Jimmie Johnson Quotes (142 Quotes)

Definitely we wish we had everybody back. There's no doubt that we've lost something. But the people in place did such a good job of training their team that we've been able to move along, win races and still vie for a championship.

You never want to nose-over or lose momentum, but everybody knows that it happens at some point in time,

We know that you've got to collect points, ... Kurt (Busch) last year was very consistent and collected the most points. That's everyone's baseline. You go into the final 10, if somebody is on a tear and wins a bunch, everybody is going to have to adjust their game. But going into any series, you want to cover your bases and be solid. . . We'll go to Loudon and get our feet wet. We can spend our first two or three races just feeling things out to see where we need to be.

We didn't change a thing for this week. In our opinion, we didn't really have a chance to race at Bristol. We'd had a great practice, and felt like we had a great car -- and then we started the race with a flat tire.

Jimmie Johnson has finished 37th, 34th and 37th in the past three fall Talladega races, and he believes he's not alone in bringing a different mindset into this weekend. He starts ninth today. When you're at a 1.5-mile or a normal' track, most guys think they have a shot at winning, ... I really think everybody -- the drivers in the Chase especially -- wants to get out of there with a top-10.

This year is about being consistent, ... There aren't any secrets. You just get what you can and hope you don't get caught up in any crashes.

It's part of our sport, ... It's kind of like going to a football game, and you hope you see a big hit or a big tackle. It's part of the theater that's involved with our sport it's part of what draws fans in. If we were out there in go-karts running 10 miles an hour, they wouldn't be watching. It's part of the risk. Of course, I don't want anybody to crash, I don't want to crash, but we've made a lot of gains in the safety department so that we are having wrecks and everybody is walking away.

The drivers, we just get in and drive the cars. I do know that the team and crew chief are going to work as hard as they can to work the gray areas, and with that in mind gray areas were looked at and worked over and when the car came back the template didn't fit. So, Chad, the team, myself will accept what happened.

The majority of the drivers, they're professionals and they know what they need to do. We all need to collect points and get going from here.

For somebody who says it doesn't bother him, evidently it has. Indirectly, I guess, something's gotten to him, ... That's his deal and he's spending some time thinking about it. Last week, the reason we went out to follow him in practice was out of respect for him. He had the best car and we wanted to see how we stood up next to him. And we passed him.

We're working hard to turn it around and make it right, ... It's not from a lack of effort. Everybody is working so hard. We're trying to find that tenth of a second that we're missing it's not much. In our sport today, a little bit takes you from winning races to running tenth.

I feel very good where we are. There's still a lot of racing left, a lot of the year ahead of us still for the championship, and that's what our eyes are on.

I didn't come back and feel like I solved the world's problems. But I spent a lot of quality time with my wife and didn't think about racing.

We'll just have to go back to the shop and perform the automotive equivalent of an autopsy on the car. Only then will we be able to determine the C.O.D. That's 'cause of death' to those of you who don't know.

I have to admit, I was a little timid with it up there. I knew it was there and it was softer, but I am really trying not to bump draft. I've gotten myself into more trouble at plate tracks than I care to, so I'm just going to keep my bumper to myself.

It's very important to be in the top five. And if you can be in first, it's going to be a huge advantage for the race team in the pits, and it'll make the day a lot easier for you.

Like I said, we're only off a bit, ... But it's so hard to break through that last bit. The No. 24 team has always been really good at it with all the championships and race wins he's had.

You can't help but think about it. All the families, dealing with this one-year anniversary, it's going to be so tough for all for them. I know they all do different things to help the anniversary pass, and with as little pain as possible.

I had trouble on restarts all day, spinning the rear tires. And Kyle was all over me. I knew I was going to have my hands full.

After three or four years you finally learn how to race 400-mile races. The first couple of years you take too many chances.

Chad is such a strong leader. His personality really does it on its own, and that's an area I need to focus on. The guys want me to be a little bit more in that role. And, now, with our latest situation, I'm the senior guy.

