Johnson runs well, but hopes new car can be adjusted

By SceneDaily Staff
Monday, April 07, 2008
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Kevin C. Cox
Getty Images for NASCAR

FORT WORTH, Texas – Jimmie Johnson turned in his best performance on a 1.5-mile track this season in Sunday’s Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. Then he called for some changes to NASCAR’s new model in the hopes that the car would become less aero-dependent.

Johnson led 65 laps at Texas before finishing second to Carl Edwards. It was the first time his team really seemed to have a handle on the model formerly known as the car of tomorrow on a track of this size – and the first chance he had to really assess how a strong car performs on these tracks.

Johnson and his team spent the recent off week testing this car and trying to get a better handle on it. He says that paid off at Texas, where he had one of the strongest cars on the track.

After the race, despite his change in fortune in these races, Johnson said he’d learned some disappointing things about this car.

“Clean air was really important,” Johnson said. “I was really shocked today in how bad the cars drove in traffic. At the last two intermediate tracks, our stuff had bigger problems than worrying about how the car drove."

He thinks NASCAR should consider tinkering with these cars.

“I really think we need to look at some changes to help these cars not be so aero dependent," he said. "They are safer, they are doing a lot of things the right way, but we really need to look at making some changes so these cars can have a little more downforce. … We get into low downforce situations, [where] there is more grip in the car.”

Johnson said that the process of developing the car taught competitors about stock-car racing. The first? That one cannot alter the impact of aerodynamics.

“There [are] going to be aero dependencies,” he said. “And if you can make the cars more efficient so they don’t punch a larger hole in the air, I think it’s going to help the guys further back in traffic. We’ve always had an aero problem, I don’t care if you go back to the '70s and '80s in racing, it was still there and nobody knew about it. Now, we do and it’s a big tool that we use.”

The question is, can that be changed with NASCAR’s wider, boxier car that was designed with safety in mind? Johnson thinks the effort should at least be made.

“I don’t know if we can correct some of it,” he said. “This car is so much bigger. It is safer and that’s a great thing. But I’d love to see NASCAR talk to some team engineers and their guys get together and think, 'All right, what’s a logical step that’s not going to cost millions and millions of dollars to get some more front downforce in the cars so you don’t get so tight in traffic.' It seems that we have plenty of rear grip from time to time with the aero balance and you can adjust the wing there. But the cars really need some front downforce.”

In the end, Johnson says that the ultimate impact of the car will be on the type of racing that it produces and whether that is what fans are looking for week to week.

Only time will tell if this car will offer that, or if it needs to undergo some changes to produce better racing.

“Did you enjoy the race today? That’s the ultimate judge of it,” he said. “We’re all afraid to run side by side and you can only get so close to the guy in front of you and we just sit there in a safe spot and ride because you can’t go anywhere.”

Mentioned Drivers: Jimmie Johnson

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2009 Sprint Cup Race for the Chase Standings

Driver Standings after the AMP Energy 500

1 Jimmie Johnson 6248
2 Mark Martin -184
3 Jeff Gordon -192
4 Juan Pablo Montoya -239
5 Tony Stewart -279
6 Kurt Busch -312
7 Greg Biffle -340
8 Ryan Newman -402
9 Kasey Kahne -414
10 Carl Edwards -437
11 Denny Hamlin -448
12 Brian Vickers -556

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