Jimmie Johnson Wins the Pole at Phoenix with New Track Record
Chevrolet SS Drivers Capture Two of Top-Five and Six of Top-11 in Qualifying for Sunday’s AdvoCare 500
 
AVONDALE, ARIZ (November 8, 2013) Five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion and current point leader Jimmie Johnson was blistering fast in the heat of the desert sun at Phoenix International Raceway in setting a new track pole on the way to winning his third pole of the 2013 season.
 
With a lap of 25.858 seconds/139.222 mph, Johnson behind the wheel of the No. 48 Lowe’s/KOBALT Tools Chevrolet SS, scored the 32nd career pole for race 35 of the 36-race season.
 
“Track records are awesome,” said Johnson.  “I don’t qualify on the pole all that often, so I take great pride in them; especially track records. It’s very cool to do. It’s clearly a great time in the season with the Chase and all that. We have a great pit pick and track position to start the race with and now we just need to be able to make the right decisions during the race and maintain track position.”
 
Jeff Gordon put is No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet SS in the fifth starting position for the 312-lap/312-mile/500K race to give Team Chevy two of the top-five starters.
 
Other Chevrolet SS drivers in the top-10 are: Kasey Kahne, No. 5 Farmers Insurance Chevrolet SS – 7th; Kurt Busch, No. 78 Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Chevrolet SS – 8th: Kevin Harvick, No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet SS – 9th and Dale Earnhardt, Jr., No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet SS – 11th.
 
Rounding out the top-five qualifiers were Denny Hamlin (Toyota), Joey Logano (Ford) and Kyle Busch (Toyota).
 
The race is scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 10 at 3 p.m. ET on ESPN and MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S/KOBALT TOOLS CHEVROLET SS – POLE WINNER
ANOTHER NEW TRACK RECORD AND DOMINATING PERFORMANCE BY YOU AND YOUR TEAM SO TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOUR RUN HERE AT PHOENIX:
“New track records are awesome.  I don’t qualify on pole all that often so I take great pride in them; especially track records.  It’s a very cool of a deal.  It’s clearly at a great time in the season with the Chase and all that. We have a great pit pick and track position to start the race with.  Now we just need to be able to maintain that and make the right decisions during the race to keep track position.”
 
DO YOU REALLY HAVE THE ABILITY TO TURN IT UP AT THIS POINT IN THE SEASON?  DOES SUCH A THING REALLY EXIST?
“I don’t feel like I’m doing anything different, but we have been able to, at least the year’s we’ve won championships, have been able to do more than we have during the regular season.  It’s hard when you are inside of it, inside the car, inside the team to know what the difference is because we are doing the same stuff.  But when I look around and I see what other champions do to win in the competitors, the battle between the two or three guys whoever it is they always seem to find a way to find a little more. So somehow we are doing it, yes, I recognize that, but it’s not a concerted effort.  It’s not something that we are doing any differently.  It’s just I think what you have to do to win championships.  We are trying to rise up to the pace of the No. 20 and beat him.” 
 
DENNY HAMLIN JUST BASICALLY ADMITTED THAT AN OFF DAY FOR YOU WOULD BE A FIFTH PLACE FINISH.  DO YOU EVER REFLECT ON KIND OF THE STANDARD YOU HAVE SET AND WHAT THAT MAY DO TO YOUR COMPETITION EACH WEEKEND?
“Man, I had like five races of 28th in a row before the Chase started I guess everybody forgot about that huh? (laughs) It happens to everybody.  You have bad days, but I feel like the majority of the tracks we race on are good for us.  There are a few in the summer months that beat us up from time to time and we went through that earlier this year.  Then racing luck can get you from time to time too.  In Pocono we blew a right-front (tire) leading, Atlanta we got smashed on a restart and on and on.  If you are going to win a championship you have got to run in the top-five week in and week out. Fortunately we have been able to do so really for these eight races.  Last year we made it eight races there and didn’t finish out that way.  So we need to make sure we finish out these final two with strong finishes.”
 
WHILE LAST YEAR AND THIS YEAR YOU WILL START THE NEXT TO LAST RACE WITH A SEVEN POINT LEAD YOU WILL START SUNDAY’S RACE 23 POSITIONS BETTER THAN YOU DID LAST YEAR.  WHAT DOES THAT MEAN IN THIS RACE AND AT THIS TRACK?
“I’m not sure it means a ton.  Matt (Kenseth) if you look at the history of Matt, qualifying hasn’t been his best, but he is always there when the checkered falls.  That is what I have to expect out of he and his team once again.  I’m sure they will be there when the checkered falls on Sunday.  So we need to be buttoned up tomorrow, get our adjustments right, get the car right and then have a flawless race on Sunday.”
 
WHAT DO YOU SEE AS THE KEY FACTORS IN DETERMINING THE OUTCOME OF THE RACE?  GOING TO BE A LOT OF TWO TIRE STOPS? SOMEBODY MENTIONED CARL (EDWARDS) WENT THE WHOLE WAY ON LEFT-SIDES LAST TIME.  DO YOU THINK THAT WILL BE POSSIBLE?
“Yeah, I think tire strategy first of all and then a close second is really fuel at the end.  We have seen this turn into a fuel mileage race at the end of a few shows.  I think we won one and that is how we got closed the gap on Denny (Hamlin) one year as well.  I would say between those two parts.  You obviously need a good car and good (pit) stops and all that, but tire strategy and then fuel is going to be the key points.”
 
DID THE DRAW MAKE A DIFFERENCE TODAY?
“It didn’t hurt.  I will take it.  I was a little… probably like everybody else curious why things didn’t get faster sooner.  I don’t know TV almost had me believing there was a transition period that the track was going through, but I don’t have a clue.  But it didn’t hurt going out late for sure.”
 
HOW MUCH OF YOUR PRACTICE TODAY WAS TOWARDS QUALIFYING AND HOW MUCH TOWARDS THE RACE AND HOW CRITICAL WILL YOUR PRACTICE BE TOMORROW MORNING?
“Tomorrow morning, I guess I have to think it through about track temp and stuff, but I would assume the second practice is closer to what we are going to race on.  So the first practice we will make sure we are in the ballpark and things are going in the right direction.  But today we spent half, 60 percent on race trim and then switched over midway point and made a couple of qualifying runs.  Some tracks we go to we will start in qualifying trim and just focus on it solely, but here we felt like it would be nice to get some race trim in.  Have something to sleep on overnight to start tomorrow’s practice with.”
 
AS COMMITTED AND FOCUSES AS CHAD (KNAUS, CREW CHIEF) IS AND WHAT HE DOES HOW MUCH OF THAT HAS RUBBED OFF ON YOU AND EFFECTED THE WAY YOU APPROACH WHAT YOU DO?
“It definitely has.  He has shaped me and molded me into the teammate, the team leader, the driver that I am.  There are times when I do not want to hear what he has to say to me.  Sometimes it ends up being right.  In Homestead at our test there were a couple of examples of that which took place.  The good thing with Chad is his intensity is there all that is an obvious, but he doesn’t have a filter.  He is not fearful of getting something off his chest.  At times it can rub anyone in here the wrong way, it can rub the competitors the wrong way and it can rub me the wrong way, but at least it’s out there.  It’s nice working with a guy that isn’t afraid to get it off his chest.  Because then you have a chance to work on it and you have a chance to address it.  So from techniques and driving the car, what I do
during the week and my involvement with the shop, with the pit crew guys, over-the-wall guys or approach to the race track, even lines I drive on the track.  I know some crew chiefs get a kick out of listening to him because he will try to drive the car during the pit box during the race at times, but he only does it because he cares and that he is that focused on it all.  His intensity has shaped me into who I am today and very grateful to have that environment.  I think I thrive in that environment.  There are some drivers that want to crew chief from the seat. That is not our dynamic.  He has created an environment for me to thrive in and to learn.  So it’s worked out really well.  I guess I’m good at being told what to do (laughs).”

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
ADVOCARE 500
PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES
NOVEMBER 8, 2013
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S/KOBALT TOOLS CHEVROLET SS – POLE WINNER
“I just have to thank everybody on this Hendrick team. This KOBALT Tools Lowe’s Chevrolet has been very good off the truck and we were able to back it up and get it done in qualifying. I knew we had a fast car in practice and it’s tough to back it up. It’s a very tough field and a very tough industry and I’m proud of the effort across the board at Hendrick Motorsports to get it done today.”
 
YOU THOUGHT IT WAS GOING TO BE IMPORTANT TO HAVE GOOD TRACK POSITION BECAUSE YOU SAID YOU DIDN’T THINK THERE WOULD BE MUCH OF A SECOND GROOVE ON SUNDAY. CAN YOU TELL US WHY?
“Yeah, since the repave we just haven’t seen it. And it was kind of a single-file track in the past. But, the old asphalt allowed a second lane at times to kind of run on. But now, we haven’t really seen an outside lane anywhere. I hope it comes. I know they spent a lot of money on Turns 1 and 2 and the back straightaway to promote it. Hopefully we get up there some day and we can use that progressive banking.”
 
WHAT DOES THIS POLE DO FOR THE ENTIRE WEEKEND FOR YOU? ARE YOU BREATHING A SIGH OF RELIEF?
“For today, but it’s still a long race and a lot can happen.  Strategy plays a big part in what takes place on Sunday during the race here. We did ourselves a lot of favors today with getting the pole and that first pit stall. Track position to start the race with and a lot of things directional will be in our favor. We’ve still got to go out there and go to work and get the job done on Sunday. But it’s a great start to the weekend for the KOBALT Tools Chevrolet.”
 
YOU ARE ON THE POLE.  WHAT DOES THIS DO FOR THE REST OF THE WEEKEND AND ARE YOU BREATHING A SIGH OF RELIEF?
“For today, but it’s still a long race where a lot can happen and strategy plays a part in what takes place in Sunday’s race.   So we did ourselves a lot of favors here today by getting the pole, having that first pit stall, and track position to start the race with.  A lot of things will be in our favor, but we still have to go out there and get to work to get the job done on Sunday.  We are off to a good start for the weekend in the KOBALT Tools Chevrolet SS.”
 
