Fan's Eye View ~ Jimmie Johnson Makes Loud Statement With Second Win Of The Season
4/09/2013
Jim Fitzgerald
Complete.
With seven
wins to his credit at the historic half-mile track in Virginia, Johnson’s name
was at the top of a lot of “who is going to win” lists. Starting from the pole position and leading a
dominant 346 laps, Johnson and his team did not disappoint, claiming win number
eight, more than any other active driver.
The win was also the 20th win at the track for car owner Rick
Hendrick. Johnson credits the planning
for the race as the recipe for success.
“Yeah,
we had a great weekend and I know that the stats clearly show that. But probably the most calm, relaxed
thought-out weekend that we've had as the 48, and mature weekend we've
had. We really fell back on our
experience and stayed committed to that, and Friday was easier to stay
committed because qualifying trim, Chad and Dave and everybody gave me just a
way fast race car.”
Even though you plan well, it does not
always translate into the smoothest of days.
Johnson did have some challenges at various points of the day with Matt
Kenseth, Kyle Busch, Clint Bowyer, and his own team mate, Jeff Gordon trying to
push Johnson off of the top of the hill.
It was Johnson’s ability to relay what the car was doing to crew chief
Chad Knaus throughout the day so that Knaus could call for them during the pit stops.
“In
the race, we had to adjust on the fly” Johnson said. “The track changed more than we thought it
would, and Chad put some great changes under the car. It's kind of like the time when the 18 and
the 20 got to us, and we were able to get our car dialed in. I'm not sure where they went following that,
but and the 15 and 24 showed up and I still had my hands full. Just a very well executed race,
or I should say weekend, and clearly the race today, by the whole 48 team.”
The execution started on Friday, when
Johnson went out a put his car on the pole.
Knowing how important pit road positioning and track positioning are at
Martinsville, Johnson and his team knew a top starting position would be
invaluable.
“Yeah,
you make your day so much easier when you qualify up front, qualify on pole and
get that first pit stall,” Johnsons said.
“Jeff sent me a funny text Friday, you're tough enough to beat when you
qualify 15th, now on the pole it's going to be impossible to beat you. I got a good laugh out of that.”
Car owner Rick Hendrick was confident
his team would prevail after taking the top qualifying spot.
“I thought
he was going to win the race, when we got sitting on the pole,” Hendrick
said. “His track
record here. That's a great
job. I'm not surprised that he won the
race.”
What could
be less surprising is that Johnson’s performance so far this season has been
good enough to keep him near or at the top of the point standings. The five time
Champion now holds the top spot in points, six ahead of Brad Keselowski and
twelve over Hendrick team mate Dale Earnhardt, Jr. To keep that spot, the team will need to
continue that performance week in and out, starting on Saturday night at Texas,
a place the No. 48 team is quite comfortable.
Johnson explained:
“Yeah, I feel good about it. We ran really good
at Vegas, and California didn't go as well as we wanted, but it's a much
different racetrack than what we have at Texas.
I would say that Texas and Vegas are closer together than Texas and
California. We'll go there and see. We're still learning this car on the big
tracks. Fontana we were certainly trying
some things, and smarter leaving there, and I know that these guys will work
hard and give me a great car this coming race.”
At the end of the day, though, it was
the preparation and the execution that really made the difference in the race
for Johnson and his team. It is that
kind of execution that other teams need to take notice of and mimic if they
want to keep Johnson from winning title number six.
“I think the fact that we had just such
a calm weekend was the biggest part. I mean, it's easy to start chasing things
here and get yourself off track. We always race well,
and fortunately here you pit a lot and you can make big changes to your race
car to get you in the ballgame. We've
won races where we were just terrible to start the race, having no fun. Chad is throwing spring rubbers in the car
and track wear is coming up or down, wedges in and out, all those huge, huge
changes, and we get ourselves in contention.
I don't know where we were -- someone said the worst I was on the
track today was fourth. We just executed
from the first laps in practice to where we were at the end of the race, and
that was fun. That's what I meant by
that, that we weren't chasing a setup or track conditions or a variety of things
that we've done in the past.”
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