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NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES: KOBALT TOOLS 500November 14, 2010Denny HamlinJimmie JohnsonRyan NewmanAVONDALE, ARIZONA THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Ryan Newman. Tell us about your run. RYAN NEWMAN: We had a good car pretty much the whole race. Got shuffled back there at the very start. Great pit stops, good strategy. I guess kind of an uneventful strategy race. Nobody took two tires, per se. We had a little bit of fuel drama at the end. A good effort for our team. Really proud of the U.S. Army guys. Veterans Day weekend here. We did the best we could and came up one short, but we're proud of that, too. THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up to questions. Q. What did it take for you to get to second? Couple of guys had to make stops for fuel. RYAN NEWMAN: The 11, the 18, a few of those guys stopped. We were saving fuel the whole time. Made more sense to save fuel. We were two laps short. I don't know what their situation was. I don't know how much we had left obviously. We just did what I thought we needed to do. If Carl made it, Carl made it. Supposedly the 42 was going to make it, and he didn't. I did what I needed to do to get to the end and that put us in second place. Good run. Good finish. Q. Ryan, what are some of the things you're doing at that point, particularly at this racetrack when it's flat and you've really got to get off the corners? Are you getting out of it early and dragging? RYAN NEWMAN: Just conserve energy. Brakes take up energy. How you get in the gas produces energy. But how you can do it can manipulate your economy. It was a good run. No complaints. Just came up one spot short. I don't mind every once in a while coming down to a fuel mileage race if you make it. If you don't make it, they suck. THE MODERATOR: Ryan, thank you for your time. We're now joined in the media center by the points leader, Denny Hamlin. Currently leading second-place driver, Jimmie Johnson, by 15 points. Denny, tell us about your run today. DENNY HAMLIN: We had a good run. Just bad strategy at the end. Let those guys right back in there. We just got to go in next week and try to beat them. THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up to questions for Denny. Q. Having a points lead heading into next week, think it will be hard to sleep and concentrate this week coming up? DENNY HAMLIN: No. I'll be all right. I'll be okay. Q. What do you think went wrong? You said you had some problems at the end. DENNY HAMLIN: We were short on fuel so we had to stop. Q. You talked about the strategy at the end there. Obviously didn't pan out for you. How frustrating is that? Is that a challenge trying to overcome that as you go into the final race of the season? DENNY HAMLIN: It is. For me I guess as soon as I leave Phoenix, I have to leave Phoenix in Phoenix. That's the thing is you can't let this -- I couldn't control it. I did everything I was supposed to do today. Things didn't work out for me. All I can do is concentrate on next week once Monday comes and put it behind me. So the thing is, it could have been a lot worse. We could have lost the points lead. But regardless, you never know what can happen in the final race. I hate that it boils down to the final race, but that's what's fans love and things like that. I felt like we've been the best car over this Chase and we might not win it. Q. Even though things didn't turn out the way you wanted to do, the fact you had the lead going into the last race, that has to be a good position for you and your team, gives you confidence going into the last race. DENNY HAMLIN: It does. Trust me, I'd rather race next week knowing I need to go out there and I need to win the race than knowing I need to finish 15th. That's the mentality I'm going to have next week, is to win the race. Full-court press will be on. It will be one of those things where you'll probably see me as aggressive as I've been all year. It's just one of those days that happens in racing. That's why we run these races. Strategy is part of it. Unfortunately we just had the bad end of the strategy today. Q. Denny, you mentioned strategy. Was it bad strategy to not stop on that quick caution or was it just bad luck? DENNY HAMLIN: Well, we don't know if it's the final caution. We could have made it. There were a ton of guys that made it that pitted at the same time we did. Usually we have the best fuel mileage. That part I just don't understand. I can save fuel pretty well. But I was never alerted to save fuel. So I assumed that everyone was going to have to pit. I didn't even think it was a question. Like I said, I did my job. Q. Disappointed about the finish, obviously. Can you take some consolation in the fact that you were dominant until then or is that something you think about on Monday? DENNY HAMLIN: Well, it's a double-edged sword because if you run terrible all day and you finish 12th, you salvage something out of it. Knowing that we had a very, very good points lead with 15 or 20 to go, that quickly diminishes, it hurts. It hurts when you have a car that can possibly win. So for me, I wasn't aware that anyone was going to try to stretch it and make it. Mike didn't make me aware that anyone was going to stretch it and make it so I went out there and ran as hard as I could. Unfortunately, our car didn't have as good of fuel mileage as everyone else's. Q. The first five Chase races you only led one lap total. The last four weeks, you've had pretty much the fastest car everywhere but Talladega. Where have you picked it up? Where is the extra speed coming from? DENNY HAMLIN: I press the gas down harder. I mean, like I said, I told