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 AXALTA CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED FIFTH
WAS QUALIFYING WHAT YOU EXPECTED?
“Probably even a little bit better. It is certainly a pick-up from practice which is great. Based on the angle of the sun going into turn one, it is so difficult. It is a guessing game down there. The car felt great in three and four, so I felt like the team made good adjustments, so I am pretty happy with that lap time because I wasn’t sure when I was out there if it was a good of a lap.”
 
DID THE TRACK HAVE A LITTLE MORE GRIP?
“One and two certainly does because it is all shaded, but like I said, you can’t see getting in there, so you have to be careful. My car felt pretty good in three and four also.”
 
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED NINTH
YOU HAD THE POLE FOR JUST A SECOND THERE TELL US ABOUT YOUR LAP.  IT IS AWFULLY HOT OUT THERE ON THE TRACK RIGHT NOW:
“Yeah, honestly felt really good about our Budweiser Chevrolet in race trim.  In qualifying trim we struggled a little bit, but they made some good changes and our car was substantially better than it was in practice and we were able to put up a good lap.”
 
DID REALLY WELL HERE A YEAR AGO, WON THIS RACE, TELL US WHAT WE MIGHT EXPECT ON SUNDAY WITH THIS TRACK STARTING TO WEATHER IN A LITTLE BIT?
“If you push the car at all too hard right now it slides the front tires.  So it will be interesting to see what the race track does tonight and tomorrow night and we will just have to wait and see what Sunday brings.”
 
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 11TH
AN EARLY DRAW, BUT HOW ABOUT YOUR LAP?
“I really don’t know.  I think the car drove alright, but I just know that draw is not very good.  That is going to cost us quite a bit.  The guys did a good job giving me a car that was comfortable for that kind of a draw.  I think we got a pretty decent lap considering, but I don’t know where that is going to end up.”
 
WHAT DID YOU FEEL IN PRACTICE TODAY?
“Well we ran some race trim and felt good about our car.  In qualifying trim we really couldn’t progress like we wanted. Guys were picking up as they were running and we weren’t.  So we were a little bit worried about our effort in qualifying so we will just see how it works out.”
 
I HEARD YOU SAY YOU MADE A BIG MISTAKE ON THE FIRST QUALIFYING LAP, WHAT WAS IT?
“I was trying to roll the center real easy in (turns) three and four and didn’t anticipate the car turning as good as it did and I got down onto the apron coming into the throttle and just ruined the lap.  So, just tried to put together the best lap two I could.  I don’t know how good the draw is and I don’t know if that will be a top-15 or not and I know the guys are just going to get better from here on out and I don’t know how good that lap is to be honest with you.   Looking at what Matt (Kenseth) ran, I think it’s pretty good, but you never know so we will just have to see.”
 
HOW IS YOUR RACE CAR?
“I think we can race pretty well, and with how this tire works here – you don’t really need to change it – we can do some good strategy and get ourselves up front.”
 
DO YOU LOOK AT THIRD IN POINTS AS ATTAINABLE?
“I haven’t really looked at the numbers to know how far back we are. We are just trying to give it all we can each week, and see what we accomplish. We’ve already come a lot further than I thought we would after Chicago. I’m really proud of the team, and how they’ve hung in there, and they have done their best work in the last six weeks or so.”
 
WERE YOU TRYING TO LEARN SOMETHING FROM HOW JIMMIE DOES THINGS BY BACKING UP YOUR CORNERS IN PRACTICE?
“Well, we do that every week. We look at all the throttle input that every driver uses, and if we’re off a little bit, we might look at the fastest guy which tends to be Jimmie more times than not. My guys thought I might be over-driving the corner a little bit, so they wanted me to go out there and back up the corner a little bit like he was. I tried to do that, but we couldn’t make it work for us. The cars aren’t setup identically, the setups are really different. So you probably have to drive them a little different. We got a good lap there in qualifying so we will see how that works out.”
 

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
ADVOCARE 500
PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
NOVEMBER 8, 2013
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S/KOBALT TOOLS CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Phoenix International Raceway and discussed the championship battle with Matt Kenseth, racing at Phoenix and other topics. FULL TRANSCRIPT:
 
HOW ARE YOU FEELING ABOUT PHOENIX AND HAVING TWO RACES TO GO?
“Eager to get on the track and see where we are, see how our car is handling and excited to be at the race track.  When you’re sitting there Monday through Thursday thinking about a race, thinking about how your setups going to be, those are the hardest days.  I’m excited to be here at the race track and get out there and turn some laps.”
 
WHAT WENT THROUGH YOUR MIND LAST YEAR WHEN BRAD KESELOWSKI WAS MESSING WITH YOU IN PRACTICE?
“I don’t even remember that.  What did he do?  I don’t remember it, but Matt (Kenseth) and I in practice this year have been out there and really evaluating ourselves against one another to see what the other has.  It’s not uncommon.  I’m sure that’s what he’s doing and if you’re the guy that can overtake or I guess Brad (Keselowski) was trying to overtake me, there’s always a little message in that or a little smile from your team if you’re showing a little speed at that point.  I’m sure there was a little something in it, but it’s not uncommon.”
 
DO YOU ANTICIPATE MATT KENSETH TO MESS WITH YOU IN PRACTICE?
“We’ve been sizing each other up pretty good each week.  We roll out right near each other in practice each time.  Texas, I think I was catching him, he let me by and got up behind to take a look at my stuff and where I was.  I can’t remember the exact mindset last year what kind of led to it, but the end result I don’t think is all that uncommon just to size yourself up.”
 
ARE YOU CONCERNED THAT MATT KENSETH HAS BEATEN YOU AT TRACKS WHERE YOU ARE NORMALLY STRONGER COMING TO PHOENIX, ANOTHER TRACK WHERE YOU ARE HISTORICALLY STRONGER?
“I don’t know if the numbers mean much, especially in championship battles.  You look at Martinsville where the numbers skewed my way and Matt (Kenseth) came out with points.  Here, we’ve had some good success, but I can’t rely on that.  It’s all in the past.  They’re great stats, they’re a great reference, but the past is the past and it’s all about today and this weekend and I think especially when you look at the No. 20 car and there’s Matt in general and now that he’s in the No. 20 car, you can ‘t look at stats from the No. 17.  I think that there’s been quite a big improvement on a lot of race tracks for him.”
 
IS THERE ANYTHING YOU DO THIS TIME IN THE CHASE THAN YOU DO THE REST OF THE SEASON?
“No, not really at all.  There are systems that are in place and there are systems that lead you to a playoff berth and get you in the Chase and then your systems keep you competitive in the Chase.  There’s been more pressure and I’m sure everybody is focused thinking about things a little bit more, it’s hard to say focused, but I’m sure there’s a little more thought in there and a little more emotion, but what we do is what we do and that’s what led us to where we are in the points and we’re not going to change anything there.”
 
DO YOU BELIEVE MATT KENSETH IS MORE MECHANICAL AND YOU ARE MORE PSYCHOLOGICAL?
“Yeah, I think Matt (Kenseth) with his upbringing and all the years he spent in stock cars, much more mechanically inclined on the race car and understanding the particulars of the chassis and the vehicle, vehicle dynamics and all that stuff.  My fifth year ever in a stock car was at the Cup level so I had two years of ASA, two years in Nationwide and then Cup so I was pretty far behind.  I remember being in Milwaukee with Howie Lettow as my crew chief just trying to understand what to do.  I didn’t know what wedge was so he literally took this little plastic table we had and cut one of the legs down and made it shorter and said, this doesn’t have any wedge in it and it’s tipping over.  Just had to go through all the basics and teach me the basics.  Matt is much stronger, back to your question, in that area.  I agree, I’m probably more on the psychological side.  Making sure that I’m buttoned up, trying to create a good energy through the team and keep the guys up and things like that.”
 
HOW DOES THE SEVEN POINT ADVANTAGE NOW COMPARE TO THAT OF LAST YEAR?
“I think as far as the No. 48, we’re in a very familiar spot, a very similar spot to last year.  I can’t remember which race off the top of my head, but competitive winning races, winning races to take the points lead, it’s very, very similar.  We got to this point in the year last year and had an issue at this race track and then made mistakes at Homestead.  That’s the area that we need to clean up and not repeat that aspect of history.  Make sure that we’re focused on doing a great job here and on into Homestead.”
 
HOW DO YOU EVALUATE THE GEN-6 CAR THIS YEAR AND WHAT NEEDS TO BE TWEAKED MOVING FORWARD?
“There’s a lot going on within the NASCAR offices and all the competition side and then what takes place in the garage area and the race shops.  In December there’s a big test session and we’ll know a lot more at that point as to the direction of the rules package and where it’s going.  Over the years I’ve learned to not stress about things.  There’s only so much I can contribute to in this decision making process.  When I’m asked questions by whatever NASCAR official it is, I’m more than willing to give my opinion and try to sound off and be a part of that process.  They’ve got to manage so many different angles and now we’re using a lot of data, some of its new data that they’re using to make these decisions.  I’m just sitting back patiently waiting where things go.  I always look at change as an opportunity and the No. 48 has taken advantage of those opportunities over the years.  I don’t care what package the car is, I’m very confident in my skills as a driver and what my team’s capable of, what Hendrick Motorsports is capable of and we’ll race whatever they decide to come up with.”
 
WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES TO THE RACE ON SUNDAY?
“I think the largest issue is track position.  We haven’t been able to really work in a second lane around here and create passing opportunities.  That means your strategy on pit road and the stops themselves are where the weight really lies.  If you back up another step from that, making sure your car is good on older tires is going to be important as race practice develops and you’re not going to want to be on pit road much or very long when it shakes out on Sunday.”
 