In some ways I think pit road is more treacherous here than anywhere else, and having that first pit pick here is the biggest advantage in my opinion.

Competition does weird things to people. I haven't seen a huge lack of disrespect or evil driving, but we're professionals and we know we have to deliver results.

Just not a normal thing to happen with our engines.

I knew deep down inside my heart that this team could still win.

Chase would be a different story today.

We're doing what we need to do, ... It's almost about not losing it rather than winning it at this point. We saw some hopefuls and contenders had trouble in New Hampshire, and I think that's the key. We got off to a good, solid start.

There is a lot of concern for the Roush cars. They have done great things for a good 18 months. They have been on their marks.

Momentum is an important thing. We are happy to be winning in the Chase. Last year we won four, this year so far we have won two already. It is coming at a good time. We had a couple of slow months before the Chase started. We definitely have things going in the right direction.

I kind of view it as jealousy, and he doesn't have a crew chief in there working hard enough to make his cars as good. This team has worked too hard to even have those kind of comments thrown at them, and I'm going to be very defensive over it.

He is in control of the championship in my mind and I hate to admit that, ... If I go out and do all that I can and lead the race and lead the most laps, then it's just in his hands from there as to where he finishes and what happens.

This was a team that wanted to make a statement.

It's going to be so tough for all of them and I know they all do different things to help the anniversary pass, and with as little pain as possible, ... Another person I'm going to be thinking of is Brian Vickers. It's his birthday. The plane crash was on his birthday, of all things. So, as a teammate and friend, to be there for him as well as the other people that lost loved ones on the flight.

Man what a night. It just goes with my motto about the championship 'if it is meant to be it is meant to be'.

I'm proud of this race team. These guys continue to work their butts off through adversity, making the best of a bad situation. We almost won another race today. We're doing everything we need to do. We won the Daytona 500 and maybe we'll win the championship.

He started asking questions about stock car racing. Once he came to the Charlotte area and started meeting the owners and stuff, I couldn't encourage him enough to make the move.

It's going to be quite a loss not to have Chad here, but he's done a great job of training us all and hopefully we can be out on the track and perform as if he were here.

Quite an experience (this past week of media frenzy). It was the highlight of my career and hopefully I can experience it again some day.

Of course Jeff and I wanted to see the lions feed and the girls were scared to death that would happen.

Before I knew it, he was on my bumper, ... I thought, Man, I wish he would have had a harder time going through traffic.

We just seem to thrive on adversity.

The communication that we have is amazing. We know each other better than I expected. He has obviously been paying close attention to what Chad has been doing and it is showing at the track.

This team is still 100 percent capable of winning the Duel we're in, starting last, and also the Daytona 500. We have an amazing team.

The thing I don't like, ... is the five Roush cars can go on a tear and nobody says anything, then we go out and win a race and so we've got to be cheating. It does get frustrating, but I choose to take it as a compliment.

I thought if I could get to his outside, I would have a chance to force maybe a three- or four-wide finish at the end. But when I tried to go to his outside in turn one, as soon as I turned ... the front tires started chattering. I stayed on the gas a little bit and tried to get to his (rear quarter panel) and I couldn't.

If you wreck enough people the old Dale Earnhardt idea will inevitably come into play. Get ready, because it's coming.

I was little surprised that he just continually drove in and kept trying to blast me in the center. The time that he got by me, he really had my wheels off the ground and I couldn't get to the gas.

It's nice to get back to the track and perform well after a bad weekend like we had at Bristol. We didn't change a thing. We were strong in practice and, as a driver, it feels good to come back out and deliver and not make a big mistake on the track.

It's real easy to sit on your couch and point fingers and say, So-and-so did something wrong, ... But until you are out there in these cars, at these speeds, and seeing all the near-misses and what is really going on, it is not worth forming an opinion.

I looked up in the mirror with two laps to go, and I thought he was wrecking and spinning out behind me. But he still came back and passed me.