NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
COCA-COLA 600
CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER RACE NOTES & QUOTES
MAY 24, 2015

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S PATRIOTIC CHEVROLET SS – Sidelined on Lap 275 in single car spin & crash. The team made repairs, and Johnson returned to the competition on lap 331.

WHAT WAS GOING ON OUT THERE?
“For us the car was just really loose. It was fast, but as soon as I would get close to somebody else my car would bug out and get so edgy. Lost it twice, about had it saved both times. Once we would get in clean air and get strung out I could fly up through the field and went from last to fifth there. Then I had a lap car on the outside and a car I had been stalking on the bottom and then I tried to roll into the top behind the lap car. The thing just bugged out in the dirty air and around it went again. A tough day to try to get the balance right in the car.”

HOW SURPRISED WERE YOU THE BALANCE WAS SO OFF?
“Well I think it looked the same for a lot of people in traffic. Vegas, Atlanta, Texas, whatever was going on there the cars balance was advantage in traffic. The split from clean air to dirty air wasn’t as evil and last week at Kansas and All-Star and here I don’t know if it’s the tire versus the track. There is some other component there, at least for our car; it has been pretty wicked in traffic. Unfortunately bit us today.”

CAN YOU TAKE ANYTHING AWAY FROM TONIGHT THAT CAN HELP YOU MOVING FORWARD? 
“Yeah, we came in here tonight swinging for the fences. We are locked in the Chase, it doesn’t matter. Chad (Knaus, crew chief) told me he either wanted it on a hook or the trophy. Unfortunately we got the hook.”

ON THE TWO SPINS: 
“We just had a really loose racecar. We came in with an aggressive mindset to bring an aggressive set-up in the car, drive aggressively and take chances. We just don’t have anything to loose. Unfortunately we didn’t get long enough into the race for the aggressive set-up to come into play. Another 30/40 laps we would have had the car right where we wanted it. I just didn’t make it there. I could have driven a little easier and tried not work so hard through traffic, but we said we were going to come in and swing for the fences. We did and I hit the fence.”

DID THE TRANSITION FROM DAY TO NIGHT MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE AT ALL? 
“It was slowly coming to me. That is how we went from tail end of the longest line up to fifth. We just drove through there. The car was coming around. I was trying to set the No. 88 (Dale Earnhardt, Jr.) up in (Turns) 3 and 4 and rolled in behind a lap car. I had just kind of gotten lulled into a comfort zone thinking I could roll in behind someone and be fine because I made a couple of moves like that earlier. As soon as I turned off in the corner I knew I was going around. I fought it as long as I could and unfortunately caught the inside wall.”

YOU HAVE SAVED SO MANY SPINS IS IT JUST A SICK FEELING WHEN YOU KNOW IT’S NOT GOING TO BE SAVED? “Yeah, I thought I had that one saved too. I got a little occupied on pointing it down pit road and driving off. I should have just let it spin all the way out. I had that one I just lost it at the end.”

YOU HIT THE SAFER BARRIER THAT HAS BEEN ADDED SINCE OCTOBER. DID YOU KNOW THAT? HOW CLOSE DID YOU COME TO HITTING THE OPENING ON PIT ROAD? 
“I could see the SAFER barrier and I could see that opening and I could see the No. 2 (Brad Keselowski) pit. I was frightened I was going to get through that hole. It wouldn’t have been pretty for me, but to have teams and stuff there that was something I was staring at sliding for a long ways. I was very thankful the SAFER barrier was there and wish we could find a way to extend a wall out and redirect the car away from that opening or close that opening up.”