CAN YOU COMPARE AND CONTRAST YOURSELF AND MATT KENSETH AS FAR AS PERSONALITIES AND ON THE RACE TRACK?  ALSO, IT SEEMS LIKE YOU GUYS HAVE STRUCK UP A PRETTY DECENT FRIENDSHIP CAN YOU DESCRIBE HOW THAT HAS HAPPENED?
“Yeah, I think there are differences between us for sure.  I feel like we are both big picture thinkers and inside the race car and understanding the flow of a race, the flow of the Chase, the flow of a year, there is just a broader vision.  Being patient in the car at different times, if it’s racing someone in traffic or if mistakes made to not let an issue there destroy your whole race, again more of a big picture thinker and how to work through issues and come out of the race with your best possible finish.  We look at Matt over the years.  I think the best example of it would be qualifying effort.  Qualifying hasn’t been Matt’s strongest suit, but regardless of where he starts when that checkered falls he is there.  There is just a differ
ent kind of mindset and I feel the No. 48 is very much in that same line of thought. We find a way to be there at the end of the race. Friendship, yeah we have known each other, gosh, a long time now, probably 15 years with Nationwide included.  Just been able to get along from the beginning, there were a few bumpy episodes in the Nationwide series where I was the slow guy in the way.  He used me up a couple of times and I like to harass him about that and point that out to him, but we have had a great time.  Really since his championship, when we got home my wife and I drove over to his house and had a beer with him and Katie (Kenseth, wife) and his team when he was in the No. 17 car.  I would say from that point forward we have always had a strong friendship.”
 
FOR LACK OF RUNNING FACILITIES WE HAVE SEEN YOU RUNNING AROUND CERTAIN TRACKS.  DO YOU RUN UP IN THE HILLS HERE ANYTIME?  DO YOU BRING ANYTHING FOR PROTECTION AGAINST RATTLE SNAKES?
“No, I don’t get on the dirt around here not unless I have motocross boots on. I spent too much time in these deserts and know what is sitting in the bushes.  I haven’t been on any trails.  I considered bringing my mountain bike out to ride, but I will probably just hit the pavement on foot and on the road bike a little later on Saturday.”
 
THE CARS HAVE CHANGED SO MUCH HERE PRESUMABLY SINCE THE FIRST RACE AND YOU GUYS YOU AND MATT HAVE BOTH DONE BETTER AT TRACKS MAYBE WHERE YOU HAVEN’T DONE AS WELL IN THE PAST.  IS THERE ANYWAY WE CAN PREDICT AT ALL GOING INTO THIS WEEKEND WHAT TO EXPECT OR IS IT ALL PRETTY MUCH A CRAPSHOOT AT THIS POINT?
“Yeah, I think it’s a crapshoot that is the way I prepared myself mentally.  I look at Martinsville at a track that statistically showed to favor the No. 48 and it didn’t point’s wise when the checkered fell.  I’m using that to help keep my guard up.  I think he ran eighth or something here in the spring which is a great finish and we were second.  They are going to be strong is the bottom line and we have to be prepared for that and do our best.”
 
BRAD KESELOWSKI WAS SUGGESTING LAST NIGHT IN HIS COMMENTS THAT HE FORCED YOU GUYS INTO THE BLOWN TIRE LAST YEAR.  DO YOU BUY THAT?  SECONDLY, HE TALKED ABOUT TO BEAT YOU GUYS RUN YOU HARD AND APPARENTLY THERE IS A LINE THAT YOU CAN’T CROSS CAN YOU RESPOND TO THAT?
“I guess we need to ask Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin, Denny Hamlin, who else have I raced for a championship, Carl Edwards a lot of those guys how we race.  We race hard.  That is not a weakness of ours by any stretch.  Last year here they were better than us for sure.  We worked real hard to play catch up through the course of the weekend.  Sure we had a tire failure and yes we overworked the tire.  We created an issue ourselves.  We were lacking some speed.  The No. 2 had us covered the entire time here and that particular run where the tire blew I look back on it and think ‘man if I would have preserved my tire a little bit more and didn’t overwork my equipment and didn’t speed up that tire blowing and create that issue we would go to Homestead with a much smaller deficit and have a much better chance of racing.’ So that is the lesson I take from last year’s race here.  Again, we love to race hard that is what we are here to do.  I know some want to say we have been to Homestead and didn’t have to race for it, but you look at our last championship with Denny (Hamlin) and we had to come from behind and win down there finished second and won the race.  Racing is what I’m good at.  I’m not the best at putting up the fastest lap, the best at qualifying or the best at topping the speed charts in practice, but look who passes cars on the race track.  I’m good at racing that is my sweet spot.”
 
YOU GUYS AND JOE GIBBS RACING BOTH TESTED AT TEXAS AND HOMESTEAD.  NEITHER ONE OF THE TEAMS PARTICIPATED IN THE TIRE TEST HERE.  DOES THAT MAKE THIS RACE MORE OF AN UNKNOWN FOR YOU? SECONDLY, IF YOU APPROACH ALL THE RACES GENERALLY WITH THE SAME MINDSET HOW DO YOU ACCOUNT FOR THE FACT THAT YOU WIN TWICE AS FREQUENTLY IN THE CHASE AS IN NON-CHASE RACES?
“I don’t know how to answer that one.  I’ll be interested to see the Chase tracks what my percentages in the spring, we got to a lot of these tracks they have been good tracks to me.  I guess what I’m getting at is the Chase tracks are just good tracks for us and we win at them spring or fall.  In my opinion, the stats may show differently, but that is the first thing that comes to mind there.  Gosh we would have loved to have been here and get some current data and be on the current tire, but when it gets to the end of the year NASCAR and Goodyear are very selective of teams they bring.  From what I understand in the conversations we have had with Goodyear not a ton different.  A small change I guess to the left-side.  Wish we could have been here, but just didn’t get that chance.”
 
IS IT A LOT HARDER THAN PEOPLE MIGHT REALIZE TO USE YOUR VOICE AND MAKE CHANGES AS A CHAMPION?
“There is definitely a learning lesson in it all.  I’ve been through it myself.  I guess to summarize it looking back on it all being the champion is an amazing thing and it does change a lot.  But it doesn’t change the way you are viewed in the competition department of NASCAR.  You are still a driver.  You are still one of 43.  Sure you have the big trophy, but it doesn’t change a lot there.  What it does change is in here (media center) and what happens out there with the fans and people listen more.  So you have an opportunity to speak your mind.  You have an opportunity to say more and to be heard and your voice carries a lot further that can be good and bad.  All champions, especially first time champions go through trying to understand how to use that new power.  It doesn’t change a lot in the garage.  It doesn’t change a lot in the competition department of NASCAR, but the other areas it does.”
 

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
ADVOCARE 500
PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
NOVEMBER 8, 2013
 
KEVIN HARVICK, NO 29 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Phoenix International Raceway and discussed racing at Phoenix, the Chase Championship battle, his RCR career winding down and other topics. Full transcript:
 
TALK ABOUT YOUR FOUNDATION DONATION TO THE HIGH SCHOOL YOUR HOMETOWN OF BAKERSFIELD, CALIFORNIA:  “We had our yearly event at home. In the past, we have taken care of something at my old high school. This year we donated 21 sets of gold clubs and golf balls and things to the girls and boys teams. It was a good event. We’ve done a lot of work with the school. It was great to see it headed in the right direction. It is always fun to go home and be able to give back to your hometown.”
 
DEFENDING WINNER OF THIS RACE, THIRD IN POINTS GOING INTO THE SEASON, TALK ABOUT THIS WEEKEND AT PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY: “This has been a great race track for us in the past, and hopefully we can have another good weekend. The race track has changed over the last couple of years, so we have to do things a little bit differently than what we are used to. It is going to be a good weekend. We have the Nationwide car and the Cup car this weekend, so looking forward to getting in practice.”
 
IS WHERE YOU ARE IN THE POINTS MAKE IT EASIER FOR YOU TO GO RACE AND NOT HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT WHAT ANYONE ELSE IS DOING? “It is definitely less stressful. We wish we were closer to being in the top-two. We had one bad race at Loudon (New Hampshire).  I think we’ve averaged (finishing position) at seventh in the Chase as far as finishing positions. We haven’t been where we needed to be as far as keeping up with those two guys (Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth) as far as winning races and finishing a little bit better. Can’t complain about the season nor the finishes that we’ve had in the Chase. We knew we needed to win at least one race in the Chase, and we accomplished that. It just happens to be a year where you needed to win a couple or three races in Chases and finish in the top-five a lot. It’s not been anything to complain about. We just have to keep doing what we’ve been doing, and try to win one of these or both of the last two races.”
 
AS YOUR CAREER AT RCR COMES TO AN END, AND YOU PREPARE FOR YOUR NEW TEAM, HOW ARE YOU FEELING? ARE YOU HAPPY? SAD? RELIEVED? EXCITED? “You know, Richard (Childress) and I were talking about it last week, just about the things that we’ve been able to accomplish and do, and win, and situations that we have been through. We had the incident at Martinsville, but it’s definitely not the hardest situation that we’ve been through as owner and driver, or friends, or whatever you want to call it. It is definitely something that we both have been fortunate to have a lot of success, and look forward to the next chapter. As we get to today for instance, this will be the last Nationwide race that we’ve run for RCR. We’ve won 30-some Nationwide races, a couple of driver’s championships. I think four or five owners championships. So it’s been very successful. It’s kind of like being a part of your family. You have some spats. You have some things. It seems like each instance makes you closer in some kind of way.”
 
WHEN YOU WON HERE LAST YEAR, IT WAS THE WEEKEND EVERYTHING BROKE YOU WERE LEAVING RCR. HAS THAT SET A TONE THAT HAS HELPED OUT THROUGH THE LAST COUPLE OF WEEKS DESPITE SOME DRAMA OR WHO IS MAD AT WHO? “Well, I think last year everything did come out. I think a lot of the emotion was pretty calm for the most part. I think as we’ve got through the year, the performance has been good. We’ve been able to win several races as we’ve gone through the year. I don’t know that anybody really knew what to expect as we went through time, and went through week-after-week to see how it was all going to work. It’s kind of been a week-by-week thing. I think everybody has worked through it fairly well.”
 