y'all I was going to step it up, and I'm doing what I said I was going to do. Q. Do you have a control-alt-delete system in your head? Maybe you need a patented Coach Gibbs pep talk to move forward. DENNY HAMLIN: I feel I've done a good job of that this year. I won't need a pep talk. Of course, I'm going to be disappointed for the next couple hours. But trust me, when I get home, I'm done with it. I'm going to move on and try how to figure out how to win next week. This is fuel for me. Q. Denny, you're the defending winner at Homestead, had the best car in the Chase. We still don't know what Jimmie can do at Homestead because he hasn't had to race. You have to feel this is stacking up pretty well in your favor. DENNY HAMLIN: Uhm, I mean, if you look at stats, yeah, it's good. It looks good for us. If you look at history, it looks good for us. But you never know what can happen. This stuff that happened today can happen next week and you can't control it. We just hope to have a clean race next week and the best car win. That's all that we can ask for to crown the champ. That's the thing, is I'm proud that we've stepped up our performance like we have over these last few weeks. It's very proud for me to be able to do that. So I'm just going to continue to keep digging as hard as I can go and try to beat those guys. It's going to be tough. Those guys are going to be good. We see that every week. They're top five. As far as I'm concerned, it's going to take a win. THE MODERATOR: Denny, thank you. Congratulations. DENNY HAMLIN: Thanks. THE MODERATOR: We're now joined by second in points, 15 points out of first place with one to go, Jimmie Johnson. Talk about today's run. JIMMIE JOHNSON: Yeah, we had a good day. Unfortunately, the 11 was having a great day. Those guys did a great job. But in the end I'm just so proud to have Chad Knaus in that pit box. I know he's going to leave no stone unturned. Today, once that last pit stop took place, we were kind of talking about what we needed to do. Did a good job of saving some fuel early, which was important to get to the end. Once we really went into fuel conservation mode, I was doing anything and everything I could to try to save fuel. It worked out. The thing that gets me is I drove the car to pit lane and never saw the fuel pressure wiggle. I'm thinking I should have fought for the fourth and third spots harder with the 16 and the 20. But it is what it is. We did a good job of closing the gap today and putting all that pressure right on the 11. That's the best we could have hoped for today, if not being ahead, that would have been a little bit better, but either way we got a lot of pressure on those guys. THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up to questions. Q. I know you don't like to talk about yourself in these terms, do you think your greatness can be solidified with a come-from-behind championship? JIMMIE JOHNSON: You know, it would probably be received better than the ones in the past, with the runaway show we've had on a couple of them. I don't care how I win it. However we win it, that's cool (laughter). I would love to come back and win from behind and eliminate that stat because that seems to be the only thing that everyone talks about right now. When I look at the way we started the Chase, I'm more frustrated at what we did then, in the fact we didn't capitalize at Loudon. Last week we missed a pit call late in the race. Everybody behind us had tires on. We ended up ninth. When you go back through the season, look at little things, we've left points on the table. That's unlike us from years past. That's the part we're fighting right now. Q. I know just sitting in here and listening to the radio knowing basically your championship is on the line, I'm on the edge of my seat. From your perspective, what was it like knowing if you run out of gas your championship is over? JIMMIE JOHNSON: Yeah, I had mixed feelings mid run because I knew it had that green-flag feel. If we ran out, yeah, we would have lost the chance to be the champions. But that kind of left my mind and I really started focusing on what I needed to do to save gas. Really tried to eliminate my thoughts, any negative thoughts in my mind, just save fuel, get caught up in those emotions, what I needed to do on the racetrack to save fuel. Before I knew it, the laps went by pretty quick. Worked themselves down to the white flag. Once I came off of turn two and down the back, I felt pretty good I'd make it to the start/finish line ahead of the 11. My emotions tried to get the best of me. I was on the edge of my seat, but I kept talking myself off the ledge. Just had to stay in check. Q. A really blunt question. The last three or four weeks, the 11 has been faster than the 48. If you're going to win a championship in Homestead, you're going to have to pretty much reverse that or hope on strategy. What can you do to put yourselves in a position to win? JIMMIE JOHNSON: Yeah, I mean, we're very aware of that situation, as well. We're doing everything we can. We're trying as hard as we can. We're going to go home and we're going to make sure we have the best engines, go through our simulation stuff, make sure our car is as fast as it can be and then race. I wish we had more speed. We were looking like we had in years past. Last couple weeks we've been good and they've been great. We need to get that turned around and be great. If not, I know that with Chad on the box, we're going to work on a strategy and hopefully find an upper hand somewhere, somehow. He did that today. First goal is to have enough speed to run away from them, not worry about it. If not, you have to back up and punt and figure out what to do from there. Q. (Question