NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
AXALTA ‘WE PAINT WINNERS’ 400
POCONO RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
JUNE 5, 2015

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S/JIMMIE JOHNSON FOUNDATION CHEVROLET SS met with media and discussed the success of Hendrick Motorsports at Pocono, shortening races, the challenges of racing at Pocono, his thoughts on the Driver’s Council, and more. Full Transcript:

BIG WEEK FOR YOU LAST WEEK WITH YOUR 10TH WIN AT DOVER, AND BIG WEEK HERE AT POCONO BECAUSE YOU HAVE THE BLUE BUNNY HELMET OF HOPE CAMPAIGN KICKING OFF. YOU’VE GOT A LOT GOING ON
“We really do. It’s a great time, especially coming off a big win last week and coming to a great track for myself and our Lowe’s team. And just a quick shout-out to Lowe’s and a sincere thank you that they let us have a paint scheme every year and build awareness and build a program around the giving that the Jimmie Johnson Foundation does. The Blue Bunny Helmet of Hope program is a very important part of that. I know that you are all aware of it. But to be able to donate $25,000 and raise national awareness for these small charities is something we take a lot of pride in. And in eight years, we’ve given out over $800,000 to these small charities. So, the success of the program is continuing to grow in leaps and bounds every year and a large part of that is due to what we can do on a Sunday with the Jimmie Johnson Foundation on the side of the race car. Many thanks to Lowe’s for that.”

HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS HAS 17 WINS OVERALL AT POCONO. HOW LIKELY IS THAT TO CONTINUE THIS WEEKEND?
“I think it’s pretty high. This has been a great track for all four Hendrick cars. We’ve all had speed here over the years. Clearly (Dale Earnhardt) Junior dominated or swept both races last year. He had a very strong car in both events and my memory is saying we were very strong, ourselves. So, you do that and then look outside of the Hendrick box and look at our SHR relationship and there are some fast cars over there, too. So, I think with Hendrick chassis and power will be pacing the field through a large part of the weekend.”

LAST WEEKEND PUT YOU ANOTHER STEP CLOSER TO DALE EARNHARDT SR. ON THE ALL-TIME WIN LIST. HAVE YOU GIVEN SOME THOUGHT TO WHAT THAT MEANS IN TERMS OF YOUR PLACE IN THE SPORT AND THE HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF IT?
“Not really to my place in the sport. You know it’s still two away from us, and I certainly hope to have that opportunity to tie him and the competitor in me, of course, would like to move past that and chase down the next guy. But, I remember and had the great fortune like everybody here, to watch Jeff Gordon tie that monumental record. I know how much it meant to Jeff. I, unfortunately, never had a chance to race against Dale. Definitely, there’s a void there in my mind and my career that I didn’t have that opportunity. I did meet him a couple of times and he did a fantastic job of intimidating me and scaring the ‘you know what’ out of me in both those instances. So, if it does happen, I of course want to handle it in the right way and pay tribute to Dale and what he’s done for our sport, the true bad-ass he was in our sport, and if and when that does happen, it will be an honor to be there in that status with him.”

A LOT OF DRIVERS COMPARE POCONO TO A ROAD COURSE BECAUSE OF THE THREE DIFFERENT TURNS, AND IT’S ALSO COMPARED TO INDIANAPOLIS. DO YOU COMPARE IT WITH A ROAD COURSE? DO YOU SEE THAT COMPARISON?
“It’s hard to say there’s a direct comparison to either of the two tracks, but skills required of a road course need to be in your bag here; same thing with Indy. The way you road course race here has changed, especially with the parameters we have on our transmission ratios. It’s not a comfortable thing to do, and you have the option to not shift. So, sure, it helps I think. Some drivers are just wired to be in that uncomfortable mindset and willing to abuse the tranny and abuse the engine around here to put up a lap. I think it’s awesome. I love it. I love that option and opportunity. The Indy correlation, I think the tunnel turn is probably the closest to that. But there’s been years we can say from the No. 48-side that yes, what we did at Pocono carried over. I can’t say it’s been the case lately. I think with the previous generation of race car and rules package there was more of a comparison of the two or parallel of the two. But of late, we’ve been a little different than a few generations ago.”

WHEN THERE’S TALK OF SHORTENING RACES, POCONO IS AN EXAMPLE THAT PEOPLE POINT TO AS MAYBE IMPROVING THE RACE BY SHORTENING IT. HOW DID THE DYNAMICS CHANGE IN THIS RACE WHEN IT WAS SHORTENED? DO YOU FEEL THAT WOULD CORRELATE TO OTHER TRACKS, OR IS IT MOSTLY UNIQUE TO POCONO?
“I didn’t think it changed the race. I think it just worked better for the viewing audience and the attention span of today’s world. It just put it into a smaller window of time and that just seems to be the way the world works anymore. It’s still a long race. It’s a very grueling race on equipment. And then the fuel mileage thing, even though they shortened a hundred, just the way that the cars consume fuel and the way our pit patterns work, it still has the same feel and flow in my opinion. It’s just a shorter race.”