IS THE CHAMPIONSHIP REALLY A TWO-MAN RACE, OR DO YOU STILL HAVE A REALISTIC SHOT AT THIS? “I think 40 points is a lot to overcome. We can control how we run, and that’s about it. Having both of those guys have major catastrophes in two races is asking for all but a miracle in my mind. We still have a lot to race for and two great tracks for us coming up. Just control the things we can control and go from there.”
 
WILL IT BE DIFFERENT FOR YOU NOT TO HAVE THE SAME KIND OF RELATIONSHIP WHICH HAS HAD UPS AND DOWNS LIKE IT APPEARS TO HAVE BEEN WITH RICHARD NEXT YEAR AT STEWART-HAAS? “Time will tell that. I think it is good to have somebody who challenges you. I think that Tony (Stewart) will challenge me in a different way. I think for myself and Richard, you push him; he pushes you and you meet in the middle and you finally have something that pushes the whole company forward. I think the roles will be defined a little bit more as we start racing next year, and understand how everything works and can start building on that.  I think with Tony’s passion for the sport and the championships that he’s won and the things that he has done on the race track; that itself will push you to respect the things that he has done and talking about. Same thing with Kurt (Busch). He’s won a championship, and won a lot of races. I think with the whole group, it’s going to be a really new group of people from a lot of different areas as you look at the cast of characters going into next year. It will definitely take a while for it to kind of build into what it is going to be.”
 
ARE YOU INTRIGUED BY HOW THAT ALL MIGHT COME TOGETHER SINCE THIS JUST SEEMS LIKE A MOTLEY CREW (LAUGHTER)
“Well, I think the bottom line is it’s a group of racers. And that’s really what we’re here to do and I feel very comfortable with the crew chief choice for my car for sure. With Rodney (Childers), he’s very calm but he’s also very engineering-minded and very competitive and loves to race. So, I think that balance will be very similar. When you look at Gil (Martin), he’s kind of been that guy that can always corral everything and take it in-house and figure out how to fix and make it better. So, I look at Rodney as a very similar person in that respect.”
 
HOW POISED IS YOUR TEAM? WHAT’S THE MOMENTUM AND THE FEELING? WHAT’S THE FEELING WITH THE TEAM RIGHT NOW HEADING INTO THE FINAL TWO RACES?
“Through the years we’ve been through a lot of different situations, for sure. So, I think the nucleus of all that is still Gil (Martin). This is a whole different group of guys than what we had three years ago and he’s made it into another great race team. So, I think he’s the one that keeps all that stuff together. But everybody is in good spirits. The testing that we did over the last two months has kind of worn everybody out, but everybody in the garage is worn out at this point. So, it’s good that we only have two weeks left and everybody can enjoy some down time with their families over the holiday season.”
 
YOU WILL FIGHT TO THE VERY END FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP. BUT IF YOU TAKE YOURSELF OUT OF THE EQUATION, DO YOU THINK EITHER JIMMIE JOHNSON OR MATT KENSETH HAS AN ADVANTAGE? WHO WOULD YOU PUT YOUR MONEY ON?
“If you look at the past, and I’ll use Martinsville as the example. Going into Martinsville, you look at it and say Jimmie is absolutely going to annihilate Matt at Martinsville, and Matt goes out and leads the most laps and has a chance to win the race. So, it’s just about who hits it the best on a particular weekend because those guys have run well all year and I think the part that everybody forgets are that the stats don’t really mean anything, especially on Matt’s side, and especially at Martinsville. Roush has never been very good at Martinsville and Gibbs has always been fairly good at Martinsville. So, it’s a crapshoot at this point. About the time t
hat you think that Jimmie hasn’t won a race on a 1.5-mile race track all year and goes out and just absolutely crushes everybody at Texas. So, it’s just a matter of who hits it on a particular weekend. Obviously this race track can play a lot of havoc on track position and things happening and get caught up in something, but I think performance-wise, it’s a draw at this point.”
 

RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 QUICKEN LOANS/SALUTE TO VETERANS DAY CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Phoenix International Raceway and discussed memories at Phoenix, the 2014 season and other topics. FULL TRANSCRIPT:
 
WHAT IS YOUR FONDEST MEMORY OF RACING AT PHOENIX?
“I’ve been fortunate to be able to experience it and the old style or old shape of the race track and the way it is now.  Some of my fondest memories include the Copper World Classics out here and the midgets and Silver Crown cars.  That was our Daytona was to come out here the first of February and race and prepare in the off-season for our big race.  That was literally our Daytona 500 in the open wheel series.  Then to come back here 10 or 15 years later, whatever it was, to race in the Cup Series and have as many poles as I did here in a row and my win here would probably be the peak of it all because going back to the Copper World and having those poles, obviously you want to put the bookend on one side of it or at least a potential bookend and that was that victory in the Cup Series here.  And to do it in the style that we did it was pretty cool too.”
 
CAN YOU REFLECT YOUR STATE OF MIND LEAVING STEWART-HAAS RACING AND HEADING TO RICHARD CHILDRESS RACING NEXT SEASON?
“About four or five weeks ago somebody had asked me a similar question and to me, it was like a series of books where you’re not finished with one book so you can’t start the next and in that series of books you have to get the last couple chapters over and done in order to get started and understand the next one.  There’s part of me that’s excited about the future, no doubt and getting to that next book, but there’s part of me that wants to finish out these last couple chapters and do it strong and do it in the right way and we have two opportunities here being Phoenix and Homestead.  Those are tracks I’ve run good at.  I can’t even say that it’s bittersweet because I don’t look at it as bittersweet as it is just a matter of doing my job and having fun.  That’s what the whole goal is.”
 
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT JEFF BURTON, MARK MARTIN AND BOBBY LABONTE POSSIBLY RETIRING AFTER THIS SEASON?
“I think with Mark (Martin), I don’t know how to say that because Mark’s retired like 16 times now.  I guess if you look back at it, it was destined to come.  If you look back to when Jimmie (Johnson) and I came in, eventually we’re going to have that time too.  Same thing with maybe (Matt) Kenseth and (Tony) Stewart and a few other guys.  I think there’s going to be some waves of that happening and I think that those guys are definitely proud of their careers and the things that they’ve accomplished.  Someday I’ll probably be making that same announcement.  I think at this point in the season is where it all becomes kind of vocal.”
 
 

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
ADVOCARE 500
PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
NOVEMBER 8, 2013
 
JEFF BURTON, NO. 31 CAT MINING CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media today at Phoenix International Raceway and discussed making his 1,000th career NASCAR national series start, his role in the sport in 2014 and many other topics.  Full Transcript:
 
A BIG MILESTONE FOR YOU THIS WEEKEND YOU HAVE HAD A STOUT CAREER IN NASCAR MAKING YOUR 1,000TH CAREER NASCAR NATIONAL SERIES START HERE AT PHOENIX.  TALK A LITTLE ABOUT YOUR CAREER AND WHAT THIS MILESTONE MEANS TO YOU:
“Well it means I’m getting old I guess, that is primarily what it means.  I’ve been really blessed to do it for as long as I’ve done it to do something that you love and to be able to do it as long as I’ve done it really is a blessing.  When I was seven years old I wanted to be a race car driver.  I’m 46 and I’m a race car driver.  I’ve just been really blessed.  The cool thing is I’ve met so many people and experienced so many things that I never would have been able to do.  To have a chance to compete for a living is really is a cool thing.  You know what your job is and go out and try to do it.  Competing to me means something.  To be able to do it this long has been really cool.”
 
IN SHORT TERM OR LONG TERM FUTURE IS THERE AN OPTION TO SET UP YOUR OWN SPRINT CUP TEAM?
“Do I look dumb?  (Laughter) You know there was a time that I really thought that would be an option for me, but in the environment that we have today I don’t know how a small guy could have a Cup team that would be a formidable force.  My pockets aren’t deep enough and wouldn’t have the financial; actually Jack Roush talked to me about the money tree one time.  If he had to he could turn the money tree on and create money for the investment until the investment had time to pay off.  If you can’t do that as a car owner I don’t think you can be an effective car owner.  So for me in today’s world there may be room for me as an ownership group, but to be the primary owner would be farfetched.”
 
OF YOUR 999 RACES WHICH ONE STICKS IN YOUR MIND THE MOST?
“I have done a terrible job in my career of taking time to enjoy it.  My personality is such that I’m always on to the next thing.  In many cases kind of looking back on now they are a little more special now than they were then.  Racing Matt Kenseth for those couple of wins that I got with him meant a lot to me because I respect Matt so much.  I respect what that No. 17 car was all about.  They meant a lot to me.  Winning my first races in Nationwide and Cup were big races.  Racing Kyle Busch at (Las) Vegas in a Nationwide car last lap battle.  I got by him on the outside, he spun coming off turn four.  That was fun.  It was just two guys racing hard.  If I would have finished second or spun it still would have been fun.  Those experiences are really neat.  Winning Darlington in adverse conditions, rain delays, those kinds of things, we went to Darlington and dominated those races for years and couldn’t find a way to win and then we won two of them in rain shortened races.  Winning the Winston ‘No Bull’ races I think we won three of those.  When we won three of those races three fans won a million bucks too.  Being in Victory Lane with those fans winning that money that was cool.  I hate to pick one out, but those were really cool events.”
 
