Johnson, Hendrick picking up where they left off
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Two-time defending NASCAR Cup champion Jimmie Johnson certainly doesn't appear to have slipped in the offseason.
Johnson has not only been fast in practices at Daytona International Speedway, he also finished second in Saturday night's Budweiser Shootout and then qualified on the pole for Sunday's season-opening Daytona 500. Indeed, the Hendrick Motorsports armada as a whole, doesn't seem to have lost any momentum in the offseason. The team's four drivers were all in the top six in the Shootout, with newcomer Dale Earnhardt Jr. winning the race for the group. Part of the reason may be that the teams don't appear to have backed off any in the offseason. Now, Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus are waiting to see if that offseason work has kept them ahead of the field, a year after he collected a series-high 10 wins. "I am just real excited to see everything from the offseason come together," Johnson said. "We had a great test session. To come down here with a car that was in the wind tunnel and worked on and completed when we were down here testing, to see it come together with its first laps ... with a strong run right off the truck, to build on that, find some more speed and lock down the pole says a lot for the team and the preparation. "I just couldn't be more proud of my crew guys and everyone at Hendrick Motorsports for not losing anything over the offseason." Johnson says that the means to keep momentum are part of the culture that team owner Rick Hendrick has created within his shop. Not only does everyone within the organization appear to be fiercely loyal to the team owner, but the teams have found a way to both work together and remain sharply competitive against one another. "As far as the ability to continue on and not lose something over a championship year, results back to the culture in a different way maybe," Johnson said. "... We make sure that we build a team, and the team structure in a way to where we aren't running a sprint race all the time. We are just at a slow steady pace - not slow, but a steady pace - and we are churning out good cars, and we are churning out new information and data, just constantly trying to make our stuff better. And, of late, it has just been at the right pace and the right stuff. I am not saying it is going to last forever. "We are watching a lot of guys understand what it takes and hitting on things. It boils down to a lot of hard work and a lot of time from Chad and the guys that he directs and kind of points them in the right direction at the shop. So it is really a team effort." Part of that team effort comes from the team owner, who insists that the members of his teams do take a break from time to time. Many members of the Hendrick teams, for instance, flew back to Charlotte Monday and today to take a break before returning for the fast-paced Daytona 500 week. "That is another thing we are very fortunate with Mr. Hendrick," Knaus says. "He really wants us and encourages us to allow our guys to have more time off andDAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Two-time defending NASCAR Cup champion Jimmie Johnson certainly doesn't appear to have slipped in the offseason. Johnson has not only been fast in practices at Daytona International Speedway, he also finished second in Saturday night's Budweiser Shootout and then qualified on the pole for Sunday's season-opening Daytona 500. Indeed, the Hendrick Motorsports armada as a whole, doesn't seem to have lost any momentum in the offseason. The team's four drivers were all in the top six in the Shootout, with newcomer Dale Earnhardt Jr. winning the race for the group. Part of the reason may be that the teams don't appear to have backed off any in the offseason. Now, Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus are waiting to see if that offseason work has kept them ahead of the field, a year after he collected a series-high 10 wins. "I am just real excited to see everything from the offseason come together," Johnson said. "We had a great test session. To come down here with a car that was in the wind tunnel and worked on and completed when we were down here testing, to see it come together with its first laps ... with a strong run right off the truck, to build on that, find some more speed and lock down the pole says a lot for the team and the preparation. "I just couldn't be more proud of my crew guys and everyone at Hendrick Motorsports for not losing anything over the offseason." Johnson says that the means to keep momentum are part of the culture that team owner Rick Hendrick has created within his shop. Not only does everyone within the organization appear to be fiercely loyal to the team owner, but the teams have found a way to both work together and remain sharply competitive against one another. "As far as the ability to continue on and not lose something over a championship year, results back to the culture in a different way maybe," Johnson said. "... We make sure that we build a team, and the team structure in a way to where we aren't running a sprint race all the time. We are just at a slow steady pace - not slow, but a steady pace - and we are churning out good cars, and we are churning out new information and data, just constantly trying to make our stuff better. And, of late, it has just been at the right pace and the right stuff. I am not saying it is going to last forever. "We are watching a lot of guys understand what it takes and hitting on things. It boils down to a lot of hard work and a lot of time from Chad and the guys that he directs and kind of points them in the right direction at the shop. So it is really a team effort." Part of that team effort comes from the team owner, who insists that the members of his teams do take a break from time to time. Many members of the Hendrick teams, for instance, flew back to Charlotte Monday and today to take a break before returning for the fast-paced Daytona 500 week. "That is another thing we are very fortunate with Mr. Hendrick," Knaus says. "He really wants us and encourages us to allow our guys to have more time off and to have more time with their families because obviously the fresher they are and the more they get to spend time at home, the more they want to come back to work. ... They want to come back to work because they enjoy it, and they don't feel like they are missing out on their home lives. He gives us a couple of airplanes and lets us fly everybody home, and it works out great." That may be just a part of the reason that Hendrick has enjoyed continued success in the sport. After his team won 18 of the 36 races last season, the group endured some resentment from fans against Johnson and Jeff Gordon and perhaps from a few rivals as well. The team isn't going to let that slow them, though. "I am friends with a lot of the guys in the garage area," Hendrick said. "I have been in the position to watch other guys have success, and I know that feeling. It motivates you to want to go beat them. I am sure it is there, but everybody is still speaking to me, and we are getting along great. I think [the competition] is so tight, it is almost like we have just come up a little bit better, but, I am sure there is some frustration there." credit: scene daily |
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