YOU SWEPT HERE IN 2004 AND THEN WENT A DECADE BEFORE YOU WON HERE AGAIN. JUNIOR IS IN THAT SITUATION THIS YEAR. WHAT’S IT LIKE TO HAVE GREAT SUCCESS AND SWEEP A TRACK AND THEN KNOWING THAT YOU CAN GET THE JOB DONE AND THEN NOT SEE VICTORY LANE FOR A DECADE? AND WHAT DOES JUNIOR FACE IN TERMS OF ANY KIND OF CHALLENGE IN TRYING TO CONTINUE HIS SUCCESS HERE?
“I kind of put sweeping here in the same box as sweeping at Daytona or Talladega. There are just so many circumstances out of your control at this track. And those lead to the difficulty in winning often and sweeping, for that matter. This race, there are always long green-flag runs and varying strategies. The teams that don’t have the raw speed to race for the win roll the dice and usually catch cautions and lose track position. Track position is so important. There are a lot of moving targets. It’s not just a straight-up downforce-style race. And I think that increases the difficulty to win here regularly.”

THERE WAS SOME TALK EARLIER IN THE YEAR ABOUT SCHEDULE CHANGES. OTHER THAN RACING MAYBE FOUR OR FIVE TIMES AT DOVER, WHAT KIND OF CHANGES WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE?
“Four or five times at Martinsville (laughs). No, I don’t have the – I don’t think one person has the answer if it’s on the NASCAR side, driver side, team side, but I think we need to look at all options. And as a group collectively make a decision and also identify what is the time span that people want to be entertained. Why are we going to track multiple times? Is it worth it? Is it better to have one race? Then the racing itself, what is good racing? Is it field real close together? Or is it multiple lead changes? I think that is a different world to create that. Trying to identify obviously with what is popular is the name of our game and trying to appeal to the masses and have viewership. But I’m excited where things are going. I feel that drivers having a seat at the table, the owners having a seat at the table I think meetings that are taking place are very helpful and I look forward to more group decisions. And literally having tire company, NASCAR, team owners and drivers together trying to make smart decisions all together as a group. It’s heading that way and I think we are on the right path for sure. I know that race format is a big part of it. I think it’s an area that we haven’t really touched yet. I’m open to it. I also feel that a single race at some venues and shortening the schedule there is some merit to that in my mind as well.”

WE HAVE A NEW RULES PACKAGE THIS YEAR AT MICHIGAN, THE SURFACE HAS AGED A FEW YEARS, WHAT KIND OF RACING DO YOU THINK WE WILL SEE?
“I think it’s going to be fast with this rules package. I know there was some testing done to help put this package in play. Those notes, I think the No. 5 (Kasey Kahne) was there for us, man, they ran a lot of throttle. The more throttle you run I think the narrower the groove gets. I’m hopeful that I’m wrong and I’m hopeful that the tough winters and tough summers up there have aged the track dramatically. And we are able to fan back out like we have seen with the old surface at Michigan. But I feel like they just do a great job of repaving these tracks anymore and we probably won’t be there. There will be a lot of throttle. Track position will be very important, but the speeds are going to be really high.”

WERE YOU ABLE TO TALK TO ANYONE THAT WAS AT THE DRIVER’S COUNCIL MEETING LAST WEEKEND AND LEARN WHAT THEY TALKED ABOUT? DID YOU LIKE WHAT YOU HEARD?
“Yeah, certainly on Monday and Tuesday there was some correspondence that looped all the drivers in and I was aware of the meeting that took place. I just want to clarify, I guess on Twitter, when the question was asked of me (last weekend in the media center post race) there wasn’t any correspondence. I knew that I placed a vote and that happened. I was never told that I was out and I didn’t know that there was a meeting taking place Saturday night. When I made my comments it was in the heat of the moment of winning and having a couple of beers and enjoying what was all going on. I made a comment and I walked out of the media center and I’m like ‘I bet you that is the driver’s council meeting.’ I just wanted to clarify because I truly believe in the council. I’m very happy with the election process and the consideration that has gone in to representing teams from each kind of bracket if you will in the point’s order of the garage area so that everybody has a voice. I’m very happy with it and I didn’t want to undermine or take away from what that group is doing. I just didn’t know it had happened. I think there is some communications that need to improve amongst the group there and I won’t make that comment.”

IF YOU HAD BEEN ON THE COUNCIL IS THERE AN ISSUE TO YOU THAT IS MOST IMPORTANT RIGHT NOW THAT YOU THINK SHOULD BE ADDRESSED?
“The drivers council is really focused on rules and being a helpful hand in decisions made there and safety. It’s hard to say which one is a priority. I think leaving Daytona and Kyle’s (Busch) incident in the XFINITY race safety was probably the highest priority. It still always is, but the rules package is a hot topic. I feel like we are in an environment right now where there is going to be more change and trying to make the right decisions is important. I feel that the drivers we are living it inside the car. I know there is a lot of simulation and technology out there to kind of say what will happen, but we just want to make sure our voice is heard and the people that make the decisions know what is really going on in the car. And what we are thinking and how we are faced with challenges. I guess in today’s world right now the rules package is the priority from the drivers council.”

WITH FOUR WINS ARE YOU ABLE TO TAKE MORE CHANCES NOW? ARE YOU MORE RELAXED?
“It’s hard to be relaxed with (Chad) Knaus as your crew chief, but we are trying to. We say that at times that we are relaxed. Race day has been far more relaxed than Friday’s and qualifying. Just to be honest with you guys. Sure, absolutely we are taking chances and staying out on 50 lap tires at the end of a race at Dover. It took some selling on Chad’s behalf to get me to believe and after the first restart I knew we were in good shape. We are definitely taking chances. The way things unfold here and it’s usually some kind of fuel strategy this puts us in a great position to swing for the fences again.”