WE ARE AT THE END OF THE YEAR WITH THE GEN-6 CAR.  WE ARE LOOKING AT MAKING SOME CHANGES FOR NEXT SEASON.  WHAT IS YOUR EVALUATION OF HOW THE CAR HAS CHANGED RACING OVER LAST YEAR AND HOW IT HAS PERFORMED AND ALSO WHAT WE NEED TO TWEAK?
“I think it’s an improvement over last year’s car.  I think that is evident in watching races I think it’s proven to be better.  I still think there is a step to go.  I’m guilty of comparing what we do today to what we did 15 years ago, but I think that’s irrelevant.  What we really need to be looking at is what do people want to see today?  So, sometimes we defend the racing today by saying ‘well it’s better than it was 10 years ago’, but that doesn’t matter because today’s fans are today’s fans.  There may be a fan that was there 10 years ago, but what they are watching today is what they care about.  So, fans want to see more action.  They want to see more intense racing.  The only way to do that is to get the cars closer together.  We talk a lot about making it easier to pass.  Well if you make it easier to pass are the cars really going to be closer together?  Do we really want it to be easier to pass?  I think the reason Martinsville is so much fun to watch and do is because it is hard to pass.  The definition of what better racing is that is where the problem comes in.  You are not going to make everybody happy.  I think what NASCAR has to do is they have to look and say ‘what is NASCAR all about’?  Then make the rules so that the racing is indicative of what NASCAR is about.  That should be close racing; not intentionally wrecking each other, but tire marks down the side of cars is cool.  That kind of close racing is what we need to be pushing for, but it is hard to do.  A 1.5-mile race track running 190 miles per hour into turn one it’s kind of hard to be rubbing tires.  We have got to find a way to have cars that can be closer together, can race harder to put on more exciting racing.”
 
IF YOU LOOK AT OTHER SPORTS AGE DICTATES HOW LONG YOUR CAREER IS.  AUTO RACING IS SO DIFFERENT FROM THAT IN THAT YOU GUYS HAVE A SAY ON WHEN YOU WANT TO CALL IT QUITS.  WHEN DOES A RACE CAR DRIVER KNOW WHEN IT’S TIME TO GO?
“Well that is a really tough question.  One thing I do know is when you aren’t having success and you are 46, it’s because you are 46.  That is what people think.  When you aren’t having success and you are a rookie it’s because you are a rookie also, it works both ways.  To me it’s about what you are willing to give up to be in this sport.  I think what happens is the older you get the more other things matter.  Racing still means a lot to me, but for me to sit here today and say it means the same thing to me that it meant when I didn’t have a daughter getting ready to go to college, a son that is racing, those things they do play a role.  I think that the schedule is harder today than it’s ever been.  I know guys used to race more in the ‘50’s, but I’ve been in Toronto (Canada) all week filming.  You are gone more today.  I think it boils down to desire.  If you have talent, I don’t think talent goes away.  Certainly eye sight changes, those kinds of things change, but we can fix that.  But talent doesn’t change; it’s more the passion that you are willing to bring to it.  As long as you are willing to bring that passion and you are willing to give something up then your career can go a long time.  It’s not a number; it’s more of a personal thing and what you are willing to sacrifice to be involved in the sport.”
 
YOU LOOK AT MATT CRAFTON HE IS 37, YOU LOOK AT TWO GUYS IN THEIR 40’S BATTLING FOR THE CUP TITLE, SAM (HORNISH, JR.) IS NO SPRING CHICKEN.  WE TALK ABOUT ALL THESE KIDS COMING UP, BUT DOES THIS YEAR TELL US MEN OF A CERTAIN AGE CAN STILL DO THIS?
“Well there is no question.  I mean we are blessed because we are in a sport that you can.  It isn’t like the NFL; it isn’t like Major League Baseball, where you don’t have to be young to do this.  Experience helps you here.  There is no question.  It’s good to see who is battling.  Don’t get me wrong I believe in the cycle of things.  I believe that we
always need to have young drivers coming and pushing the older drivers out.  I mean I’m a 46 year old driver saying that, but we need it.  Our sport needs that, but at the same time it’s good that we have two veteran drivers battling it out, because it is a sport that if you have passion and you have desire and you have the right situation you can have success well into your 40’s.”
 
IN YOUR BUSCH DEBUT BACK IN 1988 YOU MADE TWO LAPS IN THE GOLDEN SKILLET CAR BEFORE THE ENGINE BLEW.  DO YOU REMEMBER THAT DAY?
“Vividly, that was the second engine we blew up that day.  I had gone to the bank and borrowed money; we wonder why the banks are in trouble right.  I had gone to the bank to borrow money to buy and engine and it blew up after qualifying.  Hubert Hensley, Jeff Hensley’s dad who is a crew chief on a truck, said ‘hey man, I’ve got an engine if you need it.’  We went to his shop that night and we had a Pontiac engine in and had to put a Chevy engine in.  Which doesn’t sound like a big deal, but it was a big deal.  We ran that engine for those laps and it blew up.  So, yes, I remember it vividly.  It took me about three years to pay that damn engine off.  No, it didn’t it took me longer than that.  It took me like five years to pay that engine off.”
 
OF THE TWO CHAMPIONSHIP LEADERS MY GUESS IS YOU KNOW MATT (KENSETH) A LITTLE BIT BETTER THAN JIMMIE (JOHNSON) PROBABLY CAN YOU COMPARE AND CONTRAST THEM BOTH AS RACERS AND AS PEOPLE?
“You know they are very similar in how they race.  They are both quietly aggressive.  They are both aggressive drivers, but they don’t do it by running into you.  They do it by driving into the corner a little deeper than perhaps they should to get that position.  They are both clean drivers, both very committed to the sport.  They are a lot alike.  I don’t know Jimmie nearly as well off the race track.  Matt is a smart ass.  We all know that right?  He knows that too.  He claims that he learned it from me, but I don’t think that is true.  They are both good people.  They both have values that you can be proud of. They are the kind of people that when they win championships you are proud that they represent the sport.  But you know their driving styles they really are very similar.”
 
WHEN YOU ARE A YOUNG DRIVER YOU MIGHT HAVE BEEN ASKED ‘WHAT WOULD YOU BE DOING IF YOU WEREN’T DRIVING’.  LOOKING OVER YOUR LONG CAREER WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU WOULD HAVE BEEN DOING IF YOU WEREN’T DRIVING RACE CARS?
“I left high school and went to work for Jay Hedgecock building race cars, building chassis.  Actually me and Bobby Labonte and Jack Sprague all worked there at the same time.  So, I really enjoy that part even my time at Roush, Jack (Roush) let me kind of oversee the chassis department there for a while or be involved in it rather.  So I really enjoyed that part of it.  Had I not been able to make it as a driver that would have been the direction that I would have tried to go in; whether I would have been good at it or not I don’t know, but that is what I would have been trying to do.”
 
HOW DO YOU THINK KEVIN (HARVICK) WILL HANDLE NOT HAVING THAT TYPE OF FORCE OR PUSH FROM RICHARD CHILDRESS AND HOW THEY HAVE GOTTEN?  IT SEEMS LIKE THEY IN ONE SENSE MAYBE THRIVED ON HOW THEY HAVE PUSHED EACH OTHER AND WHAT IT HAS KIND OF BEEN LIKE.
“I think Kevin (Harvick) is going to wherever Kevin is he is going to be pushing.  That is one of Kevin’s strengths is to… Kevin is not the kind of guy that is willing to say ‘okay it is going to be good three weeks from now’.  He wants it good right now.  I think that RCR has benefitted from that.  I think that Stewart-Haas will benefit from that.  Kevin to me is a different person than he was four years ago.  Kevin owning those race teams, Keelan coming along, all those things have had a major impact on Kevin.  Kevin really sees the company.  He understands it has to be successful from a financial stand point.  He understands investment is not easy to make.  He has a much broader picture than he had say six years ago.  I think that he will help Stewart-Haas.  Richard (Childress) to his credit, much like my father did with me, Richard didn’t try to stifle Kevin.  Richard let Kevin be Kevin.  He would get mad at him, but he wasn’t the kind of guy that just would say ‘you are not going to do that’.  He would let Kevin be Kevin.  There was a lot of wisdom in that.  You have got to learn your way.  You can’t learn by somebody telling you not to do something.  You have got to learn by doing it and wishing you hadn’t of done it or at least that is how I have learned everything I’ve learned.  That is really what Richard, in my opinion, let Kevin do.  But Kevin is really good at pushing buttons to try to get things to happen.  You have to do that in this sport.  You have to do it.  If you don’t have that intensity of ‘we have got to succeed now’ then the future never gets here because if you are always building for something you are not doing it now.  The now matters.”
 
WHERE DO YOU SEE YOURSELF BEING IN FIVE YEARS?
“I don’t know.  I don’t know we will see. When this process started this year I decided to step back a little bit and take myself out of the mental habit of being at the race track every single weekend and look at things from a broader view.  Kind of ‘hey what else is out there’ in the racing world so to speak.  The last several months have been really interesting.  I have been offered some things that were just crazy that I can’t talk about today, but there were some really interesting things that have come my way.  I’m having meetings with people currently about doing stuff with them that are real exciting, but I don’t know.  We will see. I will be involved in the sport. There is a place for me.  I want to be here.  I feel like I can contribute so I would be surprised if five years from now I wasn’t still involved in the sport.”
 
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT HARRISON (BURTON)? HAS HE TALKED TO YOU ABOUT WHAT HE WANTS TO DO IN THE FUTURE AS FAR AS NATIONWIDE AND EVEN A CUP DRIVER IN THE FUTURE?  IS THAT SOMETHING THAT YOU FEEL LIKE YOU WANT HIM TO TAKE A PATH WITH?
“Well, what I try to do with Harrison is to teach him everything I know about racing, but we don’t go racing trying to teach him how to be a Cup driver or how to be a Nationwide driver.  We go racing trying to teach him how to do what he is doing today the best he can and then when it’s over what did we learn.  Where that takes him we don’t know.  He is doing things at 12 and 13 years old that are pretty much unmatched. I mean no one else has been able to do the things he has done at his age.  I’m not bragging that is just how it is.  But what is more important to me is that through all this he is learning how to be a human being because driving a race car isn’t a given.  Just because he’s the son of a Cup driver that doesn’t give him the right any more than it gives anyone else a right to drive a race car for a living.  He has got to earn that.  He may not, as good as he looks today, he may not look that good five years from now.  You never know.  But he is always going to be with himself and so through racing we are trying to teach him how to be the kind of person that he needs to be.  That is really the primary focus.  Now don’t get me wrong we go to race we go there to win or we go there with a realistic goal.  When he races against Bubba Pollard and he races against some of those guys to think that a just turned 13 year old is going to beat those guys right now is sort of unrealistic, although he is getting close.  But what did h
e learn from that experience?  That is really what we are focusing on.  We are not worrying about what he might be one day because we don’t know that.  We are trying to train him so that mentally he is capable.  His physical skills will take care of themselves, but his mental skills are the most important thing.  As far as he’s concerned he is going to win three or four Daytona 500’s and four or five championships and all is good.  But I know that probably isn’t going to happen and that is what as parents that is what our focus is on.”
 