regarding pit crew.) JIMMIE JOHNSON: Those guys did an awesome job. They kept us with good track position all day long. I would lose some track position. Their stops would pick up a couple spots every time. They looked calm, relaxed. Our meeting before the race, they were pumped, relaxed. I went in the 24 truck to see my old boys. They couldn't be happier, wished me luck. Went out to driver intros, they were fired up again for me. It wasn't an easy situation. But everybody's pulling in the right direction. Q. Jimmie, can you talk us through with 14 laps to go when Denny comes in for fuel, was it your and Chad's impression that everyone would have to come in or you would have to come in? Once he came in, did you think you could get the distance? JIMMIE JOHNSON: No, Chad had it all along on his mind, talked to me early about saving fuel. Did a decent job of that. Then we went into fuel conservation mode, did our best from there. I didn't ask so I didn't know for sure if the 11 had come to pit road. I would imagine they did because we obviously would do the opposite of what they did trying to close up the points. When I saw the 16 coming, the 20, the 42 was up there ahead of me, I wasn't sure if the 11 was still out or not. I didn't want to let my emotions get the best of me and hope or think that we were going to get some points on those guys. Just did my best job to save fuel. Q. When we got here you were sitting out on the roof, Denny was in here talking. Normally you guys are all in here at the same time. I'm wondering why didn't you come in. Did you not want to be around him? JIMMIE JOHNSON: One of those things where I don't want to know what he has to say, read what he has to say, see it on TV. I won't turn on the television, watch any racing this week. Remove myself from it. I know what I need to do, what my team has to do. I don't want to hear what anybody else has to say. Q. We've heard you say a few times during the post race you're glad you're able to put more pressure on the 11 team. Their crew chief didn't hesitate to call your team last week when they made mistakes. Denny said their pit strategy might have been off. Does that make you relish this more, the shoe seems to be on the other foot this week after the talk from last week? JIMMIE JOHNSON: No. I mean, if we went up there and led all the laps, won the race, it would be easy to lob the ball back in their lap and come from an arrogant place. But when we run fourth all day, they lead all the laps, you got to be careful when you stick your neck out there and make some bold comments. We were in a position today where we had to take a chance. I would think that if we were the points leader, had something to lose, we would have pitted as well. You have to protect when you're leading the points. When it's a small points margin, not only do you have to be fast on the track, but you have to do everything right, including strategy. We were in a good situation and could take the risk, take the chance. It worked out for us. I don't know if they necessarily made a bad call. If we ran out of fuel, it would have been a brilliant call. So it was just one of those risky things, you know, kind of wild things that takes place in racing. Q. Carl Edwards talked about his being sick in his stomach because of the uncertainty, how awkward it is to win a race on fuel mileage. You were saying Chad kept you well-informed. I know that a guy that has won four straight championships has to be a control freak. Are you out on the track feeling like things are out of your control? Is it kind of disorienting to be in a fuel mileage race with so much on the line? JIMMIE JOHNSON: With the position we were in, I was hopeful. Again, I didn't know what the 11 had done. I was hopeful we were taking this chance for a good reason and we were going to pick up points on these guys. There was some optimism in my mindset. I found a good rhythm. I kind of go off of Chad's voice. There's some laps where I would run a little fast. I could hear in his voice he was concerned. I would find a different way to run a lap, save more fuel, run the right pace he was after. I could hear a more calm reaction from him. I just kind of was listening to his emotions and driving the car based on how excited he sounded or how calm he sounded. It worked out. But that was our chance today to make up points. So there was a lot of optimism, more so than Carl who had a fast car and had a lot to lose today if the call didn't work out. Kind of a different perspective from Carl's from mine. Q. You didn't want to hear what Denny had to say, but I bet by taking a look at his face probably told you all you needed to know. JIMMIE JOHNSON: He didn't go out of his way to say hi on the way out so I could imagine that he wasn't in a good mood. Q. Could you tell that this is kind of getting to him? JIMMIE JOHNSON: I didn't get a good look at him. But the nine years being in Cup, I've lived in championship pressure, especially the last four years. I know how bad he wants to win a championship. I remember my first. So I don't disrespect his anger. I don't disrespect where he's coming from because I understand. He wants to win this championship bad. He's dedicated his life to it. I also know that this week is going to be a tough week for him because I've been there. I hope he can't handle it as well as I did in '06. I want it to work out for me. Selfishly for me, I want him to not do the right things. We'll just see how the week works out. They're good race teams. All the jabs we take at each other, that all goes away when we hit the track at Homestead and lay down some laps. THE MODERATOR: Jimmie, thank you. End of FastScripts |
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