DO YOU THINK PEOPLE THOUGHT YOU WERE MESSING UP THE SHOW OR RUINING THE SPORT BACK WHEN YOU WERE DOMINATING IN THE ‘90’S LIKE THEY SAY JIMMIE JOHNSON IS NOW?
“Again, back then from my standpoint, I was loving it. And it didn’t matter to me what other people thought. But there was a rivalry there and it was great. It built up that rivalry because it made people that were Earnhardt fans only hate me more and it built up the people that started to like me; it built that fan base up more. And it was really sort of divided and I think the more you dominate, the more they divide and that’s only a good thing for this sport as well as for Jimmie.”
SO WHY DOES JIMMIE JOHNSON GET CRITICIZED FOR DOMINATING MORE THAT YOU DID?
“Oh, I don’t know if he does. I wouldn’t necessarily say that. There was a lot of criticism back then too.”
AFTER GOING THROUGH SEVERAL OF THESE CHASES, DOES THE RHYTHM GET ANY EASIER? IS THERE MORE OR LESS PRESSURE NOW?
“I think there has always been a lot of pressure. For me, each year that passes that we don’t win I feel like it adds pressure. So, to me it’s more intense than it’s ever been. But for us right now, being 150 points out, I don’t feel a lot of pressure because we really don’t have anything to lose, you know. We’re just kind of in a situation where if things go great for us for the next four weeks, we’ll win it. But if they don’t we’re hopefully going to be second or third.”
DO YOU THINK NASCAR SHOULD MODIFY THE WAY THEY HANDLE SITUATIONS LIKE WHAT HAPPENED WITH A.J. ALLMENDINGER? IN SOME LEAGUES LIKE THE NFL WHEN A GUY GETS IN TROUBLE THE LEAGUE CAN SUSPEND HIM.
“This is not a franchise sport. This is independent contractors. I think that obviously you have to reprimand certain actions. I really haven’t gotten into the details of that. All I can tell you is that this sport is dictated by our fan base and our sponsors. And if your actions off the track impact that enough, you’re going to get penalized. To me, that penalty is far going to outweigh anything that the series can do. We all have situations where we make mistakes. I think each one is handled no differently.”
WHY ISN’T JIMMIE JOHNSON’S POPULARITY SKY-HIGH?
“I don’t know. It’s amazing to me. I really don’t have an answer for that other than for me, what helped build up my popularity was the rivalry we talked about with me and Earnhardt Sr. He had such an incredible fan base that anybody that came in and competed with him or beat him for a championship which was pretty rare, again, divided up the fans and it was extremely good for me and I think right now Jimmie doesn’t have a rivalry. One, he’s dominated; but there wasn’t somebody that was dominating prior to him.
“We won our fourth championship in 2001 but since then and we’re kind of teammates and friends and all this stuff, so it’s not like this love-hate relationship that it may have appeared to have been, perception-wise, between me and Earnhardt. And so, you never know what does this. I’m not a marketing genius. I have no idea. You guys see it and hear it more than I do, but it definitely makes you scratch your head a little bit when you see the dominance that they’ve had.”
OBVIOUSLY YOU CAN HAVE A LAST-LAP CRASH AT ANY TRACK. BUT WITH WHAT’S HAPPENED AT THE LAST TWO PLATE RACES, IS THAT COINCIDENCE OR A TREND THAT’S A LITTLE BOTHERSOME?
“No, it’s bothersome because I look more at the one here. The one at Daytona is different because, in my opinion, you can’t really lock onto a guy at Daytona and just push him all the way through the corners like you can here. And that situation here was that the guy in second had complete control of the guy who was leading and when it was time for him to make his move, he made his move. And then the leader sees the checkered flag and he’s like I’m not going to give it up that easily and there’s a wreck. And I think that can happen over and over and over and over again. And it definitely brings up that question of are we in control of that as a driver or does NASCAR have to step in and take control of that? And that’s going to be something that we’re going to debate I think for a little while.
“And I wouldn’t be surprised, even with the restrictor plate change, if we see it come down to that again. I’m not saying there has to be a wreck, but it’s really this weekend, I don’t think they’ve changed anything. But I’ll find out once we get out there, with the restrictor plate. But I think you’re going to see the cars be able to do the same thing. If two guys time it perfectly like they did, then it’s going to come down to the leader and is he okay being second? The only way he’s going to win the race is to block that car. And that’s what’s going to cause a wreck.”
DRIVERS DON’T LIKE TO HAVE NASCAR INVOLVED IN THINGS LIKE THAT. AS A DRIVER, HOW COULD IT BE ACCEPTABLE FOR NASCAR TO PLAY A GREATER ROLE?
“I don’t think NASCAR wants two cars breaking away, period. I don’t think they want to see that. They want to see a pack of cars. And so I think that’s why they made the restrictor plate change. I think they saw how fast these two cars were able to go by themselves but I think there’s some aero and a little bit of aero package testing that needs to be done as well that could possibly prevent those two cars from locking together like that.
“Also, when we go to the drivers meeting here and they say this is the no-bump zone and they draw a yellow line or a red line all the way around (the track map) and the only way those two cars can do what they’re doing is to hit one another all the way around the corner. That, I think, is the short term of a decision that they have to make. Do they want to get involved in that, or not?”
WHAT’S YOUR REACTION TO LANCE MCGREW BECOMING THE PERMANENT CREW CHIEF FOR DALE EARNHARDT JR.?
“All day long people can tell you within the organization that you’re the guy, you’re the guy, but the perception has been out there for him to get questioned, and when you’re Dale Earnhardt Jr.‘s crew chief, the last thing you want is any extra questions (laughs). So I think it’s a great move and I like Lance a lot. I think those guys are good together.”
ARE YOU INVOLVED IN ANY OF THE SOCIAL NETWORKS LIKE FACEBOOK OR TWITTER AND IS THAT A GOOD WAY TO STAY IN TOUCH WITH YOUR FAN BASE?
“I’m not. And I should. I have my own website and we just did a blog on there a couple of weeks ago. I’m not that good at it and I intend on getting better at it in the future and it might include FaceBook and Twitter, but as of right now, no.”
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