YOU HAVEN’T ANNOUNCED YOUR PLANS FOR NEXT YEAR YET, MARK MARTIN HASN’T ANNOUNCED ANY PLANS FOR NEXT YEAR NOR HAS BOBBY LABONTE.  AFTER NEXT WEEK’S RACE ARE WE LOOKING AT THE POSSIBLE END OF AN ERA?
“We are going to go film a movie about three old guys in (Las) Vegas (laughs).  That just dawned on me.  I’m thinking that might work.  Mark would be boring as hell though.  He would be in the gym every morning.  I find it hard to believe that we won’t still be around in some form or fashion.  Now the chances that any of us are going to be running for a Cup championship next year are obviously next to nothing.  But Mark Martin has a tremendous amount of value of being able to have a positive impact on this sport in some form or fashion so does Bobby Labonte and I feel that about myself as well.  Yeah, I think it is going to be different and that is okay.  I’m speaking for Mark or Bobby either one, but for me when I came in a spot was created for me somehow some way a spot was created for me.  Part of that is through older guys moving on.  It’s just the natural cycle of things.  But to think that Mark Martin and Bobby Labonte don’t have a way to contribute to make this sport better whether it is for a team of for the sport in some form or fashion to think that they wouldn’t is inaccurate because they can definitely help.”
 
A FEW WEEKS AGO YOU SAID THAT YOU WERE PRETTY CONFIDENT IN YOUR 2014 PLANS.  SHOULD WE TAKE THE SILENCE TO MEAN THAT THINGS HAVE CHANGED?
“No, really nothing has changed.  I feel that I know what I am going to be doing it’s just you all don’t (laughs).  Some things have taken a little longer than I thought they would take and some of that is because of me.  Some of that is because I slowed some stuff down and wanted to really think about it. Some of it is because some situations have popped up that weren’t there a little bit ago.  I feel very confident.  I know exactly what I’m going to be doing part of next year and there is another part of it that I’m still working on, but really close on.  I’m just not the kind of person that is going to talk about it until we need to be talking about it.”
 
IS PART OF THAT PLAN DRIVING?
“Yeah, part of it is, yes.”
 

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 AXALTA CHEVROLET SS, AND JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S/KOBALT TOOLS CHEVROLET SS, WERE THE GUESTS ON THIS WEEK’S NASCAR WEEKLY TELECONFERENCE.
 
BELOW ARE THE TRANSCRIPTS:
 
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 AXALTA CHEVROLET SS:
 
THE MODERATOR:  We are joined by Jeff Gordon.  Gordon is currently sixth in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings and has one win and a top‑five finish.
            Jeff, going into the final races, what is your approach to finish off your season strong like you did last year with a win at Homestead.
            JEFF GORDON:  That’s certainly one of our goals.  We tested in Homestead last week.  Had a fantastic test.  I’m very excited about that race.
            Certainly disappointing to have the race we just had in Texas.  So doesn’t change really our approach, how we go through these next two weeks.  Just takes us back, you know, in points.  Certainly kind of takes that momentum away that we had.
            But the confidence is still high.  The car was fantastic again this past weekend, felt like we were going to have a great weekend.  We take that confidence in the cars that we’ve been bringing to the racetrack into Phoenix this weekend, on to Homestead.  Finish out the season the best we can and hopefully move up in points again.
            THE MODERATOR:  We will now go to the media for questions.
 
            Q.  Jeff, could you talk a little bit about the overall importance of physical fitness to what you do as a racecar driver and just talk a little bit about what you do to stay in shape.
            JEFF GORDON:  Yeah, physical fitness is definitely important.  Getting more and more important all the time as the speeds of the cars increase.  The demands on the driver, the competition in general, just getting tighter.  I think being fit is going to help you be more focused throughout the race weekend, through a long schedule that we have with 38 races.
            So, you know, it’s something that I probably haven’t put as much effort into as some other guys out there.  I think there’s some that may take it even a little bit further than it needs to.  But if that is what keeps them focused and enjoying the week or helping prepare for the race, then I think it’s a great routine.
            For me, I’ve had some back issues over the years, so a lot of my routine is just mixing in cardio with stretching, just staying as loose as I can, building up my core to help strengthen my back and stomach to try to keep the pain that I deal with in my back to a minimum.  That’s really helped me get through the races and not really be thinking about my back, so I can just think about driving the car.
            But from a fitness standpoint, other than maybe road courses in the summer months, some of these hot races are more demanding.  I feel like fitness is always something that I’ve been really good at.
 
            Q.  Jeff, did you guys ever find out what happened to the tire?
            JEFF GORDON:  I know the team was having a meeting with Goodyear today.  I don’t have all the details from that.  I’m planning on meeting with them tomorrow.  I was out in Las Vegas yesterday.  We didn’t get to do our normal debrief.  Plan on getting with them tomorrow to get more detail.  Wish I had more to share.
 
            Q.  Do you look at that as bad luck?
            JEFF GORDON:  No.  I think that everything happens for a reason.  It’s unfortunate that it happened.  I think there’s a cause behind it.  The question is whether we caused it or did it run over something.  If I ran over something, then I guess you could maybe call that bad luck.
            Until I know more details, I don’t want to say it’s bad luck.  We’ve certainly had our share of that this year.  In order to get up there and be a threat for the championship, you can’t have things like that happen.  It’s unfortunate.  Certainly sort of took the wind out of our sails, the momentum we had.
            But we also know that we came into this thing 13th and we still have a great shot at being third or fourth, and that’s our goal.
 
            Q.  Jeff, the question I get a lot after a race like Texas where Jimmie dominates so much, with the cars and drivers being so close, how can he be that much better than everybody else?  It happens so consistently with him.  If everybody could figure it out, they would be doing what they’re doing.  I wonder what it’s like to race against the 48 team when they’re running like this.
            JEFF GORDON:  Well, it’s tough.  I think sometimes a lot of people don’t put enough credit into the overall team in our sport.  Jimmie is a great driver. Chad is a great crew chief.  But they’re also surrounded by incredible people and resources at Hendrick Motorsports.
            Not that the rest of the Hendrick teams aren’t, but you have to understand, this is a group that’s been together a long time.  They’ve won championships, they’ve lost championships, they’ve won and lost a lot of races.  These guys know how to step up and win at the right time.
            I would say Texas is one of Jimmie’s best tracks as well.  He has a lot of confidence.  Went to the test there, he had us beat by a 10th, 10th and a half during the entire test.  I felt like we closed that gap slightly over the race weekend.
            But everybody was kind of playing catch‑up.  Especially you let those guys get out front, they had the track position.  They had the one little issue on a green‑flag pit stop that put them behind.  But they had such better tires against everybody else they were up against, everybody was short‑pitting.  It made it that much easier for him to drive up through that.
            I think Matt was the one guy, one team that had something for him.  I think that’s why they’re 1‑2.  He was the only one that could run lap times that Jimmie could.  Once they got behind on the mistake they made on pit road, they never were in a position on those final caution restarts to battle it out and try to get in front of Jimmie.
            So you have to give a lot of credit to the 48.  Other than that one little issue, they were flawless all weekend.
 
            Q.  Jeff, you’re someone who has raced against Matt Kenseth for a long time.  His numbers rank up there among some of the best in the series, some of the best of all time.  I don
‘t think that people recognize that about him.  Why do you think that he goes so under the radar and is so underrated?
            JEFF GORDON:  I think he’s kind of an under‑the‑radar kind of guy.  He’s a great racecar driver.  He probably hasn’t won as many races as he could have.
            I think this move to Gibbs is just showing his talent, how good that team is.  You might start to see a lot more attention be put on him if they can keep these kind of stats and numbers and this kind of consistency up, especially if they win this championship this year.
            But Matt is just one of those drivers where he’s really good at a lot of tracks.  So you give him the right car and team, this is a guy that can be a major threat for the championship every single year.
            I think he sort of is more quiet and reserved in front of the cameras, and even the way he goes about his racing.  You don’t see him knocking guys out of the way or doing anything over the top.  He’s just solid, always there, knows how to put himself in position when it matters most at the end of the race.
            I don’t know.  I think he’d kind of prefer it that way as well, as long as he’s getting the job done when that checkered flag flies.
 
            Q.  Would you have been surprised if people said he would win second in the championship race?
            JEFF GORDON:  Yes and no.  I mean, you never know how somebody’s going to transition into a new team.  You look at that team in past years, they certainly haven’t shown to be a threat for the championship.  But at the same time, I feel like from Matt’s talents and capabilities, while they might have been diminished slightly with his results at Roush, I think that a lot of us within the sport knew just how good he was.
            Again, you put him with the right equipment, the right team, the crew chief that he gels with, he can put up some great numbers, and that’s what he’s doing this year.
            So a little bit of a surprise just because they’re new together.  But not so much of a surprise, in my opinion, from what Matt’s capable of.
 
            Q.  Jeff, this has been a particularly turbulent Chase for you.  You’re in, you’re out, you’re sneaking back into it, then Sunday the letdown.  Talk about the emotions that hit in that very moment you’re in the wall and you know another year has gone by without a championship.
            JEFF GORDON:  Yeah, I remember sitting in the hauler while the team was fixing the car, watching the race, watching the lap times, sort of in disbelief. We’ve been through so much, not just this year, but the last couple years as a team, just clawing and fighting our way to get in the Chase, ups and downs, trying to win races, sometimes just trying to finish races.
            We get in this year, things start to go well for us, we find ourselves in a great position.  It’s all over in a split second.  It’s pretty devastating for the whole team.  You work so hard to get to that point, it’s definitely a letdown.
            Yeah, I was just sitting there going, I can’t believe this.  I felt like I was in a bad dream and I was going to wake up any second.  The longer the time went by, the more and more I realized this is reality.  You have to face it, deal with it, put it behind you as fast as you can and move on.
 
