Chevy Notes: J.Johnson Press Conference

CHEVROLET/TEAM MONTE CARLO NOTES AND QUOTES
Save Mart 350
Sears Point Raceway
112 laps, 350 kilometers
2-mile road course
Race16 of 36
NASCAR WINSTON CUP SERIES
Friday, June 21, 2002

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE¹S CHEVY MONTE CARLO, TOP ROOKIE QUALIFIER PRESS
CONFERENCE:

Jimmie Johnson ended up in 15th qualifying position, as first rookie in the
field.

JOHNSON:  "I remember back at the test and the effort level it took to drive
the car because when I started today I thought that I was calm and relaxed
and being patient and smooth and we weren¹t where we were.  I kept backing
down because I thought I might be over-driving it and I finally backed it
down enough for qualifying and drove the car within its means and put up a
respectable lap.  Still made a couple of mistakes out there; I¹m sure you¹ll
hear that a lot from everyone.  This is a real tough and demanding track but
I will be a lot smarter and a much better race driver tomorrow and be back
in the rhythm that I need to stay smooth and pass."

YOU¹RE ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE STATE BUT YOU HAVE A LOT OF FANS HERE:
"NASCAR has slowly been growing on the West Coast.  As a kid growing up we
had Riverside and it went away and Phoenix was there.   I know that I have a
lot of friends that are excited to have more races in California.
Especially when I grew up in Southern California, I guess the west coast was
looking out for the west coast drivers.  I know Kurt¹s (Busch) from Las
Vegas, which isn¹t too far away.  Hopefully all of us West Coast guys will
get some support from all the fans."

DID YOU KNOW WHERE YOU LOST SOME TIME ON THE TRACK?  "It was at the end of
the track, through 10 and 11 where I felt I made the biggest mistakes.  At
that time, we were in the green -- Fox has this lap tracker -- until we got
there. There¹s definitely some more guys to come that went faster than a lap
that we could probably have put up.  The grip level of these cars is so
small, so fine, and when you drive over it it doesn¹t really punish you that
bad, you¹re just slow.  And once you slow down enough and hit that grip
level for the tire the car¹s on rails and, boom, off you go.  I got
three-quarters of the track and then at the end of it I didn¹t realize the
lap I had going or what was really going on and I drove into 11 like I had
been and smoked the left front going into 10 and then blew 11."

AFTER COMPETING ON OVALS FOR THE FIRST HALF OF THE YEAR, HOW DIFFERENT IS IT
TO COME TO A ROAD COURSE?  "It¹s real different.   There¹s such a trade-off.
You can pick up a lot of speed in the braking zones but in race pace you
can¹t do that all day long.  So it¹s a cat and mouse game to see who¹s doing
what, how fast are they running, how are they using up their equipment. It¹s
a big difference, totally 180 degrees opposite of what we do on a normal
basis.  I think it¹s a lot of fun; I wish there were a couple more road
courses in the series so we can get some more experience doing it."

WERE YOU NERVOUS ENTERING SEARS POINT ON THE ROAD COURSE?  "I don¹t know if
I was necessarily nervous but I hear people walking up and down in the
garage and everyone will tell you that they¹re concerned and thinking about
wheel-hopping it, setting the tire off, missing a corner.  If you get off
track here, there isn¹t much room and you start knocking things down.  Not
that I was nervous, I was excited to come out.  I¹ve been excited since we
left Michigan to come here and race.  I was disappointed with myself with
how practice had gone and did better in qualifying; (we) will start over
tomorrow and do much better."

HOW MUCH EXPERIENCE DID YOU HAVE IN ROAD RACING BEFORE SEARS POINT?  "(In)
Asphalt road racing I ran two SCCA races out in West Virginia when I was
15-16 years old and beyond that I¹ve had the two Busch races at Watkins
Glen,  So, as far as asphalt road-racing, that¹s it.  But I think that
off-road racing, especially the desert racing I did wasŠnot that it was the
same, there were some similarities, with upshifts and downshifts and left
and right hand turns.  Not a ton."

HOW IMPORTANT IS QUALIFYING IN RELATION TO TRACK POSITION IN THE RACE?
"It¹s huge.  I guess it¹s now changed.  Obviously my first time.  When
ŒGilligan¹s Island¹ was there qualifying had much more importance on it.
Qualifying these days is extremely important.  Track position is very
important for a lot of reasons.  Here, once you get strung out single file
you can be, like Jeff (Gordon) said,10th, but it¹s really like 20th.
Because how few passing zones there are and single file on a road course you
just get spread out really quickly."

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JIMMIE JOHNSON PRESS CONFERENCE

Page 2


WERE YOU NERVOUS ENTERING SEARS POINT ON THE ROAD COURSE?  "I don¹t know if
I was necessarily nervous but I hear people walking up and down in the
garage and everyone will tell you that they¹re concerned and thinking about
wheel-hopping it, setting the tire off, missing a corner.  If you get off
track here, there isn¹t much room and you start knocking things down.  Not
that I was nervous, I was excited to come out.  I¹ve been excited since we
left Michigan to come here and race.  I was disappointed with myself with
how practice had gone and did better in qualifying; (we) will start over
tomorrow and do much better."

HOW MUCH EXPERIENCE DID YOU HAVE IN ROAD RACING BEFORE SEARS POINT?  "(In)
Asphalt road racing I ran two SCCA races out in West Virginia when I was
15-16 years old and beyond that I¹ve had the two Busch races at Watkins
Glen,  So, as far as asphalt road-racing, that¹s it.  But I think that
off-road racing, especially the desert racing I did wasŠnot that it was the
same, there were some similarities, with upshifts and downshifts and left
and right hand turns.  Not a ton."

HOW IMPORTANT IS QUALIFYING IN RELATION TO TRACK POSITION IN THE RACE?
"It¹s huge.  I guess it¹s now changed.  Obviously my first time.  When
ŒGilligan¹s Island¹ was there qualifying had much more importance on it.
Qualifying these days is extremely important.  Track position is very
important for a lot of reasons.  Here, once you get strung out single file
you can be, like Jeff (Gordon) said,10th, but it¹s really like 20th.
Because how few passing zones there are and single file on a road course you
just get spread out really quickly."

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