve been through the ups and the downs of this sport enough to know there are days when I might look like a hero and I might look like the greatest driver and the car I could drive it with one finger. I know how important the equipment is. I know how important the pit stops are and the decisions. I know that a great driver plays a vital role in how they communicate and I think that right now the combination of Jimmie and Chad and that team are the best out there and possibly one of the best I’ve ever seen and been a part of this sport. I will say that but there’s no such thing as the greatest driver. Now I will say that the thing that helped me was when Ray and I did go our separate ways and I worked with other crew chiefs I got a lot more respect in the garage area for going and winning that 2001 championship and continuing to consistently win races. Maybe not as many races and that goes back to the combination. The combination was spectacular and I wish we could have found a way to have kept it together longer but I also understand we had our own things to prove and go out and do and we are still friends but I think that its earned us both more respect because we did what we did. I think that the same thing that will happen with Jimmie and with Chad. As long as they are together everybody is going to say wow what a great team but and it’s that but that can choose whether they want to prove that to themselves or others or just keep on winning.”
HOW FAR HAVE BRAKES COME SINCE YOU FIRST GOT HERE AND WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR IN A BRAKE PACKAGE ON SUNDAY?
“They’ve come so, so far. I think what’s probably come further is the cooling, being able to keep them cool. It really has allowed us to not have to manage the brakes as we used to as much. If you’re in the middle of the pack and you’re running really hard you can still melt the bead or have some brake problems. I’ve run this race before every lap as hard as I could and never even thought about trying to take care of the brakes and had no problem. That’s something that didn’t happen in the past. It’s all the technology. It’s the rotors, the caliper but I would say most of it is in the cooling.”
THEY SAY THERE IS A REAL FINE BALANCE BETWEEN DRIVER AND BRAKE, WOULD YOU SEE THAT EVEN MORE HERE WHERE YOU’RE GETTING ON THE GAS AND GETTING ON THE BRAKE?
“Absolutely that’s true. Most of that is balance of the race car. If you have the car balanced well it’s going to turn the middle of the corner good for you. I necessarily wouldn’t consider that a brake things. I think with bump stops and the different things we have now it’s real easy to lock a left front tire up here if you overdrive it into the corner. Again I think that’s more of suspension issue than it is a brake issue.”
YOU BROUGHT JIMMIE JOHNSON IN AND YOU GAVE HIM A CHANCE AND HE’S GONE OUT AND DENIED YOU FROM CHAMPIONSHIP AND WINS, OBVIOUSLY YOU GUYS ARE FRIENDS BUT ARE THERE TIMES WHEN THERE IS A FRUSTRATION BELOW THE SURFACE WITH HIM?
“It’s not easy being in my shoes is it? I mean you hit on a lot of very good points that have some truth to it. I don’t know if you guys watched the together documentary. I said in my interview that I did in there that I think Jimmie and I are always going to be really good friends but we might be better friends 15, 20 years from now because right now I’m a competitor like every other competitor out there that wants to beat him. Because I’m at Hendrick Motorsports and his teammate I see everything that goes on and I’m aware of the setups and the driving styles and the data and all those things and sometimes that can make it even more frustrating when you’re getting beat. I think at the same time it makes you hungrier to want to push harder to do everything you can to go out there and beat them. So it’s definitely affected our friendship. There’s no doubt about it. We’re competitors on the race track. I’m not going to go over and pat him on the back and say how great he is and I love you man when I really want to beat him. But at the end of the day I respect him, I know the story of how he got there and I think he’s a great guy and a great race car driver. I think he’s pushed all of us in the sport. That team has pushed all of us in the sport to be better, to push ourselves harder and to step up. So I’m thankful for that and I don’t have any regrets about anything. I’m proud that we’ve broadened Hendrick Motorsports and that Hendrick Motorsports continues to have the success.
“The reason why I shared everything that I had from all my experiences and everything we had at the team and the way that we communicate as a group is because I had enough confidence in what I’m doing as a driver that if we get beat it’s because we’re getting beat by a better team and they’re doing a better job with the same tools and resources that we have. I give them credit for that. But that definitely pushes us to work harder and to be better and it will make it that much more rewarding on those days when we do finish ahead of them or can beat them for a championship. I don’t know if that’s going to happen but I hope so. I still believe in myself and my own experience and skills and our team. So yeah there’s definitely been some challenging moments and days. It gets harder to go to victory lane and congratulate them when you want it as badly for yourself. While you want to see them win four in a row and you want to see Rick Hendrick win four in a row at the same time you want to be the one that’s preventing them from doing that. It’s a tough balance.”
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