            Q.  Every year there’s somebody that surfaces and they’re either a contender, win a championship, like Brad.  Next year they’re way out of it or don’t even make the Chase.  Can you maybe discuss just how difficult this is.  Obviously Jimmie makes it look easy because he’s the guy that’s inevitable.  Discuss the level of competition that makes it difficult for anybody to sustain a long run.
            JEFF GORDON:  It’s extremely difficult.  You’re right, Jimmie and the 48 team, they make it look easy.  That just shows you how in tune they are with one another, how confident they are, how good of an organization Hendrick Motorsports is.  They’re setting the bar.
            I think the bigger question is what happened with the 2 car?  Is it just the change from last year’s rules package over to the new Gen‑6 car that got them off track?  Is it some of the issues that went on earlier in the year that took a little speed out of the car that they had to search and find?  Seems like they’re getting it back now.
            It’s hard to say what takes a team from being so good, on top of the sport, winning the championship, a real threat for the championship, like the 99 a couple years ago, and those things that change.  Sometimes they’re internal, teams don’t want to talk about it.  Sometimes they just put everything together in that year and have an amazing year.
            The 48 team, where they separate themselves, you know they are capable of doing that every single year.  I mean, heck, last year I think if they hadn’t have had the issue at Phoenix with I think it was a blown tire, I think they would have won the championship last year, too.  That’s just how good they are.  We’re all playing catch‑up, trying to be that good.
            As long as those guys stay together, stay confident, are able to continue to bring competitive cars to the racetrack, it’s going to be very, very tough to stop them.
 
            Q.  Jeff, despite the disappointment at Texas, what do you take from the Chase?
            JEFF GORDON:  We did the same thing last year in the Chase.  We were really solid from Chicago all the way to Phoenix.  Obviously we had our issues there that took Bowyer and myself out of being more competitive, higher up in the points.  That was pretty disappointing to us, to have a shot at the top five, you know, not be able to pull that off.
            The same types of things have happened this year where we’ve been really solid, fast racecars.  We’ve come on stronger at the end of the year.  Those 10 races in the Chase have been very good for us up until Texas, and up until Phoenix last year.
            I think it just shows what kind of quality team we are.  We never give up.  It’s a long season.  You want to be at your best in those final 10 races.  That’s what we’ve done the last two seasons.  But we’re still just missing those final little ingredients to get us on top and stay there.
 
            Q.  I guess throughout the course of a Chase, the ever‑shifting goals that your teams have.  You might come out one week and you’re contendi
ng for the championship like you were after Martinsville, or now where you sit here after Texas.  Talk about the way your goals constantly shift throughout the 10 weeks.
            JEFF GORDON:  I mean, our primary goal always stays the same:  that’s that you go to the race to win the pole, win the race, accumulate the most points. It doesn’t change your thought process throughout the week, how you’re going to execute as you get to that next race.
            A lot of these races are planned out weeks in advance.  Some of it comes from testing, simulation, building the cars.  Maybe it’s a new car.  All these things lead up to a race.  That doesn’t really change.  It’s really what are we capable of accomplishing if we do our absolute best.
            And that’s the thing that’s shifted and changed so much for us after this past weekend in Texas, is that we knew we had an outside shot at making some gains on those guys.  We knew they were both going to be tough at Texas.  A part of it was just trying to maintain as much as we could or maybe make a gain on one of those guys if they didn’t have any issues at all, just go put the best race we can together to show we’re capable of it, show everybody else we’re capable of it.
            I think our best track in the Chase is Homestead.  I really just wanted to get to Homestead with a shot, you know, with a mathematical shot at this championship because I think we could put some pressure on them, have a shot at winning that race.
            Now, yeah, it’s, Okay, how high up in points can we get?  You’re still dealing with the same thing.  It’s just one is the championship and the other one is maybe a third or fourth in points.  That will all be reevaluated after we go through this next weekend’s race in Phoenix.
 
            Q.  You talked about how at the Texas test you had an idea how fast Jimmie would be.  After the Homestead test, who should we be looking out for?
            JEFF GORDON:  I felt pretty good about our chances and our car there.  We had a great test there.
 
            Q.  Does having a pretty successful 2013 season serve as motivation at all going forward for 2014?
            JEFF GORDON:  I wouldn’t call it a 2013 season.  I’d call it a 2013 Chase.  The majority of the races that we’ve run this year, I don’t think we’ve even come close to living up to our full potential.  Maybe Pocono stands out.  That’s a race I feel like second and almost winning was a great accomplishment for us at a crucial time in the season.
            But we had a disappointing season on so many levels that, you know, to just be able to step it up to this next level during the Chase has been probably the best motivating thing we could have.
            Again, we went through the same thing last year, by ending the season, by winning the race in Homestead, really pulled our team together, got us excited for 2013.
            The car and some of the changes threw us off a little bit, threw me off a little bit, took us a while to start to make gains on that.  With some of the issues and failures we had earlier in the year…
            We never stopped trying to make our cars better, getting me to feel that I need to go out there and have confidence in the car and have the speed.  We’ve done a great job of that.
            That’s what we’re going to take out of this year’s Chase as well, is that depending on how many changes happen for 2014, that we have a team that can fight, that can find a way to get where we need to be by the end of the season.
            I’m hoping that next year we can get it a little sooner in the season so we don’t have to go through all the drama we had to go through this year and last year.
 
            Q.  Jeff, consistency is probably one of the most desirable goals in motorsports.  Can you identify the important factors that build confidence leading up to consistency or the lacking that causes a slump.
            JEFF GORDON:  Well, consistency is important when you’re battling for a championship or a place in the Chase.  I say that because you can consistently run 15th, and while you might not be extremely happy with that, that will get you into the Chase.
            At some point you’ve got to turn that consistency and what you’re doing into gains.  You’ve got to continue to progress forward and stay a consistent 15th, make it a consistent 10th.  If you’re running a consistent 10th, you have to move it to a top 5, and then wins.  That’s the only way you’re going to battle for a championship.  You have to start somewhere.
            When you have consistency, it does allow you to fine tune, look to find out where your team is weak, where can you make gains, you as a driver, you as a team, performance, pit crew, pit strategy, everything that’s involved nowadays.  If you can do that consistently, you’re more than likely going to start making gains.
            If you don’t, you’re just a consistent driver, not a winning driver, the frustration is going to start to kick in and you’re actually going to start losing a little confidence instead of gaining that confidence.
 
            Q.  Can you identify that in your team when that starts to slip away?  Is there anything you can do to stop that, teams going up and down?
            JEFF GORDON:  I mean, for me, I’ve been fortunate to have a lot of success, especially the first 10 years of my career, where I can fall back on that success.  I know what I’m looking for in the car to push the limits of the tires, push the limits of the car, to be more competitive out there on the racetrack.
            While that’s been challenged at times and questioned by myself and probably even by my team, you know, I never stop believing that I can do it, and never stop believing in the team that has the answers.  The engineering that goes into these cars these days is so important.  So you’ve got to work together.
            They’ve got to believe in you and you have to believe in them.  I think that’s what turned the corner for us this year.  While we were frustrated, not performing the way we wanted to at times, we never stopped believing in one another, eventually started getting the results, coming together, making big gains. The way the cars were driving, the speeds we had, how we were qualifying, so on.
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S/KOBALT TOOLS CHEVROLET SS:

THE MODERATOR:  Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to today’s NASCAR Cam teleconference with current Sprint Cup Series poi
nts leader Jimmie Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Kobalt Tools Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports.  Five‑time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Johnson has six wins and 15 top‑5 finishes this season.
            Jimmie, you currently sit seven points ahead of Matt Kenseth, and this weekend you head to Phoenix where you sit atop the track’s all‑time wins list with four victories.  What’s your mindset as you approach a possible sixth championship?
            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  Well, there’s still a lot of racing left, and the two tracks that remain on the schedule are very challenging tracks.  Last year we were in this situation with a points lead.  We had a seven‑point lead going into Phoenix and had a very bad race and blew a right front tire.  Actually had a decent race going but blew out a right front tire and hammered the wall.  Really hurt our opportunity and our chance to win a sixth championship then.
            So I’m just not going to put my guard down.  We need to go into Phoenix, race well.  We finished second there in the spring, so we strong about our setup and the performance we should have there, but that doesn’t guarantee us anything, and we need to go out and have a good strong, clean weekend.
 
            Q.  I asked Rick this before you came in Sunday at Texas, but your stretch of four races right before the Chase, which I think someone at some point said may have been the worst four‑race stretch of your career, but one thing Rick said is during that four‑week stretch neither you nor Chad ever lost any bit of confidence, and that looking at you, you would never know that you had gone through a stretch like that, and a lot of that he said was because you guys understood the reasons for what happened.  I was just wondering, when you have a stretch like that, A, how were you able to maintain your confidence; and B, what was it about what took place during that stretch that allowed you to believe that you would still be just as good in the Chase?
            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  Yeah, I mean, it certainly challenged us mentally.  We had to remind ourselves the reasons why we had those bad races and issues behind it, and truthfully those issues were two of the tracks aren’t very good for the 48, and I’m so happy they’re not in the Chase.  The other two tracks we were running very, very strong and had, I think, a tire blow at Pocono.  We had an engine issue at Michigan coming from the back and I think had a great chance to win.  Then there was another race in there where we had an issue while having a very strong race‑winning performance.  I can’t recall exactly what happened ‑‑ oh, it was Atlanta, where we were running well but maybe on the first restart everybody checked up in front of me and I ran into the back of one of my teammates and killed the front of the car.
            We could put a lot of stock in the tracks there that we had speed, we had pace, had good things happen, and that helped us out a lot.  And then the other two tracks, we just sweep those under the rug.  That would be Richmond and I think Bristol.  Just move on, forget about them.
 
            Q.  The Jimmie Johnson 48 team that we see right now would you say is indicative of what you have really been all season long?
            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  I think so.  We’ve shown great speed and pace at a lot of tracks, especially mile‑and‑a‑halfs.  One thing that we aren’t very proud of is the opportunities we let slip by through the course of the year on mile‑and‑a‑halfs.  The win at Texas I guess was our first mile‑and‑a‑half points win of the year, and we were in position to win a lot of other ones and just dropped the ball in a variety of ways.
            Glad that we executed well.  We certainly have another big track with Homestead and need to execute there, and then we’ll go into the short track this weekend and see what we can do.
 
            Q.  Are you as comfortable and confident at Phoenix since the repave as you were before the repave, or is there still some gap there do you think?
            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  Yeah, there’s definitely less confidence in the track that we’re racing on now, and if you just look at our performance over the years, we won so many races with the old configuration and that old asphalt that we’ve had a good run here, it seems like the spring races have been very good for us on the new configuration, but man, if there was one guy sad to see the old configuration and asphalt go away, that was me.  We just had something that worked there and fit my driving style and we were able to win a lot of races.
            Part of our sport is dealing with change, and we always have cars changing and surfaces changing, and I feel like we’re going in the right direction with the racetrack, and hopefully we can capitalize on that this weekend.
 
            Q.  How often in your career have you had a car that was as dominant as the one that you had this past Sunday at Texas?
            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  Not many.  Usually when you have a car that strong, you find a way to mess it up and not pull into victory lane.  So I was really happy to see it through and close the deal at the end and get the car to victory lane.  But it doesn’t happen often.  The car was flawless.
 
            Q.  And that success that you had, will that transfer to the finale at Homestead, and I know you guys tested at Homestead Miami, but what works well in Texas, does that same thing work at Homestead?
            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  The overall concept will, and we were able to validate a lot of that through the two test sessions that we had.  The base, foundation of the setup carried from our Texas test into our Homestead test, so I’m excited about that and clearly want to see the same results once we get down to Miami. But we’ll race hard this weekend and then roll into Homestead and try to take care of business down there.  But it’s going to be a tough two weeks.
 
            Q.  Last year you were you were battling for the championship with Brad Keselowski who had not won a Cup title prior to that point.  This year you’re battling Matt Kenseth, a guy who has been a Cup champion before.  From your perspective, how do those two experiences stack up against each other, and from your perspective is there a sense of comfort in racing hard with somebody that’s been in that situation before versus someone who hasn’t and may be tougher to predict?
            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  You know, it’s hard to know what to predict in general, and I’ve found a lot of peace in expecting the best out of a championship contender, and that’s the way it’s been this year and every year to be honest with you.  I felt like last year there could have been an opportunity to put pressure on Brad and his team, and it was Penske’s first championship in Cup.&nbsp
; Same for the driver, same for the crew chief, and no one will ever know, but maybe there was a little opportunity there to put pressure on them and put them into a stressful environment.  We just didn’t do our job, and we had our problems in Phoenix and then again at Homestead.  And honestly in Homestead we had them where we wanted to put them and was really putting the pressure on them to see what they could deal with and handle at that point, but then we made too many mistakes and didn’t follow through on our side.
            It’s really hard to know the truth in it all, but I do feel driver and team competing for their first is dealing with stress and pressure that someone that’s racing for their second, third, fourth, that they just don’t have that same pressure, and I only know that from my own experience.  My first was far more stressful than anything I’ve done in my life.
 
            Q.  I told John Force last week probably no one knows more about championships at NHRA over there than him.  I can ask you the same question: Probably no one knows more about NASCAR championships than you.  Can you share what it takes to be a repeat champion with others what you think have the drive to be a champion?
            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  You know, it’s such a team sport, and I think that gets overlooked at times.  Certainly people just think of the driver and the driver’s impact.  Next in line would be the crew chief.  But as you work your way down through the different positions and the department heads and even people back in the shop, I know we always reference these folks and it might get annoying to some, but the ability to repeat comes from the depth in your organization, and it’s certainly led by the driver and crew chief, but it takes everybody in the system to have the right mentality, to be pulling in the right direction.  There’s always rule changes that the entire company has to respond to, and then the end result is what the driver and crew chief do at the track.  But the load and stress and burden is far greater than just what the two guys at track deal with.
            I really put a lot of our success into the depth we have, the systems we have at Hendrick Motorsports, the support we have behind the scenes.  That really lets the race day crew, the guys that go there each and every weekend seen on TV, to do their jobs and handle the issues at hand.  It boils down to depth, I believe.
 
            Q.  How important is it as far as your momentum that you’ve built up now going into Homestead with only 900 miles to race?
            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  Momentum is nice, and we’re happy to have it.  But I’ve been doing this long enough where I realize that momentum doesn’t guarantee a thing.  It makes a nice Sunday evening until Friday morning when the NASCAR timing and scoring system starts up again, but it doesn’t change a thing about Friday practice, qualifying, Saturday practice, or that Sunday race.  You’ve got to go out and do your job each and every day.  It’s been a nice, comfortable week, but the pressure cooker will start up there Friday morning when we’re on track.
 
            Q.  This is kind of a strange question, but it’s been talked about by many, many people.  That was a great shot of you, your daughter and your wife wearing the hats after the win at Texas.  Because your daughter has been around many tracks with you, what would you and your wife say if in a few years she says, hey, I think I want to start racing?
            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  It wouldn’t bother me a bit.  I’m not sure my wife would be on board.  But really at the end of the day, we want to support our children and have them pursue what they’re passionate about and what they enjoy in life.
            I was raised in that environment and so was my wife, and we all think of traditional means of work and providing and starting a family and all that, and we just really want to keep an open mind for our children and help them develop and support what they’re passionate about.
            I feel so lucky and fortunate that my passion turned into my career, and I know the happiness it’s brought me.  So whatever passions my kids have, that’s what I’m going to pursue, and if someone of the two girls we have now, who knows if there will be more kids, but if either one of them want to hold a steering wheel, dad will be happy and ready to go.
 
            Q.  I know part of this is your natural demeanor, but it seems your success and the team’s success has built an immunity of the kind of stress experienced by those who haven’t won championships.  Can you sense that, and can you compare your state of mind at this stage this year with that same 2004 and 2005, some of the earlier years?
            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  Yeah, I mean, we’re not immune.  We’re human and deal with all the same stress that anybody competing for a championship goes through.  I feel that through the years of winning championships we learn how to manage stress much better and find a way to enjoy the pressure and enjoy the stress.  We’ve lost some interesting close championship battles which have been interesting character builders, although they hurt badly and it’s not a fun month or two following that experience, but there’s a lesson to learn from everything, and I always try to find something to learn through those downtimes.
            But we’re not immune.  We do have experience on our side, and we’ve been here before, and hopefully that experience will lead us to a sixth.
 
            Q.  Do you recall what it was like in 2004 and 2005 when it was a fresh experience?
            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  I do.  2004 was a heartbreaker.  We had a tragedy amongst our race team in the NASCAR community with an airplane of ours going down, lost 10 wonderful people.  We rallied through a difficult Chase and got back into striking distance at Homestead, and essentially the championship slipped away from us in the closing few laps as Kurt Busch worked his way back from an issue on pit road and his wheel falling off, and went from the high of highs feeling like it was meant to be to not winning and wanting to win for all those on the airplane and to help heal everyone involved and all the hurt that was around.  We just felt like it was meant to be, and there’s a big lesson in that that what you think is meant to be isn’t what’s going to happen.
            We got stronger from that, and then in ’05 was really the toughest point for us.  We had a very strong start to the season, led by a lot, and then as the year closed out, we slipped and we slid off the map essentially.  Tony Stewart came in, or was there, and the guy we were chasing, and Tony got the job done.  That was really a turning point for Chad and I.  It tested us in our relationship and our bond pretty tough, and put a lot of pressure on us, and we had our milk‑and‑cookies meeting then, and from that point forward we were a stronger driver‑crew chief and have been
very, very strong since and learned a lot from 2005.
            As I mentioned earlier, some of those down moments have been some of the most impactful moments of my career,  and 2005 is really that defining moment for us as a team.
 
            Q.  Do you sense that Matt is going to be even more of a player now that he’s with JGR?  If anyone can deliver a Jimmie Johnson type season, he might be that guy?
            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  Yeah, I’ve always known Matt’s abilities.  I’ve raced against him a lot over the years, and just always been extremely impressed.  I’ve known that the JGR cars have been quick.  Denny and Kyle have showed that throughout the years.  Matt’s experience I think has brought in a level of consistency, and matching that with the speed those cars have, he’s taken it to a new level.  And I think the 20 team, there’s a lot of new faces over there, and as time goes on, they’re going to get stronger and stronger and stronger.
            Put it this way:  What they’ve accomplished in year one, there’s no telling what the top is going to be, the peak is going to be.  It’s amazing.  That doesn’t happen often, so they’re going to be a force for a lot of years.
 
            Q.  Can you talk a little bit about your foundation’s education grant announcement you made earlier today?
            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  Yes, absolutely, thank you.  We announced our grant recipients here today in the Charlotte area.  Three great schools, just over $430,000 that we distributed here to the area in which we live in North Carolina, in the Charlotte area.  Each year we hold a big fundraiser in California, and throughout theyear raise more money, and right now is our time to pass it out.  There’s areas where I grew up in El Cajon, my wife grew up in Muskogee, Oklahoma, and right here in the Charlotte area.  We’re making those schools known about their checks and excited to see them put that money to use.
            We also have some stuff that will be announced as we move forward in I guess probably the start of next year.  We’ll be doing more fundraising here in the Charlotte area and trying to do more in the area in which we live and excited about those fundraisers and look forward to sharing them with everybody here soon.